Blog Posts From Frankie Andreu at the 2008 Tour de France Tagged With carlos-sastre

Tour Bids Adieu

Frankie Andreu — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:20:59 GMT

Catch Frankie Andreu's final podcast from the 2008 Tour de France. Quick Step's Gert Steegmans sprints to the stage win on the Champs-Elysees (though he wasn't Frankie's sentimental pick) and the powerhouse team of CSC Saxo Bank celebrates Carlos Sastre's ascension on to the podium in yellow.

Frankie says goodbye for now, talk to you in 2009.

Evans Couldn't Handle the Pressure

Frankie Andreu — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:46:33 GMT

On a day when Stefan Schumacher swept the '08 Tour time trials (St. 4 in Cholet and today's St. 20 from Cerilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond), the big story is Cadel Evans not being able to handle the pressure of overcoming Carlos Sastre.

Polka-dot jersey wearer Bernhard Kohl also surprised with a great time trial to keep himself in third overall. And Christian Vande Velde had a fantastic ride to move himself into fifth.

Frankie is looking forward to a bunch sprint tomorrow to see who the fastest guy after three weeks is. Who do you think has the legs?

3 Weeks Done and Out

Frankie Andreu — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:45:24 GMT

It doesn't matter if you are part of the written press, television, or even a cyclist, the Tour is a moving circus. The constant shifting of position each and every day wears on everyone. The riders race during the day and the media compound travels by night to set up each and every finish. At the finish I get the privilege of interviewing the stage winner and all the jersey wearers. I don't talk with all of them because Versus does not like to do the translation thing, so we target the English speakers.

Behind the podium is the protected area where there are three camper cars for the riders to wash up in before they come meet the media. One of the sensations of this Tour has been Andy Schleck, who many say will win the Tour de France in the next three years. Andy not only has been one of the strongest in the climbs, but his willingness to speak with many of the media is also unmatched.

At the bottom of l'Alpe d'Huez it was chaos around the CSC bus with Carlos Sastre in yellow. The road was too narrow, the buses too large and every time a team car had to pass everyone would get squashed. Once Carlos stepped out of the bus the little streamers they use to keep people back were torn off as everyone rushed in.

As we head to Paris I'm glad the Tour has ended. I have enjoyed the excitement of the Tour this year and in a way it was an easier Tour then previous years. The teams were more accommodating, the riders more willing to speak, and the mountains not as draining to get through. The next few months will be critical for cycling as ASO and the UCI work out their problems. The riders and teams will also have to work out their own rules, between themselves, involving the next races and disappearance of the Pro Tour.

I hope everyone enjoyed the podcasts and the articles. I enjoyed bringing you the excitement of the Tour de France.

Showdown From Cerilly: Cadel vs. Carlos

Frankie Andreu — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:00:38 GMT

The real excitement of Friday's stage was the anticipation of Saturday's individual time trial--53km from Cerilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Frankie Andreu reports that Carlos Sastre is "calm and ready" while Cadel Evans is...difficult to talk to (listen to the podcast to get a "head's up" from Frankie on another Evans youtube video).

Meanwhile, Paul Sherwen receives an award for 30 years of covering the Tour and Wim Vansevenant may be on the verge of setting a Tour record of his own.

The 18th Stage Snoozer

Frankie Andreu — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:48:27 GMT

Even though today's stage lacked the action and drama of yesterday's l'Alpe d'Huez thriller, Marcus Burghardt is still one happy camper. Listen as Frankie Andreu reveals CSC's real plan for Sastre's breakaway, and why the results weren't what they expected.

Also, Frankie ranks Sastre's 39-minute-and-change climb among the times of past years' l'Alpe d'Huez winners; and the French police search the car of Andy and Frank Schleck's dad.

Can Sastre Hang on to Yellow?

Frankie Andreu — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:13:21 GMT

Frankie Andreu reports from the mountaintop finish of l'Alpe d'Huez, where questions abound: What will CSC do in the next few days to gain time for Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck? Can Christian Vande Velde make it 11 years in a row that an American is on the podium? How much wattage was Sebastian Lang producing on his breakaway yesterday?

And why was actor Michael Douglas helping Carlos Sastre put on the yellow jersey?

