2013 Tour de France: Prize Money

Cannondale Pro Cycling had a successful tour reflected in Peter Sagan's stage victory and winning the green jersey. Lampre-Merida had a disastrous Tour, Damiano Cunego finished 55th at 1h59'38; the best placed Lampre rider was Colombian Serpa, 21st at at 45'08".

The monetary prize list:

SKY PROCYCLING 525 690 €
MOVISTAR TEAM 344 980 €
TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 205 780 €
KATUSHA TEAM 134 900 €
OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 121 260 €
AG2R LA MONDIALE 102 910 €
CANNONDALE (ITALY) 79 110 €
RADIOSHACK LEOPARD 63 210 €
TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 52 910 €
BELKIN PRO CYCLING 52 260 €
VACANSOLEIL-DCM 48 030 €
GARMIN - SHARP 45 930 €
ORICA GREENEDGE 44 670 €
LOTTO-BELISOL 42 950 €
TEAM EUROPCAR 40 170 €
ASTANA PRO TEAM 26 540 €
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 23 890 €
BMC RACING TEAM 17 710 €
SOJASUN 15 220 €
COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 14 710 €
FDJ.FR 12 890 €
LAMPRE - MERIDA (ITALY)11 180 €
TOTAL : 2 026 900 €

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2013 Tour de France: Alpe d'Huez 2X! Tomorrow

Tomorrow's stage 18, Gap / Alpe-d'Huez, 172.5 km will feature two ascents of the Alpe d'Huez. The first Alpe d'Huez stage was held in 1952 and was won by Fausto Coppi.

How the idea of the 2x Alpe d'Huez stage came into being:
“The former riders in my team didn't want it,” said Christian Prudhomme about the idea of staging a short stage to Alpe d'Huez in the 100th edition. The race director takes up the story of how an exciting concept was hatched.

“I told my team, ‘We'll do only a little more than 100 kilometres to Alpe d'Huez and they told me, ‘No, it's too short.' I called Bernard Thévenét and said, ‘Bernard, help…!' because he, a two-time champion of the Tour has a global view. And just after he took over the lead from Eddy Merckx at Pra Loup in 1975, the day after, there was a stage that was only 107km. In my chat with him, I said, ‘Please, talk to the ex-riders from my team.'

“He explained to them what it can be. But Thierry Gouvenou (who is part of the planning committee) didn't agree. He told me, ‘It's too short. If you want to do this stage, you must do Alpe d'Huez twice!'

“This was in April 2010, and I looked at him and said, ‘What an idea! Marvellous – but not for 2011, but 2013 because it will be the 100th edition of the Tour.' That's the story of the 42 hairpins for what will be a great stage in 2013.”


Weather may be a factor and there have been some rumors about cancelling the second Alpe d'Huez ascent if the weather is terrible due to the nature of the descent of the Col de Sarenee. This is the weather forecast for tomorrow (click to enlarge):

 

A video of descending the Col de Sarenee:

Col de Sarenne - extended descent from Proflavio on Vimeo.


Other Italian winners of Alpe d'Huez stage:
Gianni Bugno, 1990 and 1991
Roberto Conti, 1994
Marco Pantani, 1995 and 1997
Giuseppe Guerini, 1999

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Tour de France Project Bike

I'm starting to slowly undertake my first French bicycle build to celebrate the 100th edition of the Tour de France. The vintage frame is by Parisian framebuilder Henri Depierre who made the frameset (labeled a Motobecane) used by Luis Ocana in his 1973 Tour de France victory:

My frameset is a "Tour de France Special" made later to commemorate that victory with the outline of France hand-cut into the sides of the headtube lugs and ovals into the tops (whereas Depierre used ovals on the side of the lugs as above).All of Depierre's frame were custom made.

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2013 Tour de France: The Joy of Winning a Stage

Davide Bramati reaction after Matteo Trentin's Tour de France stage 14 win:


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2013 Tour de France: First Italian Stage Victory Since 2010

Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), in his second year as a professional and in his first Tour de France, won stage 14 in a sprint finish in Lyon. It was the first Italian stage victory in the Tour since Alessandro Petacchi in 2010.

