Tour de France Stage 5

For anyone associated with the Tour de France there are good days, bad days, and sometimes if you’re very lucky (luck being defined as when preparation meets opportunity), you have a great day.  Today, Randy and I had a great day in the little town of Caves, 122km into the stage …

Race Result: by now you probably know that one of France’s most popular riders, Thomas Voeckler, capitalized on a successful break away with five other riders.  Voeckler, who wore the yellow jersey for many days a few years ago, was hoped to be the Next Big Thing in French cycling, but so far has not been able to live up to those high hopes.  But he is known for being a scrappy rider, not afraid to go on the attack, and attack he did.

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The past few stages have been made more difficult by strong crosswinds typical of Southern France. In Stage 3, Lance and two Astana teammates made it into the front group when team Columbia-HTC took advantage of strong crosswinds to split the pack into pieces. As a result, Lance moved up from 10th place to 3rd place in the standings. The following day, teams were once again buffetted by strong crosswinds in some places along the team trial course. Riding as a cohesive unit, and often in an echelon formation (diagonal pace line), Team Astana won the team time trial and Lance moved up into second place overall, just .22 of a second behind Fabian Cancellara. Today, during Stage 5, the crosswinds were blowing again, and Astana went to the front of the peloton for about 20km and rode in an echelon formation that kept them out of trouble and split the race into pieces behind them.
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The principle of an echelon is based on the fact that when the wind is coming at you from the side, the best place to get a draft from the rider ahead of you is diagonally behind him on the leeward side (away from the wind). This means that if the wind is blowing from the left, you want to ride on the right side of the person in front of you. Exactly where you line up next to him – whether your handlebars are even with his shoulders, behind his hips, or anywhere in between – depends on the angle of the wind.

To rotate in an echelon, the leading rider takes a pull while other riders line up diagonally behind him on his leeward side. Depending on the width of the road, that could mean 4 riders or 15 or more. When he’s done with his pull, he simply slows down and initially goes straight backward. The entire line of riders who were to his right (assuming the wind is from the left) shift left, leaving a space on the leeward side of the road for a rider in the recovery line to move forward and into the leading line. The rider who just pulled off starts moving diagonally across the road behind the leading line of riders until it’s his turn to move forward again.

When you're out on a group ride or in a race and you feel the wind coming in from the side, it's a smart idea to form an echelon (assuming there's enough room on the road so you're not impeding traffic). Even if you can't form a complete echelon, it's important to recognize which direction the wind is coming from so you can position yourself optimally to find a good draft.

Chris Carmichael
www.trainright.com
www.twitter.com/trainright
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Lance Armstrong finished strong in stage 5, finishing the stage in 41st place and placing 2nd overall. Astana teammate and Tour favorite Alberto Contador finished ahead of Lance in 39th place and is now ranked 3rd overall. The rest of the Astana team is following close behind after their amazing team trial win yesterday, with six members of the team all ranked in the top 11. Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer ranked 4th and 5th respectively, and Haimar Zubeldia ranked 7th and Sergio Paulihno is ranked 11th.

OVERALL STANDINGS BY TIME
Result after stage 5
Total distance covered: 196.5 km/122 miles

