Recent Tour de France winners and their stage victories

Last year Brad Wiggins took home two stage wins courtesy of the time trials. This year, Chris Froome looks set to become the second consecutive Brit to win the yellow jersey and so far has taken out three wins. How does this compare to previous victors? Here are a few examples from 2007 onwards demonstrating that an ITT goes some way to securing victory in Paris.

2013: Chis Froome (Team Sky)

-Stage 8

-Stage 15

-Stage 17 ITT

2012: Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)
-Stage 9 ITT
-Stage 19 ITT

2011: Cadel Evans (BMC)
-Stage 4

2010: Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)
-Stage 8
-Stage 17

2009: Alberto Contador (Astana)
-Stage 4 TTT
-Stage 15
-Stage 18 ITT

2008: Carlos Sasrte (CSC-Saxo Bank)
-Stage 17

2007: Alberto Contador (Discovery)
-Stage 14

100th Tour de France Preview: The Overal Favourites

In 2013 the Tour makes its 100th trip around France. Beginning in Corsica, the first three stages will be the first time the Tour has visited the island which was the last department to be visited by the race. From Corsica it’s onto the mainland and for the next twenty days the race is a wholly French affair. For the French, a general classification winner looks like being a foreigner once again but their stocks are rising with Thibaut Pinot and Pierre Rolland the espoirs. In the 99th edition Sky ruled the race to deliver yellow to Bradley Wiggins in Paris relatively untested by any rivals bar teammate Chris Froome. Talk of a Tour defence had been dogged by internal conflicts between Wiggins and Froome with the team backing the Kenyan born rider while Wiggins was suggesting otherwise. Froome enters the Tour now not only as Team Sky’s rider but as the favourite for the overall. 

In part the domination of Sky in last year’s Tour was explained by the parcours with two long time trials favouring Wiggins who also benefitted by a lack of challengers. In 2013 Alberto Contador is back after serving his doping ban, Cadel Evans is also back to his best after his failed defence of the 2011 Tour, while 2010 victor Andy Schleck is a dark horse with his form uncertain but highly ambitious to return to the winner’s podium. These three will challenge Froome while Evans’ teammate Tejay Van Garderen is looking to improve upon his fifth placing of last year as are the French duo who both finished in the top ten. Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez is back for his second Tour after taking a stage and finishing seventh in 2010. Bauke Mollema will want to impress his new suitors at Belkin while Movistar are entering the race with the triumvirate of Alejandro Valverde, Rui Costa and Nairo Quintana.

The depth of challengers and lack of decisive time trial kilometres will mean that attacks in the mountains are a given. The Colombian climber Quintana is tipped for big things and the Alps will be his stage. Contador and Froome went tête-à-tête at the Critérium du Dauphiné with El Pistolero over four minutes down on Froome after the eight stages. The Spaniard has said his feeling good and the French race was the opportunity to fine tune his Tour preparation. Backing Froome will be Australian Richie Porte who has shown when given free reign he can win a race or two. Porte won Paris-Nice in March and will be seen as a super domestique for Froome. Should anything happen to the Sky leader, Porte could step in and fill the void as Rigoberto Uran did at the Giro in May. With a cagey beginning of the race in Corsica, general classification leaders will need all the support they can get on the island.

The Tour is Froome’s to lose due to the early season form that he has shown. The time spent in leaders jersey’s answering to the media packs and dealing with all the extra attention riders receive in that position will be invaluable. Wiggins proved last year that Sky’s plan to put their man in yellow paid dividends as he largely appeared comfortable protecting yellow. Froome appears less likely to reply to calls of doping in the manner of Wiggins but after a tough day in the saddle, he may crack in the press room. Contador has a strong team around him and will test Froome. However his form has been far from his best thus far this season. Evans proved he is worthy of BMC dedicating their team to him but a podium place looks like the best bet for cuddles. Valverde and Rodriquez will also battle for the podium but Froome and Contador are a head above the chasing pack.

Giro d'Italia 2013: An Overview & Team lists

The 2013 Giro d'Italia begins this weekend in Napoli as it makes it way down south to the 'toe' of Italy before turning around and heading north into the alps and across the border into France. The race will finish in the city of Brescia on the 26th of May.

