Tour de France Stage 20 - Cérilly Saint-Amand-Montrond ITT

LeTour ^

[green iguana]

The final chance (most likely) for the riders to shake up the GC. A 32 mile Individual Time Trial. Nice and flat:

[Mom MD]

I have a feeling Vandevelde may just be up to the challenge - it will depend on those ahead of him and whether they brought their A game

[green iguana]

Sastre just left - all on!

[green iguana]

Evans isn’t in the top 5 at the first time check! Kohl is ahead of him.

[green iguana]

Vandevelde is having the best ride so far of those at the top of the GC, but he’s just too far back.

[Mr. Blonde]

Things aren’t looking good for Evans. At least so far as I have been able to read on ESPN.com. Bummer.

[green iguana]

Looks like Sastre is going to pull it off pretty easily. Should be Sastre, Evans, Kohl on the podium tomorrow.

[green iguana]

Interesting. Right now, Cyclingnews has Evans coming in 7th... and 12th...

[ScaniaBoy]

Bummer.....there is something with the Spaniards this year. The soccer European Cup, Nadal, Le Tour.....

[Mom MD]

Good on him

By all accounts he is not a great time trialist. He really wanted this and went out and got it.

[luv2ski]

Once again, the power of the yellow jersey is revealed. Even though Sastre did not defeat Evans today, he finished closer to him than he ever has and well within the 1:34 he needed to stay in yellow. Evans never seemed to be able to find his rhythm today. Vandevelde had a terrific ride but had too much to make up from his fall on the descent a few days ago. It is a shame b/c he rode a super Tour otherwise.
Interesting bits from the post-race interviews: Schumacher lost radio contact during the TT and had no idea where he was time-wise. He said, “Maybe I pushed the wrong button. I don't know.” He said he was cross-eyed at the finish and had to ask what place he had come in.
The director sportif of Gerolsteiner said that Bernard Kohl is in need of a doctor as he rode himself to complete exhaustion.
Do you think Frank Schleck let Sastre catch him to spur him on to ride stronger and stay in yellow? It would be an interesting tactic, if true.
One more thought- the biggest difference IMO between Sastre and Evans is the teams. CSC Saxo Bank has the Yankees of cycling. Every name is recognizable. On the Alpes D’Huez, CSC had 4 guys up in the front whereas Evans was alone. Cadel just didn't have the team support that would have helped in in the attacks and also kept him fresher for this last TT. It was like he was trying to win the TdF alone against Sastre and his entire team.IMO, Evans either has to switch to a stronger team or convince Silence-Lotto to recruit more and better guys.

[SES1066]

I still miss the TTT

Amen brother, the pure beauty of the pace line in the Team Time Trial, all in same uniform moving as one is a sight not to be missed. I think the Tour organizers were turned off by the successive wins of USPostal/DiscoveryChannel with Lance Armstrong. I am hoping that it will be reinstated soon, it is too good to die.

[luv2ski]

There were some very scary moments in the TTTs. Remember when 2-3 US Postal guys (I think Vandevelde was one of them) went down on the painted line in the road (it was raining). UGH! How about when David Zabriskie was in yellow and crashed. IIRC he was riding for CSC then. His team had to leave him behind after a few moments of indecision.

[luv2ski]

Speaking of scary moments, how about the time when Lance caught his handle bars on the musette, or when he rode XC when Beloki’s tires caught in the pavement, or when Ullrich slid into the hay bales in the TT or (this year) Augustyn blasted over the edge of the mountain like it was a straight road!

[dfwgator]

If only Sergio Garcia had won the British Open, it pretty much would have been a clean sweep for Spain this summer.