Tour de France 2011
2011 Tour de France starts these days. Gets underway while in the Vendée region of western France. The pre-race favorites are without a doubt defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, who has finished second to Contador the past two years.
As usual, the 2011 Tour will almost certainly be won or lost while in the mountains, and this year’s program features the famed Alpe-d’Huez, which has become missing through the route the earlier two years. That each one crucial summit finish is available in Stage 19, two days prior to the ride into Paris, and will almost certainly establish who stands atop the podium within the Champs Élysées.
On an annual basis, the Tour is probably the most watched events in the world. There’ll be greater than 2000 journalists available to cover the race and it really is broadcast in 188 countries across the world. In addition, an believed 12-15 million fans will line the stages with the race, cheering their favorite riders on towards the finish line.
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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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