2012 Tour de France: Stage 12 (Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Annonay)

[monty1104]

Stage 12: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Annonay
Odd stage today. Nothing in it for the GC guys or the sprinters really. Breakaway win for mine.

Current Jersey Leaders

Bradley Wiggins (Sky)

Peter Sagan (Liquigas)

Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana)

Tejay Vangarderen (BMC)

Radioshack-Nissan

• Km 34.0 - Col du Grand Cucheron (1 188 m)​

  12.5 kilometre-long climb at 6.5% - category 1​

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• Km 80.5 - Col du Granier (1 134 m)​

  9.7 kilometre-long climb at 8.6% - category 1​

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• Km 207.5 - Côte d'Ardoix​

  5.9 kilometre-long climb at 3.4% - category 3​

  

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  General Classification after Stage 11
  GBR 1 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY PROCYCLING) 48:43:53
  GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY PROCYCLING) + 2:05
  ITA 3 NIBALI, Vincenzo (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE) + 2:23
  AUS 4 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) + 3:19
  BEL 5 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) + 4:48
  ESP 6 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN) + 6:15
  USA 7 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 6:57
  SLO 8 BRAJKOVIC, Janez (ASTANA) + 7:30
  FRA 9 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 8:31
  FRA 10 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ-BIG MAT) + 8:51
  
  Today's stage had a rather odd profile. It doesnt really provide any incentive for anything other than a breakaway win. Expect to see both Kessiakoff and Rolland attack early to try and get themselves some KOTM points.
  
  The pure sprinters will really struggle to get over the two early Cat 1 climbs. They still have over 140km after the second climb to get back to the peleton, but the energy they will have to exert, along with the late Cat 3 climb and he uphill finish will put them out of contention. Sagan is one who could win this stage if he manages to stay close to the peleton on the climbs.
  
  This stage is really just a "transition stage" for the GC. The big climbs are too far out to have any impact on the GC.
  
  After last night, Cadel is pretty much out of contention for GC. He will be looking for stage wins now and this one is a possibility for him, or even his team mate Gilbert. Having said all of that, I really do expect a breakaway win. The teams will have nothing to race for really, given the sprinters (bar Sagan) and the GC guys really wont be able to do much here.
  
  As for Cadel, well given his age and the course, it was always going to be tough for him to win this year. With the form Wiggins has been in in the past 2 years, this was always his to lose. The course just suits him so well with the amount of ITT km's and the lack of really tough finishes. This probably would have been Cadel's last chance to win as well, especially now we have seen that Vangarderen can match it with the best. I'd expect Vangarderen to be BMC's leader next year (if he is still on the squad) and Evans to be his domestique, and target the Ardennes classics himself. If this happens, BMC will be an amazing classics team, even more so than now. Next year's Tour will be guaranteed to have more mountain finishes, less ITT kms and much tougher stages IMO. It is the 100 year anniversary for Le Tour, so I'd expect to see Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux feature next year, probably the Galibier again as well. Hope it will be a real climbers course.
  
  Sorry to go off on a tangent there My tip for todays stage is Nicholas Roche in a breakaway win.
  

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[mattys123]

Haha, a Twitter fight started between the two partners of Froome and Wiggins after the stage last night;

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/tour-de-france-tension-simmers-on-twitter/?smid=tw-share

Although Mr. Froome knows his place, and is handsomely rewarded for putting his team’s ambitions ahead of his own, there were signs after the stage that tension between the two men might be building. Shortly after the race concluded, a note appeared on Twitter from Catherine Wiggins, the cyclist’s wife, in which she praised two of his teammates, but not Mr. Froome, for their “genuine, selfless effort and true professionalism.” Apparently taking that as a slight, Michelle Cound, a sports photojournalist who dates Mr. Froome, responded: “Typical!”

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/tour-de-france-tension-simmers-on-twitter/?smid=tw-share

This might be the most interesting thing left in the tour, will Froome explode at some point and stop supporting Wiggins, god I hope so, I can't stand Wiggins, I hope anyone but he wins.

 

[Papa Juggs]

One of those stages that is really easy even though it has big climbs.

It's mostly downhill really with a little climb here and there. These 1km climbs are small compared to what they've just been over.

Sagan a big chance if he has saved some legs. I reckon most of the top performers will be shot today and will not care about a break as long as no GC riders try to sneak off.

