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 17 Bagnères de Luchon to Peyragudes

Nibali being pulled back by the last two men from the peleton.

Hear ye, hear ye. The King is dead long live the new King.

Cadel Evans (BMC) was dropped once against yesterday and this time there was no truce and no limiting of losses, nor was Tejay van Garderen required to hang back with the rest of the team to help the team leader.

But who is the new King. It should be Bradley Wiggins. But if some misfortune overcomes the Maillot Jaune today Sky still have the fall back of Chris Froome. Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) tried again yesterday to break the Sky one-two but if Froome wasn't pacing Brad back to his wheel, Wiggo was doing the same for Chris. The stage yesterday saw the three of the them locked together taking time out of all the other contenders. Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT), Haimar Zubeldia (RNT) and van Garderen were in the group 58 seconds down lead across the line by Nico Roche (AGM).

Early on there were 38 of the 152 riders still left in the Tour in a breakaway up the field. That is 25% of the race, just not any of the 10% that matter. In that Group was Thomas Voeckler (EUR) who ended up taking the top spot on both of the Hors Catégorie Climbs of the day and both the 1st Category Climbs. On the Col d'Aubisque second over the top were the Polka Dots on the back of Fredrik Kessiakoff, who was 4th over the Tourmalet but was outside the top 6 for the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Peyresourde, with only 34 points on the day Kessiakoff ended the day with 4 points less than Voeckler in the King of the Mountains.

Voeckler who attacked alone for the last climb and with only Brice Feillu for the one before that was not surprisingly the comabtive rider of the day as well as winning the stage by 1'40".

Today's stage in the final Mountain stage of the Tour. It is over 143km not all of them new to this years race as once the road circles around to Saint Aventin it is back up the Peyresourde in the reverse direction to yesterday before a short part of the descent before turning off the the left for the climb to Peyragudes.

After 17km of today's loop though the road starts to go up with the first category Col de Menté, the 15th time this has been a mountain in le Tour. In 1971 it was tackled in the direction we are going today on the way to Bagnères de Luchon during stage 14. Eddy Merckx was 7 minutes behind Luis Ocaña in yellow at the time and on the decent both men were taking risks, Merckx fell on a bend into a retaining wall, Ocaña following close behind could not avoid him and crashed himself. Although Merckx was up and off again quickly Ocaña's couldn't release his toe clips quickly and Joop Zoetemelk collided with the prostrate Ocaña. The Spaniard was helicoptered off the mountain his Tour over and the following day Merckx refused to wear the Maillot Jaune as a mark of respect.

Without that crash, which is marked by a memorial on the spot as they came down it is possible that Merckx may not have been one of the five time winners of Le Tour. But it is a constant reminder to all leaders that the race is not won until all the corners on all the descents are negotiated.

After the Col de Menté there is a relatively flat section of today's race. Although the category 2 Col de Ares and Category 3 Côte de Burs do intervene. Then at 95 km into the stage the climbing resumes again in earnest. 


First up is the 11.7km climb up the Port de Balès which is only in it's 3rd Tour having featured in 2007 and 2010 previously it is the day's only Hor Catégorie climb. The Average gradient is 7.7% but there is a three km section that averages over 9% 5km from the end. If Vincenzo Nibali still has any designs on winning this Tour it is likely to be at that point that he is going to have to attack. The descent is not likely to allow him to pull out a gap on Wiggins and it is doubtful that the gentler climb of the Peyresourde before taking the addition to Peyragude is going to going to offer him much opportunity to gain enough time.

After 16.5km of descending the Tour will find itself on familiar roads as for the next 12.5km they are going back the way they came yesterday. As they summit the Peyresourde and take part of the descent before turning off up to the Peyragudes ski station. The final climb itself is less than 3km, but along with the Peyresourde it is counting as a 1st category climb. There is a km of flt racing at the top and if Nibali reaches the plateau with Wiggins and/or Froome in close attendance his Tour is over and he will only have a podium position.

There are 62 King of the Mountains points on offer today, twenty of them for the mountain finish and I doubt that either Voeckler nor Kessiakoff will be there to pick up those. With Chris Anke Sorenson 40 points behind Voeckler and with only a maximum 7 more KoM points available between Peyragudes and Paris today should be the day that the Polka Dot Jersey finds it final recipient. if neither Voeckler nor Kessiakoff pick up any early points from a break away though it may come down to who if either can get into a break tomorrow. Voekler really only needs to secure 4 points more than Kessiakoff today to be sure. 9th on the Port de Balès or 4th on the Col de Menté or 10th on the Peyragudes if Kessiakoff fails to score.

