Daily Cycling Facts 09.12.2013

Ashleigh Moolman

Moolman at the 2012 Olympics

Born in Pretoria, South Africa on this day in 1985, Ashleigh Moolman was inspired to begin her professional athletic career competing in triathlon by Carl Pasio, who is now her husband, after she'd earned her degree in chemical engineering. Running-induced injuries combined with the discovery that she performed much better in the cycling sections of her races persuaded her to concentrate on cycling and she rapidly came to the attention of the professional Lotto Ladies' team, which she joined in 2010. Within a year she'd won a silver medal at the National Individual Time Trial Championship and finished sixth at the testing Emakumeen Bira race in the Basque Country; then she impressed with four top five stage finishes and second place overall at the Tour de l'Aude before winning the Road Race at the African Championships.

2012 proved to be an even better year. She started by taking second place in the Time Trial and first in the Road Race at the National Championships, came fifth at La Flèche Wallonne, won Stage 4 and was third overall at the Tour de Free State, finished in the top ten on three stages and was tenth overall at the Giro Donne, was 16th in the Road Race at the Olympic Games, won Stage 2 and was second overall at the Tour de l'Ardèche and won the Individual Time Trial and the Road Race at the African Championships. In 2013, she retained the National Road Race title and also won the Time Trial, came third overall at the Flèche Wallonne, was second on Stage 1 at the GP Elsy Jacobs, finished the Tour Languedoc Roussillon in fourth place overall, finished the Emakumeen Saria in fifth place, finished four stages in the top ten (best: third, Stage 4) and eighth place overall at the Giro Rosa and was second overall at the Tour de l'Ardeche.

Moolman is known as an all-rounder who performs best on mountain stages; she has become a worthy opponent to Emma Pooley and Marianne Vos and it seems likely that she will win some of the most prestigious races on the women's calendar, with many who have followed her career so far - including me - predicting future gold at the World Championships. Her excellent race reports, published on her website, are some of the most articulate and intelligently-written around; hopefully she'll find time to continue writing them when she's at the very top level of her sport. She also has a Flickr account on which she publishes photos of support staff and race activities that fans rarely get to see.

Kateřina Nash

Kateřina Nash
Kateřina Hanušová - now Kateřina Nash - was born on this day in Prachatice, Czechoslovakia in 1977 and has enjoyed two successful athletic careers, in skiing from 1994 to 2003 (when she competed in two Winter Olympics) and since then in mountain biking and, primarily, cyclo cross. She first became famous for her cycling in 2010 when she won the Czech National Cyclo Cross Championship and a round of the UCI Cyclo Cross World Cup in Roubaix, beating Marianne Vos, then took 4th in the World Cyclo Cross Championship; however, she had been making a name for herself on the 'cross scene for some years by this point, having ridden for the Luna team since 2002 and won the the Portland 'cross race in 2006. She also became National MTB Cross Country Champion in 2007.

Nash took thirdrd in the 2011 World Championships where she was beaten by Katie Compton for the silver medal and Vos for the gold. In 2012 she won six races and in 2013, when she was 35, she won eight - and shows no sign of stopping now she's 36.

Ryder Hesjedal
(image credit: Glawster CC BY-SA 2.0) 

Ryder Hesjedal
Born in Victoria, British Columbia on this day in 1980, Ryder Hesjedal was a silver medalist in the 2001 Under-23 World Mountain Bike Cross Country Championship and again at the Elite Championship in 2003; then, with an apparently glittering career as a mountain biker ahead of him, he gave up the sport in favour of road cycling. It turned out to be a wise move because, having spent a few years with Rabobank, he went to US Postal and finished the Prologue at the Giro d'Italia in 18th place, then came third at the National Individual Time Trial Championship.

In 2006, riding with Phonak, Hesjedal was second at the National ITT Championship and impressed at the Vuelta a Espana with three top twenty stage finishes before abandoning the race in favour of the World Championships where he didn't perform well. Phonak closed down at the end of the year and Hesjedal had difficulties securing a new contract with another ProTour team, going instead to ProContinental HealthNet for 2007, the year he became Canadian Time Trial Champion. A year later he was riding with ProContinental Garmin-Chipotle, winners of Stage 1 at the Giro d'Italia - his first taste of Grand Tour glory and something that he apparently enjoyed because in 2009, by which time Garmin had become a ProTour team, he won Stage 12 at the Vuelta.

