Photography by Cor Vos
CyclingTips

Chasing The Tour | Stage 16 - Circle Of Death

By definition the “Circle of Death” is the hardest Tour de France stage in the Pyrenees. Today's brutal route with over ~~6,882m~~ ~4900m of climbing which includes the Col d’Aubisque (1,709m), Col du Tourmalet (2,115m), Col d’Aspin (1,489m) and Col de Peyresourde (1,569m) is nearly the same route as stage ten in 1910 when the the Pyrenees were first introduced into the Tour de France. The Circle of Death has seen many Tour contender's hopes die, and if there was any chance for a podium finish for Cadel, that has now also vanished.

Thomas Voeckler took the honors is his usual dramatic style and also takes over the mountains classification. Wiggins, Froome and Nibali, have firmed up the top three GC positions but we still have one short but exciting mountain-top finish tomorrow. This will be the last chance for the climbers to take care of unfinished business. Port de Bales was the climb where Andy Schleck dropped his chain and lost 39 seconds to Alberto Contador in 2010, and the mountain-top finish of Peyragudes has never been featured before at the Tour.

Stage 16 Photos

: Alain Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team manager) fielding questions from the media before stage 16

: Adam Hansen gives his wife one last good-bye before heading into the Circle of Death

: The breakaway bunch of 38 riders ascend the Col d’Aubisque being chased by two blokes from Bendigo

: The main peloton climbs the Col d’Aubisque

: Remnants of the peloton ascending the Tourmalet

: The fans may think this guy is a pro, but one look at the short socks reveal all

: A tough day for Cadel Evans who reportedly had stomach issues today and was dropped on two occasions. He now sits in 7th position 8:06 back from Wiggins in GC

: Watching the race on the Col d’Aspin at the Rapha Mobile Cycle Club

: Thomas Voeckler comes in solo to win stage 16, 1:40 ahead of Chris Anker Sörensen

: Wiggins, Froome and Nibali come across the line together 07:09 behind Voeckler

: Cycling Journalists and travel companions Gregor Brown and Anthony Tan at the media center in Pau

Stage 17 Preview

Tags: 2012 Tour de France

Tim

Watching last night made me feel a pang of regret I wasn’t there.

But also reminded me of the intense pain of riding the Tourmalet in Etape 10. Remember that Wade? You rode beside me one pedal broken just chatting away as I was deep in the pain cave cramping every 500m.
Ah, good times.

Poor old Cadel. I wonder if he’s underdone/sick or if Wiggins et all (and Froome, and Nibbles and VDB etc) are just that good.

Anyway - agree with your Twitter sentiments last night - Pyrenees hands down are the best part of France (and are much nicer than the Alps, I think).
- Notso Swift
  
  …For riding, for drinking it is Burgundy ;-)
- Robert Merkel
  
  Underdone/sick/overweight/too old/toobusythinkingaboutfamily…take your pick, but Cadel doesn’t have the legs of last year.
  
  Wiggins/Nibali/VDB are going the same speed or slower than the Schlecks last year, at least in the mountains.
  
  +2 for the French Pyrenees. Love them to bits.
Anonymous

Little Tommy V is my hero. How can you not love him !? No heart monitor, radio, computer, power meter etc…Just out there in the mountains having a dead set go at it !!
- Anonymous
  
  Wagging his tongue around, looking around every second and generally being a bit of a mentalist. He is brilliant!
  - luke
    
    +1 Since his panache in yellow last year, Tommy is really growing on me. Exciting stuff!
    - Abdu
      
      I really want to like Tommy V, I do, but…it’s almost like he’s got Tourette’s or ADD. Bit of a metalist? I can’t stop thinking how annoying it would be to ride in a bunch with him, head spinning all the time, constantly berating his fellow riders, throwing bidons like my 2 year old does his Lego, etc. Pure panache though.
      
      I’m struglling to think of any standouts for this Tour though, maybe Sagan and Thibaut. All credit to Wiggo and his team, it’s been a perfect display from them. Can’t see things staying the same there though, no way Cav, Eddy Bo, or even Richie will want to stick around as a domestique. They’ve all got too much to win.
      
      GreenEdge would be wondering what went wrong though, pretty flat from them I think. No stages, Gossy kinda nearly there, Stuey O looks pretty shattered too. Wonder what might have been if they’d thrown some of the kids to the wolves here, ie. Jacky Bobby, Cam Meyer?
      - Deb
        
        O’Grady was the first OGE home on this stage, and fifteen minutes ahead of some of the ‘young guns’. Bobridge has fought for the Lanterne Rouge in the the GTs he’s ridden. Meyer’s time will come too, but ToC tested him and he cracked a little. The Vuelta will give him a chance to try again. I would have taken Durbridge ahead of the two you mentioned, but even if someone had to relinquish their spot, it wouldn’t have been O’Grady.
        
        Abdu
        
        Don’t mistake me for having a crack at Stuey, always loved his work. But you have to agree OGE haven’t had the Tour they’d hoped for. Jens on his own seemed more animated than OGE combined. Get the feeling they were already rooted by halfway.
        