Trentin used his experience as the second to last leadout man for Mark Cavendish in his own sprint to victory as a group of 14 had come to the finish of the 14th stage after being on the attack for 150km. "With Mark we always plan the sprint before the race," Trentin said. "Every time we plan, so I have to start from this point, and arrive at that point. Gert has to start from that point and bring Mark to, I don't know, 250 or 200 meters. The thing we always say is 'be calm and wait for the right moment.' Today, I just waited for the right moment. Because I saw the wind, and everybody that started before me in the sprint for sure would come back because it was too strong to make a longer sprint than 200 meters. I just waited because I knew that my good sprint is 200 meters or less. When I saw the 200 meter marker, I started and that was the key of my sprint today."

Trentin continued, "After two years of professional cycling, I’ve tried almost everything. I did the Classics, I did the Giro earlier this year. For sure, I love the Classics but I think I have to grow more to be sure if I’m to be this rider or that rider. We can see in a few years."

Photo: courtesy of SIDI;  Trentin wears the new "Wire" model shoes

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2013 Tour de France: Tomorrow, Mont Ventoux

Tomorrow, on Bastille Day, more than 500,000 spectators are expected to line the finishing climb of Mont Ventoux. It will be only the 15th appearance of the "Giant of Provence" in the Tour's 110 year history. Stage 15 will also be the longest of this year's Tour, 242.5km and the highest at 1,912m.

Six times a stage has crossed Mont Ventoux, only once won by an Italian rider: Eros Poli in 1994.



Eight times a stage has finished at the summit of Mont Ventoux, only once won by an Italian rider: Marco Pantani in 2000.



Tour de France's view of tomorrow's stage: "This stage is the longest of this 100th Tour. It is also one of the most prestigious because nobody wins by chance on the Ventoux, especially not on 14 July? There are two scenarios: either a group gets away from a long way out and maintains enough of an advantage for the escapees to fight it between themselves; or the leaders shut down the race as far as the foot of the climb, transforming the stage into one enormous hill-climb! Depending on the weather, a lot of damage could be done today. Imagine what it could be like if there's blazing heat all day? Whether you're in the yellow jersey or not, if you do badly on this climb you will lose a quarter of an hour!"


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2013 Tour de France: the Italians After Week One

Eighteen Italian riders started in the 100th edition of the Tour de France. After one week, as of today's rest day, there remain sixteen in the race; there have been two withdrawals:

Remaining in race (placement/name/team/time loss from race leader):
27 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar 0:14:27
38 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:22:30
66 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:45:52
68 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:48:42
77 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:52:29
81 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:54:02
86 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:58:42
92 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 1:02:29
95 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 1:04:55
103 Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1:10:38
105Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida 1:11:52
110Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1:14:20
116Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1:18:06
121Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida 1:22:31
146 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 1:37:23
151Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 1:39:37

Withdrawals:
Adriano Malori, Lampre-Merida, on stage 7
Matteo Bono, Lampre-Merida, on stage 8

Daminao Cunego, the best hope for a high GC placement, had a disastrous stage 7 saying afterwards, "Not a good day for me, I was aware on the Col du Pailhères that my aims for the overall classification were over. Now it's time to focus all the energies in trying to battle for a stage victory". He finished 14'27" to Froome. I think his grand tour ambitions must be close to an end.

Roberto Ferrari and Daniele Bennati are the best hopes for a sprint stage victory but I don't envy them their task with Cavendish, Kittel, Greipel and Sagan all looking for more victories.

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2013 Tour de France: Refrigerated Jerseys

Lampre-Merida was thrilled with their unexpected results of the Stage 4 TTT in Nice having finished 8th and only 25 seconds from winner ORICA GreenEDGE.

They attributed their success to riding a perfect TTT, one of the best performance ever by Saronni's team; the Merida bikes which they described as amazing and use of special cooling jerseys during their warm-ups provided by Champion System who is their jersey supplier.

The special jerseys were refrigerated prior to their use and kept the riders cool in their warm-ups leading up to the start. A photo of the jersey:

 

Pretty "cool".

The end result of the impressive TTT is that Damiano Cunego, the team leader, didn't lose any major time to the GC contendors; he's only a few seconds behind Froome and Contador.