The favourites for the maglia rosa have all won a grand tour which should ensure a top quality race and set the standard for grand tour riding in 2013. Ryder Hesjedal pulled off a surprise victory last year when he won the race by blitzing Joaquim Rodriguez on the final ITT stage. With the final stage a flat one a repeat of the excitement of last year seems unlikely. Vincenzo Nibali and Bradley Wiggins have both highlighted the Giro as a season goal. At the 2012 Tour de France which Wiggins won, these two went Mano-a-Mano with the now knighted Wiggins the victor. Cadel Evans was rather underpar in his Tour defence last year and will be keen to put in a good showing and reinforce his role at BMC as the top dog. Robert Gesink could challenge for a podium if he manages to avoid crashing which is becoming far too common for the Dutch rider. Sammy Sanchez likewise could finish on the podium but his time trialling isn't anywhere near good enough to challenge Wiggins or Evans.

Team Sky 2012 Season in Review

When Team Sky announced its five year goals the aim to have a British rider on the podium in France wearing yellow sounded fanciful. Forget five, Sky and Bradley Wiggins had a dream year in which they completely dominated the Tour de France and racked up stage win after stage win. Mark Cavendish joined the team to once again team up with Wiggins after they rode Madison together. His season on the team started well but tensions came to fore with Cav unhappy over his lack of support and a dedicated lead-out train. He still snared three Tour stages but in 2013 Sky will be GC focused not only in July but have the squad to challenge for GC wins in every race they enter.

2012: Another Tumultuous & Exciting Edition

The 2012 season will be defined by pictures of cyclists on the road as much as cyclists off the road. Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France, Alberto Contador made a winning return after his doping suspension, Philippe Gilbert won his maiden worlds rainbow jersey and Tom Boonen owned the cobbles. Yet for all the excitement and dominance of Team Sky plus individual and collective feats of the peloton, it was the USADA investigation into US Postal which lifted the lid on Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel as the masterminds behind the most organised doping practise the sport has ever seen. As the season comes to a close there are trails that seem only destined to be endlessly consumed with chasing the murky past down rabbit hole after rabbit hole. There has been no admission by Armstrong and the 1990s culture of Omerta has lessened but still exists among the peloton and with two major Italian investigations now looking like handing down their findings in 2013, this is certainly a tumultuous time for the sport. However there were brilliant rides full of bravery, panache and courage across the season. Looking back to the seasoning races in January of this year, it becomes apparent several of those rides will become timeless images of the sport, as well as part of cycling’s folklore for the years to come. 

UCI World Tour Standings: Wiggins and Sky lead the way

Standings after Clàssica San Sebastian

Individual 

1st Bradley Wiggins (UK) Team Sky 601 Points
2nd Joaquim Rodriguez (ESP) Katusha 414 points
3rd Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Liquigas-Cannondale 400 points
4th Tom Boonen (BEL) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 370 points
5th Peter Sagan (SVK) Liquigas-Cannondale 351 points
6th Simon Gerrans (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge 270 points
7th Chris Froome (UK) Team Sky 266 points
8th Samuel Sánchez (ESP) Euskaltel Euskadi 252 points
9th Jurgen Van Den Broeck (BEL) Lotto-Belisol 237 points

Current Cyclists Days in Yellow at Le Tour de France

Rank	Rider (Overall Rank)	Country	Yellow Jerseys	Years Rider Wore Yellow
1st	Fabian Cancellara (12)	Switzerland	28	2004, ’07, ’09, 2010, 2012
2nd	Thomas Voeckler (=20)	France	20	2004, 2011
3rd	Bradley Wiggins (=35)	Great Britain	14	2012
4th	Andy Schleck (=41)	Luxembourg	13	2010, 2011
5th	Alberto C0ntador (=53)	Spain	11	2007, 2009
6th	Thor Hushovd (=57)	Norway	10	2004, '06, 2011
7th	Stuart O'Grady (=60)	Australia	9	1998, 2001
=7th	Michael Rasmussen (=60)	Denmark	9	2007
9th	Cadel Evans	Australia	8	2008, 2010, 2011
10th	Tom Boonen	Belgium	4	2006

Note: Years in bold indicate when the rider also won the general classification.