If Peter Sagan (LIQ) gets through this final mountain stage his 102 point lead should be enough for him to be riding the green jersey into Paris and all the way to the line. Seeing as he has worn it since the start of Stage 2 and as of right since the start of Stage 3 his dominance in that competition has been almost absolute.

Yesterday Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was given the nod by Cadel Evans to race on for the White Jersey as best young rider and not come back to support the defending champion who said later that he was suffering from stomach pains. If he stays in contact or ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) who lost a little time to now be 3'48" back in that competition he should also be wearing that jersey all the way to Paris. However, Pinot along with Pierre Rolland (EUC) are both on track to be in the Top 10. If they do, after last year it will only be the second time since 2000 that more than one French cyclist has filled spots in the top 10, but with both in the early days of their careers rather than experienced men it holds the greatest hope for France to end the home Grand Tour drought since Bernhard Hinault.

And finally... today could be the day that means Bradley Wiggins takes the Maillot Jaune into the start box in last place for the Time Trial. With a Time Trailer like him that would be hard to make up by anyone, and with Fabian Cancellera nursing his new daughter and Tony Martin nursing his fractured wrist there isn't any obvious winner of the stage on Saturday so here is a good luck song from a fellow fan.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 11 Albertville to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles

Yesterday saw the Tour enter the Alps and a group of 25 made the early headway including Peter Sagan (LIQ), Matt Goss (OGE) and Thomas Voeckler (EUC). The first two of these were significant as they were the only contenders for the Green Jersey that were at the front after the Côte de Corlier for the intermediate sprint. It was Goss that took the maximum points with Sagan only coming in third, so Goss closed 5 points closer to the Slovakian.


However they were both dropped on the Col du Grand Colombier when a group of four, Voeckler, Luis-Léon Sanchez (RAB), Michele Scarponi (LAM) and Dries Devenyns (OPQ) were left in front. Voeckler it was that took the maximum points for the first HC climb of this Tour lifting him into the lead of the King of the Mountains competition.


Behind them there were three riders from Sky pacing the main peleton and their leader Bradley Wiggins up the Grand Colombier. On the way down however, Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) went off the front showing his descending prowess. He came upon Sagan who helped him get virtual second position on the road before the Col du Richemond. Behind going into one of the sharp right handers Mick Rodgers punctured while just ahead of the yellow jersey of Wiggins and almost made the leader run wide, but with just Richie Porte and Chris Froome for company they set off in pursuit. The Richemond proved a climb too many of the legs of the Green Jersey and eventually Nibali himself was caught by a monstrous effort from Porte on the front.


At summit of the Richemond however Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT) and Pierre Rolland (EUC) managed to get away as they started the final descent to the finish. On this descent Jen Voigt (RNT), who had been part of the original breakaway manage to time trail his way back up to the leading four and hardly waiting before launching his own attack for home. Though it was short lived as first Voeckler, then Sanchez worked to close him down.

Behind the main peleton there was a similar act of desparation as Teejay van Garderen (BMC) did the same to the main peleton which contained Rein Taaramae (COF) who was in danger of once again taking the white jersey for young rider off the American. He didn't quite manage to get back but he managed to save his jersey if only by 25 seconds.

When it came to the final kick to the end Devenyns made an attack with about 2km to go, which neither Voeckler nor Voigt seemed initially able to go with. Eventually Sanchez had to bring the Belgian rider back. Then it was Voeckler's turn about 1km from the end as the leading five all seemed to battle for the finish on weary legs in what appeared like a slow motion sprint. Sanchez tried to get back but then he faded fast. In the end Voeckler managed to hold on, three seconds ahead of Scarponi, four more to Voigt, then Sanchez a further 19 back. There was another five including the van den Broeck and Rolland group of four between the leaders and the peleton, where once again Cadel Evans (BMC) tried to launch a final attack to gain any seconds back from Wiggins, but the yellow jersey was right there on his wheel to prevent any gaps opening and though it was Thibaut Pinot who just edged Evans on the line most of the GC contenders were in that group of 16 riders who were 3'16 down on the day.

Voeckler then made three trips to the podium, one as stage winner, one as the combative rider of the day and finally having take the maximum points from the last two climbs, as well as 1 for 4th on the first, to pull on the Polka Dot Jersey as King of the Mountains. 

Today's stage may only be 148km in distance but it is a monster none the less. In this Olympic year the Tour makes one of two visits to an Olympic host as we depart from Albertville.