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2013 Tour de France, "The Bus"

A chaotic start to the Tour de France: a stuck ORICA GreenEDGE team bus at the finish line of stage 1 with the peloton bearing down towards the finish in a few minutes; behind the scene:


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2013 Tour de France, the Italian Riders

In total there will be only 18 Italian riders, out of a total of  198 riders, at the start tomorrow of the 100th edition of the Tour de France in Porto-Vecchio in Corsica.

Lampre-Merida training in Corsica before TdF start

Damiano Cunego has a stated aim of a high general classification finish and a stage win; Cunego is the only Italian with hopes of a a top 10 finish. 

Roberto Ferrari and Daniele Bennati  are the best hopes for sprint stage victories.

The rest of the Italians will be in the service of their team captains so how much leeway they will have in pursuing a stage victory will depend upon many factors. 

Matteo Bono
Davide Cimolai
Elia Favilli
Enrico Gasparotto
Francesco Gavazzi
Davide Malacarne
Adriano Malori (time trial specialist)
Alan Marangoni
Alessandro De Marchi
Manuele Mori
Moreno Moser
Manuel Quinziato
Fabio Sabatini
Matteo Tosatto
Matteo Trentin

Note: Only 31 riders that particpated in the Giro d'Italia will also participate in the Tour de France.

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2013 Tour de France, June 29-July 21

Running from Saturday June 29th to Sunday July 21st 2013, the 100th edition of the Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,479 kilometers.
These stages have the following profiles:
7 flat stages
5 hilly stages
6 mountain stages with 4 summit finishes
2 individual time trial stages
1 team time trial stage
2 rest days
I recommend a read of, and having as a reference, inrng's  Tour de France Overview.

Of the twenty two teams only two are Italian registered teams: Cannondale Pro Cycling and Lampre-Merida.

Cannondale Pro Cycling
The first version of the Liquigas team, heir of Brescialat with, from 1999 to 2001, riders such as Serhiy Honchar and Davide Rebellin, is a far cry from the major Italian team of the last eight seasons, whose history dates back to 2005 and continues this year under the moniker of bicycle manufacturer Cannondale, which has now taken up the baton alone from the Italian energy provider.

For a long time, the team managed by Roberto Amadio proved to perform less well on the Tour de France than elsewhere: a two times winner of the Giro d'Italia (with Danilo Di Luca in 2007 and Ivan Basso in 2010) and the Vuelta a Espana (with Vincenzo Nibali in 2010). It only boasted a single stage victory (Filippo Pozzato at Autun in 2007), upstaged by the crash on that day of favorite Alexandre Vinokourov and outsider Andreas Klöden. Indeed, Liquigas stood out mainly on the roads of Le Tour thanks to the fighting qualities of its young riders, Vincenzo Nibali and Roman Kreuziger, in 2008 and 2009, until the hat-trick of stage wins achieved by Peter Sagan in 2012.

The Slovak, the first rider born in the 1990’s to win a stage, outshone all his rivals in the race for the green jersey and prepared the terrain for Vincenzo Nibali, the leading rider (3rd) behind Sky’s one-two in Paris. Now that the “Shark from Messina” has left for Astana, Sagan, who instantly became a star on Le Tour, now bears the responsibilities of team leader alone, which does not frighten him in the slightest.

Stage victories: 4
- 2007: Filippo Pozzato in Autun.
2012: Peter Sagan in Seraing, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Metz.

Victories in secondary classifications: 1
2012: Peter Sagan, green jersey

Yellow Jerseys: 0

KEY FIGURES
141: the massive lead of Peter Sagan, new to the race, over runner-up André Greipel in the points classification on Le Tour 2012.

KEY DATES
12th July 2007: in Autun, Filippo Pozzato wins the sole stage victory for Liquigas at the time.
14th July 2008: in Hautacam, Vincenzo Nibali obtains the white jersey for best young rider that he reluctantly has to hand over to Andy Schleck six days later, when Le Tour visits Prato Nevoso in Italy.
12th July 2012: at La Toussuire, Vincenzo Nibali rises up to 3rd place in the general classification where he would remain for the rest of the race.