Arise Sir Wiggo

Bradley Wiggins once again rewrote and wrote the history books by winning gold in the men’s 2012 Olympic ITT. Wiggins becomes the second Tour de France winner to have won gold in the ITT after Miguel Indurain in 1996. However it is the first time a rider has won both in the same season. In long ITT’s Wiggins has been unbeatable in 2012 and rainbow jersey at the Worlds may be the next goal for the British rider. Wiggins also became the most successful Olympic athlete from Great Britain in winning gold which was his 7th Olympic medal. Chris Hoy was knighted after his success in Beijing four years ago; will Wiggins be the next cyclist to be knighted?

Final Classifications Winners at the 2012 Tour de France

General Classification: Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)87:34:47
Points Classification: Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) 421 points
King of the Mountains: Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 134 points
Young Riders Classification: Tejay van Garderen (BMC) 87:45:46
Team Classification: RadioShack-Nissan 263:12:01
Combativity Award: Chris Anker Sørenson

TDF: Standings after Stage 18

The 2012 Tour de France has been won by Bradley Wiggins who becomes the first British rider to have won the overall classification. The ceremonial jaunt into Paris will be a celebration of Sky’s achievement in 2012. The team has won five stages, which could become six on the Champs-Élysées and has proven itself as the strongest team in the peloton. Sky haven’t won the team classification but proved on the roads this year that they controlled proceedings and wore down any GC rivals to Wiggins. Chris Froome is the only rider who finished within five minutes of Wiggins which is an amazing achievement for Sky. Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans were touted as potential winners or at least podium finishers but both finished off the pace. Nibali will finish in third and make it a Grand Tour podium treble after his Vuelta de España GC win as well as two podium finishes at the Giro d’Italia. However this has been a British tour de force and Sky have shown that there is a new approach to winning Grand Tours which is sport science. 2012 may go down as one of the most boring Tour de France’s but it will be a watermark for how teams approach the GC and follow and approve the Sky model.

TDF: Standings after Stage 17

Overall Classification 

1st Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 78:28:02
2nd Chris Froome (Team Sky) +2:05”
3rd Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +2:41”
4th Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) +5:53”
5th Tejay van Garderen (BMC) +8:30”
6th Cadel Evans (BMC) +9:57”
7th Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) +10:11”
8th Pierre Rolland (Europcar) +10:17”
9th Janez Brajkovic (Astana) +11:00”
10th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) +11:46”

TDF: Standings after Stage 16

With one final mountain to come the GC classification looks like it will be won by a British rider for the first time. Bradley Wiggins has shown his superiority in the ITT over his rivals who will need to attack in Stage 17 for one final shot at yellow in Paris. For Cadel Evans the Tour defence is over and he may be given a chance to join a breakaway and gain a stage win but at only eight minutes he may still be seen as a threat. Chris Froome will be kept on a leash and will only protect Wiggins and he should be rewarded by a podium finish in Paris for doing so. Vincenzo Nibali will need to gain at least three minutes on Wiggins before the ITT and to do so in one stage looks unlikely considering he hasn’t been able to take significant time off Wiggins so far.

There may be a minor shake up of the GC but it seems the top ten is to be settled in the Stage 19 ITT to Chartes. Wiggins looks like he’ll hold onto yellow after first pulling it on after Stage 7. There may be a final attack by the mountain climbers to shore up a top ten position before the ITT but it appears that there may be too much to lose by doing so and so instead they will look to limit their losses against the clock in Stage 19.

With the final big climbing classification points on offer tonight Thomas Voeckler and Fredrik Kessiakoff who are only separated by four points will be chasing all 52 points that are on offer. There are 6 points on offer during the stage 19 ITT but these two would be keen to wrap up the classification in the Pyrenees. The first of these riders to summit Port de Balés could wrap up the classification with the points on offer at this HC climb. Otherwise the other four categorised climbs with points on offer could witness a strategic battle between these two for the maillot pois.

