Tour de France 2011 – Stage 02 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

July 3, 2011

Tour de France 2011 – Stage 2 – Les Essarts (TTT) : 23 km

After a 2010 edition dedicated to the centenary of the Pyrenees, the 2011 Tour de France will celebrate the centenary of the first time the race climbed the Alps. Race director Christian Prudhomme unveiled a parcours ideal for climbers, with only 64 time trial kilometres of which 23 are a team time trial. Again, there will be no time bonuses on the road from the Vendée region to Paris, while a testing third week in the Alps sees the Tour return to the Galibier and L’Alpe d’Huez: two of its most legendary climbs.

Never have four seconds been so crucial to the happiness a team. For Garmin-Cervélo, during a year in which criticism and intrigue has plagued the American squad, its win in the Tour de France team time trial is like gold dust, sprinkled from the skies above Les Essarts.

The US team saved one of its best performances for the Tour, beating BMC by four seconds after 23km of super fast racing, allowing Hushovd to pull on the yellow jersey by a mere 47 hundredths of a second ahead of Cadel Evans (BMC). And Jonathan Vaughters’ crew did it the hard way, setting the fastest time of 24:48.10 after being one of early runners on a course that was not overly challenging but found some of the big teams wanting when the moment mattered.

Those teams included HTC-Highroad, highly fancied before today’s start, Leopard-Trek, RadioShack and Saxo Bank, with all four finishing close but failing to fully fire on the big stage. Consequently Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins and BMC captain Cadel Evans will benefit from the changes in the general classification. The Australian is now third overall, just one second behind Garmin-Cervélo duo Thor Hushovd and David Millar. Wiggins is further back but only at four seconds.

“This is a great day. We did a really good team effort. Everything worked perfectly,” Hushovd said.

“Every rider gave 100 percent for the team. It’s incredible. When I look back to 10 years ago when I won the same TTT, it’s crazy. It’s an incredible day for me and the team. I’m proud to wear the rainbow jersey at the Tour de France but to pull on yellow is incredible for me.”

Evans is tantalizingly close to the yellow jersey but remained upbeat, knowing he has gained more precious seconds on his overall Tour rivals.

“The first goal was not to lose any time and the second was to see if we could gain any time,” said Evans after the finish. “The fact that we were there in the running to nearly win the team time trial was really something. It was a faint hope but it was also a realistic one.”

He wasn’t making bold predictions about his chances of a stint in the yellow jersey, preferring to concentrate on Monday’s stage, which is one for the sprinters. “We’re going to have a look at today, have an analysis of everything and get through tomorrow without any problems,” he said.

Instead it was Hushovd thinking about the overall ascendancy, swapping his rainbow stripes for the yellow jersey. Having taken third on Saturday’s stage, just six seconds behind winner Philippe Gilbert, Hushovd found today’s labours fruitful and can now enjoy another stint in the race lead to go with the maillot jaune he garnered in the 2006 Tour by winning the prologue in Strasbourg. Hushovd has come under fire this season for a lack of winning performances as world champion but a stage victory in the recent Tour de Suisse and a start in the yellow jersey tomorrow will go some way to making amends.

Garmin-Cervelo team manager Jonathan Vaughters was ecstatic about his team finally winning the team time trial, the stage he loves the most and won himself in 2001.

“I think I just made a fool of myself but I can’t say I care. This has been a long time coming,” he said. “We’ve fought hard and we’ve always done it as a team. For our first win to be as a team, it’s phenomenal.”

“We don’t have the biggest budget or the biggest staff, but we have the most passion. Today it came together. We put out a plan that got us to the line the fastest. The amount of sacrifice the guys had to do to get it done is amazing. I’m very proud of our guys.”

Contador under pressure

Whilst Garmin-Cervélo can celebrate, one man sure to be under pressure is Alberto Contador. The defending champion lost more valuable time in the test against the clock with Saxo Bank-Sungard finishing eighth – 28 seconds behind the stage winners, giving the Spaniard more than a sour French public reception to consider.

Saxo Bank was the first team off and set a good but not spectacular time. Soon after, it was time for the eventual winners to lay down a time in pursuit of the stage victory.

Going through all intermediate splits the fastest, a smooth, consistent performance from Garmin-Cervelo ensured the American team set a time that would ultimately prove hard to overcome.

That first intermediate check was safe until Team Sky’s men set a time of 9:02 for the opening nine kilometres, although they couldn’t match Garmin-Cervélo’s second intermediate split, sitting four seconds behind after 18.5km and seven men with which to ride to the finish. They were down to five by the line, the quintet recorded the second best time to that point of 24:52. Close but quite fast enough.

Disaster struck HTC-Highroad early in its ride, with the experienced Austrian Bernhard Eisel coming down in the first corner – the team’s misfortune was reflected in a first split of 9:11. Meanwhile, RadioShack also recorded an opening intermediate split of 9:11 but was 10 seconds down on Garmin’s time by the finish – not bad for overall favourites Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Klöden, Janez Brajkovic and Chris Horner – but not good enough for a stage win.

Soon after, and with Mark Cavendish charging down the final 300 metres, HTC-highroad recovered well to take third on the line with a time of 24:53. It would eventually be good enough for fifth, after the arrival of Leopard-Trek and BMC Racing.

The latter of those two squads, boasting green jersey Evans and experienced heads such as George Hincapie and Marcus Burghardt, set the third fastest first intermediate with 9:04, demonstrating that this American squad has come with serious intentions to put Evans into the overall ascendancy during this Tour de France.

Leopard-Trek took third on the line from HTC-Highroad by mere hundredths of a second, with time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara towing his men through the 23km to ensure the Schleck brothers wouldn’t lose too much time overall. It was enough to keep the Luxembourg team in fourth by day’s end and a solid performance, despite missing the stage victory by five seconds.