Click below to listen to Frankie's podcast.

Only One Week More

Frankie Andreu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:25:19 GMT

We have entered into the last week of the Tour de France. Is this a good thing? For the riders, I'm sure they are happy. For the cycling fans, I'm sure it's a bad thing. For the sport, I'm sure it's a good thing.

No other cycling race is covered more then the Tour, and when there are problems, that coverage just escalates. This TdF, the sport has had its problems and we hope that they are over, but honestly we don't know. I want the last week to be about bike racing and the final day to be remembered as a great finish to an exciting Tour de France.

Right now it's shaping up that way, with the top 6 riders all within fifty seconds of each other. That's crazy close, and with two huge mountain days coming up the pressure is on. No one has shown their dominance in the mountains. CSC is strong but they have three guys to gang up on poor 'ol Cadel. Denis Menchov is strong, as well as Bernhard Kohl, but only at the right moment can any of them drop each other.

The gaps only open when they look at each other, playing tactical games, trying to force the other to chase. Cadel will continue to follow and close tiny gaps; all he has to do is stay close to clobber everyone in the final time trial. Menchov will follow some of the leaders but he is a big guy and will struggle on the super long climbs.

CSC's Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) will have the advantage to play off each other. Kohl and Christian Vande Velde can play off this CSC tag team as well. If a CSC rider goes then either Kohl or VDV should follow. You know the CSC riders in the back will just sit on and not work. It's not about who wins the stages, it's about time gaps. The more time on Cadel and Menchov the better and for Cadel and Menchov, the less time lost the better.

At the start of stage 15 I noticed a do-it-yourself homemade portable pump. This was out in front of the Liquigas bus to top off the riders tires in case they needed it. What the pump didn't have was a gauge, so I have no idea how the mechanic knows what he's doing. The mechanic just took a portable drill and changed the end to add a valve.

Monday's rest day was in Italy. It was a well-deserved rest day for the riders and everyone else. Stage 15 was pretty much a nightmare doing the transfer from the start to the finish. I had to drive 1.5 hours to the start, then from the start to the finish took five hours. I arrived at the finish when the riders had only 10km left to race. I then ran out onto the course to do interviews and then after the race we were stuck in traffic at the top of the mountain and that took three hours to get to the hotel.

The reward was the rest day, and a great Italian breakfast. I polished off that 5kg barrel of Nutella.

Danny Pate Goes All In

Frankie Andreu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:12:22 GMT

Though a valiant effort from Garmin Chipotle's Danny Pate during today's breakaway, he came up just a bit short. Listen to Frankie Andreu explain how tough it is to secure a stage win at the Tour de France. Stage 15 also saw great riding from Team CSC Saxo Bank, Carlos Satre and Christian Vande Velde.

Plus: Oscar Pereiro's crash, Sastre's extra components and more...

How the Pyrenees Shaped the Race

Frankie Andreu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:21:56 GMT

What we have learned from the Tour is that it takes from the strongest as well as the weakest. Many riders have struggled during the first days in the mountains, some because of fatigue or fitness and some because of bad luck.

For Cadel Evans, it was the latter--a matter of the right place at the wrong time. He was riding near the front of the group, paying attention as he should, when one of the Euskatel riders, riding in the first 10, overcooked a turn and crashed about seven riders. Cadel was a casualty of that crash, breaking his helmet in three pieces and shredding his shorts and jersey. In an instant, Cadel went from Tour favorite to a Tour victim.

The first mountain stage went to Riccardo Ricco with a Pantani climbing flare that has not been seen since Marco Pantani's last Tour victory in 1998. Ricco danced on the pedals, accelerated out of the saddle on the climb, and made the tilted roads look easy to pass over. For the others, the Col d'Aspin was a launching pad for multiple attacks, and it provided a great racing day for only being day number one in the mountains.

Kirchen kept the yellow jersey, but he showed vulnerability by riding in the middle of the pack instead of near the front of the group. The Luxembourg rider was weakening right when he needed his strength the most.

The biggest day of the Pyrenees was Hautacam, and it proved to shake things up a bit but not as much as I had thought. Alejandro Valverde had a horrible day, losing contact with the peloton on the Tourmalet and he never caught up. CSC struck out to try and get the yellow jersey, but I'm surprised they didn't attack earlier on the Tourmalet. As it ended up, Frank Schleck only lost the yellow jersey by one second.

