Tour de France 2012: The Teams - Radioshack-Nissan

With the Tour de France only days away Radioshack-Nissan should have been preparing the only other previous winner for the Tour. But 2010 winner (upon removal of Alberto Contador) Andy Schleck suffered a fall in the Critérium Dauphiné that fractured his pelvis which means he will be going for a fourth podium in a row.

However, the team is still strong having another podium finisher from last year in the team who just happens to share the same name.

Fränk Schleck in recent years the Tour has seen the Schleck brothers often riding in tandem through the high Mountain passed. But of course in 2010 on the cobbles of stage 3 Fränk crashed out. But last year their one-two strikes returned and they both ended up on the Podium with Fränk taking third. Like his brother hs has worn yellow in the Tour before but while he is strong in the mountains it is often his time trailling that lets him down. So with 94.8km over the two time trials this year. Either he is going to have to make big inroads in the mountains or have lifted his time trialling ability to be able to hold on in the penultimate stage especially if Wiggins and Evans end up as his main rivals.

Fabian Cancellara time trialling is no difficulty to the four time World Champion in that discipline. He is also a classics winner having won Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris Robaix (twice). But he is also handy to have in the mountains able to put in long turns that can help his leader hit the last climb in the right place and state to make an impact.

Chris Horner managed to come 9th in the 2010 Tour despite in the start working for his team leader Lance Armstrong. In 2010 he won Vuelta al País Vasco and last year the Tour of California. He will be handy man for Schleck to have all the way through the mountains and although 40 now may well be able to spring the other half of the one-two attacks to help Schleck in th GC. Last year an early crash on the flat first week meant he left the Tour.

Andreas Klöden will actually be the man with the best finishing position in previous Tours in this Radioshack team with his two seconds in 2004 and 2006 while with T-Mobile. He won the 2011 Vuelta al País Vasco and came second in Paris-Nice. But like Horner crashes early last year curtailed his Tour, he returned for the Vuelta but again withdrew early. Still yet another strong component of Radioshack's team when the roads go up.

Yaroslav Popovychwas 3rd in the Giro d'Italia as far back as 2003 but has never been on the podium at the end of a Grand Tour since. Although he was best Young Rider in the Tour in 2005 when finishing 12th and managed 8th in 2007 while working for Contador and Levi Leipheimer. But having ridden for some of the best through mountains another part of the Radioshack engine that takes the Schlecks upwards.

Jens Voigt may have worn the yellow jersey twice but it is as one of the best rouleurs in the peleton that he is best known because he is not great in high mountains. In 2006 he took a stage in the Tour as part of a five man break that finished 29 minutes 58 seconds up the road from the leaders. Expect to see him just plodding away keeping things tight for Radioshack on the flatter stages.

Maxime Monfort is another climber on this team. He finished 6th in last year's tough Vuelta. Therefore he is yet another man who will marshall Schleck through the mountain passes.

Haimar Zubeldia has twice been 5th in the Tour (2003 and 2007) while riding for Euskaltel-Euskadi which tells you that he is a Basque cyclist. In that 2003 Tour he had great finishes against Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich. But yet another strong rider who has been in the top 10 of Grand Tours (six in all) showing the strength in depth of this team.

 Tony Gallopin is a young French rider who is in the Tour to be an engine for Schleck when it is required on the flat.  Haimar Zubeldia

The Tour Takes on the Hell of the North #TDF

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.

After that Thank God Tomorrow It's Over

What a stage! What a race!

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.

Crunch Day on Ventoux

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 Luxemborg Individual 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 Trail France
• 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.