2009 Tour de France – Stage 11 News and Notes
July 15th, 2009 by Al Fresco One Comment
Welcome back! Here’s some of the latest news, notes and quotes from Stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France:
- Bernard Hinault sat down with Andrew Hood of VeloNews. Never one to mince words, he said the only way to beat Astana is to “Attack! It’s necessary to attack. There are not 36 solutions, just attack!” He also weighed in on those that criticized Cadel Evans‘ attack on Saturday and compared his relationship with Greg Lemond to the current battle between Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.
- Mark Cavendish won his fourth stage of the 2009 Tour de France and racks up a total of 8 stage wins in his TdF career, equalling the UK record held by Barry Hoban. I wouldn’t expect Cav to bow out early this year.
- The finish was slightly uphill today, leading to suspicions that Cavendish would not be able to make his usual run.
- French riders who have asked to remain anonymous have stated that Mark Cavendish is anti-French and made some “distasteful” comments while waiting to fly to to Limoges from Tarbes on Sunday afternoon.
- In an interview with L’Equipe, Cavendish responded, saying “I am not at all like that, everybody knows it.”
- He told BikeRadar “I get a little hot-headed sometimes, but it’s irrelevant the nationality of the rider when you get arsey at someone. When you’re a rider with a public profile, you can’t be friends with everybody, it’s going to be like that.”
- There were rumors that Tom Boonen might make an early exit, but he came back this morning with a renewed interest in a stage win. Some suspected that his team manager reminded him of the hefty legal bill his sponsors racked up getting him into the race.
- Rinaldo Nocentini is enjoying is time in the yellow jersey and sees it as due reward for his dedication to cycling, saying “My whole life is completely dedicated to cycling. I have almost no time for fun things to do with friends. I go to bed, as they hang in the pub. That in a time like this is not bad.”
- The pace was quite high today. They had a tailwind most of the way that pushed them up near a 45 km/h average speed.
- Levi Leipheimer and Bradley Wiggins initially lost 15 seconds after a crash in the closing kilometers of yesterday’s stage separated them from the peloton, but the race jury deliberated overnight and gave them the same time as the rest of the peloton.
- Alessandro Ballan entered the race at what he said was at 70% of his top form. He feels that his recovery is continuing and that he is up to 80%. He’s hoping for a good result in the last week of the race.
- Thor Hushovd has snagged an invite to the post-Tour criterium in Hamme, Belgium. The race takes place on July 31st and will also feature Greg Van Avermaet, Frank Vandenbroucke and Tom Boonen.
- The UCI will make a decision tomorrow on whether the Tour will go on without race radios on Friday’s Stage 13.
- Sounds like Frank Schleck is feeling a little left out in light of all of the adulation around little brother Andy.
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