‘GreenEDGE will be on a high’ we said of their chances in the TTT – and they exploited it in the best way possible.
There’s a lot of luck involved in professional cycling and it was Sky and QuickStep’s turn for that particular lady to desert them, this time around.
Tony Martin is a beast of a man and the Belgian team’s powerhouse – and no matter how tough the world champion is there’s no way he could have been at 100% in Nice after the mauling he took on Stage One.
The same applies to big strong boys Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard for Sky – both came down very hard on Saturday.
If truth be told, there’s no way Thomas should still be in the race, not with a fracture to his pelvis.
But the stakes are high and Froome can’t afford to lose a man like Thomas so early in the race.
The margins were less than a second for the laminated flooring boys and three seconds for Squadra Murdoch, respectively – but TTT’s are decided on margins like that, there’s so little to choose between the tops teams these days.
GrenEDGE have some strong and experienced boys in there – Impey is developing into one of the best lead out men around; Lancaster is already one of the top train drivers; Tuft is a beast of a man with excellent TT palmares including a Worlds medal; Goss is fast, a former team pursuit star; likewise Meyer whilst Clarke, Albasini and O’Grady are men who can punish themselves all day in the break.
Here’s what Matt White had to say:
“I thought we’d be around the mark, but the boys had an incredible ride. We really didn’t do much specific preparation for this stage. We did one day on the TT bikes in Corsica, but that was it. We had moved away from having a team just for the team time trial because we didn’t think our best team could beat Sky or Garmin on this particular course.
We brought a more diverse Tour team instead. They were very relaxed today, and they nailed it from the start. We were all very happily surprised with the win.”
Their press release continues;
“Time trial specialists Cameron Meyer and Svein Tuft led the Australian outfit down the start ramp. The Tour de France debutants each took long, steady pulls to get the team up to speed. Stopping the clock at 25’56, ORICA-GreenEDGE averaged 57.8kph to record the fastest time ever for a Tour team time trial.”
“The boys did a technically good ride today,” said White. “Everyone was on the mark. I’m especially proud of Svein and Stuey [Stuart O’Grady] who both took big, long turns on the front. We would have been happy with a top five today. It was really incredible to cross the line and hear we posted the fastest time.”
“We certainly weren’t the favourites, but we had a very strong team,” Gerrans added. “There were no weak links today. Everyone was given a specific role to play within the TTT. The stronger riders pulled harder and longer. The less strong guys kept the speed up on their turns. Everyone committed 100% and it paid off with the win.”
A great day for GreenEDGE and Simon Gerrans – one of the ‘nice guys’ – but not a disaster for Froome, Contador or Van Den Broucke with Saxo fourth @ nine seconds and Lotto fifth @ 17 seconds.
Not a good day for Garmin and David Millar, though – sixth @ 17 seconds.
The TTT is their ‘thing’ but it’s the second Grand Tour in a row where they’ve failed to deliver.
Millar said after that they’d gone out conservatively, trusting that a strong second half would do the business for them.
But, as with team pursuiting in the modern era, you can’t think in those terms any longer – not on a fast course, at least – it’s 100% from the gun and hang on.
The race was a disaster for Astana and their GC rider, Jakob Fuglsang who’s just come off fourth spot in the Dauphine and last year won the Tours of Luxembourg and Austria – the men in blue and yellow dropped 56 seconds on GreenEDGE.
It was interesting to read the press releases from the different teams, Movistar said; ‘We lost less than a second per kilometre to a team full of specialists like Orica, and that makes me feel we did a nice TT.’
Funny, I thought Movistar were specialists?
But BMC tell the truth; ‘The BMC Racing Team’s ninth place in Tuesday’s team time trial was disappointing.’
You may say that margins we quote above are insignificant – but if you’re on the Sky ‘hit list’ how do you propose to take 50-odd seconds back from Chris Froome?
But I have agree with Sean Kelly, the distance was too short – 40 K would have been better but I guess that ASO don’t want yawning gaps to open before the race has even started.
I can remember Herrera dropping many minutes in the 80’s Tour TTT’s.
Tomorrow could go either way, a break might go the distance but it could be difficult to let the right one go because there are still so many riders within spitting distance of yellow – 54 are within one minute of the jersey.
GrenEDGE will be keen to keep the jersey – and that will do the sprint teams chances no harm at all.
But who knows in this Tour de France?
‘Oidhche mhath’ as we say here in North Uist.
