Category: Tour de France

I love it when the unsung, work-a-day athlete suddenly scores it big in any sport. That happened May 10 when Christian Vande Velde earned the maglia rosa at the 2008 Giro d'Italia.

And it has been happening at the 2008 Tour de France, where Vande Velde has exploded out of the peloton and into the realm of the favorites, sitting in 3rd place overall after the 10th Stage.

Ever since I started this bicycling blog in 2005, the name Christian Vande Velde has come up repeatedly among US cyclists competing in elite competitions in Europe and the US.

But he never made the headlines. Ever since turning pro in 1998, the native of Lemont, Illinois, has been the guy delivering water bottles to Lance Armstrong, or helping pace Carlos Sastre or Frank Schleck over mountain passes.

Then in May, at age 31, he ends up leading the surviving five cyclists in the Slipstream-Chipotle pack in the team time trial at the Giro d'Italia and wins. What's more, it's the first stage, so he earns the maglia rosa, the pink jersey. Further, he becomes the only US cyclist since Andy Hampsten in 1988 to do so.

Now, after 10 stages of the Tour de France, he's riding in the GC contender group with the big names Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre, and Denis Menchov….

Continue reading

Aussie Cadel Evans took the yellow jersey at Tour de France stage 10 on Monday as Saunier Duval teammates Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo finished first and second at the mountaintop finish at Hautacam.

Remaining in third place overall, Christian Vande Velde battled with the general classification favorites all day. Matching their accelerations and making his own attacks, the Garmin-Chipotle cyclist showed he has the right stuff for a podium finish in Paris.

In addition to Evans (last year's second-place finisher), the big winner of the day was Frank Schleck of Team CSC. He attacked on the Col de Tourmalet to help teammate Carlos Sastre, but Sastre couldn't take advantage. Schleck ended up climbing from 11th place into second overall as he finished right behind the breakaway leaders, nearly two minutes ahead of Evans and Vande Velde.

Continue reading

Riccardo Ricco, who fell in Saturday's ride, came back to win his second stage in four days, almostly completely and utterly alone for the last 30 km after passing Sebastian Lang of Gerolsteiner on the Col d’Aspin.

Starting in Toulouse under cloudy skies, today's 139-mile route into the Pyrenees separated the sprinters from the mountain climbers. 

Two casulties were Garmin-Chipolte rider …

Continue reading

Team Columbia took care of business during Stage 8 on an utterly and completely wet from start to finish day in the Tour de France.

(UPDATE: First Tour de France accused doper is Manuel Beltran of Liquigas)

How long did Luis Sanchez celebrate as he crossed the finish line in Aurillac? Was it 5 seconds; 15 seconds? It seemed like a full minute at he pointed toward the heavens and spread his arms to rejoice as a chase group closed down the gap.

But the 24-year-old Spaniard on Caisse d'Epargne won Stage 7 with 6 seconds to spare, as the chase group with most of the race leaders and favorites sprinted for the finish on the 99-mile Tour de France stage.

George Hincapie and Team Columbia rode at the front of the peloton much of the day as they protected the yellow jersey for Kim Kirchen, although the Luxembourg cyclist had to finish up the race on his own in the lead group.

Garmin-Chipotle's Christian Vande Velde finished in that lead group with race favorites Kirchen, Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde, Frank Schleck, Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov. The US cyclist retained his fourth place position overall, 44 seconds behind Kirchen …

Continue reading

For a minute, it looked like US cyclist Christian Vande Velde would win the Stage 6 mountain top finish at the Tour de France on Thursday.

But the climb to Super Besse was too steep and too long, and attacks by stronger climbers allowed Italy's Riccardo Ricco to easily win the stage, followed closely by overall favorites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans.

The 10% climb in the final mile also took another casualty, as overall race leader Stefan Schumacher touched a wheel and fell on the uphill. Although he finished the race, he lost time to Team Columbia's Kim Kirchen, above, who took the yellow jersey.

The Luxembourg cyclist for the US-based team has been battling near the front on several earlier stages. Ironically, it was Kirchen's rear wheel that tripped up Schumacher on the final climb up Super Besse…

Continue reading

Twenty-three-year-old Mark Cavendish is such a talented sprinter that many commentators haven't asked if the Team Columbia cyclist would win a Tour de France stage, but when.

When came Wednesday at the end of the 144-mile Stage 5 of the Tour from Cholet to Châteauroux.

US-based Team Columbia, led on the road by George Hincapie, controlled the peloton on the final miles into Châteauroux and charged hard over the last few kilometers to reel in the three-man breakaway. A member of that group, Nicolas Vogondy of Agritubel, attacked his comrades with about a mile left to race.

When Thor Hushovd entered the fray with this Credit Agricole team, Cavendish saw it was time to make his move and sprinted past them all for the win. Following Cavendish across the finish line were notable sprinters Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Erik Zabel (Milram), Hushovd, and Baden Cooke (Barloworld). …

Continue reading

Strong rides in the 18-mile individual time trial on Tuesday catapulted Christian Vande Velde and George Hincapie into 6th and 7th place overall at the Tour de France.

But it was Germany's Stefan Schumacher riding for Gerolsteiner who stole the show at Stage 4 in Cholet with his stage win, which also put him in first place in the general classification, just 12 seconds ahead of Team Columbia's Kim Kirchen.

In fact, half the riders in the top 10 are members of the two US-based team in this year's Tour de France. Here's the overall Top 10 breakdown with the US teams bold-faced ….

Continue reading

US cyclist and Tour de France freshman Will Frischkorn, right, finished second on Stage 3 at the Tour de France on Monday in a hard fought 3-man sprint.

The move catapulted him into 3rd place overall from down in 122nd at the beginning of the day. What an amazing finish for a guy who showed up for his first Tour de France as a domestique on a continental cycling team.

The 27-year-old cyclist for Garmin-Chipotle was a member of a four-man breakaway that survived for the entire 129-mile stage from Saint Malo to Nantes. He received the “most aggressive rider” of the day award.

That breakaway included stage winner Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and the new overall leader, Romain Feillu of Agritubel, who won the yellow jersey from Alejandro Valverde …

Continue reading

Google Map

Update: I can't swear that this is going to work for you Monday morning, but on Sunday I was able to find live video streaming of the Tour de France with commentary in English. Your company may frown upon you doing this while you're getting paid to work, but in the interests of full disclosure, here's what I did: …

Continue reading