LAMPRE-MERIDA

By finishing seventh on the Tour de France 2011, Damiano Cunego boosted the reputation of Lampre, a team that had been rather discreet up until then during fourteen participations on the Tour de France, having treated the Giro d'Italia as a priority. However, this was not the best overall classification of one of its riders: Lithuanian Raimondas Rumsas climbed onto the podium (3rdin 2002) and Roberto Conti, the third Italian winner at Alpe-d’Huez after Fausto Coppi and Gianni Bugno, in 1994, finished sixth that same year.

The pink and blue jersey of the Italian laminated steel manufacturer has been present on the roads of Le Tour since 1993, the year in which Uzbek sprinter Djamolidine Abdoujaparov achieved his best performance on the Big Loop, winning three stages and the points classification. The team, however, dipped out of existence between 1996 and 1999, but thanks to the will of the Galbusera family (the father and son managing the firm), it resumed its cycling history by re-launching the career of another sprinter, Czech rider Jan Svorada, a stage winner during both periods of the team’s existence (in 1994 and 2001). Before the arrival in its colours of two of the greatest Italian sprinters of the modern era, Daniele Bennati and Alessandro Petacchi, the Lampre team gave the Tour de France one of its biggest thrills in 2002 with the unexpected charge, right under the nose of the pack, by young Swiss rider Rubens Bertogliati, who broke away in Luxembourg under the red flame signalling the last kilometre, to the great displeasure of Erik Zabel, who was still the king of sprinters for some time to come.

On its fifteenth appearance on Le Tour, the team managed by former world champion Giuseppe Saronni just missed out on a thirteenth stage victory when Michele Scarponi lost out to Thomas Voeckler at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine in 2012.

Stage victories: 12
- 1993: Djamolidine Abdoujaparov at Vannes, Bordeaux and Paris.
- 1994: Jan Svorada at Futuroscope and Roberto Conti at Alpe-d’Huez
- 1999: Ludo Dierckxsens at Saint-Étienne.
- 2001: Jan Svorada at Paris.
- 2002: Rubens Bertogliati at Luxembourg.
- 2007: Daniele Bennati at Castelsarrasin and in Paris.
- 2010: Alessandro Petacchi at Brussels and Reims.

Victories in secondary classifications: 3
- 1993: Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (green jersey)
- 2006: Damiano Cunego (best young rider)
- 2010: Alessandro Petacchi (green jersey)

Yellow Jerseys: 2
- 2002: Rubens Bertogliati, two days

KEY FIGURES
10: the number of points by which Alessandro Petacchi led Thor Hushovd at the finish of the final stage in Paris in 2010

KEY DATES
19thJuly 1994: Roberto Conti (6thin the final general classification) won at Alpe-d’Huez even though Lampre only had three riders left in the race, the two others being sprinter Jan Svorada and domestique Marco Zen.
7th July 2002: Rubens Bertogliati breathed new life into the forgotten type of feat whereby a sole rider surprises the pack by breaking away a kilometre before the arrival to pick up the Yellow Jersey.
18th July 2006: Damiano Cunego was beaten by Fränk Schleck at Alpe-d’Huez but took a significant lead in the White Jersey race for the best young rider in which he was battling with German Fothen.

In total there will be only 18 Italian riders, out of of 211, in this year's Tour. Tomorrow we'll discuss how they might fare in the race.

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358 Surviving Italian Tour de France Finishers

Interesting article in cyclingnews.com about the Tour de France celebrating the 100th edition of the race with an invitation to every rider who has ever finished the Tour to the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in 2013.

"2,060 of the 8,339 riders to have finished the Tour are still living, and L’Équipe reports that it is hoped that at least a quarter of them will be able to make the journey to Paris next July, where they will be feted in a ceremony as the “Giants of the Tour.”

The riders will be seated in a special tribune on the Place de la Concorde during the final stage of the Tour on July 21, which takes place in the evening, with the floodlit finish on the Champs-Élysées expected at 9.45pm.

The “giants” will also be presented to the public in the Tuileries Garden on the eve of the Tour’s entry into Paris, and ASO is expected to announce full details of the project in February.