Result - Le Tour de France 2013 – Stage 4: Nice > Nice
Stage Result
2 Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:01
3 Sky Procycling 0:00:03
4 Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:09
5 Lotto-Belisol 0:00:17
6 Garmin – Sharp
7 Movistar Team 0:00:20
8 Lampre – Merida 0:00:25
9 BMC Racing Team 0:00:26
10 Katusha Team 0:00:28
11 Radioshack Leopard 0:00:29
12 Vacansoleil-Dcm 0:00:33
13 Cannondale 0:00:34
14 Belkin Pro Cycling 0:00:37
15 Fdj.Fr 0:00:42
16 Astana Pro Team 0:00:56
17 Ag2R La Mondiale 0:01:04
18 Sojasun 0:01:10
19 Team Europcar 0:01:13
20 Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:20
21 Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:01:24
22 Team Argos-Shimano 0:01:47
Overall Classification after Stage 4
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:01
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 0:00:03
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
8 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling
9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:09
10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
11 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
12 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
13 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:17
14 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
15 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol
16 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp
17 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
18 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp
19 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
20 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
21 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:20
22 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
23 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team
24 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team
25 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:25
26 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
27 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
28 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:26
29 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
30 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
31 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
32 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:28
33 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
34 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha
35 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha
36 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:29
37 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack Leopard
38 Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack Leopard
39 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack Leopard
40 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:33
41 Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
42 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
43 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:34
44 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:37
45 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
46 Bram Tankink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
47 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
48 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:42
49 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr
50 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr
51 Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:48
52 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:56
53 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
54 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
55 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:04
56 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
58 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
59 Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun 0:01:10
60 Brice Feillu (Fra) Sojasun
61 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Sojasun
62 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar 0:01:13
63 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
64 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:01:15
65 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:01:16
66 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:20
67 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
68 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:24
69 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
70 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
71 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
72 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:44
73 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:57
74 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun 0:03:39
75 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar 0:03:42
76 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:32
77 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:36
78 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:44
79 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:00
80 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:05:01
81 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:05:04
82 Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Sojasun 0:05:24
83 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha 0:05:30
84 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack Leopard 0:05:31
85 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:05:51
86 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun 0:06:01
87 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:06:04
88 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:06:12
89 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Sojasun 0:06:48
90 Julien El Fares (Fra) Sojasun
91 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar 0:07:47
92 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Movistar Team 0:08:06
93 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:08:35
94 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:08:52
95 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:09:03
96 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:09:18
97 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:09:40
98 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha 0:09:46
99 Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:09:49
100 Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:09:57
101 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun 0:10:29
102 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha 0:11:24
103 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:13:00
104 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team 0:13:03
105 Laurent Didier (Lux) RadioShack Leopard 0:13:29
106 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:13:36
107 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:13:41
108 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) RadioShack Leopard 0:13:50
109 Jerome Coppel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:14:03
110 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:14:07
111 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:14:13
112 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:14:15
113 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:14:30
114 Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack Leopard 0:14:33
115 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:14:46
116 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:14:47
117 David Veilleux (Can) Team Europcar 0:15:20
118 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha 0:15:21
119 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:16:09
120 Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:17:35
121 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
122 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:17:36
123 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol 0:18:02
124 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:04
125 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:18:25
126 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:49
127 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:18:54
128 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:19:06
129 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:19:13
130 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:19:21
131 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 0:19:44
132 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:20:32
133 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:21:17
134 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Movistar Team 0:21:29
135 Lars Boom (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:21:51
136 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:21:56
137 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol 0:22:22
138 Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:22:29
139 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
140 Brian Vandborg (Den) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:22:32
141 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:22:33
142 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:22:54
143 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:22:56
144 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:23:13
145 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:23:50
146 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:23:53
147 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha 0:24:15
148 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:24:22
149 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:24:48
150 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
151 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:26:00
152 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
153 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:26:01
154 Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:26:03
155 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:26:20
156 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:26:33
157 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:26:34
158 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:26:50
159 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
160 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
161 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:27:02
162 Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:27:04
163 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:27:06
164 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
165 Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar 0:27:13
166 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:27:14
167 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:27:15
168 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:27:19
169 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ.fr
170 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp 0:27:20
171 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:27:22
172 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:27:24
173 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Belisol 0:27:30
174 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:27:31
175 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:27:35
176 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:27:37
177 Kévin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar 0:27:44
178 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol
179 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:27:47
180 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano
181 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp 0:27:49
182 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:27:57
183 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Belisol 0:28:00
184 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:28:05
185 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Katusha 0:28:08
186 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:28:14
187 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:28:36
188 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
189 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
190 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Team Europcar 0:28:45
191 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:28:58
192 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:29:13
193 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:30:31
194 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:35:00
195 Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:36:05
TBD Edward King (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling
