http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/COURSE/us/2000/etape_par_etape.htmlAlways magnificent "A little road stage, the shortest of the Tour (120 km). But it will no doubt be an apotheosis, with the traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées. Always the same, always magnificent since 1975. We already know more or less what will happen: a festive start in Rambouillet, two short hours before things really get going, and then a sudden, spectacular acceleration to mark the peloton’s arrival in the Parisian circuit. All of this before 1.5 billion TV viewers, nothing to sneeze at! For the rest, I do not think any brave riders will be able to slip under the radar of the sprinters' teams. On paper, Mark Cavendish can dream of a fourth straight win.""This was a hard Tour. They are always hard – they never seem to get any easier, in fact they get harder. It is impossible to describe how tough the Tour de France is."--George Hincapie in Velonation Team Sky has gone yellow on twitter: TeamSky 5:28am via Web There will, by the way, actually be a race today, but only at the very end of the stage. Almost all of the day will be ceremonial until the final sprint, probably the most prestigious in cycling. The favorite is Mark Cavendish and I am hoping that he'll win. From twitter: MarkCavendish |
Stage: Mark Cavendish
Final GC and the first ever British winner of the Tour:
1 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling | 84:26:31 | |
2 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:03:21 | |
3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:06:19 | |
4 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team | 0:10:15 | |
5 | Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:11:04 | |
6 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:15:43 | |
7 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:15:51 | |
8 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:16:31 | |
9 | Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | 0:16:38 | |
10 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | 0:17:17 |
K is excited for the final Tour stage. |
Wine: Ridgeview Bloomsbury 2009 (I do so wish I had their Cavendish) From Franklywines
"The sparkling wines from Ridgeview Estate
[...] are superb and will forever put to rest the notion that England is
not capable of making good wine." - Eric Asimov, New York Times"
From the producer:
Ridgeview was founded in 1994 by Mike and Chris Roberts and is
dedicated to creating world class sparkling wines in the South Downs of
England. Our vineyards specialise in growing classic grape varieties
to make the highest quality bottle fermented sparkling wines. The
world class status of our wines is reflected by the number of national
& international medals and trophies we have received since the
release of our first wines from the 1996 vintage.
Bloomsbury: The Blend: A Chardonnay dominant blend which is supported by the fullness of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
Another one in the books. Saw the post-finish-interview with Hincapie -- gentleman and sportsman. And Wiggins? As much as people say that he was favored before the Tour, I certainly didn't read much press saying that this was Wiggins' year. Tremendous discipline from Sky. Thanks for blogging it all.
ReplyDeleteWord on the street from the saddle was that we were all disappointed that there were not more serious attempts during mountain stages to challenge the slim leads that Sky had then. And of course, all crushed by the Frank Schleck revelation. An "Et tu, Brute?" moment.