Tour de France 2012: Stage 20 Rambouillet to Champs Élysées, Paris

Is it really that time of year again that me and Nick Barlow (amongst others) give you our last look at what lies in the day ahead on the road of France (an any other country) as part of the Tour de France.

First up let's short out what happened yesterday.

The man the Dutch call the "Banana with sideburns" showed why he is the man who have spent 7 days in yellow in Paris-Nice, five in the Tour of Romandie, seven in the Critérium du Dauphiné and now 13 days in Le Tour. Let us not forget he was a rather unripe banana on the second day of this year's tour. He opened more time on everyone, even his own team mate who once again in the Time Trials came second. I suspect that these two now will go into the Olympics and after helping try and secure Mark Cavendish his gold will be going head to head with Fabian Cancellera and Tony Martin amongst others to try and lift the other men's road cycling gold on the course over many roads I have ridden a bike on around Hampton Court.

In the end Vincenzo Nibali lost more time to end up 6'19" behind Wiggo overall. Froome ended up with a Dusty Bin time of 3'21" behind his team mate. With Richie Porte coming fifth  yesterday Sky managed to half the gap between themselves and Radioshack-Nissan in the team race. But it was because they were using all their men to keep the pace high until just Froome was left with Wiggins that they despite domination of the race failed to secure the team prize, which if the aggregate of each teams best 3 riders each day.

Today's final stage is usually only a ceremonial roll into Paris until the race hits the most famous Boulevard in road race cycling. The only things for certain are that the four wearers of the jerseys will be toasted with champagne. Laterne Rouge Saur- Sojasun rider Jimmy Engoulvent who is 3 hours 57 minutes slower than Wiggins will be given a red lamp to carry for the press and Wiggins with the World Champion, Nowegian Champion and other 5 remaining team mates will lead the race briefly at the start of the circuits of the Champs Élysées.

Even though the tour organisers decided to try and spice things up with two Category 4 climbs. Just in case that competition were tight heading towards Paris. As it isn't maybe the race will let Thomas Voeckler take both of those in the Polka Dot King of the Mountain Jersey, or maybe he will share the honours with Fredrik Kessiakoff with him he had a tough battle in the Pyrénées. So maybe expect the peleton to give them a point each. With not much contest, the other riding as the escort on the Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse and shortly afterward the Côte de Châteaufort.

As always on the last day the intermediate sprint will occur on the third crossing of the line of the Champs Élysées. Last year it was contested as Mark Cavendish's Green Jersey was still in play. This year the peleton may well have already let a few riders get a little up the road. So they will be working to stay away and there will probably be no sprint.


Tejay van Garderen is safe in the other Jersey for best Young Rider and I fully expect to see him as leader of the BMC team when the race starts next year, maybe with Cadel Evans helping him as a super domestique.


What everyone will want to know however is can Mark Cavendish do it again. Yesterday for Cav is all about being number 1, but not in stage winning, he finished the stage in 1 hr 11 mins 11 seconds. He wants to see just one number 1 next to his name today and that is a the front rather than afterwards. 

He has never lost on the last day of the Tour de France. He is already the only man to have won this famous stage three years in succession and the way he rode into Brive la Gaillarde on Friday it would be very rare to see anyone bet against him, especially as both the top two in the GC have already vowed to help lead him into prime position off the Place de la Concorde that last time into that straight that he owns. If he does it will be the seventh win by a Brit in this year's Tour from four different riders (or 1/3 of all the finishes) breaking the record of 2009 when all six were won by Cav.

Can André Greipel or Matt Goss spoil the party? Looking at the difference between the three of them on Friday and how Mark has won here in the past I'd say it looks unlikely, but you can never know.


Here is how he won in 2009, when a Brit for only the second time raced to 4th place, tomorrow that Brit should also be breaking records as he rides in for yellow.

In 2010 after Mark Renshow had been kicked off the Tour he did it himself. And rather like on Friday he left the rest of the sprinters for dead with an attack from a long way out.

Then last year when even despite having the luxury of two of his team in front of him off the last bend it has been the closest so far, because it was into a head wind.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 12 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay Davézieux

Yesterday was the toughest mountain stage is this year's Tour and you could see it as everyone of the top contenders suffered at least for some part of it.

