Tour de France stage 19 results, Mark Cavendish Win Again
Mark Cavendish has underlined his status as the best bunch sprinter in the Tour de France with yet another victory in stage 19, yet he most likely won’t wear the green sprinter’s jersey in Paris with Thor Hushovd holding a substantial points lead.
Cavendish said after the race it was his best win of the nine stages he has won in the last two years, in only the third Tour de France he has ridden.
The 178km stage 19 from Bourgoin-Jaillieu to Aubenas was always going to be a stage for those who have got very little out of the race to grab their last chance at glory. Cadel Evans, the Australian from the Silence-Lotto team who has finished second in the last two Tours de France but has languished well off the lead, was one of those who jumped out in the first serious breakaway.
The breakaway eventually numbered twenty riders and their lead stretched out to around three minutes. However the peloton was gradually dragged back up to the leaders by Team Rabobank, who did not have a rider in the breakaway.
The breakaway itself broke up under the pressure, and the group was cut down to Popovych, Millar, Arrieta, Gutierrez and Duque.Yaroslav Popovych (Astana), David Millar (Garmin), Jose Luis Arrieta, (AG2R), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Leonard Duque (Cofidis). THis group lead by as much as 90 seconds, but the peloton wore down even this array of strong riders.
The next jump was by Frenchman Laurent Lefevre of BBOX Bouygues Telecom, and he was joined by Italian Alessandro Ballan of Lampre-NGC, and it was those two who held a lead of about 15 seconds until just before the finish.
Then it was the turn of the sprinters, and despite Cavendish getting the lead at a longer distance than is usually prudent in a bunch sprint, the Briton held on for his fifth stage win of the Tour. Hushovd had kicked even earlier and held on for second, maintaining his points lead in the sprinter competition meaning that he only has to finish somewhere in the top 20 in the final stage on the Champs-Élysées to wear green on the podium.
The race made no difference to the general classification, as expected, with Alberto Contador only having to defend his huge lead on Mont Ventoux tomorrow to seal his overall victory.
Top stage 19 results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia – HTC 3:50:35
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence – Lotto
5 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
6 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step
7 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Skil-Shimano
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux
10 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin – Slipstream
11 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel
12 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
13 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream
15 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
16 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
17 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia – HTC
18 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha
19 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
General classification
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 77:06:18
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:11 behind
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 5:21
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 5:36
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 5:38
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 5:59
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 7:15
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 10:08
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 12:37
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 12:38
11 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 13:36
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 14:08
13 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 14:37
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 15:27
15 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 17:23
16 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 19:47
17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence – Lotto 19:49
18 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Team Katusha 24:26
19 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 27:51
20 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia – HTC 28:20
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Tour de France Stage 18 TV Schedule – July 23, 2009
The Tour de France stage 18 TV schedule is listed below as Versus continues live coverage of the 2,149 mile event on Thursday, July 23. It was a close race for the stage 17 win yesterday as Frank Schleck, Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck fought to the finish. Frank Schleck was able to pull ahead and finish just ahead of Contador. So Contador will enter stage 18 still wearing the yellow jersey, for the third straight stage. He currently holds a 2:26 overall lead over the second place Andy Schleck, and a 3:25 lead over Frank Schleck.
Lance Armstrong lost a bunch of time on the overall lead as he finished 2:18 behind the leaders in stage 17, putting himself 3:55 behind his Astana teammate Contador for the overall lead.
Stage 18 will be an individual time trial over 24.8 miles (40 km) through Annecy.
Most cable providers now carry the Versus channel and stage 18 coverage starts at 8:30 a.m. EST with replays throughout the day.
Still think Lance can win?…poll results may change now with him 3:55 behind…
Tour de France Stage 18 TV Schedule
Versus – 8:30 a.m. EST – 12:00 p.m. EST – Live coverage of Stage 18
If you miss the live coverage Versus has some replays for you at:
12:00 p.m. EST – 2:00 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18
2:30 p.m. EST – 4:30 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18
5:00 p.m. EST – 7:00 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18
8:00 p.m. EST – 11:00 p.m. EST – Extended replay of Stage 18
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2009 Tour de France stage 17 results (Frank Schleck wins stage)
2009 Tour de France stage 17 results, Frank Schleck wins AP/Laurent Rebours
The taste of victory is sweet for Frank Schleck (LUX) of Saxo Bank, who won today’s brutal stage 17 of the 2009 Tour de France, finishing the climb up the five difficult mountain passes in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 54 seconds. Frank and brother Andy unfolded their grand strategy as expected; heavily assaulting the mountain passes with their superior alpine climbing skills. Alberto Contador of Astana was second and Andy Schleck was third, with the same time as Frank.
The Schlecks took time from everyone today, but could not shake Alberto Contador, who stayed right with them until the end, vigorously defending the yellow jersey. Contador has a 2:26 lead over Andy Schleck, who has displaced Lance Armstrong for 2nd place overall. Frank Schleck is now 3rd overall, 3:25 behind Contador.
Lance Armstrong protected his team, staying on Bradley Wiggins of Garmin-Slipstream for much of the climbing until finally Wiggins fell back, while Lance sped ahead, gaining back at least 30 seconds during the descent, ultimately placing 5th in the stage. Armstrong has dropped to 4th overall, 3:55 behind his teammate Contador. Wiggins has dropped to 6th overall, 4:53 behind.
Andy Schleck continues to hold onto the white jersey, while Thor Hushovd of Cervelo Test Team and Franco Pellizotti of LIquigas keep the green and polka-dot jerseys, respectively.
Today’s stage shook up the general classification as predicted. There is now a 10-minute spread in the top ten, with Mikel Astarloza in 10th place, 10:50 behind Contador.
The stage 18 individual time trial coming up on Thursday will be a test of who has recovered best from the rigorous climbing during stage 17. The 40.5 km course takes riders around the beautiful lac d’Annecy in the city of Annecy. The course is flat with one category 3 climb.
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