1.      CANCELLARA Fabian      33      TEAM SAXO BANK      15h 07' 49"       
2.     ARMSTRONG Lance     22     ASTANA     15h 07' 49"     00' 00"
3.     CONTADOR Alberto     21     ASTANA     15h 08' 08"     00' 19"
4.     KLÖDEN Andréas     23     ASTANA     15h 08' 12"     00' 23"
5.     LEIPHEIMER Levi     24     ASTANA     15h 08' 20"     00' 31"
6.     WIGGINS Bradley     58     GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM     15h 08' 27"     00' 38"
7.     ZUBELDIA Haimar     29     ASTANA     15h 08' 40"     00' 51"
8.     MARTIN Tony     76     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 08' 41"     00' 52"
9.     ZABRISKIE David     59     GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM     15h 08' 55"     01' 06"
10.     MILLAR David     56     GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM     15h 08' 56"     01' 07"
11.     PAULINHO Sergio     26     ASTANA     15h 09' 05"     01' 16"
12.     VANDE VELDE Christian     51     GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM     15h 09' 05"     01' 16"
13.     LARSSON Gustav     34     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 09' 11"     01' 22"
14.     MONFORT Maxime     77     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 09' 18"     01' 29"
15.     KREUZIGER Roman     93     LIQUIGAS     15h 09' 20"     01' 31"
16.     ROGERS Michael     79     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 09' 21"     01' 32"
17.     HINCAPIE George     74     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 09' 25"     01' 36"
18.     POPOVYCH Yaroslav     27     ASTANA     15h 09' 25"     01' 36"
19.     NIBALI Vincenzo     95     LIQUIGAS     15h 09' 25"     01' 36"
20.     SCHLECK Andy     31     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 09' 30"     01' 41"
21.     HESJEDAL Ryder     54     GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM     15h 09' 35"     01' 46"
22.     VOIGT Jens     39     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 09' 52"     02' 03"
23.     ARVESEN Kurt-Asle     32     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 09' 54"     02' 05"
24.     KIRCHEN Kim     75     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 10' 05"     02' 16"
25.     SCHLECK Frank     36     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 10' 06"     02' 17"
26.     VANDBORG Brian     97     LIQUIGAS     15h 10' 14"     02' 25"
27.     KARPETS Vladimir     161     TEAM KATUSHA     15h 10' 20"     02' 31"
28.     PELLIZOTTI Franco     91     LIQUIGAS     15h 10' 21"     02' 32"
29.     SASTRE Carlos     1     CERVELO TEST TEAM     15h 10' 33"     02' 44"
30.     SORENSEN Nicki     38     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 10' 33"     02' 44"
31.     SABATINI Fabio     96     LIQUIGAS     15h 10' 39"     02' 50"
32.     GRABSCH Bert     73     TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC     15h 10' 40"     02' 51"
33.     ASTARLOZA Mikel     61     EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI     15h 10' 43"     02' 54"
34.     PASAMONTES Luis     116     CAISSE D’EPARGNE     15h 10' 45"     02' 56"
35.     EVANS Cadel     11     SILENCE - LOTTO     15h 10' 48"     02' 59"
36.     IVANOV Serguei     165     TEAM KATUSHA     15h 10' 48"     02' 59"
37.     HUSHOVD Thor     6     CERVELO TEST TEAM     15h 10' 48"     02' 59"
38.     O’GRADY Stuart     35     TEAM SAXO BANK     15h 10' 49"     03' 00"
39.     IGNATIEV Mikhail     164     TEAM KATUSHA     15h 10' 51"     03' 02"
40.     PEREIRO SIO Oscar     111     CAISSE D’EPARGNE     15h 10' 52"     03' 03"
41.     ROULSTON Hayden     9     CERVELO TEST TEAM     15h 10' 54"     03' 05"
42.     FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto     113     CAISSE D’EPARGNE     15h 10' 55"     03' 06"
43.     HAUSSLER Heinrich     5     CERVELO TEST TEAM     15h 10' 56"     03' 07"
44.     GUSTOV Volodymir     4     CERVELO TEST TEAM     15h 10' 58"     03' 09"
45.     GERDEMANN Linus     181     TEAM MILRAM     15h 11' 00"     03' 11"
46.     URAN Rigoberto     119     CAISSE D’EPARGNE     15h 11' 01"     03' 12"
47.     NOCENTINI Rinaldo     87     AG2R-LA MONDIALE     15h 11' 02"     03' 13"
48.     ROCHE Nicolas     89     AG2R-LA MONDIALE     15h 11' 05"     03' 16"
49.     PINEAU Jérôme     156     QUICK STEP     15h 11' 06"     03' 17"
50.     GUTIERREZ José Ivan     115     CAISSE D’EPARGNE     15h 11' 06"     03' 17" read more

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Greetings from Cave, about 122km down course today. Randy and I decided to see how this small town welcomes the Tour as it winds its way southwest to the finish in Perpignan. It's amazing to think that in just 2 hrs this village of maybe 1000 people, where the main road can barely fit 2 cars across, will be the site of 180 riders, 40 team cars, and a multitude of support and media vehicles.

The weather here is very pleasant but quite breezy. As we saw at the end of Stage 3 that can have a big effect on the group and all the leaders will have to be very attentive. I expect a bunch sprint at the end today, but nothing's guaranteed at the Tour! More from our experience in Caves later, thanks for checking in! - Chris... read more

Sprint stage – 196.5km / 122.mi
Wed, July 8 – starts 1225pm local / 625am ET

This stage will finish in a bunch sprint, but not just because it's flatter than flat for most of the final part of the stage.  The sprinters know that starting tomorrow the roads will go up, up, up for a few stages, and even when they level out a bit their legs will not have the same punch coming after their time in the Pyrenees.

The route comes right down the coast along the Mediterranean, but I doubt there will be time for much sightseeing as the speeds will be very high to discourage anyone attacking out of the main group.  You see, another trick to properly capturing an escape down the road is to not do it too early.  If you do, a team(s) will have to come to the front and really ramp up the speed because if no one will control things opportunists will start the attack process all over again, but this time with a high probability of success.  Most teams that feature a sprinter like to take control with about 5-10km to go and can then sustain speeds so fast that the peloton is literally "lined out" in single file, all the way to the final few hundred meters where they will launch their designated sprinter.  And that sprinter can crank it up to 64kmh/ 40mph on his way to crossing the finish line!

About Le Cap D'Agde
Nestled at the convergence of the river Hérault, Canal du Midi and the Mediterranean Sea, Le Cap D'Agde is a seaside resort that covers 8.7 miles of beaches and protected natural areas. The resort offers everything from tennis and golf to water sports such as scuba diving.

The resort is located right outside of the city of Agde, which was founded in the 5th century before the Common Era by ancient Greeks. The city's original name, Agathé Tyché means "Good Fortune." To the north is the Auvergne range of volcanoes and evidence of the eruption of Mount Saint-Loup 750,000 years ago can still be readily seen.



About Perpignan
This 35-time stage town is a bustling urban community with approximately 117,000 inhabitants. Expansion is the number one priority of the local government; plans are being executed to bring a high-speed train that runs between the city and Barcelona, as well as the construction of the Archipel theater. The city is also focused on becoming more environmentally aware and recently committed to becoming the first European city ran completely by renewable positive energy.

Perpignan is the center of Catalan culture, and provides many exciting outlets for citizens and visitors, including many museums, monuments and Les Estivales, the city's annual summer festival.

The city is known for its beauty; it is near the Mediterranean in a region of France known as Languedoc-Roussillon, and the strong gusts of the northern wind keeps the skies above the city one large, interrupted sea of blue. Combined with the Pyrenees, which loom in the background, the southern-most city in France is also one of its most stunning.

City descriptions written by LIVESTRONG.COM Contributor Charity Scott. read more