Early on a large break got up the road, with the first slope the Col de la Madeleine starting just 14.5km from the start of the race they wanted away. Liquigas, BMC and Radioshack were amongst the teams they put men into a 31 men breakaway in the hope that these men would be able to help Nibali, Evans and Zubeldia respectively when the going got tough later on. It meant that Sky were forced to ride at tempo on the front from the early part of the race something that they looked set to have to do all day to defend the Maillot Jaune. One of the first riders to exit the back of the peleton was Mark Cavendish along with Bernie Eisel therefore meaning that Sky would only have 5 men at the front to help Bradley Wiggins. At the start of the day the only other man to have worn yellow in this Tour, Fabian Cancellera, did not start, returning to Switzerland to be with his wife who is about to give birth.

In the lead group lost and gained members on the slope of the Madeleine but in it were a number of riders who wouldn't normally be allowed to go like Robert Gesink (RAB) Vino Vinokourov (AST), Ivan Basso (LIQ), Michele Scarponi (LAM) Levi Leipheimer (OPQ) and Dan Martin (GRS) but because of time they had already lost they were not a real threat to the GC contenders. Also up the road were riders like Pierre Rolland (EUC) who last year won year on Alpe d'Huez, Frederik Keesiakoff (AST) who had lost the King of the Mountains to Rolland's team mate Thomas Voeckler the day before, Chris Anke Sorensen (STB) who is always a danger in a break in the Mountains.

At the top of the Col de la Madeleine Peter Velits (OPQ) took the maximum points but Kessiakoff going over second gave him the virtual lead in the KoM's once again. The Yellow Jersey Group reached the summit 2'55" after but Peter Sagan and Daniel Oss (LIQ) sprung from that group just before the summit, possibly in an attempt to get back to the lead group before the intermediate sprint in the valley below. In the end this attempt was no successful and Sagan failed to get there and rejoined that group before getting to the sprint point without adding to this points tally in the Green Jersey competition.

On the second climb the Col de la Croix de Fer there was a group of eight at the front Rolland, Alejandro Valverde & Vasili Kiryenka (MOV), Velits, Kessiakoff and team mate Kirserlovski, Yury Trofimov (KAT) but there were stragglers in the 3 minute gap back to the yellow jersey. Before some more including Leipheimer, Amael Moinard (BMC), Scarponi and Vinokourov got back onto their group on the ascent. Christophe Kern also got back into the lead group and he started to set the pace for his team mate Rolland.

About half way up the long climb however, Teejay van Garderen (BMC) made a break from the Wiggins Group followed a couple of minutes later by his team leader Cadel Evans. Wiggins still had Michael Rogers, Richie Porte and Chris Froome around him for protection and he asked Rogers to up the pace. Just up the road the BMC pair had got to the wheel of Moinard and so it became BMC v Sky in a team pursuit on a mountainside. Sky though didn't panic but over next mile or so whittled down what was a very big peleton into a select group. While up the road Evans showed the first signs that his legs weren't able to keep up with Teejay.

Eventually after about 20 minutes of steady climbing the Wiggins group (Roberts, Porte, Froome (all SKY), Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT) and Janez Brajkovic (AST) captured Evans once more while still on the climb.

At the top there is a photo finish for the King of the Mountians points as Rolland and Kessiakoff battle it out. The former is initially given it, then the latter is accused of using his elbows as a reason why he is denied, before finally being awarded the points. There is the matter of the Henri Legrande Prix on offer for the highest pass of this year's Tour so €5000 is not to be sniffed at, nor the extra points for the KoM.

After going over the Col du Mollard with no major incident to report all the groups continued their descent to the final climb of the day to the ski station at La Toussuire. The lead group is now down to just four Rolland,  Sorensen,  Kiserlovski, and Kiryenka. Sorensen would continue to drop off and get back on all the way up the climb. Behind them first Brajkovic, then van den Broeck attack off the Wiggins Group. Nibali waited to see if anyone followed before going after them himself. Chris Froome is the only support that Wiggins has left and he starts the work of clawing it back.

Up front Rolland makes a solo move to break away from the lead group, but there is still over 10km to go. Froome brings Wiggins up to Nibali and van den Broeck, this time it is Nibali's turn to stare at Wiggins who just looks ahead at the wheel of this team mate. However, shortly after that Froome appears to fade to the back of the group where he finds himself on the wheel of Frank Schleck! But he holds on. Meanwhile Nibali strikes out again and quickly catches Pinot and Brajkovic up the road. Wiggins it is who starts to close Nibali down, then Froome appears to have found his legs once more and returns to the front, Schleck and van Garderen going with the pace but Evans is struggling. A look over the shoulder from Tejay van Garderen confirms that his work is to help pace the defending champion his team mate to the finish.

The trio of men who have podiumed in Grand Tour Wiggins, Froome and Schleck did pull themselves back to Nibali, Pinot and Brajkovic and then Froome goes through the group to the front taking Pinot with him but it is too much for Wiggins! Froome's acceleration lead to Wiggins getting dropped off the wheel of Nibali. So after a conversation in his radio Froome sits up.

