Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in antoniahtstevoh's InsaneJournal:

Monday, July 18th, 2011
11:14 am	2011 Stage 15 Report Stage 15 of the 2011 Tour de France began in Limoux and ran 192. More on Cavendish 5kms to Montpellier. However, before they could set up Mark Cavendish, they had to bring back a 5 man breakaway. Astride regular road machines instead of 650c bikes although let's look at what the TT gives Five riders formed a breakaway and stayed out front for most of the day. The five men that rode into the breakaway were, Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Niki Terpstra (Quick Step), Anthony Delaplace (Saur Sojasun), Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis). “I didn't feel that good today to be honest but I don't think anybody else did either,” said Cavendish at the finish.30. He has also extended his lead in the green jersey competition which he is hoping to win for the first time having finished as runner-up for the past two years. Few remember that it was Stuart O'Grady who took the stage victory on that rainy day… and fewer expected Voeckler, then just 25 years old, to hold the lead through even one mountain stage. The team of the leader of the Tour de France is usually tasked with controlling the gap to the breakaway riders all day. However, when HTC-Highroad put Tony Martin on the front, Terpstra was quickly caught. That was the final stage for pure sprinters on this year's Tour, and with a 37 point lead in the points classification, Cavendish should secure his first Tour green jersey on the Champs-Elysees provided he can get over the Alps without being eliminated. That's far from a certainty. At the intermediate sprint in Montagnac, Delage won from the break. It was now time for all teams to jostle for position.40. With 21ksm to go, Ignatiev and Terpstra attacked out of the break. What about the Irish. He has improved his climbing, winning the King of the Mountains at Paris-Nice in 2007. He crossed the line in 20th place and remains 10'56″ behind the leader Thomas Voeckler. Roche said on twitter yesterday that, due to his fall down the general classification, he will now spend the rest of the Tour trying to win a stage. At this point, Garmin, Sky, and Lampre were still on the front of the peloton, and it looked like the HTC train and Mark Cavendish may be blocked in.. One last day off for the riders as the Tour enters its second rest day. GC After Stage 15: 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 65:24:34 2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:49 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:06 4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:15 5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:16 6 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:44 7 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:04:00 8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:04:01 9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:05:46 10 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:06:18 . With the French team's sprinter William Bonnet finishing outside the time limit the previous day, they had little hope in the almost inevitable sprint finish and so a breakaway was its only real option. Holding his own on pitches measured over 10% grade, Voeckler matched every acceleration like the wily veteran he is.650c bikes for the shorter riders 650c bicycles for the smaller riders Current Mood: nauseated Current Music: Indy (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
6:20 pm	2011 Tour Etape 13 Report All hail the God of Thunder.5-kilometer (95 mile) mountain route from Pau to Lourdes. The 152. "I've been saying that for weeks," he said. When it became clear that his quixotic attack was actually tactical masterstroke, I was reminded of a long-ago speech made by Hushovd's boss. Hushovd, cycling's reigning world champion from Norway, caught and then distanced himself from Jeremy Roy of France's Team FDJ 2.3 kilometers from the finish. Further, the speeds made the peloton dangerous, resulting in several crashes." David Millar's Garmin team mate had won eight previous stages in 11 Tours but none on anything like such high ground. The summit of Col d'Aubisque was shrouded in cloud and at one point vultures circled over the peleton. “The plan was to gain a small advantage,” Hushovd said in an interview on Comcast Corp. On the descent, once again there were a flurry of attacks in an attempt to form the day's break. Hushovd brought the gap down to about 15 seconds, the gap stayed there for a while and it looked like Roy was going to put up a good fight to take the win. At 58 kms, Lars Boom (Rabobank) abandoned the race. When Jérémy Roy, the winner of Thursday's prize for winning the climb of the Tourmalet, made a solo attack and crossed the Aubisque in lonely majesty, Hushovd was lying third and two minutes down, but his long chase animated the final 40km and ended in success when both he and David Moncoutié passed Roy on the approach to the centre of Lourdes. Finally, at 60kms, the day's break finally emerged, consisting of: Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Thor Hushovd (Garmin), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Vladimitr Gusev (Katusha), Jérémy Roy (FDJ), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) and Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad). Over the cat-4 Côte de Belair, Roy led the break across the line, 4 minutes ahead of the peloton. Voeckler seems likely to surrender the overall lead on Saturday,when the race heads back into the Hautes-Pyrénées for a 168km stage starting at Saint-Gaudens, incorporating the first-category Col de la Core and Col d'Agnès. (Rasmussen claimed to have been training in Mexico.. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) led the peloton across, 4.31 later. The break started the Col d'Aubisque with a 6 minute advantage; however, the break did not stay together.. Several groups were behind Roy, most of them came from the breakaway that formed in the early part of the day. Contador could conceivably win his fourth Tour de France, then be stripped of last year's, and this year's, titles. Booed by spectators at the Tour's official presentation on the eve of Stage 1, the proud Spaniard has become a bit of an embarrassment to the race. When the peloton hit the slopes, other small attacks broke free from the front of the main group, including Maxime Bouet (Ag2R), Mickael Delage (FdJ), and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank).. Hushovd was 15 seconds behind that... Roy was able to stay away, taking the maximum points (and the KOM jersey) on the climb, a minute ahead of Moncoutié. Current Mood: nauseated Current Music: Indy (Comment on this)
Friday, July 15th, 2011
12:28 pm	Le Tour Stage12 Feedback Team Leopard-Trek decided that they were going to test the resolve and fitness of the peloton on first day that the 2011 Tour de France visited the high mountains. Defending champion Contador went into the 210. Following that were two HC's: Col du Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden at the finish. It was always going to have a massive impact on the impact, but it was expected that it might expose any weaknesses in the general classification contenders. And there wasn't any. Contador came into the home straight on the runway of Mende aerodrome with fellow Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez for company after he had attacked before Contador on the final climb. The big name and highest placed rider in that group was Geraint Thomas (Sky Pro Cycling). Others included, José Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar), Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel Euskadi), Laurent Mangel (Saur Sojasun), Blel Kadri (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Jérémy Roy (FDJ). "I just slipped going round that first bend," he told ITV4. The big name in the final two kilometers today, was indeed Frank Schleck of Leopard Trek. This stage, however, was always going to be about that final, unclassified climb. "At the start I just wanted to get stuck in and race it, and I did that. Although Frank finished third behind, Samuel Sanchez and Jelle Vanendert, he was the big overall racer who made his attack. When the peloton started the climb, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) attacked and opened a gap. Submit Vote vote to see results Sammy Sanchez of Euskaltel Euskadi and Jelle Vanendert of Omega Pharma-Lotto has established a solid break that would not be caught, but the real interest was in what was happening behind them.. He now sits behind current race leader, Thomas Voeckler of Europcar. Over the summit, Mangel sprinted for maximum points. But Contador was the other big winner on the day as he rode away from Schleck on the steep three kilometer climb towards Mende which concluded the day's proceedings. He now trails the Saxo Bank rider by 31 seconds in the overall classification. Third place went to Contador's Kazakh teammate Alexandre Vinokourouv, a survivor of a breakaway group that went away after 60 kilometers.44 behind the KOM leader. The peloton, however, also crashed where Thomas's initial skid occurred. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) locked his rear wheel and skidded into a van. Firstly, the form of Thomas Voeckler and his absolute determination to retain the yellow jersey and ensure that it was a Frenchman wearing it on Bastille Day. Voeckler eventually switched his bike before working back up to the peloton. Well it seemed that the yellow jersey was not totally safe. Thomas Voeckler's back wheel locked up and he crashed into a parked car, he was fine and had just fallen off his bike due to the grease on the road. His little accident, caused several riders that were in the peloton, one of those being Andreas Kloden (RadioShack). Current Mood: nauseated Current Music: Indy (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
3:06 pm	2011 Tour de France Stage11 As it Happened Stage 11 of the 2011 Tour de France was a rainy 168km route from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur. After almost losing his shoe 600 metres from the finish, Mark Cavendish slipped into the green jersey of the Tour de France points leader on Wednesday for the first time at this year's race. In torrential rain, he sprinted to victory in stage 11 from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur, the 18th stage win of his record-breaking Tour career and his third so far in 2011. Race leader Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) finished in the lead group to retain his yellow jersey.5km from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur. “It's incredible to have the green jersey, it's the most beautiful jersey in the world,” said Cavendish. This time, he made clear; no blame could be attached to Feillu.” Voeckler will wear the jersey at the start Thursday, but is not optimistic about keeping it after