After a long drawn out process it has been agreed that four days before this picture on the second rest day of the 2010 Tour traces of clenbuterol in Alberto Contador's sample. On 6 August while he and the rest of the peleton were resting after the tiring race he was informed of the positive result. He blamed it on a contaminated steak.
But today the Court of Arbitration in Sport have upheld the positive results and Contador is serving a 2 year ban from the 6 August 2010. It means he has been stripped of the 2010 Tour de France, his 2011 Giro d'Italia win and will miss this year's Tours and Giro as well as the Olympics. He will however, have served his ban in time to start the Vuelta a España.
He is not the second winner of the Tour after Floyd Landis in 2006 to be stripped of the Tour title following positive drug tests. He is one of the shrinking number of pro-cyclists who are testing positive, but his dismissal from the Tour shows that the sport does not play favourites.
So delayed congratulation to Andy Schleck for his win in the 2010 Tour de France and Michele Scarponi was his win in his native Giro last year as well as his elevation to winner of the Volta a Catalunya.
Schleck therefore has joined the ranks of François Faber (1909), Nicolas Frantz (1927, 28) and Charly Gaul (1958) in the list of Luxembourgeois winners for the Tour. Instead of being chief bridesmaid after rolling into Paris the last three years in second he now has the highest honour in cycling alhtough he missed the celebrations. Along with Jan Ullrich and ironically Alberto Contador his now one of the rare breed to have won the Tour de France while still eligible for, and therefore winning, the young rider category.
The team that will wear the single numbers on their backs because they are the team of the champion are Saxobank-Sunguard. The former team of the Schleck brothers will now be header by Alberto Contador, who after a year of legal proceedings will be taking to the start line at Passage du Gois. Here is a look at the time.
001 Alberto Contador (Spa) 28 The Spaniard has won all three Grand Tours, France 3 times 2007, 2009, 2010, Italy 2008 and 2011 and Spain 2008. However, it is that latest Grand Tour victory in a very tough Giro this year that may affect his chances of three-peating. With his ability to start his defence hanging in the balance until earlier this month he said he was going to Italy and to win, which he did. All his major challengers rested in May when the Giro was on, and will come to the Tour fresher than the Spaniard. Though he will have something to prove when he takes to the roads of France, that he is the best. Never underestimate him. 5th Tour Start: Best 1st x3 (2007, 09, 10) Best Young Rider 2007
002 Jesús Hernández (Spa) 29 Jesús will give his all in the mountains for his long team mate Contador. He has often been seen riding with Alberto in the high peaks but has never really risen to individual glory himself. 2nd TS: Best 140th (2010)
003 Daniel Navarro (Spa) 27 Another tough Spaniard who has joined from Astana along with Contador. He'll also be there on the high mountains with his team leader. He took individual honours on Stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné this year. 3rd TS: Best 49th (2010)
004 Benjamín Noval (Spa) 32 The fourth and final Spaniard on this team, who also came from Astana at the start of the year. Both his previous stage wins in the Tour have come in the Team Time Trial (2004 and 2005) as part of Lance Armstrong's US Postal squad. He has been a loyal Domestique to 5 Tour winners (Lance Armstrong twice and Contador's three wins). 6th TS: Best 66th (2004)
005 Richie Porte (Aus) 26 The young Tasmanian was 7th Overall in the 2010 Giro d'Italia, wore the Pink Jersey from stages 11-13 and ended up as the winner of the best young rider competition.Although he will probably always rank winning the 2008 Tour of Tasmania as his greatest ever victory even when he wins a Grand Tour. In 2009 riding the Baby Giro he won 5 stages including a Time Trail. He may be someone to watch in the future but may be close to the top ten in the GC this year as well. Debut Tour
006 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) 26 The Dane is another good rider in the mountains. Indeed his stage win in the 2010 Giro Stage 8 to Mount Terminillo he broke away on the final climb to the summit. He won the Mountain competition in this years Tour de Romandie and came 6th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He lives in Luxembourg and therefore as the Danish Federation do not give licences to cyclists living overseas he races under a Luxembourg licence. 10th TS: Best 34th 2009
007 Nicki Sørensen (Den) 36 Not related to his namesake on the team. He has been Danish Road Race Champion three times and proudly worn the Red and White national jersey in three Tours. In 2009 he won stage 12 from Tonnerre to Vetel when the peleton allowed a group of six to stay away, with 20km to go Sørensenattacked and stayed away: he was also awarded most combative rider on that stage. He's also won an individual stage in the 2005 Vuelta a España. But is most commonly seen helping his team leader. 9th TS: Best 20th 2002