Still relatively inexperienced in the Grand Tours, Hesjedal surprised many with seventh place at the 2010 Tour de France; he had also become the subject of numerous newspaper articles when he was fourth over the finish line of Stage 17 at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, revealing himself to have serious Grand Tour victory potential. That victory - the first ever by a Canadian rider - came in 2012 when, having performed well in the early-season stage races and at the Classics, he rode consistently well and took first place in the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia: after a good start, he was widely expected to lose significant time in the mountains; however, when he did not many began to predict that he would take the race leadership on the final day's time trial, his strongest discipline - among those to have their predictions proved correct was Joaquim Rodríguez, who had led the race up until Hesjedal took over.

Valentyna Karpenko, born in Mykolaiv, USSR on this day in 1972, won the Eko Tour Dookola Polski in 2002, the Krasna Lipa Tour Féminine in 2003 and became Ukrainian Road Race Champion in 2005.

Arie Hassink had many victories as an amateur and was just about to turn professional when he was diagnosed with a lung disease. On the advice of doctors, he remained an amateur for his entire career. However, he continued getting good results right up to retirement in 1983, including 2nd overall in the 1970 Tour of Britain. His son and daughter are both cyclists.

Ondřej Sosenka
Ondřej Sosenka, who was born in Prague on this day in 1975, was a rider who didn't need to stand on the top step of the podium to be head and shoulders above his rivals - at 200cm (6'6"), he's taller than Magnus Bäckstedt and "Big" Piet Moeskops. His track bike was fitted with custom 190mm cranks.

That didn't stop him aiming for the podium, however. He won the Tour of Slovakia in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2006; National Time Trial Championships in 2001 and 2002; the National Road Race Championship and the Tour of Poland in 2004 and, on the 19th of July 2005, set a new Hour Record at  49.700km.

Ondřej Sosenka - note that he isn't standing on a podium!
(image credit: Bartosz Senderek CC BY-SA 2.5)

In 2001, he was disqualified from the Peace Race after he failed a haematocrit test - a now-redundant anti-doping test that took account of an athlete's red blood cell population; a figure of 50% or greater being considered likely evidence the rider had been using EPO or had received a blood transfusion (also known a blood doping), either their own stored blood or someone else's - though he later swore to journalist Daniel Friebe that the postive result had been caused by dehydration. Then in 2008, a test at the National Championships revealed traces and metabolites of methamphetamine. His B-sample subsequently also tested positive for the banned stimulant and the rider was suspended, thus ending his professional career.

Italian Alberto Volpi, born in Saronno on this day in 1962, won the Young Rider Classification at the 1985 Giro d'Italia and formed part of the winning Team Time Trial at the 1995 Tour de France. He has been shown to have been a client of the notorious Dr. Francesco Conconi who used his expertise in developing new anti-doping tests to find performance-enhancing drugs that could not be detected.


Trent Klasna was born on this day in 1962 in Lantana, Florida. During his ten-year career, he won two Sea Otter Classics (1998, 2001), the Redlands Bicycle Classic (2001) and the Nature Valley Grand Prix (2003). He was also National Time Trial Champion in 2001.

Happy to Tamilla Abassova, the winner of silver medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2005 Track World Championships, in both cases for the Sprint. She was born in Moscow in 1982.

It's also the birthday of Chinese track cyclist Li Na, born in 1982, winner of the keirin event at the 2002 Track Worlds and the Sprint at the Asian Games in the same year.

Oscar Álvarez, 2009 National Road Race Champion of Columbia, was born on this day in 1977.

Erik Harry Stenqvist, born on the 25th of December in 1893, was a Swedish cyclist who represented his country at the 1920 Olympics and won a gold medal in the Individual Road Race and a silver in the Team Road Race. He died on this day in 1968.

Christian Pfannberger

Christian Pfannberger
(image credit:  Viribus unitis CC BY-SA 2.0)

Christian Pfannberger, born in Judenberg, Austria on this day in 1979, became Under-23 National Champion in 2001 and then Elite Champion in 2007. His career was punctuated by doping allegations - first in 2004 when a sample showed unusually high levels of testosterone, for which he received a two-year ban, and then again in 2009 when an out-of-season test revealed traces of EPO. The second test was originally declared non-negative, meaning the his B-sample had failed to confirm the positive result of his A-sample; which led to suspension from Team Katusha while the matter was investigated in May 2009.

