Cadel Creates History

The Progress Report
The final true challenge for the riders vying for overall honors in the 2011 Tour de France was a 42.5km time trial that started and finished in Grenoble. There were 166 riders still in the race, with Bjorn Leukamans (VCD) finishing well outside the time limit in stage 19. The first to start the 20th stage was the ‘Lanterne Rouge’ – ie. the last man in the general classification rankings – Fabio Sabatini (LIQ) who began the penultimate stage of the 98th edition at 10.26am. Riders departed at two-minute intervals until the final 21, when the racers were separated by three minutes.
The roads were wet at the start, it was overcast but it had stopped raining by the time the action actually got underway. The temperature was 20 degrees Celsius.

De Gendt Sets The Early Standard...
The 2001 under-23 TT world champion Danny Pate (THR) posted the best times early in the race around Grenoble. Bodnar (LIQ) beat the American at the early checks and then came a succession of faster times... including that of Westra (VCD) but it was the 42nd rider to start the stage who blitzed everyone despite racing in wet conditions. At the 15km mark, he was 22” ahead the previous best, Bodnar (LIQ), at 27.5km 26” faster than Westra (VCD), and at 35.5km 51” faster than Westra. The quadruple time trial world champion posted a time of 57’15” (44.54km/h). It was the Australian, Richie Porte (SBS) who eclipsed the time of Cancellara; he started slower than the Swiss rider (32” down at 15km) but by the finish he was 12” ahead. The 102nd rider to start, Thomas De Gendt (VCD) was 18” behind at the 35.5km but at the finish the Belgian was one second ahead of the Saxo Bank-SunGard rider. The Vacansoleil rider was sixth at Alpe d’Huez...

Martin Blasts Over Course At 45.9km/h
The 121st rider to start the stage was Tony Martin (THR). He won the TT of the Criterium du Dauphiné on the same course as the one used for stage 20 of the Tour and he set the best time at every check and riding a perfect stage on dry roads to take 1’29” off the time set by De Gendt. Martin’s time was five seconds slower than stage three of the race in June, but at 45.9km/h it was an impressive effort. The winner of the stage to Gap, Boasson Hagen (SKY) had to change bikes but he still posted a time just 2’10” slower than Martin. The top five at the finish remained the same until the arrival of Peter Velits – the 149th rider to start. But before the GC favorites began to arrive the top five was: 1. Martin; 2. De Gendt at 1’29”; 3. Porte at 1’30”; 4. Cancellara at 1’42”; 5. Velits at 2’03”.

Evans Creates History
It appeared that the stage was decided early in the day, the battle for the victory of the Tour was on right to the end. Cadel Evans (BMC) became the virtual leader of the Tour with 20km to go in the time trial when he made up the 57” he lagged behind Andy Schleck after 3,292.5km of race. Then, at the 27.5km mark, Evans was only seven seconds shy of Martin’s time.
Pierre Rolland (EUC) managed to hold on to his lead in the youth classification by 46” and he will be the first Frenchman to win the white jersey since Benoit Salmon in 1999.
Evans, meanwhile, while ride to Paris with a lead of 1’34” over the former race leader thanks to his second place in the stage.