Stage 12 – Garmin Salvages Some Glory

The U.S.-based team Garmin-Sharp had two main goals at the start of this year’s Tour de France:  (1) to place Ryder Hesjedal in the top 3 of the GC classification, and (2) to contend for the team prize.  Hesjedal came in with great promise after winning the GC prize (pink jersey) in the Giro d’Italia, but he crashed out of the Tour with injuries in the first week.  Teammates Tom Danielson and Robbie Hunter also crashed-out early.  Meanwhile, RadioShack and Team Sky have dominated the team classification, and Garmin finds itself in 20^th place!  So much for the team’s original goals!

With six riders left, the team changed its goal to focus on winning glory in other ways.  Today, Garmin arose like a phoenix from the ashes of its first week, with David Millar leading a successful breakaway and capturing the stage win in an exciting sprint finish. 

Nearly 8 minutes later, the peleton finally reached the line, with another frantic sprint for the remaining green jersey points.  Matt Goss (Orica) edged Peter Sagan (Liquigas) for a two-point differential, but the race jury relegated Goss for swerving into Sagan’s line of travel at the end.  This means that their official finishing positions (and points) were reversed.  Bottom line: Sagan still leads the green jersey fight with a margin of 56 points over Goss.  Greipel and Cavendish continue to lose ground, with deficits to Sagan now of -73 and -125 points respectively. 

This stage offered no fireworks in the battle for the GC yellow jersey.  Wiggins himself launched a small symbolic counter-attack to stamp-out a burst of aggression from Jérôme Coppel.  In the end, they both finished in a 33-rider pack of GC hopefuls, all with the same time.

Tour of California winner Robert Gesink (Rabobank), whom I marked as a promising GC contender for the TDF, abandoned between stage 11 and stage 12, because of rib injuries suffered in a crash during the first week.  Fabian Cancellara, Swiss hero and multi-day yellow jersey rider, also bailed out at the end of stage 11 – to attend the birth of his second child this week in Bern.  Petacchi (Lampre) and a teammate finished too slow in stage 11 as Petacchi limped home with crash injuries.  Two more gone.  Plus 5 crash-outs yesterday, and two more today.  From 198 starters, we are down to 134.   Who will be next? 

Will American Tyler Farrar (Garmin) bring additional “glory” to his beleaguered team by holding onto his current status as the Lanterne Rouge?  Or will he succumb to his early injuries and either miss the time cut, or simply abandon?  Or will he rise phoenix-like from the ashes and actually win one of the few remaining sprint-finish stages?  Stay tuned!

Tomorrow's stage crosses the French midi from Provence to Languedoc (near Carcassonne - pictured here).  Gateway to the Pyrénées!