But less than 14.5km into the race we face the 24th time the Tour, since it first appeared in 1969, will have gone up the Hors Catégorie Col de la Madeleine. The last time the Tour climbed the Madeleine in 2010 it ended after the decent in the town of St-Jean-de-Maurienne today it will skirt the edge of that same town, though not before climbing the Col de la Croix de Fer another HC climb with the Col du Mollard as category 2 break in the descent, before just as the race enters St-Jean-de-Maurienne it turns almost sharply back upon itself for a final 1st Category climb up to the  La Toussuire - Les Sybelles which is the only high mountain finish on this years tour. The Madeleine approach today from the North is 25.3km at 6.2% gradient, taking the Tour for the first time this year to an altitude of 2000m. Before a twisty descent of 19.8km to the valley below at 8%.

The Croix de Fer itself is making its 16th appearance in the Tour since it debuted in 1947. Today just after the intermediate sprint the Tour will take its most difficult approach to this Col. 22.4km, via the Col  du Glandon, itself an HC Climb which has been used in the Tour, where an alternate fork in the road takes you on elsewhere.The gradient to the top averages 6.9% and will take the riders to 2069m.

After yet another technical descent there is a short interuption, if 5.7km climbing the 6.8% gradient of the Col du Maollard can be called an interuption. But as only a second category blip on the map this time that is all it is.

The final 18km of the day are up La Toussuire, which is making its second appearance in the Tour after 2006. Though it was last climbed by many of the GC contenders in last year's Critérium du Dauphiné. Joaquim Rodríquez, who is not here after coming 2nd in the Giro, may have won that day, but Thibaut Pinot who won on Sunday was second, along with van den Broeck and Alexandre Vinokourov 7 seconds back, just 3 seconds  ahead of Evans and Wiggins who was in yellow on that last stage to secure his first win.

Here are the final km of that stage last year look out for various shortcuts they were able to find, there are liable to be bigger crowds on the slopes today and these may not be available quick routes:



Coverage starts on Eurosport and ITV4 from the off at midday today as they both expect fireworks from the off.

Update I like this, today I got sent this from the local TV Station showing  the Étape du Tour when the amateurs went over today's course 4 days ago.

Tour de France 2012: The Teams - Europcar

Continuing to look in depth at the teams that will be taking part in this years Tour de France. Today it is looking at the somewhat surprise package from last year that almost put a Frenchman on the final podium for the first time since 1997.

Thomas Voeckler was ahead of the race last year on the stage that the TV car took out Johnny Hoogerland and Juan Antonia Flecha. But he was one of the three who stayed on their bikes and away to the line. Coming second on the stage was enought to give him a lead of 1'49" over fellow break survivor Luis Léon Sanchez but 2'26" over the first of the favourites Cadel Evans. He then held his yellow jersey through the Pyrénées and Alps until the slopes of the last Mountain Alpe d'Huez, when his legs gave up and his loyal lieutenant was also to take his own glory.

Pierre Rolland stuck by his team leader in yellow through all the Mountain passes often pulling him back when it looked like he was about to lose it. But finally on the stage to Alpe d'Huez his leader knew he was unable to keep up with those that were challenging him and young Rolland then 24 was given his wings. In the end he secured his first stage win in a Grand Tour seeing off Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez and Alberto Contador. It also secured him the white jersey for best young rider and a top 10 spot, both of which he defended on the following day's time trial.

Anthony Charteau was the 2010 King of the Mountains in the Tour. With Rolland he was shepharding Voeckler through the mountains last year. He is a three time winner of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo a stage race in Gabon which he defended for a second time earlier this year.

Damien Gaudin the 25-year-old has recently moved from the track where he was a two time individual pursuit and madison French champion. It suggests that he may be a threat on the opening prologue as well as have potential in sprint finishes.

Cyril Gautier another able young rider. Was the European U23 Champion in 2008 and best young rider ealier this year in the Critérium Intenational

Yukiya Arashiro in 2009 Arashiro became the first Japanese rider to be complete the Tour along with Fumiyuki Beppu. When he completed the Giro in 2010 he became the first Japanese cyclist to finish two Grand Tour events. He is a domestique for the team but was national champion in 2007 and Asian champion last year.

Giovanni Bernaudeau his major success was coming 2nd in the U23 Paris-Tours in 2004 but he is here to ride for the leader he completed the Giro d'Italia in 2005.


Yohann Gène has won stages in each of the last three Tropicale Amissa Bongo he was also the points winner in this years event.


Christophe Kern was the French Time Trial champion in 2011 as well as winning Stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.