96th Tour de France - Stage 9 LIVE TICKER (Part 2)

Attacks already on the first climb of the day.

Tour de France 2009
Stage Nine: Saint Gaudens – Tarbes 160.5km
Sunday 12th July 2009 -
Live Ticker PART TWO

1400 CEST - Current Race situation
- A breakaway of 4 riders: Voigt, Pellizotti, Pedrigo and Duque. - Peloton at 3'52. There is just over 100km to go.

The attacks are still happening. The original attack on the base of the climb has been caught and now Efimkin has attacked. David Moncoutie has attacked and has climbed passed Ten Dam. The three leaders have 3'53 on the peloton.

Fedrigo is leading the break. The chase group are: Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank), Sergio Paulinho (Astana), Egoi Martinez (Euskatel), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence Lotto), Vladimir Efimkin (Ag2r), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Amets Txurruka (Euskatel), David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Stephane Goubet (Ag2r).

Leonardo Duque is still between the two groups somewhere. The chase group have 20 seconds on the peloton and they are around 3 minutes behind the three leaders. Yaroslav Popovych has been dropped from the peloton. So has Dmitriy Murayev. Could Astana be losing riders here?

Thomas Voeckler has now attacked the peloton.

1410 CEST - 98km to go: The three leaders have about 2'50 on the 9 chasers. Duque is caught in the middle. Voeckler has attacked the peloton and is trying to join the 9 chasers. The peloton are around 30 seconds behind. The riders are on the descent. It's hard to pick where everyone is at the moment. We'll have the race situation updated when we know ourselves.

The results of the first climb: 1. Pellizotti 15pts, 2. Fedrigo 13pts, 3. Voigt 11pts, 4. Duque 9pts, 5. Martinez 8pts, 6. Moncoutie 7pts, 7. Txurruka 6pts. 8. Ten Dam 5pts

The three leaders are descending well. They have got to the bottom and heading through the town. The feed station is approaching soon.

Voeckler has now reached the 9 chasers who now have 1 minute on the peloton as the climb to the Tourmalet is about to start. The chasers are still 3 minutes behind the 3 leaders.

Voigt, Pellizotti and Fedrigo have a 3 minute lead over Van den Broeck, Paulinho, Garate, Ten Dam, Martinez, Txurruka, Moncoutie, Duque, Voeckler. The peloton are 1'10 behind the chase group.

Murayev is trying to get back into the field. I just heard word that Kloden may be dropped? Are Astana losing riders here? Maxime Bouet has just attacked, the young rider has been riding well in his tour debut; Agritubel are having a very good tour.

Pelizotti seems to be doing a lot of work at the moment. Laurens Ten Dam is leading group 2. Both groups are working well together. Bouet is on his lonesome 10 seconds ahead of the peloton who are 1.18 behind group 2. The leading trio have 4'18 on the peloton which looks to be scattered.

Brett Lancaster is dropping off the peloton. Riblon as well. Pozzato is going off the back. Sebastian Lang this is expected as the road pitches up.

The three leaders have 10km to go to the summit. The lead is 4'13 over the peloton. Pellizotti has just attacked. Fedrigo is going with him. Voigt can't match the pace. The polka dot jersey, Kern goes out the back... As has O'Grady. Cancellara is in trouble. Ag2r are still leading the peloton. No one has attacked yet. The yellow jersey, "NoNo" Nocentini is looking comfortable. Bouet is riding well trying to reach the break of 8 and he might do it shortly.

Frohlinger and Knees attack to the back... was that a gravity anchor I saw? Popovych was unhitched, made the main field but now is being dropped again. Someone should attack Astana soon

Pellizotti is attacking again. He is looking very strong at the moment. The lead has decreased somewhat, it's now under 4 minutes. Voeckler still looks okay at the back of the chase group. They are 2'52 behind the leaders. Van Den Broeck is looking strong for silence lotto.

Ag2r are continue to grind out the pace on front. Gregory Rast has dropped off too. Popovych is off as is Murayev. - now is the time to attack Astana.