Cadel Evans was lucky to get the yellow by the way he and his friends rode up Hautacam. It was a staring contest between Denis Menchov, Ricco, Carlos Sastre, and Evans, while Christian Vande Velde just watched from the corner of the room. For Vande Velde it was a new experience, so he waited for the big guns to make their move--they never did! Finally, Christian said the **** with it and it was his attack that allowed Evans to take yellow. I believe Cadel will ultimately out think himself from the yellow jersey and a win in Paris.

After Hautacam was a nice rest day. It was a beautiful day in Southern France for the riders to rest and train a little before they hit three transition stages before the Alps. Many of the riders' wives and girlfriends were around, and some of the press were treated to Chipotle burritos at a Garmin-Chipotle media event. To say burritos are rare in France would be an understatement.

Of course the news before Stage 11 was the fact that Moises Duenas Nevado from Barloworld was busted for EPO from Stage 4. Duenas and the team doctor were taken to the police station for questioning, and of course the rest of the team endured questioning at the start of Stage 11.

In this next week I believe Saunier Duval-Scott will play a large role in the outcome of the Tour de France. This team is climbing so well that anyone that can hang on or tag along will have a big advantage.

Here at the start of Stage 11 David De La Fuenta and Saunier Duval-Scott had tons of fans cheering them on.

CSC will start to become more visible; since Andy Schleck has lost time, he will be getting in some breaks to put pressure on the teams. What might end up happening is that Cadel, because he has a bad mountain team, will benefit from the Gerolsteiner and Garmin teams working to keep their spots on the G.C., and in the end help Cadel keep his jersey.

This year L'Alpe d'Huez will be as critical as ever. The winner of L'Alpe d'Huez will probably take the yellow and this rider will be the winner of the Tour de France.

The Tour Has Started

Frankie Andreu — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:23:05 GMT

A Tour like no other has started. What makes this Tour different is that it starts with a field that has no stand out favorite. In the past we have had riders that have won repeatedly, which would automatically mark them as a favorite, but this year is different. Many speak of Cadel Evans, who has cracked before in a three-week race, and some say is too inconsistent to be able to move to the top step of the podium. Others look for Alejandro Valverde to shine, but he has never even been on the podium at the TDF.

Carlos Sastre has shared the podium in Paris, and has had many top ten finishes in the Tour, but his age will count against him. The list goes on with riders that have many strengths but they also seem to have a few negatives which prevent them from getting a full blessing as the favorite to win.

For now the excitement comes from the field sprinters. The speed demons that are so aggressive it's dangerous to fight against them. They have dominated the first part of the race and it should be no surprise because every year between 1993 and 2007, except for 2002, the first stage of the Tour has always resulted in a bunch gallop for the line. Also changing from the Tour's traditional departure was the fact that this is the first year since 1966 where there is no prologue. To throw more change into the mix the Tour has eliminated the time bonuses in all of the intermediate and finish sprints.

All of this had no effect on Valverde, who showed an explosive uphill sprint that no one could match and put him in the Yellow Jersey one second ahead of a small group right behind him. This means that more than likely, unless he gets dropped which is unlikely, that he will keep the Yellow Jersey until the time trial (TT). It will be a miracle if he keeps it at the TT because that is his biggest weakness.

A couple of tech stuff. The new electronic Shimano gruppo is on many bikes here at the Tour. Also, the new mechanical Shimano (7900) looks awesome, with clean cut lines. It feels even better and everything about it is aggressive. Something I saw for the first time was Shimano electronic on Sebastian Lang's TT bike. Two little buttons are all he has to push to be able to shift--very aero and very cool.

Team Columbia also has a new TT bike. The top tube is flat and that goes into a flat stem. On the front is on oversized headset which is shaped like a fairing. The cables are internal but they actually come out underneath the front fork below the hidden brake. You actually can't turn that much, because of the tension of the cables, so it's lucky there are no 180's in the TT's.

Lastly, we saw the Liquigas bus filling up at a petrol station that we were at. Check out the price tag on one fill up (632 Euros). That will put a dent in the budget quick!