008 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) 37 With 13 years of Pro Cycling behind him, his knowledge on the route will be invaluable to Contador and the team. Another work horse rather than big name rider, he has though won stage 18 on the 2006 Tour from Morzine - Mâcon, though that was teh day after the last mountains and before the last time trial. He also has won a stage in the 2001 Giro. 8th TS: Best 116th (2009)
009 Brian Vandborg (Den) 29 The time trialling specialist on the team. In 2006 he won the Danish National Time Trialist title and came 4th in the World Championships. He's also been 2nd in his national time trial championships 3 times and 3rd once. He could be a lead out man in a finish if required, or if he gets in a break away could make a break from far out. With the individual time trial being the penultimate day over 42.5km it may be a matter of who is left with gas in the tank. Maybe expect him to try and get into a breakaway in the first week. Or as we move from the Pyrénées to the Alps to try and make a long break if he is allowed to. 3rd TS: Best 116th (2009)
Of course when you have one of only 5 men to have won all three of the Grand Tours Saxo Bank-Sunguard's main aim is to insure that a 4th Tour de France and 7th Grand Tour comes the way of El Pistolero.
Update Nicki Sørensen will start in the Danish national colours having won that title once again the weekend before the Tour.
Today as in every year since 1975 the Tour de France is heading for 8 circuits of the Champs-Élysées. Most of the prizes have been decided.
On the Col Du Tourmalet on Thursday the Polka Dot Jersey for the King of the Mountains was finally planted firmly on shoulders of Anthony Charteau (BBox). The challenge from fellow Frenchman and the old man of the Tour Christophe Moreau (Caisse d'Espange) failed to close the remaining gap.
Yesterday it was as you were for Yellow and White (Young Rider) as last year. Alberto Contador (Astana) was 31" ahead of Andy Schleck (Saxobank) in the time trial into Pauillac. It means that Contador leads by 39", an irony not lost on many which was the exact time difference he took out of Schleck following his chain falling off when he was attacking Contador on the Port de Bales on Monday. It means that Contador is in Yellow and Scheleck will equal Jan Ullrich with a third successive White Jersey. The top three have all been the best young rider because Denis Menchov rode a good time trail yesterday to displace the Olympic Champion Sammy Sanchez from the final podium.
Lance Armstrong in his last Tour will be on the podium but only as a part of the best team as Radioshack have won that prize.
However, the real excitement lies in the Green Jersey competition for points. The current standings are:
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) 213
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) 203
Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) 197
The point allocation on the line will be 35 for first, 30 for second, 26 for third, 24, 22, 20, 19 etc. There are also two intermediate sprints on the Champs-Élysées offering 6,4 and 2 points. It means that three teams will be working hard to secure the Green Jersey today.
If Mark Cavendish can repeat his performance in the French Capital from last year and win on the famous boulevard. The Norwegian would have to be second to stay ahead and the Italian if he was seventh would be equal on points but behind the Manxman on stage wins therefore losing his lead. The question is will any of them be in a position to take the intermediate sprints as often these go to a breakaway, or will the teams keep up the tempo for the full eight circuits to give their men a chance to get a shot at the 12 points on offer.
This will be an exciting afternoon on the approach to Paris, especially for three sprinters and a busy one for their teams.
Well we now know where the Tour de France was won. It wasn't beating the man it was man on the point of being beating taken advantage of the opponent he swerved around on the Port de Bales.
Without the 39 seconds that Alberto Contador gained from that incident Andy Schleck would have gone into this time trail still 31 seconds ahead and not 8 behind. In the end the gap that Alberto Contador picked up off Andy Schleck in today's time trial was 31", without Port de Bales they would have been tied on time.
On Tuesday the bulk of the field rolled into Pau together after following the sequence of mountains that set up Eddy Merckx for the first of his five yellow jerseys. O t would have been a year if it had existed that Eddy would have won the white jersey for Best Young Rider along with the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot that he did actually win in 1969. It would have been a singular achievement.
Today will be like a case of retracing your steps as it the riders had lost something. Normally having reached Pau after tacking the Pyrenees in a westerly direction the Tour will put the mountains behind them, but not today. We're heading back in, and back to the Tourmalet. But before we get there it is no stroll in the park.
The first major climb of the day is the Col de Marie-Blanque. Not particularly big at only 1035m. However, the last 4 km of the ascent average 10% gradient. Next up is the Col du Solour which was climbed but not categorised on Tuesday as part of the ascent of the Col d'Aubisque this time it is being approached from its toughest northern approach, earning it the Premier Category classification. From the Solour the last 56.5km are very familiar to the riders, they were only here on Tuesday heading the opposite direction.
It is back up the Tourmalet with a longer ascent and with a steeper kick near the end. This is the last mountain of this years tour and surely one on which several of the leading GC contenders are going to have to attack on. Schleck will need time over Contador at the top if he is to follow him as a winner of the Yellow and White jersey in the same Tour, this is Andy's last year eligible for the young rider category and while he'll be emulating Jan Ullrich with a third success along with Contador and Laurent Fignon he'll want to have won yellow and white together.
Behind the leading two the 2003 winner of the white jersey Denis Menchov is going to have to open up a gap on Sammy Sanchez the Olympic Champion who is 13 seconds ahead of him and the somewhat better time trialist over a long distance. Although they both had the same time over the short Rotterdam prologue. Three previous winners of the young rider category have never filled the podium positions in Paris, so this year's Tour may just make a little bit of history in that way.
Even further back there is a possible battle to be the laterne rouge (the last man). German Bert Grabsch (HTC-Columbia) currently brings up the rear at +3h 55' 10" but only 2 minutes 1 second up the road is Italian Adriano Malori (Lampre).
Alberto Contador has issued the following apology for his not noticing the 'mechanical' of Andy Schleck yesterday and then taking advantage of it for pretty much the last 24 km of yesterday's stage.
Wonder what Andy Schlecjk would rather have. An apology recorded in your hotel room, rather that on the podium or in the press interviews afterwards, or 39 seconds back? Hmm tough call.
I reckon most of the neutral cycling fans will be backing Andy Schleck everytime he goes on the attack today or on Thursday.
Eight seconds has featured before in the race for the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France. In the 1989 Tour it was the gap that Greg LeMond took the race by over Laurent Fignon when the Champs-Elysees witnessed a time trial final stage. Today however it wasn't a matter or man against man that led to eight seconds.
On the Port de Bales Andy Schleck had his Saxobank team setting the pace. One by one they led him up the Col closing down the gap with the head of the race. Then about 3 km from the top of the Climb Schleck attacked but Contador took some time to respond, but then calamity, the Luxembourger's chain came off. Contador raced on up the hill while Schleck stopped at the side of the road to sort it out. He then had to climb through all the dropped riders from the group that his teams pace had got rid off in pursuit. At the summit he was about 20 seconds behind at the summit. Ready to chase the larger group down the slopes to the finish.
In the end the group in front managed to edge further out crossing the line 39 seconds ahead of the Maillot Jaune. Meaning it had changed hands by that 8 second margin to the defending champion, who may or may not have been in trouble on the Port de Bales. However, there is previous that you don't attack the leader when he has a disaster outside his control in a tight race. Look at Jan Ullrich hold up for Lance Armstrong here, from 2003.
If Contador felt he had to take advantage of that and couldn't beat Schleck man on man maybe he really was starting to struggle in this tour. Schleck has seemed in control and more and more confident with each stage he has worn the yellow for. However Andy hasn't given up hope yet as he has just tweeted.
The incident will overshadow the fact that the French Champion Thomas Voeckler won the stage in a solo effort from the day's long breakaway to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tour climbing the Pyrenees today.
Update The view of the pros Robbie Hunter who's had to abandon this year' Tour 'Contador should have waited,had he waited everybody would have waited..my opinion this was not cool!'. Chris Broadman former British rider in the Tour and now part of ITV4's team 'I predict a spirited moral debate, lets call it 'Chaingate'.
One hundred years ago today the first of the big mountains* were included in Henri Desgrange's vision of the Tour de France, the Porter-d'Aspet and the Col des Ares were on that first day. He had been reluctant to include the big mountain passes fearing that the riders would die in the mountains from over-exertion, exposure, brigands or bears. His assitant Alphonse Steinès persuaded him otherwise, of which more tomorrow, that it would be doable.