In the points classification it is looking likely that Peter Sagan will win the green jersey in his debut Tour. There are still two flat stages on offer but as Sagan as been either winning or contending the sprints it appears unlikely that he will pass that jersey onto either André Greipel or Matt Goss who both sit over 100 points in arrears to the Slovakian in the classification.

The white jersey is now a battle between Tejay van Garderen and Thibaut Pinot. Van Garderen holds a healthy 3:48” lead over the French rider and van Garderen should be riding into Paris in white. Van Garderen and Pinot are the two stand out young riders in 2012 as the closet rider to these two sits over 45 minutes behind the BMC rider is Steven Kruijswijk.

The most combative rider classification now has two riders who have both won the award on two occasions in 2012. A combative ride in Stage 17 by either Thomas Voeckler or Michael Mørkøv could settle the classification by Paris.

RadioShack-Nissan holds a commanding 17:15” lead in the team classification over Sky and are all but assured of a podium appearance in Paris. Only Team Sky can really threaten their chances but unless a calamitous final four stages awaits the leaders they should roll into Paris with yellow numbers on their backs.

There are still minor alterations that await in each of the classifications but it appears that the current leaders in the classifications will be the winners. The final ITT looks like it will settle any last gaps in these classifications besides the mountains classification. The points classification should be settled by Stage 19 or if not it will be settled in the final sprint along the Champs-Élysées.

Overall Classification 

1st Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 74:15:32
2nd Chris Froome (Team Sky) +2:05”
3rd Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +2:23”
4th Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) +5:46”
5th Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) +7:13”
6th Tejay van Garderen (BMC) +7:55”
7th Cadel Evans (BMC) +8:06”
8th Janez Brajkovic (Astana) +9:09”
9th Pierre Rolland (Europcar) +10:10”
10th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) +11:43”

Points Classification 

1st Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) 356 points
2nd André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 254 points
3rd Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) 203 points
4th Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) 130 points
5th Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) 127 points
6th Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 109 points
7th Cadel Evans (BMC) 100 points
8th Chris Froome (Sky) 91 points
9th Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 88 points
10th Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) 84 points

Mountains Classification 

1st Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 107 points

2nd Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) 103 points
3rd Chris Anker Sørenson 77 points
4th Pierre Rolland (Europcar) 55 points
5th Brice Feillu (Saur-Sojasun) 38 points
6th Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) 34 points
7th Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) 33 points
8th Chris Froome (Team Sky) 32 points
9th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) 32 points
10th Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) 31 points

Young Riders Classification 

1st Tejay van Garderen (BMC) 74:23:27”
2nd Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) +3:48”
3rd Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) +45:26”
4th Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) +52:39”
5th Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) +54:43”
6th Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) +1:01:56”
7th Rafael Valls (Vacansoleil-DCM) +1:01:32”
8th David Malacarne (Europcar) +1:18:57”
9th Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale) +1:19:10”
10th Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) +1:26:02”

Team Classification 

1st RadioShack-Nissan 222:58:15
2nd Team Sky +17:18”
3rd Astana +28:53”
4th BMC +29:13”
5th Europcar +50:03”
6th Liquigas-Cannondale +56:34”
7th Movistar +59:56”
8th FDJ-BigMat +1:01:22”
9th Katusha +1:01:31”
10th Omega Pharma-Quick Step + 1:20:04”

Combativity Award 

Stage One: Nicolas Edet (Cofidis)
Stage Two: Anthony Roux (FDJ-BigMat)
Stage Three: Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
Stage Four: Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar)
Stage Five: Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-BigMat)
Stage Six: David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp)
Stage Seven: Luis León Sanchez (Rabobank)
Stage Eight: Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana)
Stage Nine: Not Awarded
Stage Ten: Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)
Stage 11: Pierre Rolland (Europcar)
Stage 12: Robert Kiserlovski (Astana)
Stage 13: Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
Stage 14: Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)
Stage 15: Nicki Sørenson (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
Stage 16: Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)

Snippets from Le Tour

With the Tour deep into its last week and the second rest day now concluded, it is time to cast an eye back over the race. Team Sky look like they will deliver upon their promise to have a British rider win the Tour de France GC within five years of their existence. With this Tour shaping up to be the most successful in the history of British cycling, success has come in stage wins and being awarded classification jerseys.