France has the most surviving Tour finishers, with 491, followed by Italy (358), Spain (301) and Belgium (256), while a further 37 nations have had at least one Tour finisher.

The oldest surviving Tour finisher is 98-year-old Pierre Cogan. The Frenchman rode his first Tour in 1935, when he was just 21."

Great idea!

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Reactions to 2013 Tour de France Route

Bradley Wiggins, 2012 Tour de France winner:
"My priority is the Giro d'Italia. It's become apparent that it's very difficult to compete in two grand tours and so it's very likely I'll be there [in the Tour] in a helping capacity, supporting Chris Froome." Note: Should Wiggins win the Giro d'Italia it would be a first for Great Britain. The inclusion in the Giro next year of a 53km individual time trial, unusually long for the race and Wiggins' strongest suit, makes it even more attractive for him.

Alberto Contador, winner of 2007 and 2009 Tour de France:
"It’s a well balanced route, but it’s going to be wide open right to the end, and the final stages will be really spectacular. It’s going to be great for the fans because the end of the Tour will be at altitude. We’ll have to see, but I think it’s going to be very uncertain. It’s Froome I fear the most, he’s very dangerous in the mountains and he was the strongest climber this year."

Giuseppe Martinelli, Mangager, Astana:
"The hundredth edition of the Tour de France is more difficult than the 2012 edition but still much less than so many other editions in which I participated. I think it is a tour within the reach of many, one that offers something for everyone, including us. There are opportunities for the sprinters, the climbers, in the team time trial which is always spectacular, and some stages are suited to a long breakaway. The race design does not benefit the chronoman as it did last year, nor does it favor climbers.The start in Corsica makes everything harder. It's not a classic first week of flat stages, in the second and third stages the riders will face some pretty good climbs. Whoever is racing for GC will have to arrive 100% ready in Porto Vecchio. The three Alpine stages will be very difficult, it starts with a double-Alpe d'Huez climb and followed by stages with finishes of Le Grand-Bornand and Semnoz. I do not see the Mont Ventoux stage being particularly decisive but it will be certainly beautiful."

Domenico Pozzovivo, riding for Ag2r La Mondiale next year:
"Apart from the first stage, which is not particularly difficult, the other two in Corsica are particularly challenging and this for the Tour can be an advantage because maybe there will be fewer crashes and less nervousness. I think the time trial will be less decisive for the overall ranking compared to other years, at least on paper, because the team time trial is only 25 km and the other two are not 50-55 km. In in my opinion will be the most decisive stages will be the mountaintop finishes, especially those of Mont Ventoux and the Alpe d'Huez."

Joaquin "Purito" Rodriguez, number one in the World Tour classifications, 1st 2012 Il Lombardia, 2nd 2012 Giro d'Italia:
"Now I know the parcours of the Giro and the Tour. Once I see the Vuelta's I will decide which two grand tours I will participate in."

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2013 Tour de France, 100th Anniversary Edition

The route of the 100th Tour de France was unveiled this morning at the Paris Convention Centre in front of an audience of 4,000 people.

Key points:
100th edition of the Tour de France, Saturday, June 29th to Sunday, July 21th 2013

21 stages covering 3,479 kilometres (before final ratification). The first three stages, taking place in Corsica, will be road stages with the first time trial, a TTT, scheduled for stage 4.
7 flat stages
5 hilly stages
6 mountain stages with 4 summit finishes
2 individual time trial stages
1 team time trial stage
2 rest days

10 new stage towns: Porto-Vecchio, Bastia, Ajaccio, Calvi (Corsica will welcome the Tour for the first time), Cagnes-sur-Mer, Saint-Gildas-des-Bois, Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, Givors, Chorges, and Annecy-Semnoz.

For the first time in 10 years the Tour will not leave France's borders.

Mont Ventoux will be re-visited for the first time since 2009 on stage 15, with Mont Ventoux coming at the end of the longest stage of the edition at 242 km. There will be a double (!!) ascent of Alpe d'Huez on stage 18.

A shame that the presentation of the 100th edition of this great race comes during this period of turmoil in cycling due to the recent revelations of Lance Armstrong's, et.al., doping and his being stripped of seven Tour de France titles. Sadly, it's hard to get excited....

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