“The Youngest rider at TdF 2012 takes Stage 8”

This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 4th tour

Today a Frenchman, all of 22years, the youngest to be riding the tour this year, proved that with the right mix of bravado and gumption, matched with talent and the right backing, could bring dreams to reality. Thibaut Pinot, of FDJ-BigMat did this exactly, on the 8^th stage of this year’s tour, with a brilliant ride, first as part of the breakaway and then as a soloist, as he rode away from the chasing riders. As predicted by many, including yours truly, today was the stage fit for a breakaway to get away and stay away, and in the end, Pinot’s victory exactly showcased that reading.

The 8^th road Stage of the 99^th Tour de France started of from Belfort to Porrentruy, a distance of just 157kms, with 180 riders who finished yesterday. FRÖHLINGER Johannes of Argus Shimano was the only rider who withdrew due to a broken finger. With over 20plus riders trying to escape from the peloton at the beginning of the race, it was mass confusion in the escape group, as well as in the peloton. The oldest man in the tour, Jens Voigt of RadioShack Nissan, was the first one to actually make a firm statement with his drive to the front of the race. He started to pedal away like there was no tomorrow and in a significant show of super strength & conditioning, kept a relentless pace for the first hour. This led to most of the hanging-on crowd of riders to fall back into the peloton. But soon thereafter Voigt ran out of energy. It was Jeremy Roy of FDJ-BigMat, who kept the pace up after Voigt had sat up. Soon, he was joined by Swedish rider Fredrick Kessiakoff of Team Astana and Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil-DMC in the front. At the back, the remaining breakaway riders were all playing cat & mouse with lots of them trying to take an easy ride out by just sticking at the back and not putting in any effort at the front. This gaming ensured that Kessiakoff, rode away with lots of points in the King of the Mountains Jersey competition. At one time, he was even the sole leader of the race, trying to solo it out on to the final climb of the day. But Roy sacrificed himself for his younger teammate and once Pinot had bridged the gap to the front, it was all over for the others, including Tony Gallopin of RadioShack Nissan, who did try valiantly to ride himself into the lead spot. With the Col de la Croix, just 16 kms from the finish, it was just a matter of whether Kessiakoff could reach the summit before everyone else, and thus ensure his victory, or whether Pinot, who was charging up the road, and the peleton with the leaders, could catch up before the finish line? In the end, it was Pinot, who caught Kessiakoff, around 500m before the summit, and then passed him and continued the descent to make history.

In the peloton, it was the Yellow Jersey wearer Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky, which was keeping a high tempo all through out the race stage. Rider after rider came to the front, put in their stint and went back to revitalize themselves and come back again. BMC Racing team was also keeping Cadel Evans in the front along with couple of riders. In the end stages, it was the Liqigas-Cannondale team of Nibali, who stepped up the race pace, to try and bag another stage for Peter Sagan. But all came to a naught, as the climb of the Col de la Croix, proved a bit too much for most riders in the peloton. Jurgen van den Broeck, a title aspirant from Lotto-Belisol, took upon himself to drive hard and in the bargain split the remaining riders from the leaders.

As the climb started to reach upwards, a select team of riders, including, Wiggins, Froome, Evans, Nibali, Menchov & RadioShack Nissan team with 4 riders, Tony Gallopin, Franck Schleck, Maxime Monfort &Haimar Zubeldia were left riding with Broeck. This show of strength, will unable RadioShack Nissan team to take over the overall leaders in the team category. They dethrone Team Sky, and will wear the Yellow Helmets of the leaders in the Team Category. This group caught Kessiakoff, with a few kms, to go, but by then Pinot goaded on, in a maniac fashion by his manager Marc Madiot from his team car, had already smelled victory and kept his pace up ending almost 26secs ahead of the second placed rider. In the leaders group, Evans, in a bid to gain the Yellow Jersey, before tomorrow’s stage of time trial, gave his everything and attacked with a km to go, but a wary Wiggins marked him perfectly, to keep him in check. In the end, RadioShack Nissan did try to set up the stage for Gallopin to win the sprint, but Evans was too smart for that and raced himself in for the second spot. Wiggins & other riders with them finished on the same time as Evans. In a significant crash of the day, involving Alejandro Valverde of Movistar and Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Sanchez became another casualty, as he was taken from the spot in an ambulance. This deals a severe blow to his chances at the Olympics, as he is the reigning Olympic road race champion.

The top three on the leader board remained the same. Wiggins now leads the race, with Evans behind him by 10sec, followed by Nibali with a 16sec deficit. Menchov moved into the forth place. The Yellow Jersey of the race leader continues with Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky. The Green Jersey for the points leader continues with Peter Sagan of Liqigas Cannondale. The White Jersey, for the best young rider remains with Rene Taaramae of Cofidis team, while Fredrick Kessiakoff of Team Astana takes over the King of the Mountain polka dotted Jersey.

Stage winner Pinot said, ““I lived through the longest 10km of my life. When I saw the peloton had got to within 50 seconds with 10km to go, I began to panic. I owe much of this win to Jérémy Roy. When he was ahead in the stage, I did not have to ride, and then when I bridged the gap to him he helped me throughout the game that was being played out before the final climb. He gave everything. After the last hill, I couldn’t feel my legs but, I was carried by the cheers of the fans, and it only happens like this on the Tour de France.” A cheeky Pinot also added, “Initially, I was meant to do the Vuelta a España, but I insisted on doing the Tour and I made sure Marc Madiot knew what I wanted. Now I hope he’s convinced that I was right…
J” All that ends well….:) Bradley Wiggins, the Yellow jersey wearer commenting on the stage said “The plan was to try and let the right breakaway go and keep this jersey but it was a tough day and the team was fantastic. It’s always the same situation on a descent like that, Vincenzo is a fantastic descender and we knew he’d put us under pressure going into the finish but we were just trying to keep cool in those mountains. 
It’s another day of the Tour ticked off and I’m really happy. The team was fantastic in the way that they were marshalling the race but it was a tough test. We saw on the last climb that there weren’t many guys – like yesterday – but now we can look forward to the time trial tomorrow. On tomorrow’s race he said, “I don’t know if today’s chase of Evans in the finale acts as a preview to what we can expect tomorrow; but it’s not a straight forward time trial – it’s quite technical in places and it’s going to be a good race.”

The race today moved into the Jura mountains and the scenic beauty of Switzerland was there for all to see. The finishing town of Porrentruy, is the closest Swiss town to Paris and when you visit this town, do visit the Castle & the Jura Natural Science Museum. Also, do catch the Diplodocus on the road to the town…:)

Tomorrow, the 9^thStage of this year’s TdF,is a time trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon, a distance of 38kms. Me thinks,Fabian Cancellara will nail this one. Today, he kept away from the peloton and lost more than 10 minutes, thus saving himself for a super effort tomorrow. World Time Trail Champion, Tony Martin would also be trying to put in a good show. But, the Yellow Jersey of Wiggins is also there in the fray, and maybe the jersey will spur him to better times? Or will Evans be able to knock a few seconds on Wiggins? The riders form at present says its going to be between Wiggins & Cancellara. I would put my money on Cancellara. Follow Composed Volcano on Facebook. to get to read travel stories or simply subscribe to the blog!