Today both those original climbs are merely category 2 climbs at 1069 and 797 metres respectively. However, today they will be drawfed by the 1755m Port de Balès, though it was only first used in 2007, it will be the third Hors Catégorie climb on this year's Tour.
Here what an amateur cyclist made of the ascent of the Port de Balès prior to that first ascent of this hill.
The 21.5 km descent into Bagnères-de-Luchon is full of twisting bends as this video of Sky's recognisance of the stage shows.
Yesterday after seeing Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador marking each other and almost playing games on the ascent to Ax-3 Domaines I suspect there may be a little bit more of a test from Schleck today. He still needs to gain some further time over the next three days 31 seconds may not be enough for him in the final time trial. Yesterday he merely showed he is able to take anything that Contador could lay at his feet.
As I wrote at the start of my Tour de France coverage is marking the centenary of the grand mountains hitting the tour. Tomorrow is actually the repeat of a 100 year old stage. On Tuesday we climb two famous two Pyreneean peaks the Col d'Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet (which gets an encore on Thursday) 99 years and 363 days after they were first climbed.
However today is the first of four tough days in the Pyrenees.
Today after what has been an most strenuous transition phase between the Alps and Pyrenees the peleton has set out from the relative plain of Revel 220m above sea level. Later today at 102 km into the stage they will start to go uphill, and keep going up until the top to the Port de Pailhères at 2001m at 155.5 km. then after 18 km descent it is another 9km climb up to the ski station of Ax 3 Domaines. The former is a Hors Catégorie but that doesn't mean the First Catégorie climb to finish will be any easier. There will be no respite between one and the other. Andy Schleck or Alberto Contador could attack on the Pailhères to try and mark their authority on the other.
On the Pailhères there are two steep segments with an average gradient of 9.5% and then over 10% for two kilometre stretches. This is similar to the ascent into Mende on Thursday when Contador pulled 10 seconds back on Schleck but this time it isn't the end of things.
The climb to Ax 3 Domaines is also the mountain that in 2003, the centenary Tour, Jan Ullrich broke Lance Armstrong and a certain Alexandre Vinokourov the winner of yesterday's stage started that move. Of course Vino then launched the move for his team mate in the leading group, this year he is riding for Contador. You wonder if history might repeat itself, but then Vino has attacked hard in the last two days so may not be up there again today.
The other question is hot the rest of the GC riders will shape up behind the top two. Any of them might crack and the result is that the top 15 or so could easily reshuffle with minutes at stake for a poor day. As I said earlier it is not like we have had a nice relaxing and smooth transition from the other mountains. The climb to Mende and then the little Côte de Saint-Ferréol. Neither major for time shift but would be felt in the legs.
Well the Hell of the North certainly added to the excitement of the opening to this Tour de France. I've never seen an opening three stages being so tough and it certainly is making looking forward to the other 17 days of racing. Somehow yesterday may have been a day to wait, but today it was pedal to the medal and hope that your bike holds up to task at hand.
However, one of the contenders Frank Schleck ended up by the side of the road with a broken collar bone on the cobbles, the cyclist's worst nightmare. Falling while near the head of the race, the ideal place to ride the pavé. However, he fall led to confusion behind. But at the head of the chase pack Fabian Cancellara, yesterday's slow it down man, pushed the pace. The younger Schleck brother Andy his Saxobank teammate was with him, as well as Cadal Evans. But other tour contenders Alberto Contador, Bradley Wiggins and Lance Armstrong were dropped.
There were numerous bike changes and more that he needed for the unfortunate man in yellow Slyvain Chavanel. He kept having mechanical issues and having to change his bike. Even the master Lance Armstrong had to pursuit back to the chasing pack after a mechanical issue. His teammate Yaroslav Popovych buried himself for the cause and when he had given his all and the gap was still there it was Lance himself who fought through the cars to catch those ahead.
Thor Hushovd did take the sprint at the end of the race, beating a British sprinter into second. But not Mark Cavendish he was some way back, however Gerraint Thomas on his debut tour now has a second place finish, is second in the Green Jersey behind Hushovd and leader in the young rider jersey. So the British national jersey will not be on display tomorrow and hopefully for some time, tour colours take precedent. But being 23 seconds off the lead shows that for Sky there really is no limit to their expectations.