In June, the B-sample was also shown to be positive and he was informed that a court hearing would be held within eight weeks and that, as a second offence, he would be likely to receive a ban from eight years to life - the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency sought and won the stricter punishment. The rider appealed the ban but was unsuccessful, largely as a result of a new charge brought in April 2010 that he had sold doping products to other cyclists. He maintains that he has never used nor sold performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jan Chtiej (Poland, 1937); Fabio Acevedo (Colombia, 1949); José Mazzini (Peru, 1909); Humberto Solano (Costa Rica, 1944); William Logan (USA, 1914); Héctor Acosta (Argentina, 1933); Christian Pfannberger (Austria, 1979); Max Wirth (Switzerland, 1930); Kurt Ott (Switzerland, 1912, died 2001).

Daily Cycling Facts 09.12.2012

Ashleigh Moolman

Moolman at the 2012 Olympics

Born in Pretoria, South Africa on this day in 1985, Ashleigh Moolman was inspired to begin her professional athletic career competing in triathlon by Carl Pasio, who is now her husband, after she'd earned her degree in chemical engineering. Running-induced injuries combined with the discovery that she performed much better in the cycling sections of her races persuaded her to concentrate on cycling and she rapidly came to the attention of the professional Lotto Ladies' team, which she joined in 2010. Within a year she'd won a silver medal at the National Individual Time Trial Championship and finished sixth at the testing Emakumeen Bira race in the Basque Country; then she impressed with four top five stage finishes and second place overall at the Tour de l'Aude before winning the Road Race at the African Championships.

2012 proved to be an even better year with plenty of evidence to suggest that Moolman will take her place among the greatest names in cycling. She started by taking second place in the Time Trial and first in the Road Race at the National Championships, came fifth at La Flèche Wallonne, won Stage 4 and was third overall at the Tour de Free State, finished in the top ten on three stages and was tenth overall at the Giro Donne, was 16th in the Road Race at the Olympic Games, won Stage 2 and was second overall at the Tour de l'Ardèche and won the Individual Time Trial and the Road Race at the African Championships.

Moolman is known as an all-rounder who performs best on mountain stages; she has become a worthy opponent to Emma Pooley and Marianne Vos and it seems likely that she will - either in 2013 or very soon afterwards - win some of the most prestigious races on the women's calendar. Her excellent race reports, published on her website, are some of the most articulate and intelligently-written around; hopefully she'll find time to continue writing them when she's at the very top level of her sport. She also has a Flickr account on which she publishes photos of support staff and race activities that fans rarely get to see.

Ryder Hesjedal
(image credit: Glawster CC BY-SA 2.0) 

Ryder Hesjedal
Born in Victoria, British Columbia on this day in 1980, Ryder Hesjedal was a silver medalist in the 2001 Under-23 World Mountain Bike Cross Country Championship and again at the Elite Championship in 2003; then, with an apparently glittering career as a mountain biker ahead of him, he gave up the sport in favour of road cycling. It turned out to be a wise move because, having spent a few years with Rabobank, he went to US Postal and finished the Prologue at the Giro d'Italia in 18th place, then came third at the National Individual Time Trial Championship.

In 2006, riding with Phonak, Hesjedal was second at the National ITT Championship and impressed at the Vuelta a Espana with three top twenty stage finishes before abandoning the race in favour of the World Championships where he didn't perform well. Phonak closed down at the end of the year and Hesjedal had difficulties securing a new contract with another ProTour team, going instead to ProContinental HealthNet for 2007, the year he became Canadian Time Trial Champion. A year later he was riding with ProContinental Garmin-Chipotle, winners of Stage 1 at the Giro d'Italia - his first taste of Grand Tour glory and something that he apparently enjoyed because in 2009, by which time Garmin had become a ProTour team, he won Stage 12 at the Vuelta.

Still relatively inexperienced in the Grand Tours, Hesjedal surprised many with seventh place at the 2010 Tour de France; he had also become the subject of numerous newspaper articles when he was fourth over the finish line of Stage 17 at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, revealing himself to have serious Grand Tour victory potential. That victory - the first ever by a Canadian rider - came in 2012 when, having performed well in the early-season stage races and at the Classics, he rode consistently well and took first place in the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia: after a good start, he was widely expected to lose significant time in the mountains; however, when he did not many began to predict that he would take the race leadership on the final day's time trial, his strongest discipline - among those to have their predictions proved correct was Joaquim Rodríguez, who had led the race up until Hesjedal took over.

