With his win today on the Cap Fréhel, Mark Cavendish’s total of Tour de France stage wins stands at 16 stage wins. That puts him above übersprinter Freddy Maertens but still a few places behind André Darrigade, the Frenchman who took 22 stage wins from 14 Tour de France appearances. Aged 26, Cavendish has time on his side to achieve more wins.
Cap Fréhel is a small peninsula, a cape, on the coast of Brittany with only 1,600 inhabitants and the actual finish location is the village of Pléhérel. The arrival of the race today will probably be the biggest thing to happen in the village’s history. It’s a unique setting with tall cliffs above the sea, heathland and salty air.
The Tour de France is racing across Brittany at the moment. This the region in north west, the big finger that pokes westwards into the Atlantic. It’s a hotbed of French cycling where many a village festival is accompanied by a small race and where one of the biggest races in France takes place, the GP Plouay.
It’s Philippe Gilbert’s birthday today. He won the opening stage of the Tour on the day of his wife’s birthday and everything points to a repeat today. Almost.
The first climb La Côte de Laz is 1.6km at 5.9%, big ring territory and only one point on offer as it’s a fourth category climb.
“We’d fixed the goal of finishing between twelfth and fourteenth place and we’re right on cue because we finished thirteenth! The result on the day was rather satisfying”
That’s Ag2r-La Mondiale’s team manager Vincent Lavenu speaking after yesterday’s team time trial. Homer, not the ancient Greek but the Simpson, said the secret to happiness was low expectations so their must be smiles all round with Ag2r yesterday. Aiming for 12th-14th spot, the team hit the mark for sure. In fairness, the team does not have many rouleurs and the goal was realistic rather than romantic.
There’s a mini-fuss at the moment over some of the UCI rules. Specifically rule 1.3.014 requires the saddle to be level:
1.3.014 The saddle support shall be horizontal. The length of the saddle shall be 24 cm minimum and 30 cm maximum.
Only during the season some riders have been using a tilt on their saddle. Some prefer this position naturally but there are biomechanical gains possible for a time trial where the rider tips the nose of the saddle down. When turning a big gear they can push against the saddle as they push down on the pedals. If it helps, think of it like doing a leg press when you’re seated, if you want to push big weights whilst seated then it helps to do it with your back against something. In years past some riders have gone to extreme examples which have since been banned.
The race leaves the Vendée region to head into Brittany, passing through the heartlands of French cycling. There are more amateur races organised in this area than anywhere else in France. The course is flat if there’s a single categorised climb on the day, it is not a hill but a bridge (Cat 4, 1.1km at 4.9%). This is a day for the sprinters.
It’s all the rage these days. Alessandro Petacchi has threatened to swap the maglia azzurra of the Italian national team for that of Kazakhstan after the Italian authorities raised the idea of banning those with doping convictions from representing their country. Now Grega Bole is sporting a jersey in the colours of the Dutch national champion. Only he is Slovenian.
My second piece for cyclingnews.com is now online. I wanted to take a look at what happens when the riders cross the line because if the race is over for the day, the work is not done. In particular, riders can face a long drive to get to their hotel and the stop for the night varies, it might be luxury but more often than not it’s a chain hotel.
The profile says it all: 23km and it’s flat. The course is not as technical as the last time the Tour included a team time trial when several teams were blown to pieces by hills and corners. Bbox lost several riders in one go but that can’t happen this time since the team, now known as Europcar, has its HQ and service course in Les Essarts.