There are no more moves for today behind Rolland ride Wiggins, Froome, Nibali, van den Broeck and Pinot. Rolland takes his second Alpine stage in the Tour remaining 55 seconds clear at the end. Within sight of the line Froome was given his wings to open up a few seconds on Nibali who was now virtural third on the road, but Thibaut Pinot was having none of it and chased him down for a French 1-2. But there were also a British one two as historically Froome was now in second place in the race behind his team leader.

As Wiggins and Nibali crossed the line together was was a mutual sign of respect after what they had gone through and how both men had gone about the job they had had to do.

Kessiakoff returned the Polka Dots, Rolland took the combative prize as well as the stage win. Van Garderen remains in the White Jersey but is now contesting that with Pinot who

Today's stage is the last Alpine one and there are two category 1 climbs on the road to Annonay Davézieux. However they are both in the first 80km of a 226km stage. So there is unlikely to be any move from any GC contender. But Kessiakoff and Rolland may try to battle it out for King of the Mountains points. Peter Sagan also may try and get himself into a breakaway as it is unlikely that most of the sprinters are capable of getting over the two climbs before the long race to the line so a break away might just stay away at least as far as the intermediate sprint if not the whole way.

Tour de France 2012:....and on the tenth day they rested

....but not before another little bit of Tour history.

Yesterday was the race of truth. And the truth was rather revealing.

One of the first men to lay down a marker for the day was World Time Trail champion Tony Martin (OPQ) who came in with a time of 53'40". When asked at the end who would beat that time he said Fabian (Cancellera) (RNT) would be fastest at the end. It was a sentiment echoed by David Millar (GRS) but he also mentioned that Wiggo and Froome Dog would not be far behind.

Cancellera did indeed go faster, a whole 1'19" faster and it was looking like the four times world champion was laying down a marker for this stage. However, Teejay van Garderen (BMC) looked like he was going to take that away from him 3 seconds up at the first check and still 2 at the second. However, he lost time in the final part of the race and ended up 9 seconds back on the Swiss power horse. It wouldn't win him the stage but was enough to lift him back into the White Jersey as best young rider.

Chris Froome (SKY) may have been back in the colours of Sky after his one day in the Polka Dots, but he was a man on a mission, he was much faster than van Garderen at all the check points and reached the line 22 seconds faster than Cancellera but by this point we knew that one man had a chance to go faster and that was his team leader.

Haimar Zubeldia (RNT) was next to cross the line just 4 seconds down on the time set by Martin earlier in the day. Then Denis Menchov (KAT) and Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) the latter one second faster, in what at the time were 7th and 6th places, for Nibali in particular that was an exceptional finish. But the big two that every one had been talking about before the Tour were still to come in.

Out on the course Cadel Evans (BMC) was losing time to Froome and Bradley Wiggins (SKYY) who was coming behind him. It became apparent that he wasn't so much racing for the Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey) but to stay in second place. In the end he lost 1'08" of his lead over Froome to be just 14 seconds ahead of one Brit, but it was the one still on road that in the process of setting up history. Bradley Wiggins did just what he had done in the week long Tours he had already won this year he took control of the Time Trial and dominated it. He was 35 seconds ahead of his team mate but had opened up a further 1'43" on Evans.

It was Wiggins first stage win in the Tour, the first time that Britain filled first and second spot on one stage. It was also the Third Brit to win a stage in the same Tour, and when Wiggo pulls on Yellow again after the rest day he will equal the most consecutive days that a Brit has worn that famous jersey in the Tour.

In last year's Vuelta Froome was on the podium one step ahead of Wiggins who was returning from his broken collarbone in the first week of the 2011 Tour. He was being touted as the heir apparent to Wiggins. He may well be part of the duo of outstanding all rounders if he can keep up his support of Wiggins through the Alps and Pyrénées. Sky for the second Grand Tour in a year have two men capable of being in the top three once the shorting out of the GC starts.

As I said yesterday the top 10 may well face a bit of a shake up as a result of the Time Trial, he is how they managed.

