A Grand Five

In May at the Giro a short stage ended in a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish was the beneficiary as he pulled on his first Paul Smith maglia rosa for a third stint in pink. The Manx man was one of five riders to wear the leaders jersey at the Giro which has set a trend in 2013. Although Ryder Hesjedal as defending champion at the Giro wore the pink jersey on the first stage, this is about jerseys as won on the road.

At the 2012 Giro five riders had the pleasure of making their way to the podium to pull on the pink fleece. At the 2012 Tour there was just one change in the maillot jaune as Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins racked up the plush lions toys for their kids.

At the Vuelta there were four red jersey wearers with the first jersey wearer of the race, Jonathan Castroviejo the odd one out. He was the only rider to have worn red and not finished on the podium.

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.

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.

Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France Stage Wins

Below is a list of stages that Armstrong won at the Tour over the seven years he won the GC with the second place rider on the stage in italics.There is also the TTT he won with Astana in 2009. Jan Ullrich, Alex Zülle and Ivan Basso would be the cyclists who would benefit the most from the results being reassigned to the second place getter however all three have been implicated in doping. 

The Problems of Reassigning Results After Admissions of Doping

After the recent USADA reasoned decision which contained the affidavits of several Garmin-Sharp riders who were teammates with Lance Armstrong in his Tour winning days have had their results voided for the years they admitted doping. Christian Prudhomme who is the head of the ASO has admitted that no rider should inherit the Tour titles that Armstrong looks likely to lose. Instead he has said that “If it’s a question that we would declare that era as a black era, then I’m not afraid to do so” as in many of the years the riders in the top ten have, if not tested positive been implicated, been tainted by doping scandals.

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.

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.

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

TDF: Standings after Stage Ten

Overall classification 

1st Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 43:59:02
2nd Cadel Evans (BMC) +1:53”
3rd Chris Froome (Team Sky) +2:07”
4th Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +2:23”
5th Dennis Menchov (Katusha) +3:02”
6th Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) +3:19”
7th Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Nissan) +4:23”
8th Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) +4:48”
9th Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) +5:29”
10th Tejay van Garderen (BMC) +5:31” 

Points Classification 

1st Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) 232 points
2nd Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) 205 points
3rd André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 172 points
4th Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) 129 points
5th Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) 109 points
6th Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) 95 points
7th Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) 89 points
8th Cadel Evans (BMC) 86 points
9th Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 81 points
10th Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) 76 points

Mountains Classification 

1st Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 28 points
2nd Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) 21 points
3rd Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) 21 points
4th Chris Froome (Team Sky) 20 points
5th Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) 18 points
6th Cadel Evans (BMC) 18 points
7th Luis León Sanchez (Rabobank) 18 points
8th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) 16 points
9th Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) 14 points
10th Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 14 points

Young Riders Classification 

1st Tejay van Garderen (BMC) 44:04:33”
2nd Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) +25”
3rd Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) +3:22”
4th Rafael Valls (Vacansoleil-DCM) +19:01”
5th Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) +27:07”
6th Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) +28:42”
7th Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) +29:07”
8th David Malacarne (Europcar) +29:27”
9th Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) +33:33”
10th Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) +34:39”

Team Classification 

1st RadioShack-Nissan 132:02:22
2nd Team Sky +4:58”
3rd BMC +22:06”
4th Astana +25:56”
5th Omega Pharma-Quick Step +26:00”
6th Liquigas-Cannondale +28:48”
7th Katusha +31:14”
8th Movistar +34:13”
9th FDJ-BigMat +35:20”
10th Europcar +44:13”

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)

TDF: Standings after Stage Nine ITT

The first rest day of the 2012 Tour de France is upon us and wearing yellow is the Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins will be the centre of attention on a day that is usually for the benefit of the press. The story of the day continues to be the blistering ITT stage win by Wiggins in which he put some serious distance between himself and his rivals. He is now in a position in which he can afford to ride defensively and simply follow the wheels of his rivals and till the Tour.

Leading the other classifications is three time stage winner Peter Sagan in green, American Tejay van Garderen in white and Fredrik Kessiakoff in the maillot pois. In the team classification, RadioShack-Nissan leads Sky by over a minute and will be wearing yellow helmets on Stage 10 as leaders of that classification.

Overall classification 

1st Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 39:09:20
2nd Cadel Evans (BMC) +1:53”
3rd Chris Froome (Team Sky) +2:07”
4th Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +2:23”
5th Dennis Menchov (Katusha) +3:02”
6th Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) +3:19”
7th Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Nissan) +4:23”
8th Tejay van Garderen (BMC) +5:14”
9th Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) +5:20”
10th Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) +5:29”

Points Classification 

1st Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) 217 points
2nd Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) 185 points
3rd André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 172 points
4th Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) 129 points
5th Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) 109 points
6th Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) 95 points
7th Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) 89 points
8th Cadel Evans (BMC) 82 points
9th Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 78 points
10th Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) 76 points

Mountains Classification 

1st Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) 21 points 

2nd Chris Froome (Team Sky) 20 points
3rd Cadel Evans (BMC) 18 points
4th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) 16 points
5th Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 12 points
6th Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) 9 points
7th Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) 9 points
8th Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) 9 points
9th Chris Anker Sørenson (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) 4 points
10th Jérémy Roy (FDJ-BigMat) 5 points

Young Riders Classification 

1st Tejay van Garderen (BMC) 39:14:34”
2nd Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) +42”
3rd Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) +45”
4th Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) +3:39”
5th Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) +5:11”  
6th David Malacarne (Europcar) +13:55”
7th Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) +18:15”
8th Rafael Valls (Vacansoleil-DCM) +18:54”
9th Arthur Vichot (FDJ-BigMat) +19:33”
10th Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) +20:34”

Team Classification 

1st RadioShack-Nissan 117:36:25
2nd Team Sky +1:25”
3rd Omega Pharma-Quick Step +13:25”
4th Liquigas-Cannondale +16:06”
5th Katusha +16:23”
6th BMC +17:32”
7th Movistar +22:39”
8th Astana +22:47”
9th AG2R-La Mondiale +24:28”
10th FDJ-BigMat +26:52”

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

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.