The second hour of the race - the riders are averaging 37km/h. It's reasonably fast hence why there are so many riders dropping off. The pace is still steady as Ag2r still have 4 riders at the front of the peloton protecting Nocentini.

The chase group are 3'11 behind the leading duo. Voigt is somewhere between and Bouet is close to catching the chase group as the Peloton are still 4'30 behind.

Voigt is 1 minute behind the leading duo who are riding exceptionally well together. Pellizotti is dancing on the pedals. He's looking very comfortable. As is Fedrigo. There are a lot of fans on this climb cheering on the riders. Bouet is just about to catch the chasers. This has been a brilliant ride from the young Frenchman. The 21 year old is showing his potential... always good to watch the "race inside the race" among the U25 riders for a look into the future rivals for the tour.

The gaps aren't changing much as Ag2r are still on the front of the peloton. Nocentini is looking good and it appears he might keep the yellow jersey for another day. With the flat stages after the rest day, he might keep it for a little while yet.

There has been no attacks yet from the peloton. That's a disappointment considering there were plenty of attacks on the Col d'Aspin Bouet has successfully caught the chase group. If they can get over the top around 3 minutes behind the leading duo, with 70km to go to the finish after the summit, they could catch the two up front.

David Millar is taking on drinks for his team-mates. He is looking strong in the Pyrenees. The lead is going out - the two leaders now have 4'39 over the peloton. The chase group are now starting to put the hammer down led by Garate.

3 km to the summit... the Peloton follows at 5... Garate is doing the tempo. Van den Broeck is on his wheel. Ten Dam is on third well. Voeckler is still hanging on. Amazing!

71.5 km to go - Ag2r la Mondiale continue to lead the yellow jersey group as they plow through the mass of fans on the Tourmalet. All the favourites in the group as our lead duo approach the final km to the summit. we're still expecting attacks out of that favs group in the final 2 km. The peloton is huge at the moment. That's strange, considering we're on the Tourmalet but that shows that they aren't really putting much pace on.

Pellizotti and Fedrigo are about to reach the summit. 1km to go The chasers are under 3 minutes whilst the peloton is 4'44. A bit disappointing the action on the Tourmalet - the main teams have realized that it's not worth using energy on a stage like this. 70km is a long way to make up.

Pellizotti has crossed the summit first with Fedrigo second. Bouet has been dropped off the chase group struggles to stay close.

Ag2r are still leading the peloton. Still no attacks. Martinez is struggling. Garate and Van den Broeck are stamping out a vicious pace. Moncoutie is coming across to try and take third place, which will be 32 points... the war for the polka dot jersey goes on... Martinez will keep the lead in the KOM but he could have had a big lead if he had the legs; but appears he hasn't at the moment. ouet is not giving up, he's putting in a courageous ride. He could still catch the chasers on the descent.

Ten Dam has crashed on the descent.

The peloton have crossed the summit, 5 minutes behind the 2 leaders. With Rojas in this group, could Caisse charge a sprint home? 5 minutes and 70 km separate the riders from a victory in Tarbes. Final act of the drama will be over these final rolling kilometers to the finish.

Results of the climb:
1. Pellizotti 40pts
2. Fedrigo 36pts
3. Garate 32pts
4. Voeckler 28pts
5. Moncoutie 24pts
6. Van den Broeck 20pts
7. Martinez 16pts
8. Paulinho 14pts
9. Ten Dam 12pts
10. Txurruka 10pts

They were 3'05 behind the peloton. Voigt was at 4'00, Bouet at 4'47 and the peloton at 5'05.

All riders are now on the descent.

We havn't received anymore word on Ten Dam. When we get it, we'll pass it on. We hope he is okay. There are now 7 riders chasing the two leaders. It will be difficult to bridge 3 minutes, but it's possible with 57km to go.

Voigt has been caught by the peloton. He tried his attack today... but it may not be his last today. Ten Dam is back on his bike.He looks like he might be half a minute behind the chasers. Good to see he is well enough to continue.