Valentyna Karpenko, born in Mykolaiv, USSR on this day in 1972, won the Eko Tour Dookola Polski in 2002, the Krasna Lipa Tour Féminine in 2003 and became Ukrainian Road Race Champion in 2005.

Arie Hassink had many victories as an amateur and was just about to turn professional when he was diagnosed with a lung disease. On the advice of doctors, he remained an amateur for his entire career. However, he continued getting good results right up to retirement in 1983, including 2nd overall in the 1970 Tour of Britain. His son and daughter are both cyclists.

Ondřej Sosenka
Ondřej Sosenka, who was born in Prague on this day in 1975, was a rider who didn't need to stand on the top step of the podium to be head and shoulders above his rivals - at 200cm (6'6"), he's taller than Magnus Bäckstedt and "Big" Piet Moeskops. His track bike was fitted with custom 190mm cranks.

That didn't stop him aiming for the podium, however. He won the Tour of Slovakia in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2006; National Time Trial Championships in 2001 and 2002; the National Road Race Championship and the Tour of Poland in 2004 and, on the 19th of July 2005, set a new Hour Record at  49.700km.

Ondřej Sosenka - note that he isn't standing on a podium!
(image credit: Bartosz Senderek CC BY-SA 2.5)

In 2001, he was disqualified from the Peace Race after he failed a haematocrit test - a now-redundant anti-doping test that took account of an athlete's red blood cell population; a figure of 50% or greater being considered likely evidence the rider had been using EPO or had received a blood transfusion (also known a blood doping), either their own stored blood or someone else's - though he later swore to journalist Daniel Friebe that the postive result had been caused by dehydration. Then in 2008, a test at the National Championships revealed traces and metabolites of methamphetamine. His B-sample subsequently also tested positive for the banned stimulant and the rider was suspended, thus ending his professional career.

Italian Alberto Volpi, born in Saronno on this day in 1962, won the Young Rider Classification at the 1985 Giro d'Italia and formed part of the winning Team Time Trial at the 1995 Tour de France. He has been shown to have been a client of the notorious Dr. Francesco Conconi who used his expertise in developing new anti-doping tests to find performance-enhancing drugs that could not be detected.

Kateřina Hanušová - now Kateřina Nash - was born on this day in Prachatice, Czechoslovakia in 1977 and has enjoyed two successful athletic careers, in skiing from 1994 to 2003 (when she competed in two Winter Olympics) and since then in mountain biking and, primarily, cyclo cross. In 2010, she won a round of the UCI Cyclo Cross World Cup in Roubaix - beating Marianne Vos - and came 4th in the World Cyclo Cross Championship. She then improved to 3rd in the 2011 Championships where she was beaten by Katie Compton for the silver medal and Vos for the gold.

Trent Klasna was born on this day in 1962 in Lantana, Florida. During his ten-year career, he won two Sea Otter Classics (1998, 2001), the Redlands Bicycle Classic (2001) and the Nature Valley Grand Prix (2003). He was also National Time Trial Champion in 2001.

Happy to Tamilla Abassova, the winner of silver medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2005 Track World Championships, in both cases for the Sprint. She was born in Moscow in 1982.

It's also the birthday of Chinese track cyclist Li Na, born in 1982, winner of the keirin event at the 2002 Track Worlds and the Sprint at the Asian Games in the same year.

Oscar Álvarez, 2009 National Road Race Champion of Columbia, was born on this day in 1977.

Erik Harry Stenqvist, born on the 25th of December in 1893, was a Swedish cyclist who represented his country at the 1920 Olympics and won a gold medal in the Individual Road Race and a silver in the Team Road Race. He died on this day in 1968.

Christian Pfannberger

Christian Pfannberger
(image credit:  Viribus unitis CC BY-SA 2.0)

Christian Pfannberger, born in Judenberg, Austria on this day in 1979, became Under-23 National Champion in 2001 and then Elite Champion in 2007. His career was punctuated by doping allegations - first in 2004 when a sample showed unusually high levels of testosterone, for which he received a two-year ban, and then again in 2009 when an out-of-season test revealed traces of EPO. The second test was originally declared non-negative, meaning the his B-sample had failed to confirm the positive result of his A-sample; which led to suspension from Team Katusha while the matter was investigated in May 2009.

