2009 TDF stage 15: Pontarlier - Verbier 207.5 km

[steve]

2009 TDF stage 15: Pontarlier - Verbier 207.5 km

MOUNTAIN PASSES & HILLS

Km 8.0: Côte du Rafour - 3.7 km climb to 5.1 % - Category 3
Km 18.5: Col des Etroits - 1.5 km climb to 5 % - Category 3
Km 54.0 - Côte de La Carrière - 6.3 km climb to 4.4 % - Category 3
Km 74.0 : Côte de Prévonloup - 4.5 km climb to 4.7 % - Category 3
Km 135.0: Col des Mosses - 13.8 km climb to 4 % - Category 2
Km 207.5: VERBIER - 8.8 km climb to 7.5 % - Category 1

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgty8ySgAdA"]YouTube - Analysis of the stage 15[/ame]

General classification after stage 14 ( top 25 )

1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 58:13:52
2 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - HTC 0:00:05
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:00:06
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:00:08
5 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:00:43
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:46
7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:00:54
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:01:00
9 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:24
10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:49
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:01:54
12 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:02:16
13 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - HTC 0:02:21
14 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:25
15 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:02:40
16 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:45
17 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo TestTeam 0:02:52
18 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:03:02
19 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0:03:07
20 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - HTC 0:03:16
21 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:03:49
22 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0:03:56
23 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:58
24 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) Astana 0:04:14
25 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana 0:04:20

 

[guncha]

Stupid Eurosport is showing motorsports at the moment and this motorsports are heavily behind the schedule. It looks live coverage of Verbier climb might be missed...

 

[steve]

Stupid Eurosport is showing motorsports at the moment and this motorsports are heavily behind the schedule. It looks live coverage of Verbier climb might be missed...

Can you stream it online instead?

 

[guncha]

Nope.
But anyway, I think a stage to Verbier might be a bit more decisive than Arcalis because none of those climbs are long enough but Verbier is steeper and this is the end of the second week.

 

[guncha]

Eurosport has started to show live images 40km before the finish.

 

[Andrija]

Contador's performance was more or less what we've been expecting today. Schlecks' too. Evans underperformed a bit, just like Sastre, in my opinion. It looks like Menchov is riding for pleasure.
Now, what about Wiggins!? I just couldn't believe what I'm watching... It's not just that that he was with big guns, he was trying to bridge the gap to Andy and distance Armstrong & co.... He was on tempo. I didn't expect that kind of performance on this kind of climb. He must be considered as a serious podium contender after today.
Nibali rode excellent as well.

 

[guncha]

I didn't expect such a huge gaps today. I didn't expect that only A.Schleck would finish within a minute from Contador. Overall, exciting stage today and I would appreciate if there were more stages like that. I think nothing will happen during the stage Bourg Saint Maurice.

 

[limerickman]

Contador just took off today.

He put the foot to pedal and just went and there was nothing tahat any othe rider could do, to counter.
Phenomenal.

I thought Sastre was really gutsy today : he was struggling on that last climb but he stuck at it and closed down what could have been a more sizable gap.

 

[limerickman]

Forgot to mention Wiggins - what a performance today.

 

[artemidorus]

Forgot to mention Wiggins - what a performance today.

He seems to have had a misspent youth in the wrong cycling discipline!

 

[thebluetrain]

He seems to have had a misspent youth in the wrong cycling discipline!

lugging around a suitcase all over France always helps to.

 

[limerickman]

He seems to have had a misspent youth in the wrong cycling discipline!

Yes all that time wasted on the track!

Great stage today - compelling viewing.
Contador, Schleck and Sastre the pick of today.

 

[poulidor]

Armstrng was lucky with stage of Vosges washed. Probably he would have lost a lot of time if attacks were done on the second climb, he already looked tired.

 

[limerickman]

Armstrng was lucky with stage of Vosges washed. Probably he would have lost a lot of time if attacks were done on the second climb, he already looked tired.

Yeah he was tanked on the climb to Verbier.

 

[Eldrack]

Contador as fast as ever, Andy Schleck just isn't in the same league. And his time trialling sucks. LA is really going to have to fight to hold his podium place but Wiggo looks like he's got an awesome chance of finishing second.

I think CSC messed this stage up really. They hit the bottom of the climb so hard, totally destroyed the peloton which allowed Contador to attack early. Bad idea in my book. They should leave their attacking to tuesdays and wednesdays stages where things aren't quite as clear cut as a mountain top finish.