Why Support Wiggo?

Bradley Wiggins is on the cusp of an unprecedented achievement in the world of cycling. Wiggins is a proven multiple Olympic and world champion gold medal winning cyclist but in the last year has proven himself to be a Grand Tour GC contender. His third placing at the 2011 Vuelta de España was a sign of what Wiggins is capable of as well as a validation of fourth place in the 2009 Tour. After crashing out during Stage Seven of last year’s Tour with a broken collarbone, Wiggins has been working hard on returning to the Tour and taking home yellow. 2012 appears to to be year of the self confessed mod whose Tour it is to lose.

Stage 12 Mountains

Stage 12 is a 226km race from Saint Jean-De-Maurienne to Annonay-Davézieux which has two Cat 1 climbs. Saint Jean-De-Maurienne will be known to the peloton after the ride through the valley of the River Arc during Stage 11. The town had been part of Piedmont under the House of Savoy but now has been French since 1859 and seen its share of cycling. From the town the peloton will head north-west to the Col du Grand Cucheron which will be ascended for a fourth time in the Tour. First included in the 1972 Tour it has appeared again in 1983 and 1998 and has the honour of Eddy Merckx being the first to summit the mountain. The 12.5kms climb in 2012 will come after just 20kms of the race and its average gradient is 6.5%. The steepest average part of the climb is 9.8% during the ninth km of the climb. The riders will quickly descend from the Cucheron down to Pontcharra before heading up the Col du Granier. Will a long flat finish to the stage attacks look more likely to eventuate and succeed on the Granier.

The Col du Granier made its first appearance at the 1947 Tour and has been included 16 times throughout the Tour’s history. Last seen in the 1998 edition it is a shorter climb than the Col du Grand Cucheron but is still a Cat 1 climb due to its steep second half. In 2012 the Granier will be 9.7kms long at an average of 8.6% making it one of the steepest climbs in the Tour this year. In the last two kilometres the average gradient in over 10% and will be a test of the entire peloton. This will be a tough climb as the second climb of the day and coming after Stage 11 which includes two HC climbs and a Cat 1 climb. The Granier is being attacked from the east this year and has not hosted such an approach since 1972 when Lucien Van Impe was the first rider over the summit. Van Impe was the king of the mountains that year and also took out Stage 12 just two days before. Once again the Granier will not host a summit finish as it has not done so previously but has been included alongside other bigger summits in the Alps.

An attack looks likely on the Col du Granier as from the summit at 1134m’s the rest of the stage is mostly flat until a 336m Cat 3 climb with 18.5kms left to race the only real obstacle. There is an intermediate sprint point at 153kms but its seems unlikely to be contested by the sprinters who would be struggling behind the GC men up the Col du Granier. Therefore if Evans or Nibali really want to take time off Wiggins and possibly move into yellow, a long breakaway may be necessary. That would include a long flat escape before a 200m climb in elevation in the final 20kms.The race will past just north of Grenoble on the mostly downhill ride into Annonay-Davézieux and sees the Tour take another trip south as it heads to the Mediterranean and gives the sprinters a chance at a stage win. This will be the last chance that GC riders can look to make up time in the Alps before they are said goodbye to once again. The GC men and mountain goats have a chance again at glory on Stage 14 as the Tour turns north and into the Pyrenees where Cat 1 climbs are again the order of the day. Once the peloton reaches the Pyrenees expect some serious fireworks as the GC men look to move up the overall before the Stage 19 ITT when they know they could lose minutes to Wiggins, Evans and Froome.