In June, the B-sample was also shown to be positive and he was informed that a court hearing would be held within eight weeks and that, as a second offence, he would be likely to receive a ban from eight years to life - the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency sought and won the stricter punishment. The rider appealed the ban but was unsuccessful, largely as a result of a new charge brought in April 2010 that he had sold doping products to other cyclists. He maintains that he has never used nor sold performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jan Chtiej (Poland, 1937); Fabio Acevedo (Colombia, 1949); José Mazzini (Peru, 1909); Humberto Solano (Costa Rica, 1944); William Logan (USA, 1914); Héctor Acosta (Argentina, 1933); Christian Pfannberger (Austria, 1979); Max Wirth (Switzerland, 1930); Kurt Ott (Switzerland, 1912, died 2001).

Daily Cycling Facts 09.12.11

Ryder Hesjedal
(image credit: Glawster CC BY-SA 2.0) 

Happy birthday to Ryder Hesjedal, currently with Garmin-Cervélo and a silver medalist in the 2001 Under-23 World Mountain Bike Championship. In 2007, he became Canadian Time Trial Champion and won his first Grand Tour stage (Stage 1) a year later at the Giro d'Italia, later adding stage wins at both the Vuelta a Espana and Tour de France. His best Grand Tour finish to date was 7th overall in the 2010 Tour de France. He was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1980.

Ashleigh Moolman was born in South Africa on this day in 1985. After being awarded her degree in chemical engineering, Moolman began a career as a professional triathlete but soon discovered that as her times for the cycling section of each event were so good, she'd be better off as a cyclist

Valentyna Karpenko, born in Mykolaiv, USSR on this day in 1972, won the Eko Tour Dookola Polski in 2002, the Krasna Lipa Tour Féminine in 2003 and became Ukrainian Road Race Champion in 2005.

Arie Hassink had many victories as an amateur and was just about to turn professional when he was diagnosed with a lung disease. On the advice of doctors, he remained an amateur for his entire career. However, he continued getting good results right up to retirement in 1983, including 2nd overall in the 1970 Tour of Britain. His son and daughter are both cyclists.

Ondřej Sosenka
Ondřej Sosenka, who was born in Prague on this day in 1975, was a rider who didn't need to stand on the top step of the podium to be head and shoulders above his rivals - at 200cm (6'6"), he's taller than Magnus Bäckstedt and "Big" Piet Moeskops. His track bike was fitted with custom 190mm cranks.

That didn't stop him aiming for the podium, however. He won the Tour of Slovakia in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2006; National Time Trial Championships in 2001 and 2002; the National Road Race Championship and the Tour of Poland in 2004 and, on the 19th of July 2005, set a new Hour Record at  49.700km.

Ondřej Sosenka - note that he isn't standing on a podium!
(image credit: Bartosz Senderek CC BY-SA 2.5)

In 2001, he was disqualified from the Peace Race after he failed a haematocrit test - a now-redundant anti-doping test that took account of an athlete's red blood cell population; a figure of 50% or greater being considered likely evidence the rider had been using EPO or had received a blood transfusion (also known a blood doping), either their own stored blood or someone else's - though he later swore to journalist Daniel Friebe that the postive result had been caused by dehydration. Then in 2008, a test at the National Championships revealed traces and metabolites of methamphetamine. His B-sample subsequently also tested positive for the banned stimulant and the rider was suspended, thus ending his professional career.

Italian Alberto Volpi, born in Saronno on this day in 1962, won the Young Rider Classification at the 1985 Giro d'Italia and formed part of the winning Team Time Trial at the 1995 Tour de France. He has been shown to have been a client of the notorious Dr. Francesco Conconi who used his expertise in developing new anti-doping tests to find performance-enhancing drugs that could not be detected.

Kateřina Hanušová - now Kateřina Nash - was born on this day in Prachatice, Czechoslovakia in 1977 and has enjoyed two successful athletic careers, in skiing from 1994 to 2003 (when she competed in two Winter Olympics) and since then in mountain biking and, primarily, cyclo cross. In 2010, she won a round of the UCI Cyclo Cross World Cup in Roubaix - beating Marianne Vos - and came 4th in the World Cyclo Cross Championship. She then improved to 3rd in the 2011 Championships where she was beaten by Katie Compton for the silver medal and Vos for the gold.

Trent Klasna was born on this day in 1962 in Lantana, Florida. During his ten-year career, he won two Sea Otter Classics (1998, 2001), the Redlands Bicycle Classic (2001) and the Nature Valley Grand Prix (2003). He was also National Time Trial Champion in 2001.

Happy to Tamilla Abassova, the winner of silver medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2005 Track World Championships, in both cases for the Sprint. She was born in Moscow in 1982.

