Tour Alsace

[daveinzambia]

Tour Alsace gets under way tomorrow, nice 5 day, 6 stage tour in Eastern france.

starts out with some easier stages for the sprinters but gets a lot more interesting on the weekend. Saturday has an 85 km MTF stage in morning followed by a 17 km TT in the afternoon. Sunday has the queen stage, 3 big climbs finishing on Ballon D’Alsace

start list

Given my lack of knowledge of French cycling i can only really comment on the riders i know in the race.

Two names stick out immediately, Charteau, having been shuffled out of the tour team should be on good form and has a reasonable Europcar team to back him up. and JTL will be looking to continue the trend of Brits winning in france. only in miniature. and with less swearing.

Other names. Atlas have a good team with Lang, Baldo and Kusztor. The young Rabos always seem to impress whenever they ride this year but no idea out of this lot who can climb. Lebas from Bridgestone was climbing well in Japan and came 5th on the Brutal Fuji climb and Zakarin just got a top 10 in the baby Giro

if anyone cares there is more detail, stage profiles etc here
http://2point2cycling.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/tour-alsace-preview/

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Can Niels Albert win the queen stage again? It will be interesting to see how the Joker guys get on with some full sized climbs too.

 

[daveinzambia]

Can Niels Albert win the queen stage again? It will be interesting to see how the Joker guys get on with some full sized climbs too.

Yep Remme was 2nd last year overall but lost 1.30 on the final stage. they do not appear to have profiles for last years race but looking at stage description looks like the final stage is same as this year but now they have a much harder day on the saturday. Pliuschin has been going ok this year at times but maybe a bit too much for him.

oh and anyone who feels brave i think they do an amateur race up the final climb on the weekend as well.

 

[daveinzambia]

Have just seen in Stagiaries thread a number of these guys will be stepping up to the big boy teams after this race so may be their final races as U23's

Goos (rabo), Renault (Saur) and Wippert (Lotto) all changing on the 1st

 

[roundabout]

The official page did have (somewhat lousy) profiles, but it seems to be down right now.

 

[daveinzambia]

Sorry was being lazy and could not be bothered to double enter stuff from blog. profiles are a bit simplistic but anyway

Stage 1 was pan flat so not including profile
Stage 2, bit of climbing but waaay to early

stage 3 - pretty much downhill. looks to be some of the easiest mountain points this year

stage 4 - short mountain stage

stage 5 - TT, pretty flat from memory

stage 6 - queen stage

 

[theyoungest]

The official page did have (somewhat lousy) profiles, but it seems to be down right now.

There are profiles in this link, which the OP posted.

Very hard final weekend, what with a MTF and a TT on the same day, and then the queen stage to the Ballon d'Alsace.

 

[theyoungest]

Pretty hard final weekend, with an MTF and a TT on Saturday, and then the queen stage on Sunday.

I wonder if the February/March version of Tiernan-Locke is back again, if so he has this in the bag.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Great race, and a great startlist.

Ilnur Zakarin will be a GC contender, while Igor Boev heads for the sprints.

Julian Kern was so strong in June, I hope some bits of this form have remained.

Same for Mario Vogt, who finally really “arrived” in the U23 category.

Warren Barguil and Stéphane Rossetto fought an epic battle at the Tour du Haute Savoie, I’d like to have a repeat of this.

Tleubayev has been strong all year long and will shine here, too.

Steve Bekaert switched from genius to debacle throughout the Aosta maybe some consistency now?

Thomas Lebas had to race a lot of weird races lately, but at medium MTF’s he’s always to consider.

Yoann Barbas will be there in the Vosges, too.

Finally the cyclocross guys. Of course, Albert, but even more I expect from Petrus. His latest performances on the road were stunning. I’d love to see him focus more on road races.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, Petrus was really strong in Thuringen, but don't forget that's a U23 race. Normally Albert should be much stronger than him, certainly since he's already won the queen stage in Alsace twice (I think?)

 

[daveinzambia]

interested to see how Louis Meintjes goes. a mate who follows the saffer racing has been talking him up and looks like he has got himself 3 months with the lotto youngsters to show his form

 

[Echoes]

Yeah, Petrus was really strong in Thuringen, but don't forget that's a U23 race. Normally Albert should be much stronger than him, certainly since he's already won the queen stage in Alsace twice (I think?)

Nope only once in 2009 (another one that year and one last year but none on the Ballon d'Alsace). But in 2009 Petrus was 2nd overall behind Zahner (another crosser) at age 19 !!

Petrus seems more of a climber than Albert. As I mentioned on the cross part, he's recently won a stage in the Tour of Liège (much more recent than Thuringen) while Albert won the kermess of Dentergem (for the 2nd time, the first one being ... in 2009).