Stage Profile and Cat 1 Profiles

Saint Jean-De-Maurienne to Annonay-Davézieux 226km

©ASO 

Col du Grand Cucheron (12.5km @ 6.5%)

©ASO 

Col du Granier (9.7km @8.6%)

©ASO 

Profiles courtesy of ASO @ letour.fr

Stage 11: Albertville to La Toussuire-Les-Sybelles 148km

During Stage 11 the Tour will ascend four categorised climbs of which two are hors catergorie or HC. The first of the HC climbs is the imposing Col de la Madeleine which is a 25.3km climb that reaches to 2000 meters and has an average gradient of 6.2% when approached from the north. On several sections that climb averages up to 9.5% gradient and will surely test the GC men early on. While for the sprinters it will be the beginning of a day that will they will dread but keep Paris in mind to get through the pain. The climb up the Madeleine begins after only 14.5kms on what looks certain to be a day on which Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans really test the strength of Team Sky and the resolve of Wiggins.

The last time the Col de la Madeleine featured at the Tour was in 2010 when the French rider Anthony Charteau was the first over the summit on Stage Nine. Charteau went onto win the climbers classification that year and his teammate Thomas Voeckler, who will be wearing the maillot pois in today’s stage, may just emulate his countryman and try to increase his lead in that classification. In the 2010 Tour, Evans was wearing yellow on the Madeleine suffering the effects of a crash on the previous stage in which he fractured his left elbow. Evans was dropped and his Tour was over. Once again the Madeleine will be crucial to the overall hopes of Evans but with three more climbs in the stage alone, it won't be the last roll of the dice for the BMC rider.

Col de la Madeleine 2000m - (25.3km @ 6.2%)

©ASO

The next climb the peloton will encounter comes after 70kms of racing with the Madeleine said ‘au revoir‘to once again. With Madeleine gone, the race flattens out all too quickly for some with the days sprints points on offer. There is an intermediate sprint point at the base of the Col de la Croix de Fer at 70kms into the stage. From there the sprinters will suffer until the finish at La Toussuire. This HC Mountain is only 22.4kms in length but has an average gradient of 6.9% and its summit is 2,067 meters. The first rider to crest the Col de la Croix de Fer will be awarded the Souvenir Henri Desgrange as the Croix de Fer is the highest point of the 2012 Tour. The award is a tribute to the founder of the race and is awarded to the rider who is first over the highest point of the Tour as well as €5000. The last time this HC climb was included in the Tour was during Stage 17 of the 2008 Tour which finished at Alpe d’Huez. The winner of the Souvenir Henri Desgrange that year was Peter Velits. Once the riders crest the second HC climb of the stage they will descend to Les Chambons and from there, they will begin to climb again.

Col de la Croix Fer 2067m (22.4km @ 6.9%)

©ASO 

The Cat 2 climb Col du Mollard will seem to be a minor blemish after the first two climbs and is a little bump on the descent from the Croix de Fer to Saint Jean-De-Maurienne which is 604m above sea level and hosts the depart of Stage 12. The final climb of the day is the 18km climb up the Cat 1 La Toussuire and will be the first alpine summit of the 2012 Tour. The climb is just 67m higher than the Col du Mollard but its average gradient of 6.1% is actually lesser than the 6.8% of the Mollard. This will be the second appearance of La Toussuire in the Tour after it debuted in the 2006 Tour. Michael Rasmussen won that day over Carlos Sastre on a stage that also rode over the Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Mollard. Floyd Landis looked to have thrown away any attempt at the overall as he finished 23rd on the stage and dropped out of the top ten. Óscar Pereiro rode himself into yellow after finishing third in the stage, just two seconds ahead of Cadel Evans and all but secured yellow. The Climb has appeared in the Critérium de Dauphiné twice since then and the last time the Dauphiné went up La Toussuire, Bradley Wiggins was also in yellow, as he will be today.

                          

Col du Mollard 1638m (5.7km @ 6.8%)

©ASO 

La Toussuire 1705m (18km @ 6.1%)

©ASO 

Wiggins may concede yellow today knowing he has the superior the ITT among the top ten which would also see him skip the yellow jersey press conferences. Wiggins is growing into the role of wearing the yellow jersey along with the pressure and responsibilities that come with it. However he has broken the record for most consecutive days spent in yellow by a British rider and is second in British riders to have worn yellow and equal 113th overall with four days in the jersey. It is still a long way to Paris and handing the jersey over to Froome may just help Wiggins recharge mid-Tour and enable him to come out and attack his rivals In the Pyrenees to ensure that heading into the Stage 19 ITT he is holding a substantial time gap over them. This way, Sky is still in charge of yellow and Froome gets a chance to audition himself for a future, or alternative, GC winner for Sky.

