SPOILER - Winner of Stage 13 in Nimes

With 10KM to go, the breakaway ended and Terpstra was caught after being on the attack for 172KM.

After the capture, the teams put on a furious pace to the finish line. They were moving along fine when at about 8KM, Sylvain Chavanel attacked and opened a lead of 150 meters. He was caught at the 3KM mark.

Team Columbia then took over the pacemaking for a bit and then QuickStep and Milram came front.

Only one KM away, it's a morass of wheels and riders and different colored jerseys at the front.

And with so much confusion at the front, and such a fantastic speed, who but Robbie Mc Ewen could blast ahead for the win? I'll tell you who! Mark Cavendish!

The Englishman has won his FOURTH stage of the 2008 Tour de France.

Here are the top 10 of the 182km stage from Narbonne to Nimes:
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) COL - 182km in 4h25’42"
2. Robbie McEwen (AUS) SIL
3. Roman Feillu (FRA) AGR
4. Heinrich Haussler (GER) GST
5. Oscar Freire (ESP) RAB
6. Thor Hushovd (NOR) C.A
7. Leonardo Duque (COL) COF
8. Erik Zabel (GER) MRM
9. Julian Dean (NZL) TSL
10. Sebastian Chavanel (FRA) FDJ

According to letour,

Cavendish is making this sprinting game look easy. He was blocked in the middle of the bunch with 500m to go but when he opened it up, there was no one who could get close. Stage win number four for the Columbia rider!

More info in the next post.

120KM into Stage 13

We're about three hours into Stage 13 and the two riders in the breakaway are losing their advantage quickly. It's down to around two minutes (after a high of more than nine minutes) and the peloton looks poised to catch them.

Again, this stage isn't chock full of climbs...it's got a lot of flat...and that spells out a nearly certain bunch sprint at the end.

Some people on race radio are speculating that Mark Cavendish could win this stage again. I'm guessing that it will be the aim of Thor Hushovd and Robbie Mc Ewen to do everything in their power to ensure that doesn't happen.

Switching now to SPOILER mode. See you at 9PM tonight. Oh, I'll get the Saab word of the day for you in a moment.

More Nimes info from LeTour.fr

Today is the 16th time that a stage of the Tour de France has concluded in Nimes. The last time was in 2004 when Aitor Gonzalez won the stage, relegating Nicolas Jalabert to second place in a stage from Carcassonne.
Before that, the previous stage finish in Nimes was in 1986 when Frank Hoste claimed the victory in a two-up sprint against Silvano Contini in in the 225.5km 15th stage from Carcassonne.

Nimes

According to letour.fr,

The last time a stage of the Tour de France concluded in Nimes, the runner-up was Nicolas Jalabert. He was part of an escape group on the day the Tour visited this city in the Gard department in 2004. The winner was Aitor Gonzalez who was riding for the Fassa Bortolo team at the time.
Jalabert has just been seen hovering around the rear of the peloton expressing little interest in racing too hard in the first half of the 13th stage.

Pretty cool. I was in France in 2004 and actually in Nimes, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Unfortunately, I left the country before the start of the Tour.

Stage 13 Overview, Picks and Comment

Stage 13 is sentimental for me because I spent a week in the finishing town of Nimes a few summers ago. I love the south of France. The countryside is so picturesque and the food is great. If you get a chance, you should go. Seriously.

The stage today (Friday) is fairly flat. Not like a billiards table as there are some little climbs, but not a mountain stage by any means.

It's a 182KM journey from Narbonne into Provence that will likely see another sprint finish. If Cavendish has a say, he'll win his fourth stage in Nimes.

My other picks are still Hushovd and Mc Ewen. They HAVE to win a stage soon.

That's all for now. See you here tomorrow.

Stage 7 Picks and Preview

Tomorrow's Stage 7 is going to be another test for the climbers and will really be where we see some riders drop far back.

That's because the climbs in Stage 7 are higher and longer than those riders faced today.

It's only 159KM (listen to me say "only"), but there are multiple categorized climbs and a bunch of rises and hills from the opening gun to the finish in Aurillac.

My Tour de France guide shows only four categorized climbs, but the article I was reading about this stage says there are five. I don't know which to believe, so we'll all have to watch.

The route is from Brioude to Aurillac and it's finished there five times. Last time was in 1985.

Frankly, I'm more excited about the stage a week from tomorrow when the stage finishes in Nimes. It's probably because I've been there and by that point the race should be well in-hand and I can watch the telecast for places I've visited instead of paying too much attention to strategy, rider techniques and the blather of the commentators.

My picks to win tomorrow are Kim Kirchen (why change what's going right?), Cadel Evans or a surprise victory from Denis Menchov.