what should be a thrilling 211km of racing.5km 11th stage from Blaye les Mines, a storm descended on the riders with around 15km remaining. It was 726 days earlier, during the 13th stage of the 2009 race, that Cavendish last headed the points standings, losing the green jersey at the end of that day in the Vosges and never managing to wrest it back from his Norwegian rival Thor Hushovd, despite winning six stages. Last year, he won another four stages but watched Alessandro Petacchi of Italy amass a winning points total. He has said on many occasions that his ambition in the Tour is to win stages. "Finally got my grubby little Manx mitts on the Green Jersey," the 26-year-old quipped on Twitter. Lars Boom is pulling a great bitchface. However, the route's long, wide, straight descent into Lavaur marked it as a stage for the sprinters and their leadout trains. No British rider has won the green jersey since its introduction to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tour in 1953. Again I have to thank my team-mates for the work they did, even the guys who are in the top 10 overall gave it 100 per cent and that shows what a great team we are.” Not for the first time on this Tour, Cavendish profited from the work of Sky's Geraint Thomas in the latter stages as the HTC-Highroad train finally began to fracture after an exceptionally long shift in the rain bringing back the break. Thomas, working for team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen who eventually finished fifth, provided the perfect wheel for Mark Renshaw and Cavendish to follow and they were on to the charging Welshman like rats down a drainpipe. The peloton allowed the break a gap of little more than four minutes." Regarding the incident 600 metres from the finish when his foot accidentally brushed against the front wheel of Romain Feillu, undoing his buckle in the process, Cavendish said: "My foot technically came out of the shoe, I had to reach down and slide the ratchet (buckle) and re-do it.. "But there was nothing intentional, nothing dangerous between Feillu and me. All other jerseys remained the same. Stage 11 Results: 1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 3:46:07 2 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto 3 Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 4 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team 5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 6 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 7 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team 8 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Team Europcar 9 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team 10 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ. 5. A total of 1,190 miles have been covered, 940 remain. As the pack closed to within 15 seconds with 5k to go, Boom launched a powerful attack and held off the pack for another 3k. Current Mood: nauseated Current Music: Indy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
11:56 pm	2011 Tour Etape 10 Rundown Germany's Andre Greipel pipped fierce rival and former team mate Mark Canvendish at the line to claim a maiden Tour de France victory on Tuesday. Today's route took the riders 161kms from Aurillac to Carmaux. The stage underlined how important a coherent team is, particularly to a top sprinter on a relatively flat stage. Thomas Voeckler retained the yellow jersey, one minute 49 seconds ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez. Furthermore in the group was Philippe Gilbert who currently wears the green jersey as he accelerated in the last kilometer forcing Cavendish team to move faster as they prepare him for the last meters. All riders were able to continue, however. I think I'm the happiest person the world at the moment. The German rider beat the three of them in a sprint finish to grab the first Tour de France victory of his career. proved too much for HTC, which destroyed the highly polished lead-out train for Cavendish, leaving the Manx Missile to deliver himself into a position to challenge for the stage win. Greipel, who has previously skipped the Tour during his season, finally duplicated those results from the other grand tours on Tuesday. With 16 kilometers to go in the stage, the peloton caught the breakaway, which was much too early for the teams of the sprinters. Today's stage was thankfully free of the carnage and crashes that have been the hallmark of the Tour so far and did little to affect the overall standings in any of the jersey classifications. Gilbert was the final survivor in the group, but he was eventually caught with seven kilometers to go. Hoogerland has developed a cult status amongst cycling fans everywhere for his courage in riding with his horrible injuries." . GC After Stage 10: 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 42:06:32 2 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:49 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:26 4 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:29 5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:37 6 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:02:38 7 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad 8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack 0:02:43 9 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:02:55 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:03:08 . After this climb, however, the gap increased back to 3. Current Mood: nauseated Current Music: Indy (Comment on this)