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Tour de France 2012 stage 6
Live team coverage of stage 6 at the 99th edition of the Tour de France
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Good morning, afternoon or evening, wherever you are, and welcome to our live coverage of stage 6 of the 2012 Tour de France.
Today's stage 250km stage from Épernay to Metz is mostly flat, and is expected to be one for the sprinters.
There's currently a four-man breakaway with a 6:24 advantage. Garmin's Dave Zabriskie is one of the four men in the break.
There's been a crash on the course. Both Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) were involved. Both are back on their bikes.
Earlier in the day, two-time stage winner Andre Greipel crashed and is reportedly nursing a sore shoulder.
Speaking of crashes, Garmin's Tyler Farrar started the race today, covered in bandages.TV pictures showed Farrar at sign in, declining to talk to Bicycling's Frankie Andreu.
Garmin's DS told NBC Sports that Farrar would not contest today's field sprint, saying Farrar needs "a time out." -
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Details on the breakaway from our friends at LeTour.fr:
The Escape of stage six has been established. The move began at the 5km mark and after 5km on the attack they are over a minute ahead. The men involved are:
• Davide Malacarne (ITA) Europcar, 66th overall after five stages, 3:34 behind race leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack)
• Romain Zingle (BEL) Cofidis, 129th overall, at 9:57
• Dave Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Sharp, 169th overall, at 13:13
• Karsten Kroon (NED) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, 171st overall, at 13:43 -
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The big drama after Thursday's stage finish involved Tyler Farrar stopping for a visit at the Argos-Shimano bus to have "a word" with Dutch sprinter Tom Veelers. Right or wrong, Farrar felt Veelers caused Farrar's crash; overhead pictures showed that even though it was Alessandro Petacchi who closed the door on Farrar from the front, the crash was as much Farrar's fault as anyone's.
On Twitter, Mark Cavendish shared his thoughts... -
Watching #RumbleInTheJungle at breakfast this morning m.youtube.com But seriously, yesterdays crash looked like it was his own fault?by MarkCavendish via twitter 7/6/2012 12:20:04 PM -
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Here's our stage 6 preview (slightly modified):
velonews.competitor.com
On the last day before the 2012 Tour enters its first true mountain test the sprinters should be chomping at the bit for a stage win in Metz, after the 207.5km run from Épernay. The mostly flat stage should bode well for a mass sprint, with a pancake-flat run to the line.
The Cat. 4 Côte de Bruxières shouldn’t cause much trouble for the sprinters, though a well-placed attack by a rider hoping to contend for the green jersey early in the race could soften the legs a hair. Look for the yellow jersey’s squad to relinquish control of the bunch low on the climb and force the sprinters’ teams to work for a win.
So long as he rides uninjured, Mark Cavendish (Sky) will enter every bunch finish the favorite. But a tricky, roughly 120-degree corner inside the final kilometers is textbook for tripping up the Manxman.
This may end up a day for Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) or Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) to shine. -
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Zabriskie was the first rider to attack, 2.5 miles into the stage; with the team opting out of the sprints today, DZ had the green light to jump in a breakaway. Perhaps with Greipel hurting from today's crash and Lotto less motivated to chase, the four-man escape may just have a chance to stay away. Then again, Lotto's leadout man Greg Henderson is still one of the fastest sprinters in the race.
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RadioShack's Jens Voigt and Yaroslav Popovych are currently on the front driving the chase. Because Saturday's stage 7 finishes on the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles, today is likely the last day RadioShack will need to ride in defense of Cancellara's maillot jaune.
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German power meter company SRM reports that during his stage 4 sprint win, Greipel produced a maximum of 1,566 watts.
"He entered the final in a reasonably fresh state and was able to do the last 20 minutes of the stage with an average power of 334 watts and in the final meters delivered a 1,566 watt sprint."
www.srm.de -
Average speed for the 2nd hour, 40.5km/h. Gesink stopped to replace both wheels and is consulting his team car. #TDF12by opqscyclingteam via twitter 7/6/2012 12:43:45 PM -
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Agence France Presse previewing Saturday's stage 7:
Fabian Cancellara, who won the opening prologue last Saturday, spent his 27th day in the yellow jersey on Friday, a record for a rider who has not won the race overall.
But Cancellara believes the final, 5.9 km climb on the 199 km ride from Tomblaine to the Planche des Belles Filles, which has steep gradients of up to 14 percent, will end his spell in yellow.
"I really expect to lose the yellow jersey there," says Cancellara, who has a 7second lead on Wiggins and 17 seconds on Evans. "It's too steep for me." -
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Thank you, Ben.