• 1. (nc) Bradley Wiggins (SKY) 39h 09' 20" (nc)
• 2. (nc) Cadel Evans (BMC) +1'53" (+1'43)
• 3. (+3) Chris Froome (SKY) +2'07" (+35")
• 4. (-1) Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) +2'23" (+2'07")
• 5. (-1) Denis Menchov (KAT) +3'02" (+2'08")
• 6. (-1) Haimar Zubeldia (RNT) +3'19" (+2'20)
• 7. (nc) Maxime Monfort (RNT) +4'23" (+2'15)
• 8. (+9) Teejay van Garderen (BMC) +5'14" (+1'06)
• 9. (-1) Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT) +5'20" (+3'09)
• 10. (-1) Nicolas Roche (AGM) +5'29" (+3'08")

Out of the Top Ten now is Rein Taaramae (COF) who is now in 12th only 43 seconds behind van Garderen for the white jersey.

I'd like to say enjoy the rest day, but being in yellow Brad will have a lot of press to do as well as doing a long run on the bike at some point. But I'm sure he'll enjoy knowing that his lead and dominance in the Time Trail is now making his opponents think how can they eek out enough time to challenge his lead.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 8 Belfort to Porrentruy

So the first mountain day and British riders ended up in two of the prestigious jerseys of the Tour. With Chris Froome taking his first Tour stage win came the 20 points and lead in the King of the Mountains competition. Two seconds back where the two big favourites Cadel Evans and the man who would slip into the Maillot Jaune Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins 10 second prologue advantage all that splits the two.

There may have been a breakaway of seven riders up the road at one point, but when it came to the slopes of La Planche des Belles Filles it was the black and blue colours of Team Sky that did all the work, pulling them back and then the leaders up the slopes. First Edvald Boasson Hagen, then Mick Rogers and Richie Porte before in the final mix up of five there was Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins. Indeed at one point on the climb those last four named were in a group of eleven and not a single other rider had a team mate present. Cadel Evan's BMC team was decimated and only he rode on alone. Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas-Cannondale who has said "Wiggins doesn't impress me. I'm better than him." ended up losing 5 seconds on the day unable to keep up with Froome, Evans and Wiggins on the final kick.

Frank Schleck who was left on the earlier slopes did find his legs again riding up with his Radioshack-Nissan team mate Maxime Monfort. But still ended up in 12th 1'09" back, only 5 seconds ahead of the second of Wiggins mountain domestiques Porte, who was a further 10 ahead of another Rogers. The Estonian young rider Rein Taaramae did impress as the fifth of that final group. He starts in white today having finished just 19 seconds back from Froome.

Overall in 4th place now behind Wiggins, Evans, Nibali and Taaramae is Denis Menchov who came 9th on the day losing 48 seconds on the top two 54" back. Then it is two of Schelck's team mates Haimar Zubeldia and Monfort at 59" and 1'09". Ireland's Nicolas Roche is next for AG2R-La Mondiale at 1'22", then the other two Sky boys Froome and Rogers round out the top 10. The man who has worn yellow since Liege, Fabian Cancellera is next.

So what of stage 8?

The number of climbs almost matches the number of the stage. There are 7 in all.

The first, a Category 4, the Côte de Bondeval will seem like nothing by the end of the day but happens after just 20 km. It is swiftly followed by the Côte du Passage de la Douleur which is a shorter but steeper Category 3 climb at 32km.


There then follow four category 2 climbs. Côte de Maison-Rouge at 50km 7.9km long with gradient average of 5%, before descending into Switzerland then Côte de Saignelégier at 73km 7.8km at 6.1% then Côte de Saulcy only 4.6km long but at 8.6% though reaching over 10% at 5 points along the ascent including 2 at 14%, the latter near the summit. Before you get to the last category 2 climb there is the small matter of the intermediate sprint at Les Genevev, don't expect to see any of the Green Jersey leaders up there to contest those points though. The Tour then descends for about 23km before climbing the final category 2 Côte de la Caquerelle at 130.5km it measures 4.3km but has a gradient of 7.6%

A swift descent of that and then it is back to climbing straight away for the final peak of the day Col de la Croix it may be only 3.7km of climbing to its 789m summit but there is a real sting in the tail as it ramps up to as much as 17%. The average gradient is 9.2% so once again expect to see the GC contenders up here. But judging on yesterday's form Team Sky will be doing all they can to break them down. Once at the top though there is 16km of downhill road to get to the finish of the stage. So anything could happen as the road twists down towards the valley below.


With 5 points on offer for each 2nd Category climb, plus the three for the first two climbs of the day it is possible that a rider in the breakaway could take away Froome's Polka Dot Jersey if they win them all. It is however, unlikely that the breakaway would be the ones to take the honours on the final climb and claim its 10 points top prize. So it will be interesting to see how the summits are contested today. If Evans is really to be able to contest his defense of the title his team may well have to offer some challenge to Team Sky which they failed to do yesterday, or he may have to try and do something himself, if not today at some other point in the mountains.