Tour de France Team Talk Stage 12

Mark Cavendish wins his third stage of the 2008 Tour after a mass gallop to the line into Narbonne - report

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Mark Cavendish said - “It’s brilliant to win again. The time before this, I won by a few bike lengths and that’s a great feeling and today there wasn’t even a bike length in it but I knew I had it.

"The win wasn’t quite as convincing as the first two. I’m getting tired and I’m going to take it day by day and hope that I survive the Alps."

The plan now is to make it to Paris and maybe look to the green jersey - more

Rider Marco Marzano said of the stage - : “We started at a high speed, also because be strong wind from behind. When Dumoulin and Gerard attacked, the pace became a little slower and the teams of the sprinters controlled the situation: the breakaway’s destiny was clear. Our target today was to be far from possible accidents and to pedal with a regular pace”.

Loking toward stage 12, Narbonne-Nimes, the team think it could be a good chance for Lampre’s riders to join some breakaway attempts. Ballan will try again to seek the victory and he will use the new Campagnolo 11 speeds that he's been testing from Tour de France departure.

DS Kim Andersen said - "We knew from the start today that it was gonna be a sprinter finish. We weren't going to make a move unless there was a large break with at least 10 or 15 riders, so when two guys escaped after 20 kilometers we decided to take it easy. It would have to be a lot more windy for us to be able to do anything in a stage like today's."

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Merde!
Merde!
Merde!
Merde!

The team withdrew after a positive EPO test recorded by Riccardo Ricco. Team response and ASO comment.

Mark Cavendish opened up the sprint and created a good gap right away, Erik Zabel and the other sprinters came up equally fast to the line. In the end, the Zabel only lacked a few centimetres to a top three placing.

"Our team did a great chasing job in the lead-up to the bunch sprint,“ said Sports Director Vittorio Algeri. "In the finale, especially Marco Velo showed a great performance. I think we’ve achieved the maximum today with this fourth placing. Mark Cavendish is simply the strongest sprinter in the field at the moment.”

Cadel Evans - “It’s hard to stay up front in the peloton all the time but it’s important to do that because there’s the risk of being caught up in a crash. That’s really what I had to look out for today. There wasn’t any real threat of losing the jersey in a stage like this so I just wanted to be careful, do the minimal amount of work and stay safe.

“Another day, another yellow jersey. I’m happy enough with that. All of the jerseys that I get a the Tour de France will be donated to charities; they’re very special to me but if I can help out some people who are less privileged than me then it’s the least I can do.”

Team principal Jonathan Vaughters sums up his feelings about the Ricco affair on the team website -

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"We are almost there. Almost…. Almost to a time when everyone understands that the testing is as advanced as the doping. That the best answer to all this is: just race.

I know all that seems difficult to believe, today, with the race in turmoil. But I’m just hoping that everyone can just grit their teeth through this last bit and believe. Please believe, as we are so close. So many riders are clean and taking a real, unedited stand.

It’s always darkest before the dawn….

I’m just hoping that our fans and the media can endure the pain, the real, deep pain it takes to really correct a problem, to correct a mentality, that is so embedded. We are so close, but we need some faith and we need to let the anti-doping authorities do their work - more

Further torment for the team when Baden Cooke crashed leaving just four riders in the Tour.

Cooke crashed at 32 kilometres and could not continue his race because of pain in his back. The Aussie was immediately taken to the hospital in Carcassonne to undergo x-rays, and the result was no-fracture. Team Barloworld's strong rider was diagnosed with an important contusion in the lombar region between L4 and L5, and multiple grazes.

Sprinter Robert Hunter tried to compete in the sprint, but was closed when narrowing the first positions in the bunch, so he tried to go with a long sprint that could not lead him into the top-10. "Robert shown his strong will today - stated team manager Claudio Corti - and we are so proud for his care".

Herve Duclos Lassalle, Cofidis - stage 1 - crash
Angel Gomez, Saunier Duval - stage 3 - crash
Maurico Soler, Barloworld - stage 5 - injuries from an earlier crash
Aurelien Passeron, Saunier Duval - stage 6 - failed to start (Hit a spectator the previous day)
Magnus Backstedt, Garmin Chipotle - stage 7 - outside time limit
Lilian Jegou, FD Jeux - stage 7 - crash
Christophe Moreau, Agritubel - stage 7, bad back
John Gadret, AG2R - stage 7
Mauro Facci, Quickstep, - stage 7
Manuel Beltran, Liquigas - stage 7 - failed dope test and thrown off race
Yury Trofimov Bouyges Telecom - stage 10 - withdrawn before start
Paulo Longo Borghini, Barloworld - stage 11 - crash
Felix Cardenas, Barloworld - stage 11 - crash
Moises Duenas Nevado, Barloworld - stage 11 - failed dope test and thrown off race
Leonardo Piepoli, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
Josep Jufre, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
Jesus Del Nero, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
David De La Fuente, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
Juan Jose Cobo Acebo, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
Rubens Bertogliati, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - team withdrew
Riccardo Ricco, Saunier Duval - stage 12 - failed dope test and thrown off race
Baden Cooke, Barloworld - stage 12 - crash

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