Laurens Ten Dam is flying down the descent on the chase with his ripped and tattered jersey flying in open patches in the wind; arms and legs bloodied from his kiss with the asphalt. The Rabobank man is putting in a bold and courageous battle to regain the lead chase group... an amazing effort.

Pellizotti was 15 minutes down at the start of the day. This group could survive. Pellizotti and Fedrigo still have 3 minutes on the chasers who still have nearly 2 minutes on the peloton. Ten Dam is nearly a minute behind the chasers; lets hope the Raboman can catch back on; it won't be because he isn't trying, we'll give him that.

I think Pellizotti and Fedrigo are going to stay away here. the peloton is increasing in size as others catch on.

Source: http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=15175

Lance Armstrong & the Tour de France of Ski: Stage 9, La Mongie & the Observatory Pic du Midi

No shake-up after the eighth stage of the 96th Tour de France. Lance Armstrong remains in third, eight seconds back. Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy retains the yellow jersey for a second day after battling back on the last climb. Armstrong's teammate, Alberto Contador, remains in second, two seconds ahead of Armstrong and six off the lead. Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez gets the stage victory.

Up next, the last stage in the Pyrenees and with apologies to the kids in the room, it's a bitch! Climbs of the Tour de France are categorized from 1 to 4. And then there is the "hors categorie" or "above category", a tag reserved for the most severe climbs on the tour. Only four stages of the 2009 tour are categorized as above category, and Sunday's ninth stage is one of them.

The Col du Tourmalet, which sits a few horse jockeys short of 7,000 feet, is a brutal climb and one of the most famous climbs of the Tour de France. From Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, the riders will climb more than 4000 feet to the Col du Tourmalet, perched at 6,939 feet.

Sport is supposed to be fun, but don't tell that to the 180 riders killing themselves on stage 9 of the Tour de France. As the flashy sprinters of the tour's early stages battle extreme pain, they will certainly be tempted to call it quits, two-thirds of the way up to the Col Du Tourmalet. That's where they'll find our third stop on the Tour de France of Ski.

Tour de France of Ski: Stage 9, La Mongie & the Observatory Pic du Midi
The largest ski area in the French Pyrenees is the interconnected ski resorts of La Mongie & Barèges. A total vertical drop of 2,625 feet is serviced by 43 lifts, most of them of the surface-type. Outside of Ordino-Arcalis, the ski areas of the Pyrenees lack any super steep pitches. Regardless, La Mongie is place of incredible views, a charming village, and the awe-inspriing Observatory Pic du Midi.

From La Mongie, a 15-minute cable car ride ascends to the summit of Pic du Midi. Views from the observatory atop the peak are beyond the scope of words. The observatory itself is unlike anything on this planet.

Construction of the observatory began in 1878. Initially used as a weather station, its present-day function as an observatory began with the completion of its massive 26 foot dome in 1908. For more than a century, the Observatory Pic du Midi has been at the forefront of planetary, lunar, and solar studies. In 1963 scientists of the observatory contributed to the Apollo missions, mapping the surface of the moon.

Only since 2000 has the observatory been open to the public. Which leads to this incredibleness: beginning in 2003 off-piste guided ski tours from the Pic du Midi down to La Mongie have been offered. Starting from 9,439 feet, a vertical descent over 3,200 feet, one of the best off-piste routes in Europe ends on the slopes of La Mongie.

So if the challenges of La Mongie are not up to your skill-set, hire a guide and make the descent from the top of the Pic du Midi. Either way, make your way to the Observatory Pic du Midi. Overnight accommodations are available for 19 super-lucky folks.

For me, the ski descent of the Pic du Midi has been added to the list of places I must ski next winter. Of course, Kashmir is on there too. Now if I could just find those missing funds hiding from me...

Source: http://www.theskichannel.com/news/skinews/20090710/Lance-Armstrong-the-Tour-de-France-of-Ski-Stage-9-La-Mongie-the-Observatory-Pic-du-Midi