I don't know why but Albert seems much less efficient now in the climbs and mostly in the TT.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Exactly, Petrus' Tour de Liège performance impressed me even more than his results in Thüringen. Plus he had some nice placings in local circuit races in Belgium.

Meintjes had a really long year already. Started successfully in South Africa, then went to California for a couple of months, then to Lotto in Europe with mountainous stage races and local races in Belgium. He must get tired soon...

 

[theyoungest]

Nope only once in 2009 (another one that year and one last year but none on the Ballon d'Alsace). But in 2009 Petrus was 2nd overall behind Zahner (another crosser) at age 19 !!

Petrus seems more of a climber than Albert. As I mentioned on the cross part, he's recently won a stage in the Tour of Liège (much more recent than Thuringen) while Albert won the kermess of Dentergem (for the 2nd time, the first one being ... in 2009).

I don't know why but Albert seems much less efficient now in the climbs and mostly in the TT.

Ah, I didn't know he already got 2nd three years ago. Gotta say I've never noticed him in 'cross, maybe a road career is on the cards?

 

[Echoes]

He was one of the best junior of his generation. I noticed when he won the GvA cross in Namur in his first year as a U23 (I was there) in 2009/10.

Since then, Karel Hnik has been a better crosser than him. But in his first year as a U23 he really seemed like an up-and-coming talent.

I still hope he stays in cross. He's 22, a bit old to change I think/hope. And if he still is under contract with BKCP, there's no way he can focus on the road.

 

[Echoes]

Exactly, Petrus' Tour de Liège performance impressed me even more than his results in Thüringen. Plus he had some nice placings in local circuit races in Belgium.

Which result do you have?

I've got a 7th spot in Nieuwrode-Holsbeeck on June 6 but that's all.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Yeah, something like that. Some other placings, too, but I'm too lazy to search now.

Anywhere, the TTT is running: http://live.touralsace.fr/clm-sausheim

current standings:

1 BKCP - POWERPLUS 5:40.87
2 JOKER - MERIDA 5:41.29
3 EKZ RACING TEAM 5:41.61
4 THURINGER ENERGIE 5:44.06
5 TEAM NSP GHOST 5:43.86
6 TEAM ASTANA 5:46.31
7 TEAM MEDER 5:47.72
8 TIROL CT 5:50.92
9 TEAM U - UC NANTES 5:50.93
10 CC NOGENT-SUR-OISE 5:51.74

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Europcar wins this strange little TTT, with Damien Gaudin first over the line.

1 TEAM EUROPCAR 5:32.79
2 JAYCO - AIS 5:37.21
3 ENDURA RACING 5:39.41
4 BKCP - POWERPLUS 5:40.87
5 JOKER - MERIDA 5:41.29
6 EKZ RACING TEAM 5:41.61
7 CC ETUPES 5:43.22
8 THURINGER ENERGIE 5:44.06
9 TEAM NSP GHOST 5:43.86
10 RABOBANK CT 5:44.45

The live comment went totally berserk as soon as the Europcar guys came near the signing ceremony and the TV cam switched from the finish line to the podium to show the lengthy presentation of the Europcar riders. In the meantime a lot of important teams crossed the finish line unnoticed...

Now with the race being over and Europcar winning they're playing accordion all over, sing along and give away free gifts to the spectators. How I love France.

 

[theyoungest]

The prologue TTT is the same every year, I think this is a record time. But maybe it's also the first time a guy finished alone and it still counts

 

[daveinzambia]

The TTT has been confusing me, i think this year it is just a parade and does not count for GC, but the last couple of years it has counted. all very confusing

 

[MartinGT]

Will be interesting to see how Endura do and how Simon Yates does.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Ruslan Tyeubayev (Astana Continental) wins the mass sprint finish of stage 1.

 

[daveinzambia]

Will be interesting to see how Endura do and how Simon Yates does.

Thwaites got second on first stage and yates 9 th i think

 

[daveinzambia]

Ruslan Tyeubayev (Astana Continental) wins the mass sprint finish of stage 1.

Thnk god, after something like 10 top 10 s in tdql was wondering when he would get the win. Not he 'hottest' sprinting field but awin is a win

 

[daveinzambia]

Not that exciting a stage as expected.
did not try this last night but looks like there was some sort of live coverage.

http://live.touralsace.fr/clm-sausheim

am hoping there will be some video at some point will load up if i find it
if anyone cares slightly more detailed race report here
http://2point2cycling.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/276/

full standings from the official site here
http://live.touralsace.fr/stages_1_classements