At only 148kms the stage looks likely to be explosive. The Tour director Christian Prudhomme has begun to favour the shorter alpine stages in which the GC men are forced to come out an attack with such stages no longer characterised by 200kms of rolling terrain before one final massive climb. Of the 148kms, the four categorised climbs together will equate to 71.4km which will certainly test the legs of the peloton. After the ascent of the Mollard there could be a new virtual leader on the road who will go on to put real time into Wiggins up La Toussuire. This may end up being Froome if Sky allows him to make his own attacks which could also alleviate any pressure from Wiggins. Either way there will be attacks or breakaway attempts in a stage that promises fireworks and GC shakeup that the 2012 Tour is yet to really experience.

Stage Profile

Stage and mountain profiles all courtesy of ASO at letour.fr

Recent Grand Tour ITT Results

With an increased number of time trial kilometres in the 2012 Tour de France compared to recent editions the GC candidates will need to have two good ITTs to stand atop the podium in Paris. The tables below are the finishing positions of the current top four riders on the GC at Grand Tours since 2007. These four riders appear to the fighting to the podium but after the 41.5km stage to Besançon the GC will be shuffled. This time the picture of who the overall candidates are will look a little clearer.

In 2011 Cadel Evans won the Tour following his Stage 20 heroics in the 42.5km ITT around Grenoble. On that day Evans finished second to Tony Martin who would go onto to claim his maiden world champion ITT and after two second places at the Tour won his maiden yellow jersey. What was more important than his finishing position on Stage 20 was that Evans had began the day 57 seconds in arrears to Andy Schleck but finished the stage 1:34 ahead of him and won the Tour by doing so. Evans won an ITT stage at the 2007 Tour after initially finishing second behind Alexander Vinokourov who won the Stage 13 time trial around Albi but later testing positive for doping. Bradley Wiggins finished one minute behind Evans in that stage but admittedly he was not as focused on the road as he is now. Evans will be looking to ride the last ITT of the 2012 in yellow and take the jersey on his shoulders all the way to Paris.

Wiggins has already won four ITT stages this season and will begin the Stage Nine time trial a slight favourite ahead of his GC rivals. Wiggins has shown that he the legs to go with the best climbers after his stage race wins this year but the ITT is where Wiggins will want to put serious time into his rivals. If Wiggins has to only follow his rivals in the mountains the Tour is most certainly his. However if he needs to make up time and attack his rivals in the mountains his tilt at the overall looks less likely. Wiggins and Evans are the two favourites for the overall in 2012 partly due to the high number of ITT kms. Evans is no slouch in the ITT and his time trial win at the Critérium International earlier this season will be a mental boost for the Australian. Depending on the results on the ITT Wiggins may intentionally lose yellow and want to stay out of the leader’s jersey until Stage 19.Wiggins appears at unease having to front the media for every day he is yellow and surrendering the jersey may actually be beneficial to his chances for the win. Without the pressure of yellow, Wiggins may be more relaxed and able to launch attacks without the full attention of the peloton.

At the 2008 Tour de France Carlos Sastre was in yellow heading into the final ITT which was a 53km race from Cérilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond but seemed destined to concede yellow to Evans. Evans had begun the Tour as a favourite and was wearing the number one bib on his back after Alberto Contador and his team Astana were not invited to the race following Vinokourov‘s positive test for blood doping. Without the Spaniard to whom Evans had lost the Tour by only 23 seconds to the previous year, the Silence-Lotto rider was a clear favourite for the overall and the Tour would be his to lose. Evans did lose the 2008 and his failure to catch Sastre on the final ITT was his undoing. Now with a one-one record in terms of final ITTs and the maillot jaune, Evans will be confident of making that record two-one in terms of Tour wins. Evans spent several days in yellow with a slender one lead over Franck Schleck in 2008 and as the outright favourite appeared to be seriously affected by this attention. Evans lost the yellow jersey after Stage 15 into Prato Nevoso to Schleck and slipped to third overall. Team CSC held onto yellow after this with the jersey changing hands to Sastre following his win at Alpe d’Huez on Stage 17 and Evans remained on the back foot watching his Tour dreams ride away. Sastre rode the ITT of his life to finish 12th on the stage to lose only 29 seconds to Evans. Evans managed to take back some time on Sastre on the final stage but it was not enough and for the second year running lost the Tour by under a minute. The demons of the 2008 ITT were exorcised in 2011 and Evans may be hoping to have the GC all but sown up by Stage 19.

