Tour de France 2013: The Teams 7 - Saxo-Tinkoff

Team Saxo-Tinkoff were always going to build their team around one man, the man who has won the Tour twice before, Spaniard Alberto Contador. So here is the team that they are hoping can deny Team Sky from winning their second Tour in a row.

Alberto Contador returns to the Tour after his suspension, although he has already won last year's Vuelta since he resumed racing. There is perhaps a little irony that the last time a Saxobank sponsored rider won the Tour de France was when Andy Schleck was promoted as a result of the exclusion of Contador. In the recent Critérium du Dauphiné Contador say he was only at 75%, that lead to him finishing 10th some 4'27" down on Chris Froome of Sky. This season Contador's best finishes have been second in the Tour of Oman (behind Froome) and third in Tirreno-Adriatico (behind Vincenzo Nibali and Froome) it means that while he is good the other two have been better. It has yet to be seen if he can find the other 25% he says he is short and even if he does whether his team will be able to overcome the persistance that Sky can produce.

First of those supporters is Michael Rogers who knows exactly how Sky turn the screw as he was part of the team around Bradley Wiggins last year doing just that. In the the Critérium du Dauphiné towards the end it was actually Contador who was riding for him. But don't forget the Aussie was actually 23rd in last year's Tour after often being the last Sky rider to peel off before Froome and Wiggins went for the final assault as was second in support of his team leader in last year's Dauphiné. It will be the 9th time in the Tour, his best finish being his 9th place in 2006 when he was with T-Mobile. As with the Sky boys last year he will be there through most of the mountain passes give Contador some much needed support and he can ride at the Team Sky tempo.

Another strong Lieutenant is another new arrival at Saxo-Tinkoff Nicolas Roche. Being the son of a famous father is never easy but apart from his first Grand Tour Nico has never been outside the top 25 in his other eight attempts, only in the 2010 did his 7th place finish take him inside the top 10. But Nico is always there or there abouts, just like his famous father you may think he has been dropped but he always manages to somehow hang on a limit his loses. This time of course he can ride for someone else without the pressure of being the best placed rider in his team.Plus he also has Rogers doing exactly the same thing. It wouldn't surprise me if Nico ends up with a top 10 finish even though he is riding to support Contador.

Italian Matteo Tosatto will be starting his 25th Grand Tour and 6th Tour. In the 2006 Tour he won his only Tour stage over a medium mountain stage to Mâcon. He is however, mainly a classics specialist coming 7th in last season's Paris-Roubaix. 

His fellow Italian Daniele Bennati is the sprinter on the team. He took the points jersey in the 2007 Vuelta and 2008 Giro and two stages in the 2007 Tour. Of course all that success was BC (Before Cavendish) because Bennati has not finished ahead of the Manx man in a Grand Tour sprint that they have both been in the top 20 since that 2008 Vuelta. The 32 year old is still going to try in the bunch sprints but he may need a little luck to overcome all the young guns who will be gunning for the win alongside him and it is unlikely that most of the team will be riding in a train for him so he will be having to follow in wheels of other trains. 

Sérgio Paulinho from Portugal has won two stages in the Tour, one a Team Time Trial the other in 2010 was the medium mountain stage into gap. Last month he came second in the Tour of Norway behind Edvald Boasson Hagen. It will be his 6th Tour his best finish was 34th in 2009, so he'll be largely riding in support on the early stages of the mountain stages.

Jesus Hernandez is the first of two Spaniards who will be riding in support of Contador. He will be riding in third tour after his debut for Astana in 2010, he appeared for Saxobank in 2011. He has also ridden in the Vuelta four times and has his best Grand Tour finish in the 2009 edition of his home Grand Tour when he came 19th.

The other is Benjamin Noval is 34 years old with a long if not distinguished career since turning pro in 2001. He has ridden in 9 Grand Tours 6 of them in France. Though he can climb which is the sort of help you need for a GC contender.

The final member of the team is Roman Kreuziger who has twice been in the top ten of the GC at the Tour, 9th in 2009, 8th in 2010. He was also 5th in the 2011 which may well have resulted in his worst result in the Tour that year. Earlier this season he won the Amstel Gold Race and was third in the Tour de Suisse, so he is a rider with form this year and another of the super domestiques that Contador can call upon in the high passes.

Saxo-Tinkoff have picked a team that should be able to maintain a high number of riders to the fore even if Sky set a strong tempo. They also have enough tough riders that they could set off attacks to try and disrupt the way Sky are doing things, whether this will be enough to help Contador or whether it will just make Sky rider harder is something that will unveil itself once we get into those mountains. We'll also then see if Contador has the acceleration we know from old, recently he has merely gone up the road and hung off the front as Sky rode back at their tempo.