It's also the birthday of Chinese track cyclist Li Na, born in 1982, winner of the keirin event at the 2002 Track Worlds and the Sprint at the Asian Games in the same year.

Oscar Álvarez, 2009 National Road Race Champion of Columbia, was born on this day in 1977.

Erik Harry Stenqvist, born on the 25th of December in 1893, was a Swedish cyclist who represented his country at the 1920 Olympics and won a gold medal in the Individual Road Race and a silver in the Team Road Race. He died on this day in 1968.

Christian Pfannberger

Christian Pfannberger
(image credit:  Viribus unitis CC BY-SA 2.0)

Christian Pfannberger, born in Judenberg, Austria on this day in 1979, became Under-23 National Champion in 2001 and then Elite Champion in 2007. His career was punctuated by doping allegations - first in 2004 when a sample showed unusually high levels of testosterone, for which he received a two-year ban, and then again in 2009 when an out-of-season test revealed traces of EPO. The second test was originally declared non-negative, meaning the his B-sample had failed to confirm the positive result of his A-sample; which led to suspension from Team Katusha while the matter was investigated in May 2009.

In June, the B-sample was also shown to be positive and he was informed that a court hearing would be held within eight weeks and that, as a second offence, he would be likely to receive a ban from eight years to life - the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency sought and won the stricter punishment. The rider appealed the ban but was unsuccessful, largely as a result of a new charge brought in April 2010 that he had sold doping products to other cyclists. He maintains that he has never used nor sold performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

Other births: Jan Chtiej (Poland, 1937); Fabio Acevedo (Colombia, 1949); José Mazzini (Peru, 1909); Humberto Solano (Costa Rica, 1944); William Logan (USA, 1914); Héctor Acosta (Argentina, 1933); Christian Pfannberger (Austria, 1979); Max Wirth (Switzerland, 1930); Kurt Ott (Switzerland, 1912, died 2001).

Tour de France: Stage 16 Debrief - nice day for ducks, nasty day for Schlecks

Stage 16 began under a dark cloud even though it was unexpectedly warm and sunny at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux this morning with the sad news that Patrick Guay, a 59-year-old subcontractor working for the Tour, had been found dead. Original reports suggesting that his body had been recovered from a river proved unfounded when the ASO issued a press release stating that he had been found next to his car. Mr. Guay was the uncle of Quick Step rider Jerome Pineau who wore black bands on his arms during the stage as a sign of mourning. Guay was himself a professional cyclist during the 1970s; coming 3rd in Stage 5 of the 1976 Tour de l'Avenir. This was his 27th time working at the race and, for what little it's worth, our sympathy is with his family and friends.

Good to see David Millar riding out at
the front today.

Despite the forecasts of atrocious weather and hazardous conditions throughout the entire parcours the early sections of the race turned out to be pleasant with a decent tailwind to keep the peloton ticking over nicely, making it impossible for a breakaway group to form until later on in the day. The racing began at 13:13 and a Vacansoleil rider mounted an attack immediately but was pulled back in almost immediately.

The peloton remained intact at the 15km point when a gang of four managed to build a brief gap, but with the mighty HTC-Highroad team in the driving seat it was cursed the moment it got going and they were also caught by 16km. Somebody from Sky tried his luck a short while later but had even less success. Another gang, this time numbering eight riders tried again after around 30 minutes of racing, achieving a lead of about 50m at one point, but with the peloton still cruising like fast yachts on the tailwind their fifteen minutes of fame was cut down to just two minutes.

An assortment of others tested the waters, but nothing happened until eventually a group including Juan Antonio Flecha, David Millar, Sylvain Chavenel and others got to work and finally got out in front. They were joined for short while by Confidis' Leonardo Duque who, without obvious cause, signaled for the medics' car - however, he was soon on his way (albeit no longer as part of the breakaway) so it appears whatever problem he was having turned out to be minor.

Lieuwe Westra and then Ryder Hesjedal and Jerome Roy began to counter-attack, encouraging a fifteen man counter-counter-attack to form. Eleven of them, including Johnny Hoogerland caught him and stayed in front of the peloton as the feeding station approached. By now, conditions had worsened and rain was falling, making it reportedly impossible for some riders to release their handlebars and grab the musettes. Rumours began to circulate that race officials were considering abandoning the final loop up and around the Col de Manse with its notoriously difficult descent, but these were rapidly quashed.

Edvald Boasson Hagen took
second place.

