Category: Tour de France

Denmark's Niki Sörensen brought home a solo breakaway victory at the Tour de France on Thursday on a day that many thought would see a fifth stage victory by Columbia's Mark Cavendish.

Although the 131-mile route from Tonnerre to Vittel sported several small climbs, Stage 12 was well-suited to the sprinters in the peloton.

In fact, several early attacks by riders were pulled back by the peloton. It wasn't until relatively late in the race — with 50 miles behind them — that a 7-man breakaway finally escaped. ….

The Columbia cycling team proved on Wednesday that they can prevail in the sprint regardless of how many rival teams try to unseat them.

In spite of Team Milram trying to uncouple the Columbia train rolling into Saint Fargeau, the US-based cycling outfit set up Mark Cavendish for another stage win just ahead of Washington's own Tyler Farrar on Garmin.

The victory marked the Brit's fourth in the 2009 Tour de France and the eighth in his career. In winning, he equaled the British record of eight Tour stage wins held for more than 30 years by Barry Hoban.

While Hoban won his stages over a period of nine years, the 24-year-old from the Isle of Man accomplished it in three years of racing the Tour de France….

The cycling equivalent of watching paint dry ended with a brilliant finish by Mark Cavendish with Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar hanging on for dear life.

After Tuesday's Stage 10 of the Tour de France seemed to drag on for hours with a four-man breakaway riding within sight of the main peloton, the sprinters' teams took charge of the peloton with about 3 miles left in the race.

Teams Columbia and Garmin each positioned themselves at the front, but George Hincapie was able to make Columbia the dominant team for their sprinter, Cavendish. Teammate Mark Renshaw took over the lead briefly, then Cavendish drove to the finish as Hushovd and Farrar struggled in vain to pass ….

Chalk up another Tour de France victory for the French as Pierrick Fedrigo won Stage 9 on Sunday by slightly more than a nose in Tarbes.

Fedrigo (aka “le nez de Marmande”) and Franco Pellizotti were the sole survivors of a breakaway that escaped about 10 miles into the 100-mile race from Saint Gauden to Tarbes.

The pair remained in front as the route coursed over the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet in the Tour's final day in the Pyrenees.

In spite of some half-hearted attacks on those climbs, the overall leaders came together as the peloton had more than 40 miles from the summit of Col du Tourmalet to the finish line ….

Spain's Luis León Sánchez scored a saintly victory in the Pyrenees on Saturday at the head of a four-man breakaway.

The Caisse d'Epargne cyclist later said that he offered the stage win to a breakaway companion if he could capture the yellow jersey. That scenario didn't materialize in the 110-mile race through the mountains to Saint Girons, however.

Tour de France first-timer Rinaldo Nocentini held onto the overall leader's yellow jersey, and remained 6 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador and 8 seconds ahead of Lance Armstrong.

Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish, however, lost his green points jersey to Norway's Thor Hushovd, who gained sprint points on the road on Saturday. …..

Italy's Rinaldo Nocentini jumped 32 places on Stage 7 to take over the yellow jersey at the Tour de France on Friday.

After Fabian Cancellara wore the leader's jersey since the end of the bicycle race's first stage — the last three virtually tied with Lance Armstrong, this first stage in the Pyrenees was expected to usher in a new leader.

But few could have predicted Nocentini, an AG2R cyclist who moved up the rankings by joining a breakaway earlier in the day and surviving to finish in fouth place, 26 seconds behind stage winner Brice Feillu of France.

Meanwhile, the favorites battled it out about three minutes behind. After Cadel Evans attacked in an attempt to make up time he lost earlier in the week, Alberto Contador scampered past him to take over the overall No. 2 spot from Armstrong, who now sits in 3rd place, 2 seconds behind Contador.

Throw in Levi Leipheimer in 4th place, at 39 seconds out of first, and you have an Astana bottleneck high in the General Classification ….

Norway's thundering sprinter Thor Hushovd won a tightly contested sprint in Barcelona on Thursday after the peloton took a squeegee to David Millar's hopes of a solo victory on Stage 6 of the Tour de France.

The overall leaders finished intact on the slippery streets of Barcelona as Fabian Cancellara held onto the yellow jersey for another day with Lance Armstrong trailing by less than a second.

Cancellara should savor his last hours in the yellow jersey, however, as the Tour rockets into the Pyrenees on Friday with a mountain top finish at Andorre Arcalis. He's unlikely to survive in the lead as a host of climbers, including four on Astana, will be ready to take over. …

Sometimes the breakaway does survive to the finish at the Tour de France and rewards a long-suffering cyclist with victory.

That's what happened on the 122-mile race from Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan for Stage 5 on Wednesday when France's Thomas Voeckler once again raised himself from virtual obscurity to win his first-ever stage of the Tour de France.

Fabian Cancellara held onto the yellow jersey for another day, as he's led the race since Stage 1. Lance Armstrong still trails by a fraction of a second.

If you remember Voeckler's name, it's because the improbable hero of France wore the yellow jersey for 10 days back in 2004, beating the odds daily to hold onto the yellow jersey….

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Team Astana delivered Lance Armstrong to the finish line for Tuesday's team time trial in the exact time that he trailed Tour de France leader Fabian Cancellara — 40 seconds — and not a second faster.

That made the finish so close that race judges had to rely on fractions of a second. The decision went to Cancellara, who has held the yellow jersery since the finish of Stage 1.

Cancellara certainly earned the honor of wearing the yellow again. His Saxo Bank team finished in third place in the 24-mile team time trial largely on his efforts at pulling them through the final couple of miles on the course.

Astana hit the last time check before the finish line 41 seconds ahead of Saxo Bank, but lost a second to Cancellara's team over the final section. That's were the Swiss time trial specialist had hunkered down and led his team home. ….

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[Updates inside, including “Contador caused the split”]

Sometimes just showing up to work is enough for a routine stage of the Tour de France, but sometimes you have to pay attention.

Lance Armstrong pays attention.

The veteran of 12 Tours de France, Armstrong caught a Team Columbia attack late in Stage 3 on Monday that split the peloton. Armstrong's position in the break caused him to jump from 10th to 3rd place in the General Classification.

The titular head of Team Astana, Alberto Contador, was caught in the chasing peloton that finished 40 seconds behind the lead group.

New Astana leader?

Observers will note that Armstrong had Astana teammates Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia in the breakaway with him, and all three helped drive the breakaway from the peloton. Conspiracy theorists also may note that longtime Armstrong lieutenant George Hincapie rides for the Columbia team that created the split and pushed the pace.

Astana is favored to win the Stage 4 team time trial on Tuesday. As the top-placed rider on Astana, there's a chance that Armstrong could be in the yellow jersey after that stage …

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