- Roman Kreuziger, Tjekkiet

What do points make? #TDF

Today as in every year since 1975 the Tour de France is heading for 8 circuits of the Champs-Élysées. Most of the prizes have been decided.

On the Col Du Tourmalet on Thursday the Polka Dot Jersey for the King of the Mountains was finally planted firmly on shoulders of Anthony Charteau (BBox). The challenge from fellow Frenchman and the old man of the Tour Christophe Moreau (Caisse d'Espange) failed to close the remaining gap.

Yesterday it was as you were for Yellow and White (Young Rider) as last year. Alberto Contador (Astana) was 31" ahead of Andy Schleck (Saxobank) in the time trial into Pauillac. It means that Contador leads by 39", an irony not lost on many which was the exact time difference he took out of Schleck following his chain falling off when he was attacking Contador on the Port de Bales on Monday. It means that Contador is in Yellow and Scheleck will equal Jan Ullrich with a third successive White Jersey. The top three have all been the best young rider because Denis Menchov rode a good time trail yesterday to displace the Olympic Champion Sammy Sanchez from the final podium.

Lance Armstrong in his last Tour will be on the podium but only as a part of the best team as Radioshack have won that prize.

However, the real excitement lies in the Green Jersey competition for points. The current standings are:

• Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) 213
• Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) 203
• Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) 197

The point allocation on the line will be 35 for first, 30 for second, 26 for third, 24, 22, 20, 19 etc. There are also two intermediate sprints on the Champs-Élysées offering 6,4 and 2 points. It means that three teams will be working hard to secure the Green Jersey today.

If Mark Cavendish can repeat his performance in the French Capital from last year and win on the famous boulevard. The Norwegian would have to be second to stay ahead and the Italian if he was seventh would be equal on points but behind the Manxman on stage wins therefore losing his lead. The question is will any of them be in a position to take the intermediate sprints as often these go to a breakaway, or will the teams keep up the tempo for the full eight circuits to give their men a chance to get a shot at the 12 points on offer.

This will be an exciting afternoon on the approach to Paris, especially for three sprinters and a busy one for their teams.

After that thank God It's Over

What a stage! What a race!

The real battle of the Tour de France came down the the climb of Mont Ventoux and good choice by the Tour Organisers, the final hour of the ascent of the Giant of Provence lived up to it hype of being the place where the general classifications would be decided.

The seven heads of state Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins, Andreas Kloden, Frank Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali were the ones who kept together when the big group hit the slopes above Bedoin. They started to close down the leaders up the slopes Juan Manuel Garate and Tony Martin, but that wasn't the reason for their speed.

Frank Schleck attacked a number of times, but each time he was marked by Lance Armstrong determined not to cede his third step on the podium. When little brother Andy attacked it was the Maillot Jaune on the back of Contador that came with, but when Frank didn't follow he sat up. Obviously more determined to help his brother get a leap on Armstrong rather than try and get the 4'11" he needed over the man who was covering his every move.

Kloden was the first of the big 7 to suffer and slip off the back. But Nibali and Wiggins also at times seemed to struggle to get back. But over and over again 6 of the heads of state kept together. Kloden any time he thought there was a hope of getting back on the back wheel suffered as another acceleration pulled them away again.

Then in the final two kilometres Andy went again this time with brother Frank on his wheel. Armstong and Contador went with, but Wiggins seemed unable to respond. Was this the time that more British hopes were to fade, almost at the point when the memorial marks the death of Tom Simpson on the same slopes. But no Wiggins kept digging in finding reserves from somewhere.

At the line Garate crossed first, then Martin. Then the three leaders of the race A. Schleck, with Contador and a three second gap to Armstrong. But with Kloden down the road the only real gap that mattered was going to be between Frank Schleck and Bradley Wiggins. At 43" after Garate the elder Schleck crossed the line Brad had to get there before the race showed +1'06". Then on the left hand side of the road almost out of view of the camera Bradley Wiggin's reminiscent of Steven Roche he appeared crossing the line at +1'03" twenty seconds lost but 4th place retained for the procession towards the Champs-Éylsées tomorrow.

Of course the Brits have had a good tour David Miller has been doing sterling work, and just missed out on the run into Barcelona of individual glory. Wiggins of course has ridden high up the GC and has given hope of making a podium in Paris in the years to come (why did that Texan have to come out of retirement this year?). But a little man from the Isle of Man is going for 6 tomorrow. If only he hadn't been disqualified on the run into Besançon we may still have seen him and Thor Husovd competing the two intermediates as well as the final bunch sprint on the Champs-Éylsées tomorrow.

But as it is Britain's top stage winner Mark Cavendish and equal top finisher Bradley Wiggins can look forward to Paris tomorrow one to relax the other has one more goal, to be the first of the men to cover the 3252km of the 96th Tour de France, even if only by a few yards and hundredths of a second.