By now, as the 91km mark came round, the lead group contained 14 riders including the two Norwegians Thor Hushovd and Edvald Boasson Hagen riding with a gap of just 13", but numbers soon dropped to 10 as various chancers discovered they were unable to match the pace and effort of keeping ahead of a peloton which had recorded an average speed of 46.4kmph during the second hour of the race.

By now the weather was very wet indeed, reducing visibility and soaking the riders. Temperatures had also dropped sharply to 11 degrees C which, combined with the wet, is easily cold enough to leave riders uncomfortable, demoralised and in pain as muscles begin to seize up.

"shit weather,shit summer,shit morale, shit pain " (@andy_kloedi, Twitter)

Once again, various counter-attackers sought to reel them back into the pack, but none could do so and the gap had soon been increased to over two minutes, allowing them an easy passage through the intermediate sprint - which neither they nor the peloton bothered to contest. Quick Step's Dries Devenyns cruised through with nobody even bothered to contest it - as was the case when the peloton rumbled through - and took the 20 points shortly before Mikhail Ignatyev decided he'd had more than enough of that boring lot and decided to attack, getting himself out in front. 2. Jeremy Roy, 17pts; 3. Tony Martin 15pts; 4. Thor Hushovd 13pts; 5. Rider Hesjedal 11pts; 6. Andriy Grivko 10pts; 7. Marco Marcato 9pts; 8. Mikhail Ignatyev 8pts; 9. Alan Perez Lezaun 7pts; 10. Edvald Boasson Hagen 6pts; 11. Fabrice Jeandesboz 5pts; 12. Samuel Dumoulin 4pts; 13. Bauke Mollema 3pts; 14. Blel Kadri 2pts 15. Sebastien Minard 1pt.

Out on the frontline, Hushovd went to work on Ignatyev and after a fight managed to drag him partially back by the time they passed the 20km to go point before he returned to the group and Devenyns and Perez Lezaun took over pursuit duties, but he managed to increase his advantage to 22" and Andriy Grivko was dropped and began the journey back to the peloton. Hushovd was soon back on the case, this time accompanied by Hesjedal, and they got him down to just 8" on the slopes of the Col de Manse; eventually catching and dropping him with 16km to go.

Mikhail Ignatyev earned the Combativity award.

Then, back in the peloton, something that many people had given up all hope of seeing every again: a classic Contador attack. El Pistolero showed precisely why he should never be underestimated when he stood up on the pedals and surged ahead for all the world as though there was no gradient at all. Andy Schleck responded, closely followed by brother Frank, soon to be joined by Cadel Evans, Thomas Voeckler and - of all people - Fabian Cancellara who seems recently to have developed the ability to climb, a skill virtually unheard of among time trial specialists.

It appears that Saxobank have been studying Andy very carefully indeed, and they might just have worked out how to defeat him. Contador's team mate Danial Navarro attacked the chasing group, pressuring the two Luxembourgers to put in more effort and then, when Contador attacked again, the Schlecks cracked - neither was able to respond, leaving Cadel Evans to go after and catch him. This was a bigger surprise than the early fine weather and Contador's tactics combined and all of Europe rang with a clicking noise as hundreds of thousands of book-keepers grabbed their calculators and worked out new odds. It seems that the king is not dead after all, but the next-in-line isn't looking too perky.

Up the hill, Samuel Sanchez had joined forces with Evans and Contador after stating that if it came down to it he would offer support to his countryman. Meanwhile, Hushovd and Boasson Hagen were trailing 10" behind Hesjedal out at the front and Martin and Ignatyev were 30" behind them. As the summit passed and the trio began the long and perilous descent, Boasson Hagen took the lead for a while. This section had been predicted to be lethal with a high risk of leaves and mud on sharp bends to add to the dangers of road surfaces already made hazardous by mud. Immediately over the top it looked to be dry, but this turned out to be a small patch that had somehow escaped the rain falling since early morning in the area and conditions turned dangerous very soon.

Evans couldn't catch Contador on the way up - though he remained close - but he got the better of him on the way back down, out-braving the Spaniard around the bends and keeping his speed just that little bit higher. This, however, was all mind games as the pair engaged in a bit of psychological combat, because far ahead the Norwegian/Canadian trio were within 3.5 km of the finish line. There was no doubt now that one of them would be winning the stage, but as of yet no way to tell which. Into the final kilometre, Hesjedal was in the lead with Boasson Hagen right behind him and Hushovd on his rear wheel, so it all came down to a final mini-sprint.