 

[funk44]

This might be the most interesting thing left in the tour, will Froome explode at some point and stop supporting Wiggins, god I hope so, I can't stand Wiggins, I hope anyone but he wins.

juiciest story in the tour at the moment

 

[No BS!!]

it would've been great if the granier featured near the end of the stage. not a tremendously long climb in comparison and nowhere near the mythical history in the tour like other alpine passes such as galibier, izoard, croix der fer, etc, but the side they go up tonight definitely has got some sting to it. only the second time they go up this eastern ascent as they normally approach from the much easier southern end or the longer but still relatively easy 5-6% gradient northern approach.

it could've been a real stage and GC decider.

re Evans, perhaps he should just use the rest of the tour as Olympic prep. Unless he's feeling really weak at the momemtn, he could mix his race up on a day to day basis mimicking training. use some of the flat ones as a longish easy rides, others as recovery, use some of the cat 3 or 4 climbs as good intervals to crank it up, use other days as tempo with a higher pace, use the remaining bigger climbs through the pyrenees as strength work and he can use the ITT as his last balls out prep ride. unless both wiggins and froome come a cropper, and probably nibali and VDB too, he's got no chance of winning it now. cut his losses and concentrate on something still achievable.

of course, this ignores the BMC goal of consolidating TJ's lead in the young riders classification.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Froome is better and shouldn't have waited for Wiggo.

Whatever they told him on the radio I condemn it.

 

[No BS!!]

juiciest story in the tour at the moment

he was the stronger rider at the last GT they did together.

you wonder what might be going through his head.................could be my one and only real opportunity to be a TDF winner and the glory of a lifetime that comes with it.

on other hand, he signed up to be Wiggins domestique. if he's a pro, he'll do his job and try and live with the satisfaction that he did it well as part of the winning TDF team, despite whether or not he can win it himself.

i wonder how he's sleeping at night..........

 

[funk44]

i wonder how he's sleeping at night..........

I dont think any of the sky team are sleeping that well

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Tour on at 7pm tonight on the SBS website just as a heads up.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

Love the previews. Keep 'em coming.

Is it just me or is this stage backward? They're starting at the finish line surely

 

[blue gunslinger]

still recovering from last night

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Absolutely shattered today, this one will be taped and watched tomorrow. Echo the sentiments of the stage is in backward world, what a waste of a bloody tough climb. The Granier would arguably have been the best summit finish out of all the col's in this race.

Euska need a win.

 

[mattys123]

So who wins the stage from here?

Millar? Martinez? Are any of the others decent sprinters?

 

[Caesar]

Peloton 8 minutes behind the breakaway.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Seems a bit strange having the climbs so early - doesn't exactly encourage anyone important to attempt a breakaway. Just switched over from the footy hoping to see something interesting.

 

[Vader]

Gotta love SBS coming back from an ad break to the tune of "Inspector Gadget", full of images of mechanics & medics at work. Pity that poor mechanic who took forever to get the wheel changed on one of the earlier stages - the footage is still getting run.

 

[blue gunslinger]

missed all the fun-replay of Carlton getting killed or le tour?

 

[Simple Jack]

It's been the worst day since yesterday....

 

[monty1104]

So who wins the stage from here?

Millar? Martinez? Are any of the others decent sprinters?

Kiserlovski for me, unless Millar just timetrials away from everyone, which is a distinct possibility

 

[No BS!!]

Absolutely shattered today, this one will be taped and watched tomorrow. Echo the sentiments of the stage is in backward world, what a waste of a bloody tough climb. The Granier would arguably have been the best summit finish out of all the col's in this race.

Euska need a win.

apart from mont ventoux, and the significant events of the last two years celebrating the tourmalet and galibier, i think they'd rarely organise a finish on a summit that wasn't a ski resort. it's quite a logistical nightmare. it's part of the reason why mont ventoux has only hosted a finish less than 10 times since it was first used back in the 50s.

but i agree, Granier should definitely have had more of a say regarding how this race panned out if it was going to be used. the town of Aix-les-Bains has featured as a regular finish whenever the Col has been used, but the tour organisers seem to be wanting to keep all options open for the Alps till next year as it will be the mountains used in the 3rd week. they really did their best to avoid it as much as possible this time by going through the jura for a couple of days and only really spent one day on the true alpine climbs this time around. and even then, the two great cycling passes used in madeleine and croix de fer were a fair way from the finish. la toussuire could be sacrificed because d'huez will be used next year.

 

[No BS!!]

at least we'll be finishing earlyish tonight...............

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Sagan V Goss should provide some interest - given the uphill, you'd think Sagan should stroll over

 

[No BS!!]

Sagan V Goss should provide some interest - given the uphill, you'd think Sagan should stroll over

unfortunately for goss.

got a bad rub of the finishes this year and hasnt been able to take one against cavendish or greipel.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Martinez playing them like a fiddle at the moment

 

[No BS!!]

peraud and millar are the TTers here. look like they've broken the other 3.