Soon after Evans, Hincapie & Co almost stole the show with a stunning finale to finish just four seconds behind Garmin-Cervélo. Whilst the team had dodged a bullet with a seemingly awkward middle sector of the course, the final kilometres were ridden strongly and like fellow GC contender Wiggins had done before him, Evans pulled his charges along in stunning fashion.

Nevertheless, nobody could match Garmin-Cervélo’s superiority and for the man who wears the rainbow jersey, tomorrow will be all about another colour – yellow.

Results :
1 Team Garmin – Cervelo 0:24:48
2 BMC Racing Team 0:00:04
3 Sky Procycling
4 Team Leopard-Trek
5 HTC – Highroad 0:00:05
6 Team Radioshack 0:00:10
7 Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:12
8 Saxo Bank Sungard 0:00:28
9 Pro Team Astana 0:00:32
10 Omega Pharma – Lotto 0:00:39
11 FDJ 0:00:46
12 Team Europcar 0:00:50
13 AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:53
14 Quick Step Cycling Team 0:00:56
15 Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:57
16 Saur-Sojasun 0:01:02
17 Lampre – Isd 0:01:04
18 Katusha Team
19 Movistar Team 0:01:09
20 Vacansoleil-Dcm 0:01:15
21 Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne 0:01:20
22 Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:01:22

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 5:06:25
2 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:01
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:04
5 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Leopard Trek
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek
7 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
9 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team
10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek
11 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek
12 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
13 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
14 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:00:05
15 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad
16 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad
17 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad
18 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad
19 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
20 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack 0:00:10
21 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack
22 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack
23 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team RadioShack
24 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:11
25 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:12
26 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Team RadioShack 0:00:23
27 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana 0:00:32
28 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana
29 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
30 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:33
31 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:39
32 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
33 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
34 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
35 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
36 Gianni Meersman (Bel) FDJ 0:00:46
37 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
38 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:00:50
39 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar
40 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Team Europcar
41 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:53
42 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:00:56
43 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team
44 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team
45 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
46 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:57
47 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
48 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
49 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:01
50 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:01:02
51 Laurent Mangel (Fra) Saur – Sojasun
52 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre – ISD 0:01:04
53 Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre – ISD
54 Egor Silin (Rus) Katusha Team
55 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre – ISD
56 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Katusha Team
57 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha Team
58 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:09
59 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Movistar Team
60 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
61 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:14
62 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:15
63 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Lampre – ISD 0:01:17
64 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 0:01:18
65 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
66 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:01:20
67 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
68 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
69 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Katusha Team
70 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:23
71 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad 0:01:24
72 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:26
73 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
74 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:01:35
75 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:01:42
76 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team 0:01:45
77 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:49
78 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
79 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek 0:01:53
80 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:01:55
81 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Team RadioShack 0:01:59
82 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Team RadioShack
83 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:02:00
84 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:02:01
85 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:02:06
86 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:02:10
87 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:02:11
88 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:02:17
89 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard
90 Yuriy Trofimov (Rus) Katusha Team 0:02:18
91 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team 0:02:20
92 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:02:21
93 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:23
94 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:02:29
95 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ
96 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Team RadioShack
97 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:02:31
98 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
99 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:02:32
100 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:02:34
101 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ 0:02:35
102 Mickaël Delage (Fra) FDJ
103 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ
104 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:36
105 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:39
106 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
107 Christophe Kern (Fra) Team Europcar
108 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:42
109 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
110 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:02:44
111 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:02:47
112 Jerome Coppel (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:02:51
113 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Pro Team Astana
114 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:02:53
115 Danny Pate (USA) HTC-Highroad 0:02:54
116 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:55
117 Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:58
118 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team
119 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team
120 David Zabriskie (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:03:00
121 Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:04
122 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
123 Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:03:09
124 Romain Zingle (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
125 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
126 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:11
127 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
128 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:12
129 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
130 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
131 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:03:13
132 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:19
133 Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar 0:03:20
134 Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ 0:03:21
135 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:23
136 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:27
137 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:03:28
138 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre – ISD 0:03:31
139 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre – ISD
140 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
141 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:33
142 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:34
143 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
144 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team 0:03:38
145 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:39
146 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Pro Team Astana 0:03:45
147 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:50
148 Brian Vandborg (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard
149 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:52
150 Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Katusha Team
151 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:56
152 Frederik Willems (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:04:01
153 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling 0:04:07
154 Jens Voigt (Ger) Leopard Trek 0:04:20
155 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:04:21
156 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
157 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:04:23
158 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:04:24
159 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Pro Team Astana 0:04:30
160 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:04:31
161 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:04:37
162 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre – ISD 0:05:01
163 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:05:12
164 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:05:15
165 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:05:23
166 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Leopard Trek 0:05:27
167 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre – ISD 0:05:30
168 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:05:32
169 Jesús Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:05:33
170 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Team Europcar 0:05:39
171 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:05:43
172 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:05:46
173 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) HTC-Highroad 0:05:59
174 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:06:10
175 Vladimir Isaichev (Rus) Katusha Team 0:06:12
176 Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:06:26
177 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Pro Team Astana 0:06:29
178 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:06:31
179 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
180 Addy Engels (Ned) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:06:42
181 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:06:47
182 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:06:56
183 Iván Velasco Murillo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:05
184 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Pro Team Astana 0:07:16
185 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Pro Team Astana
186 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:23
187 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:07:32
188 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:37
189 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:39
190 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:07:59
191 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:08:35
192 Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:41
193 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:08:47
194 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
195 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Saur – Sojasun 0:08:50
196 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:11:51
197 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team RadioShack 0:12:02
198 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Team Europcar 0:13:11