Evans will be hoping that he will be in yellow during the Stage 20 ITT to Chartres and will have done enough throughout the race to hold a substantial lead over Wiggins. Evans showed during yesterday’s stage that he will attack where ever possible and claw back his current 10 second deficient to the Team Sky rider. Evans will have allies in the GC men who are not so strong in the ITT’s and will be looking to take time off Wiggins in the Alps and Pyrenees. Nibali and Menchov are both reasonable time trials but cannot count on taking time off Wiggins or Evans in them. They will need to attack in the mountains and at any opportunity that arises.

As the tables below show the current top four on the GC have all had impressive ITT results across the three weeks of the three Grand Tours. All have won an ITT stage at a Grand Tour and it appears quite possible that one of the four will win either tomorrow’s stage or Stage 19. The biggest threat from non-GC candidates looks like it will come from Fabian Cancellara as current ITT world champion Tony Martin is nursing several injuries. David Millar from Garmin-Sharp could be considered a dark horse for the stage win as could Rabobank’s Spanish national time trial champion Luis León Sanchez. However with the ITT looking to be decisive in the configuration of the overall, these riders may be pushed down the order by the GC men really wanting to gain some time over their rivals. There are several national ITT champions in the 2012 peloton but with the possibility of yellow after the conclusion of Stage 10, that may prove to be a bigger motivating factor than a stage win would be for the national champions.

Evans, Menchov, Nibali and Wiggins ITT performances at Grand Tours 2007-2012

Evans	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro d’Italia	-	-	-	3rd (Stage 1), 2nd (Stage 16), 4th (Stage 21)	-
Tour de France	1st (Stage 13), 2nd (Stage 19)	4th (Stage 4), 7th (Stage 20),  50th (Stage 20)	5th  (Stage 1), 12th (Stage 18)	166th (Stage 19)	2nd (Stage 20)
Vuelta de España	11th (Stage 8)	-	10th (Stage 4), 3rd (Stage 20)	-	-

Wiggins	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro d’Italia	-	157th (Stage 10), 4th (Stage 21)	7th, (Stage 12), 2nd (Stage 21)	1st (Stage 1), 67th 2nd (Stage 16), 7th (Stage 21)	-
Tour de France	4th (Stage 13), (Stage 19)	-	3rd (Stage 1), 6th (Stage 18)	9th (Stage 19)	WD
Vuelta de España	-	-	-	-	3rd (Stage 10)

Nibali	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro d’Italia	24th (Stage 13), 7th (Stage 20)	7th (Stage 10), 44th (Stage 21)	-	11th (Stage 1), 4th 2nd (Stage 16), 5th (Stage 21)	1st (Stage 16)
Tour de France		10th (Stage 4), 6th (Stage 20)	9th  (Stage 1), 26th (Stage 18)	-	-
Vuelta de España		-	-	15nd (Stage 17)	15th (Stage 10)

Menchov	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro d’Italia	-	6th (Stage 10), 25th (Stage 21)	1st (Stage 12),  10th  (Stage 21)	-	6th (Stage 16)
Tour de France	21st (Stage 13)	6th (Stage Four)	53rd (Stage 1), 17th (Stage 18)	11th (Stage 19)	-
Vuelta de España	4th (Stage 8)	-	-	2nd (Stage 17)	13th (Stage 10)

Note: Only ITT stages are considered, no Prologue results have been listed. None of these riders competed in the 2012 Giro d’Italia, therefore the 2012 Tour de France will be their first Grand Tour for the year.