        Deb
        
        Unfortunately, I agree. The relegation seemed to take what wind was left out of their sails.
      - Anonymous
        
        Half the “kids” are out due to Olympic commitments.
        
        Assuming the list stays the same, I’ll be interested who gets the nod next year, I think it’ll be those same kids you just named.
      - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
        
        As a fan I love watching Voeckler. However, after speaking with some of the riders they don’t hold back in saying that he’s not well liked in the peloton. Always showboating when the cameras are on him, attacking for no reason at inappropriate times, etc.
        That said, in this day where the Tour was won for SKY in the lab, it was great to see Voeckler without a powermeter winning the hardest stage in style.
        
        cmuir
        
        “showboating” - who cares…”attacking for no reason at inappropriate times” other than he pisses his rivals off and wears them out… job done. i don’t think he’s probably that bothered about being liked by bores in the peleton. he seems to have a great deal of hunger to win and does it well. i heard flecha being rather derogatory of him once for exactly the same reason in an interview (following the hoogerland crash stage) don’t we want more of this? passionate, instinctive riding full of surprises? whenever he wins its exciting. this can’t be said for a lot of others, even those who win on breaks… he’s a great victory for cycling and cycling fans, more of him, less of the featureless, rule abiding, sunglass shielded, emotionless grinders! allez voeckler
        
        Johnson
        
        I see their point however it is good from a fan perspective. Contrast the style of TV with that of Team Sky, granted they are defending a MJ but it doesnt make for a great spectacle.
- jules
  
  love tommy voeckler - he looks like he’s about to blow up and start zig-zagging but then he just ups the pace even more and pulls away.
- Peter B
  
  Agreed. No school like old school. Unpredicatble, great to watch. Good win. Well done Tommy V.
- Fabian
  
  Obviously a year is a long time in cycling. Remember last year, he got the yellow jersey (which admittedly he did a great job of holding onto) after attacking when Johnny got thrown into a barbed wire fence. Remember the boo’s from the Dutch corner. There is plenty not to like about’Little Tommy’.
  - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
    
    As a fan I love watching Voeckler. However, after speaking with some of the riders they don’t hold back in saying that he’s not well liked in the peloton. Always showboating when the cameras are on him, attacking for no reason at inappropriate times, etc.
    
    That said, in this day where the Tour was won for SKY in the lab it was great to see Voeckler without a powermeter winning the hardest stage in style.
  - Steve Knight
    
    Yes T Voeckler grabbed yellow after leaving Johnny Hoogerland for dead and Cancellara stopped the peleton. An opportunist is Tommy. This year his knee was playing up so he lost enough time to then be allowed a free rein by anyone in contention. I can imagine the other riders must love his tactics.
    - Abdu
      
      Yep, when his breakaway partner last night let him take all the KOM points and the jersey there was a clear inference that he should be allowed to take the stage win, but not for Tommy.
      
      Oh well, here he is in the team car, with his head still bobbing, tongue out…http://youtu.be/vQNNBYMtI6I
      - cmuir
        
        fabian and steve - what do you want tommy veockler to do in the situation from last year? stop? he didn’t attack the group he just wasn’t caught up in the crash. i think those comments are pretty harsh. and abdu, feillu got overhauled by a number of riders before the end so he obviously didn’t have the legs. i’m not that big a (tommy) fan but lets be fair.
timf

I thought pre-tour that Wiggins and Evans wouldn’t be on the podium together. One of them was always going to revisit their bad luck of the past and succumb to crash/illness/bad day. It still amazes me that Armstrong strung together so many tours without being derailed by one of the above, despite what may or may not have been coursing through his veins.
- Ed
  
  Meticulous preparation, 100% dedication, solid team and no distractions - no one got in his way.
  - Johnson
    
    And an absolute truck load of EPO, Activegen, Testosterone, Cortisone, HGH etc
    - Anonymous
      
      Take it here homeboy: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20
      - Johnson
        
        No thanks my man
    - Anonymous
      
      Take it here homeboy: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20
    - Atganirider
      
      Brave man, hiding behind an anonymous post on a blog
      
      You have no information, let along evidence to back up that comment
      
      Keep on trolling, see you next Tuesday
      - Johnson
        
        Plenty of evidence and information, do some homework you muppet. All will be out in the open soon you ignorant chamois sniffer
        
        Atganirider
        
        thanks for your reasoned response
        
        Who’s helping you type?
        