He's referring to this article, which posted on VeloNews.com today:
velonews.competitor.com
When news broke last month that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was filing formal doping violation charges against Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, Michele Ferrari and three team staff members, one of the most damning sentences in the official 15-page charging letter was that USADA claimed it had collected blood from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that was “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.”
It was troubling both for its recent time period, and for the fact that Armstrong’s blood had been monitored, during the same time period, by the UCI’s Biological Passport program — the same program that saw Italians Franco Pellizotti and Pietro Caucchioli suspended for doping for biomarker abnormalities, without ever delivering a direct positive drug test.
To find out how USADA could have found evidence of blood manipulation that the UCI either did not find, or chose not to pursue, we asked blood-doping expert Michael Ashenden. -
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Sagan's bell
by Neal Rogers via Drupal-images.tv2.dk 7/6/2012 12:52:08 PM -
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I thought the most telling comment from Mr. Ashenden was the following: "Therefore the agency’s tenacity to confront dopers, as well as how risk averse they are to the prospect of lengthy legal proceedings, will also influence the outcome." Chapeau to USADA for confronting the existential threat that is the LA legal machine. Vive la Tour! Vive la France!
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Though he missed yesterday's sprint, Sagan continues to lead the points competition, with 155 points; Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) sits second, with 137, and Greipel third, with 132. Mark Cavendish is fourth, with 119, and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) is fifth, with 91.
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Bad news for Greipel fans on LeTour.fr: The medical team of the Tour has recently offered an appraisal on the state of the riders who fell at the 35km mark. “About 20 riders came past our car after the fall, including many team leaders,” said Florence Pommerie. “The crash victims included Sandy Casar (FDJ), Jean-Christophe Peraud (ag2r) and Andre Greipel (Lotto). Most have abrasions and contusions. These are minor injuries, but they hurt all the same. André Greipel seems to have some significant injuries including and a wounded finger. He must have landed very heavily.”
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Dutchman Tom Veelers spoke with Agence France Presse before the start about the incident with Tyler Farrar after the American's angry reaction to his fourth crash in six days on
Thursday.
The American finished battered and bruised and had to be restrained by a team employee when he went to Veelers' Argos-Shimano team bus to "have a word" with the Dutchman, whom he accused of bringing him down.
Veelers, however, believes Farrar was simply a victim of one of the many incidents that conspire to make the bunch sprints one of the most dangerous parts of bike racing.
"I can understand when you crash you're really upset about it, but I think when he sees the pictures he'll know what happened," Veelers said at the start of the sixth stage between Epernay and Metz.
"I was sitting there and Alessandro Petacchi (of Lampre) was steering in and I think Tyler broke his front wheel on the rear derailleur of Petacchi. In the sprint it's very hectic and everybody's fighting for his place. Nobody does such things on purpose, and he knows that as well." -
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Hey there Matt. Yeah, between Tommy Danielson's crash, Farrar's multiple crashes, and the USADA drama surrounding Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde and manager Jonathan Vaughters, Garmin is having a rough go during this year's Tour; polar opposite to their dream TDF of 2011 when they won four stages and Thor Hushovd held yellow for a week
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I truly believe in "Racer Brain". One gives it all in a race and not only must the body recover, but also the mind. I think there should be a "cool down" period for the racers and media so that the mind can get back to firing on all cylinders. Thankfully, Vaughters and older guys on Garmin can still mentor the young Farrar. He was not in his right mind, and rightfully so. (We've all been there after hard races or rides.)
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From LeTour.fr: The escapees have been at the front for 102km. They are now inside the final 100km of the stage and have a lead of 5'30". The maximum gain was 6'50" (around the 85km mark).
Yaroslav Popovych, Jens Voigt, Adam Hansen, Sebastian Langeveld and Peter Weening are the riders at the front of the peloton as it exits the feedzone. These guys are essetially the regular contributors to the pace setting for the first week of Le Tour 2012. -
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Neal- it's been a black and blue few days for those boys, yes. But. Look at what's playing out here today. And now I'm thinking about what Sky boss David Brailsford said this morning at the bus, in that a break has not seemed to commit. I'd bet Zabriskie is all in here.
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Hey Matt: $10 says no chance it stays away.
Goss wants that elusive win badly, and with Greipel smarting from his crash earlier, Orica (as well as RadioShack) are going to be sure to bring the group back.
A reminder of the men in the break:
• Davide Malacarne (ITA) Europcar, 66th overall after five stages, 3:34 behind race leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack)
• Romain Zingle (BEL) Cofidis, 129th overall, at 9:57
• Dave Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Sharp, 169th overall, at 13:13
• Karsten Kroon (NED) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, 171st overall, at 13:43 -
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I'm pretty sure explaining the Tour de France to my five-year-old makes me understand the sport better.by SC_Cycling via twitter 7/6/2012 1:16:38 PM -
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