Wiggins while not in the leading group only lost 53 seconds to them. But more importantly made time over Contador and Armstrong 2o secs and 1 min 15 secs further back.
While Hushovd got maximum points in the sprint Mark Cavendish picked up his first one, yes only one when he trundled over the line 4th in a big group 2'08" back. I hope he doesn't live to rue those other 3 points on the Champs-Élysées on the 25th.
Tomorrow is meant to be a tame day but we've said that before. Here is the route.
We it is the first day of the mass starts, another day another country. After a rather wet Prologue yesterday the riders will leaveRotterdam then it is off island hopping along the coast before heading inland near Antwerp and over the plains of Belgium to Brussels.
I expect Tour favourite Alberto Contador to be paying close attention at the front. This may be the first stage of the Tour but he'll be remembering another coastal stage last year. It was only Stage 3 of the race but rounding a corner 31km from the line Mark Cavendish's HTC-Columbia team were pushing the pace at the front when a change in wind direction caused a break in the peleton. On 27 including all nine of Cav's team and Contador's then team mate Lance Armstrong but not the man himself. By the line the gap had grown to 40secs a time that can make a difference in General Classification (GC) so exect to see all the GC contenders, not just Contador, paying attention near the head of the race today.
The real battle of the Tour de France came down the the climb of Mont Ventoux and good choice by the Tour Organisers, the final hour of the ascent of the Giant of Provence lived up to it hype of being the place where the general classifications would be decided.
The seven heads of state Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins, Andreas Kloden, Frank Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali were the ones who kept together when the big group hit the slopes above Bedoin. They started to close down the leaders up the slopes Juan Manuel Garate and Tony Martin, but that wasn't the reason for their speed.
Frank Schleck attacked a number of times, but each time he was marked by Lance Armstrong determined not to cede his third step on the podium. When little brother Andy attacked it was the Maillot Jaune on the back of Contador that came with, but when Frank didn't follow he sat up. Obviously more determined to help his brother get a leap on Armstrong rather than try and get the 4'11" he needed over the man who was covering his every move.
Kloden was the first of the big 7 to suffer and slip off the back. But Nibali and Wiggins also at times seemed to struggle to get back. But over and over again 6 of the heads of state kept together. Kloden any time he thought there was a hope of getting back on the back wheel suffered as another acceleration pulled them away again.
Then in the final two kilometres Andy went again this time with brother Frank on his wheel. Armstong and Contador went with, but Wiggins seemed unable to respond. Was this the time that more British hopes were to fade, almost at the point when the memorial marks the death of Tom Simpson on the same slopes. But no Wiggins kept digging in finding reserves from somewhere.
At the line Garate crossed first, then Martin. Then the three leaders of the race A. Schleck, with Contador and a three second gap to Armstrong. But with Kloden down the road the only real gap that mattered was going to be between Frank Schleck and Bradley Wiggins. At 43" after Garate the elder Schleck crossed the line Brad had to get there before the race showed +1'06". Then on the left hand side of the road almost out of view of the camera Bradley Wiggin's reminiscent of Steven Roche he appeared crossing the line at +1'03" twenty seconds lost but 4th place retained for the procession towards the Champs Élysées tomorrow.
Of course the Brits have had a good tour David Miller has been doing sterling work, and just missed out on the run into Barcelona of individual glory. Wiggins of course has ridden high up the GC and has given hope of making a podium in Paris in the years to come (why did that Texan have to come out of retirement this year?). But a little man from the Isle of Man is going for 6 tomorrow. If only he hadn't been disqualified on the run into Besancon we may still have seen him and Thor Husovd competing the two intermediates as well as the final bunch sprint on the Champs Éylsées tomorrow.
But as it is Britain's top stage winner Mark Cavendish and equal top finisher Bradley Wiggins can look forward to Paris tomorrow one to relax the other has one more goal, to be the first of the men to cover the 3252km of the 96th Tour de France, even if only by a few yards and hundredths of a second.
Today is the day that the general classification will finally be settled in this year's Tour de France and for the 8th time in Tour history it will act as a mountain top finish. The roll of honour to win on the summit reads like a history of worthy post war recipients.