I agree on the Sastre point, he rode very smart, looked like he'd gone completely backwards but worked his way up.

Other point: Top 4 riders at the moment are 4 of the strongest time triallists. People lower down are going to have to attack in the next two days if they want to see the podium but shifting Astana is going to be hard.

 

[limerickman]

Contador as fast as ever, Andy Schleck just isn't in the same league. And his time trialling sucks. LA is really going to have to fight to hold his podium place but Wiggo looks like he's got an awesome chance of finishing second.

I think CSC messed this stage up really. They hit the bottom of the climb so hard, totally destroyed the peloton which allowed Contador to attack early. Bad idea in my book. They should leave their attacking to tuesdays and wednesdays stages where things aren't quite as clear cut as a mountain top finish.

I agree on the Sastre point, he rode very smart, looked like he'd gone completely backwards but worked his way up.

Other point: Top 4 riders at the moment are 4 of the strongest time triallists. People lower down are going to have to attack in the next two days if they want to see the podium but shifting Astana is going to be hard.

Very shrewd point Eld.

the way things are going Wiggins could well podium in Paris.
Superb performance by him thus far.

 

[doctorSpoc]

I think CSC messed this stage up really. They hit the bottom of the climb so hard, totally destroyed the peloton which allowed Contador to attack early. Bad idea in my book. They should leave their attacking to tuesdays and wednesdays stages where things aren't quite as clear cut as a mountain top finish.

i don't agree.. i think it was the correct strategy... Andy was actually able to handle it and dumped everyone except for Contador. Contador was just too strong... but i don't think hitting the climb slow or fast, it would have not made much of a difference in the case of Contador, but if they hadn't hit the climb that hard the other contenders would have been un-managable and been able to attack him and that would have be a disaster.. that would have been a tactical error.

it was the right tactic, it was implemented perfectly and was effective... Contador was/is just too strong.. there are two races in this tour... Contador and another race with everyone else racing for 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc... but you never know this is cycling and a really bad day can change everything.

 

[slovakguy]

I think CSC messed this stage up really. They hit the bottom of the climb so hard, totally destroyed the peloton which allowed Contador to attack early. Bad idea in my book. They should leave their attacking to tuesdays and wednesdays stages where things aren't quite as clear cut as a mountain top finish.

i have to agree with the good doctor. if nothing else, saxo flushed the quarry out of the brush and put the yellow jersey on astana's shoulders. let the entire peloton start their attacks, keep the pressure on astana who have been driving the peloton for ag2r all week, let contador have a sans jour as he did in the dauphine and saxo just might be able to drive the dagger home.

 

[Cobblestones]

Finally racing for the GC has started. So far, in terms of excitement, we had the prologue, the crosswind split in stage 3, stage 4 which was the TTT and Contador's attack up Arcalis.

Contador went early and got a good gap on Schlecklet, however it seemed to me that in the latter part he could no longer increase it. This could be interesting for the Ventoux. If Contador goes too early, will he be pulled back or passed on the longer climb? In particular after a week of hard Alpine stages? That seems to me a possible strategy for Saxo if the Schlecklet has the legs anyway. Also, with Kloden busy towing LA around, I would say the Schlecklet has the better team for week 3 than Contador.

I was surprised by Sastre. First that he was dropped so early, then by his strong comeback. Definitely a contender for Ventoux.

Armstrong: As expected following his Giro performance. He's better than he was in May, on the other hand, so is everybody else (except Menchov of course). He can definitely hang in there for a while, but his age has finally caught up with him. I expect him to lose the podium on Ventoux.

Evans also looking like his career has peaked. His best shot was last year. This year, he's been passed by too many.

Good to see some young guns mixing it up. Foremost Nibali, but also T. Martin and R. Kreuziger looked good. A promise of good competition to Schlecklet and Contador in the future.

Go Wiggins!

 

[ilpirata]

I agree that the tour now is only a race for the lower podium positions and non yellow jerseys. contador is a super climber. Schleck fought hard and now has a chance for 2nd place overall, if he can do another performance like this. Kloden should have been left free to ride his own race in my opinion. Sastre is a smart rider, could do well on Ventoux, but is too far back for podium. wiggins looked good, and Nibali rode smart but sucked wheels much like Armstrong. It will be interesting to see how Astana defends itself from now on, obviously the yellow jersey is the primary goal, but they could dream of a podium sweep, if Kloden and Armstrong defend themselves well on Ventoux.