Crunch Day on Ventoux

Today is the day that the general classification will finally be settled in this year's Tour de France and for the 8th time in Tour history it will act as a mountain top finish. The roll of honour to win on the summit reads like a history of worthy post war recipients.

• 1958 Charley Gaul Luxemborg Individual Time Trail (Champion 1958, King of the Mountains 1955, 56 )
• 1965 Raymond Poulidor France (8 times on podium 3 times each behind Anquetil and Merckx)
• 1970 Eddie Merckx Belgium (5 Time Champion 1969-72, 74)
• 1972 Bernard Thévenet France (Champion 1975, 77)
• 1987 Jean-François Bernard Individual Time Trail France
• 2000 Marco Pantani Italy (Champion 1998)
• 2002 Richard Virenque France (Most successful King of the Mountains (1994-7, 99, 2003-04)
• 2009 ???

But what makes Ventoux special? It is not the tallest, not the steepest but has a mystique all of its own. It stands out on the horizon however you approach its 1912m summit. Indeed from the feed station at78km into today's 167 km stage the riders will start a circuit around it. Admittedly that circuit will include the 4th category Col de Fontanbe and 3rd category Col des Abeilles. Certainly the Mont holds a little bit of a psychological hold over the riders.

But it is the 21 km ascent to the summit from Bedoin to the peak that is the real test. It starts in the airless forests at the base before exploding into the barren lunar landscape at the peak. From Saint-Esteve at 5 km up the climb to the peak (with only brief respite through Chalet Reynard and the treeline) it is greater than 6% climbing and for long stretches greater than 95 all the way to the top.

Ventoux was first climbed in the Tour on 22 July 1951 when it was including in the 17th stage from Monpellier to Avignon. On that occasion a lead group of 12 were together at the foot. At Chalet Reynard Hugo Koplet attacked*, only Raphaël Géminiani**, Luison Bobet, Gino Bartali and Lucien Lazardes*** could stay with him. 2km from the summit Lazardes attacked and reached the top alone followed by a lone Bartali and thus was Ventoux first conquered in the Tour.

Its not just the breaks but the mountain that has claimed men. In 1955 Jean Malléjac who had finished second two year previously was described 10km from the summit "Streaming with sweat, haggard and comatose, he was zigzagging and the road wasn't wide enough for him... He was already no longer in the real world, still less in the world of cyclists and the Tour de France". He collapsed as was taken to hospital struggling and shouting after regaining consciousness on the side of the road.

The same year Swiss racer Ferdi Kübler was setting such a vicious tempo that Géminiani survivor of that first ascent warned him off. Advise he ignored to his cost. He started to struggle in the last kilometre of the ascent and fell repeatedly on the descent finishing 26 minutes back on the line for his efforts on the climb.

In 1967 the British cyclist, that Bradley Wiggins is most closely competing with for prestige in the major tours, Tommy Simpson came to his own fate. He began weaving across the road in the last kilometre and fell twice. The tour doctor Pierre Dumas reached him after the second collapse spent more than an hour giving him heart massage and mouth to mouth. But realised he was dead and had him removed from the mountain by helicopter to Avignon where the cyclist was pronounced dead at 17:40. Of course Simpson's death is an object lesson on how the drugs don't always work.

So what of today's stage. Alberto Contador may well have a 4'11" lead over Andy Schleck but this is the sort of stage that that might be clawed back, especially as tomorrow there is just the gentle roll into Paris to come.

The Schleck brothers will well be aware that their fellow countryman Gaul was the first winner on the summit here. Older brother Frank will need to do something to climb back unto the podium. He'd gained that spot on stage 17 on the Col de Colombiere but lost it the following day on the TT around Lac d'Annecy. Expect him to attack at some point on Ventoux.

As for younger brother Andy lying in second he may go with his brother, and they may launch tandem attacks to see it Contador has anything to give. If they can get a gap then it is just a matter of how big they can get it. Although he may well already know that Contador is not going to be beaten this year, but then Ventoux does await.

As well as Frank Schleck wanting to get back unto the podium don't forget that Bradley Wiggins is sitting just 16" behind that spot over a man he has climbed better than on a couple of mountain finishes this year. But that man is the man who came second to both Pantani and Virenque on those other two Ventoux top finishes this decade and in that 2002 pursuit of Virenque set the record for the fastest ascent at 50 minutes. He also has the small matter of 7 successive victories in this race to his name, so don't rule out Lance Armstrong from the challenge of Frank Schleck, Wiggins or Vincenzo Nibali just yet.

Today is going to be a very interesting day and coverage live on ITV4 starts at 13:00 BST but it already underway by text on the BBC website.

*The eventual winner.
**That year's eventual King of the Mountains and 2nd overall.
***Who would be first when the Tor reached Paris.