        As I said, see you next Tuesday
        
        Johnson
        
        As reasoned as your initial response and insult.
- macadam
  
  I think that after how badly his final TDF went, Lance probably looked back and was amazed himself. But then maybe if you have a really solid team you don’t roll tyres and there’s nobody there to crash in front of you.
Paolo

Can you Aussies please stop with that sock height stuff! Is someone like Gilbert not pro or euro? In some bunches it seems riding performance has decreased as the importance of sock height has increased, Coluzzi anyone.
- CJ
  
  Gilbert used to be euro. Before he started using those ‘dura-ace’ bits. Voeckler’s sock height was exemplary last night and it sounds (and looks) like everyone could use a lesson in maximum eurocity.
Shred931

As much as I love the Tour, watching the Maillot Jaune sucking wheels all the way to Paris is not my cup of tea. Hopefully the cut back the ITT’s and increase the climbing for next years Tour.
- Anonymous
  
  and/or bring back time bonuses for stage placings
  - Bones
    
    Time bonuses would have made an interesting first week. It seemed ludicrous to me that the winner of the prologue gets the yellow jersey for the first week as long as he stays with the peleton. It would have been fun to watch that change hands a few times.
Jaq P

Thomas Voeckler is my personal hero of this tour. It is vastly more entertaining and inspiring to watch a guy like that lead and win the hardest stage of the tour, without a single volt of radio or computer assistance no less, than Wiggins going for his daily group ride. Not to underestimate the difficulty of riding a consistent tour the way wiggies has, but the yellow jersey competition is not impressive when their isn’t that element of spontaneous intensity in it.

At the end of the day there’s nothing you can blame team sky for. This year’s tour has simply lacked real contenders. If only there was a way to pit this year’s team sky against last year’s Cadel as well as Andy S and Alberto C circa 2010 in a single tour. Would brad’s strategy still provide a winning result? Would Chris Froome be allowed to ride away with other leaders in that event, the way TJ VanG was let loose from the backwards moving cuddles today?
Hardo

I’m with NotSo. Riders who show weakness and fallibility are likeable… it’s believable, and gives others their place in the sun. Seeing Tejay right up there was great.

Gauging the performance of Mick Rogers and Richie Porte… if they were with Green Edge, with Cadel thrown in. Wow.
- http://twitter.com/hmoffatt Hamish Moffatt
  
  Green Edge who? Apart from Goss and Albasini we haven’t seen much of them. I’m surprised we haven’t seen Gerrans in any breaks yet.
  - http://www.chromaticdramatic.com/ Chromatic Dramatic
    
    Agree… Where have they been. Gerrans especially. I expected more.
  - Hardo
    
    Yes I would have loved to see more of them too, hence my thoughts about Mick and Richie, who we have seen a lot of, being in the Green Edge camp. Just “imagining” out loud I guess :)
Dez

Changing the colour on the union jack, is that treasonable?
Are they off to the Tower of London for that…….or can you claim it was a Chinese production error?
- Anonymous
  
  Rapha will shortly be overthrowing the UK government and placing Paul Smith as Prime Minister and Paul Weller as the new Monarch. The new national anthem will be The Stone Roses’ Made of Stone. The congestion charge will be extended as far out as Brighton and increased by 5000% thus enforcing the rule of bicycle.
  - kaaos
    
    adding a pink ring to olympic logo perhaps?!
    - Anonymous
      
      The olympics will continue, but all athletes will be forced to choose from 3 events: Roller Racing, Paris - Brest - Paris or L’Eroica.
      
      - and I say this as a man who owns a pair of Rapha Jeans.
Dunkin Dnuts

Gerrans looked the other night like he had eaten a bag of donuts. Looks underdone to me
justanotheropinion

One big problem I see with that is ruining the tour for me is the large amount of middle aged men wearing only underwear or Speedos, who persist in running next to the riders on hill stages. I would like to see them please stop it and get an original idea if they feel the need to get attention. Does a photo exist of the big prawn which Cavendish spoke of earlier in the tour?
Chris

“Today’s brutal route with over 6,882m” - it was about 4,900m based on strava. The climbs aren’t starting from sea level so it’s not a sum of the addition of the height of the passes. Still epic… and imagine it back in 1910!
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Thanks Chris. My mistake. It was a late night…
  - Chris
    
    I hear you Wade… you can tell we are all getting close to Paris! One big drive to go…
Alan

Firefox + https Everwhere = photos not visible. Put up a notice in your local supermarket: you could probably get a 13 year old who’d do a better job.
- Nic_3
  
  ? english.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Thanks Alan. Could you help figure it out for me then?
  - Abdu
    
    Suggest you send a group email out to Cycling Tips HQ, call a meeting just with the executive team, maybe form a committee with the various department heads. Chop chop Wade…
  - Abdu
    
    Suggest you send a group email out to Cycling Tips HQ, call a meeting just with the executive team, maybe form a committee with the various department heads. Chop chop Wade…
- Abdu
  
  So you’re well qualified then Al.
- Hardo
  
  Don’t worry Al… nobody else, who matters, seems to be having trouble.
- Hardo
  
  Don’t worry Al… nobody else, who matters, seems to be having trouble.
AJ

There’s three teams in today’s break I don’t recognise. Movistar, Greenedge and one called Vacansoleil. I think I saw greenedge and Vancansoleil try there luck in some early stages sprints but then got distracted by Sagan’s running man.