Thor Hushovd, now with Garmin-Cervelo, won his second
stage if the Tour.

Boasson Hagen, proving why he's one of the most respected youth category riders in cycling, was too fast for Hesjedal, beating him across the finish line by 2"; but he wasn't quite fast enough for Hushovd who just pipped him to the post for his second stage win of the Tour as several other riders were still picking their way down into Gap on the descent. Thankfully, only one crash took place - FDJ's Arnold Jeannesson lost his grip at almost the exact same place that Joseba Beloki did back in 2003, though today it certainly was caused by tarmac melting in the sun, this also being one of the exact spots that we predicted a crash was most likely to happen in the Stage 13 Preview, so bow down before us. Oh, and we also predicted Thor as a possible winner too, but we later decided Chavenel was a more likely candidate so we can't really claim success with that one.

"That was great. Good fun that stage. Few more stages like that and we will be in Paris in no time." (Ben Swift, @swiftybswift, Twitter)

The big question today is: what the hell happened to the Schlecks? Can today be seen as proof that Andy's disappointing performance thus far this year has not been down to poor timing, psychological games or plain old sand-bagging and that he's actually just on bad form this year? Ardent Schleckies that we are, we have to confess we're seriously beginning to wonder and no longer believe he can win this Tour. Sorry, Andy.

Frank Schleck revealed his
natural grace today.

We haven't forgotten that highly impressive turn of speed he found as he approached the top of Plateau de Beille and we still think that had he accelerated a little earlier he could have won that stage. Climbers famously suffer more in bad conditions due to their virtually non-existent body fat and both Schlecks will certainly have suffered today as a result. That means there's still just a tiny chance that they'll do well in the real Alps still to come. As Frank said: "Bjarne [Rijs] is behind this. He knows we don't like the bad weather and the descent. Congratulations to them, it's a nice one."

The only trouble is, it's predicted to be 6 degrees C at Sestrieres tomorrow, the Category 1 climb where Andy was expected to do well. Worse still, it snowed today on Galibier and the temperature there is unlikely to climb any higher than 4 degrees for the rest of the week. Like we said - sorry, Andy. Maybe next year.

That Andy is angry would indeed seem to be the case as he uncharacteristically laid into Tour organisers and made his thoughts on the latter part of the stage very clear soon after it was over, though being Andy he kept his language considerably more polite than almost anyone else would have done in his situation: "People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill. We don't want crashes or thoughtless risks," he told reporters. "We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?"

It has to be said that Andy probably has a point - last week we said we would not support any measure aimed at slowing cycling down, the ASO and UCI obviously have a duty not to endanger riders' health and lives. The descent from Col de Manse is infamous and widely considered one of the Tour's most dangerous and it's arguable that with the treacherous conditions already expected this morning the final loop should have been cancelled.

Anyway; no injuries in those conditions = everyone wins.

"Time lost. Hope remains. Three days in the Alps ahead." (@leopardtrek, Twitter)

"Cool we got a telephone in the room tonight! Think this room is more up to date that last 2 nights!"(a not-that-concerned-about-today @jakob_fuglsang of Team LeopardTrek, Twitter)

Stage 16 Results:

1. HUSHOVD Thor 3h 31' 38"  
2. HAGEN Edvald Boasson + 00' 00"
3. HESJEDAL Ryder + 00' 02"
4. MARTIN Tony + 00' 38"
5. IGNATYEV Mikhail + 00' 52"
6. PEREZ LEZAUN Alan + 01' 25"
7. ROY Jérémy + 01' 25"
8. MARCATO Marco + 01' 55"
9. DEVENYNS Dries + 01' 55"
10. GRIVKO Andriy + 01' 58"



Overall General Classification results following Stage 7:

1. VOECKLER Thomas 69h 00' 56"  
2. EVANS Cadel + 01' 45"
3. SCHLECK Frank + 01' 49"
4. SCHLECK Andy + 03' 03"
5. SANCHEZ Samuel + 03' 26"
6. CONTADOR Alberto + 03' 42"
7. BASSO Ivan + 03' 49"
8. CUNEGO Damiano + 04' 01"
9. DANIELSON Tom + 06' 04"
10. URAN Rigoberto + 07' 55"


Points: Mark Cavendish; Climber: Jelle Vanendert; Youth: Rigoberto Uran; Team: Garmin-Cervelo; Combativity: Mikhail Ignatyev.