1958 Charley Gaul LuxemborgIndividual Time Trail (Champion 1958, King of the Mountains 1955, 56 )
1965 Raymond Poulidor France (8 times on podium 3 times each behind Anquetil and Merckx)
1970 Eddie Merckx Belgium (5 Time Champion 1969-72, 74)
1972 Bernard Thévenet France (Champion 1975, 77)
1987 Jean-François Bernard Individual Time TrailFrance
2000 Marco Pantani Italy (Champion 1998)
2002 Richard Virenque France (Most successful King of the Mountains (1994-7, 99, 2003-04)
2009 ???
But what makes Ventoux special? It is not the tallest, not the steepest but has a mystique all of its own. It stands out on the horizon however you approach its 1912m summit. Indeed from the feed station at78km into today's 167 km stage the riders will start a circuit around it. Admittedly that circuit will include the 4th category Col de Fontanbe and 3rd category Col des Abeilles. Certainly the Mont holds a little bit of a psychological hold over the riders.
But it is the 21 km ascent to the summit from Bedoin to the peak that is the real test. It starts in the airless forests at the base before exploding into the barren lunar landscape at the peak. From Saint-Esteve at 5 km up the climb to the peak (with only brief respite through Chalet Reynard and the treeline) it is greater than 6% climbing and for long stretches greater than 95 all the way to the top.
Ventoux was first climbed in the Tour on 22 July 1951 when it was including in the 17th stage from Monpellier to Avignon. On that occasion a lead group of 12 were together at the foot. At Chalet Reynard Hugo Koplet attacked*, only Raphaël Géminiani**, Luison Bobet, Gino Bartali and Lucien Lazardes*** could stay with him. 2km from the summit Lazardes attacked and reached the top alone followed by a lone Bartali and thus was Ventoux first conquered in the Tour.
Its not just the breaks but the mountain that has claimed men. In 1955 Jean Malléjac who had finished second two year previously was described 10km from the summit "Streaming with sweat, haggard and comatose, he was zigzagging and the road wasn't wide enough for him... He was already no longer in the real world, still less in the world of cyclists and the Tour de France". He collapsed as was taken to hospital struggling and shouting after regaining consciousness on the side of the road.
The same year Swiss racer Ferdi Kübler was setting such a vicious tempo that Géminiani survivor of that first ascent warned him off. Advise he ignored to his cost. He started to struggle in the last kilometre of the ascent and fell repeatedly on the descent finishing 26 minutes back on the line for his efforts on the climb.
In 1967 the British cyclist, that Bradley Wiggins is most closely competing with for prestige in the major tours, Tommy Simpson came to his own fate. He began weaving across the road in the last kilometre and fell twice. The tour doctor Pierre Dumas reached him after the second collapse spent more than an hour giving him heart massage and mouth to mouth. But realised he was dead and had him removed from the mountain by helicopter to Avignon where the cyclist was pronounced dead at 17:40. Of course Simpson's death is an object lesson on how the drugs don't always work.
So what of today's stage. Alberto Contador may well have a 4'11" lead over Andy Schleck but this is the sort of stage that that might be clawed back, especially as tomorrow there is just the gentle roll into Paris to come.
The Schleck brothers will well be aware that their fellow countryman Gaul was the first winner on the summit here. Older brother Frank will need to do something to climb back unto the podium. He'd gained that spot on stage 17 on the Col de Colombiere but lost it the following day on the TT around Lac d'Annecy. Expect him to attack at some point on Ventoux.
As for younger brother Andy lying in second he may go with his brother, and they may launch tandem attacks to see it Contador has anything to give. If they can get a gap then it is just a matter of how big they can get it. Although he may well already know that Contador is not going to be beaten this year, but then Ventoux does await.
As well as Frank Schleck wanting to get back unto the podium don't forget that Bradley Wiggins is sitting just 16" behind that spot over a man he has climbed better than on a couple of mountain finishes this year. But that man is the man who came second to both Pantani and Virenque on those other two Ventoux top finishes this decade and in that 2002 pursuit of Virenque set the record for the fastest ascent at 50 minutes. He also has the small matter of 7 successive victories in this race to his name, so don't rule out Lance Armstrong from the challenge of Frank Schleck, Wiggins or Vincenzo Nibali just yet.
Today is going to be a very interesting day and coverage live on ITV4 starts at 13:00 BST but it already underway by text on the BBC website.
*The eventual winner. **That year's eventual King of the Mountains and 2nd overall. ***Who would be first when the Tor reached Paris.
