SB Nation Denver - 2012 Tour De France: Bradley Wiggins Wins Yellow Jersey

Tour de France 2012: Bradley Wiggins Becomes 1st British Cyclist To Win Maillot Jaune

2012-07-22T15:37:10Z

It took 99 tries, but a British cyclist has finally won the Tour de France. Bradley Wiggins of Sky Procycling is the 2012 Tour de France winner after the ride to the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday. His winning time was 87:37:47, three minutes and 21 seconds better than teammate and second-place finisher Christopher Froome

Wiggins took over the yellow jersey lead at the conclusion of Stage 7, taking the item of clothing from Fabian Cancellara, who had worn it since capturing victory on the prologue in Liege, and never looking back. Over that span, Wiggins saw his lead eventually stretch to over three minutes while capturing two stage victories. On Stages 9 and 19, Wiggins won those individual time trials.

Peter Sagan won the points competition and wears the green jersey (maillot vert) on the final podium with 421 points, 141 points better than second-place finisher Andre Greipel. He has worn that jersey since the end of Stage 2, taking it away from Fabian Cancellara. Thomas Voeckler is the King of the Mountains and Colorado resident Tejay Van Garderen wears the white jersey as the top youth rider in the race. He defeated Thibaut Pinot by six minutes and 13 seconds.

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

2012 Tour de France Results: Mark Cavendish Captures Stage 20 Victory In Paris

2012-07-22T15:31:42Z

There were no surprises on Stage 20 of the 2012 Tour de France, the final day of the event. The riders began the day in Ramouillet and finished with a ride through Paris on the Champs-Élysées. In the end, Mark Cavendish won the final stage.

Once in Paris, the cyclists rode eight wraps around the city on the Champs-Élysées. Eleven riders were in the lead for a long portion of those laps, but three broke away with less than seven miles to go. However, that only lasted until the final stretch run to the finish line when Mark Cavendish won the sprint to the end with a final time of 3:08:07. Peter Sagan and Matthew Goss finished in second and third place, respectively, with the same time.

Cavendish has won four times in Paris, all happening in a row since 2009, and now has 23 career stage victories on the Tour.

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

Tour de France 2012: Tejay Van Garderen Dedicates Performance To Aurora Victims

2012-07-22T11:00:26Z

Tejay van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team spoke with the media after his strong finish in Stage 19, in which he placed 7th overall. Garderen dedicated his performance to the victims of the recent shooting tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. The 23-year-old cyclist has adopted Boulder, Colorado, as his second home having spent the early part of his career on the Team 5280 Magazine developmental squad of the Garmin-Sharp cycling team.

Garderen is currently in the lead for the White Jersey, awarded annually to the top young Tour rider. Here is a look at the White Jersey classifications heading into the final leg of the 2012 Tour de France, courtesy of LeTour.com:

RANK	NAT	RIDER	RIDER NO.	TEAM	TIMES	GAP
1.	USA	VAN GARDEREN Tejay	9	BMC RACING TEAM	84h 37' 35''
2.	FRA	PINOT Thibaut	146	FDJ-BIGMAT	84h 43' 48''	+ 06' 13''
3.	NED	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	152	RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM	85h 43' 23''	+ 01h 05' 48''
4.	EST	TAARAMAE Rein	81	COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE	85h 54' 07''	+ 01h 16' 32''
5.	ESP	IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka	34	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	85h 58' 15''	+ 01h 20' 40''
6.	ESP	VALLS FERRI Rafael	128	VACANSOLEIL-DCM	86h 04' 12''	+ 01h 26' 37''
7.	SVK	SAGAN Peter	57	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	86h 05' 17''	+ 01h 27' 42''
8.	GER	NERZ Dominik	55	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	86h 08' 43''	+ 01h 31' 08''
9.	NOR	BOASSON HAGEN Edvald	102	SKY PROCYCLING	86h 19' 14''	+ 01h 41' 39''
10.	ITA	MALACARNE Davide	28	TEAM EUROPCAR	86h 23' 41''	+ 01h 46' 06'

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

Tour de France 2012, Stage 20: TV Coverage, Route And More

2012-07-22T09:00:03Z

The Tour de France comes to an end on Sunday and British cyclist Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky Procycling is set to become the first British general classification winner in the event's history, winning it in the 99th edition. Sunday's Stage 20 is a mere formality for Wiggins, basically providing him with a victory lap through Paris.

Stage 20 starts off in Rambouillet, roughly 120 kilometers outside of Paris, putting the cyclists on a northeasterly path to the City of Light. As always, the race ends at the Champs-Élysées. In between those points, the cyclists will contend with two climbs, both short ones that come in as Categories 4. They are the Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse and the Côte de Châteaufort.

But after those two climbs, the course becomes relatively flat as it enters Paris. This stage finish could result in a fourth victory for Mark Cavendish, the top sprinter in the world. Still, all eyes will be on the man of the day, Bradley Wiggins, once the lap through Paris begins.

Start time: 6 a.m. MT

Estimated finish time: 9:19 a.m. MT

TV Coverage: NBC Sports Network, 6 a.m. MT. NBC will have a replay at 11 a.m. MT.

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

2012 Tour de France Results: Bradley Wiggins Wins Stage 19 Time Trial

2012-07-21T16:05:56Z

The 2012 Tour de France has one ride left in it on Sunday and after Saturday's time trial ride from Bonneval to Chartres Bradley Wiggins showed why he will be the Tour winner on Sunday when the final podium ceremony takes place in Paris. Wiggins was the last rider to start the trial and he finished +1:16 ahead of Chris Froome, who held the lead for only a matter of seconds.

Froome, who is in second place overall, was the penultimate rider to take the course. Froome knocked Luis Leon Sanchez out of first place when he finished 34 seconds ahead of him at the finish line.

Barring a massive crash or an injury, Wiggins will become the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France ... and it only took 99 tries! He now holds a +3:21 lead over Froome and a +6:19 lead ahead of Vincenzo Nibali. Peter Sagan has a 120-plus-point lead in the points competition for the green jersey while Colorado resident Tejay Van Garderen is the best youth rider with over a six-minute lead ahead of Thibaut Pinot.

There should be no surprises on Sunday when these riders make a victory lap around Paris.

Here is the top 20 (full standings):

Pos.	Rider	Time	Gap
1	Bradley Wiggins	01h 04' 13''
2	Christopher Froome	01h 05' 29''	+ 01' 16''
3	Luis Leon Sanchez	01h 06' 03''	+ 01' 50''
4	Peter Velits	01h 06' 15''	+ 02' 02''
5	Richie Porte	01h 06' 38''	+ 02' 25''
6	Patrick Gretsch	01h 06' 41''	+ 02' 28''
7	Tejay Van Garderen	01h 06' 47''	+ 02' 34''
8	Vasili Kiryienka	01h 06' 59''	+ 02' 46''
9	Rein Taaramae	01h 07' 03''	+ 02' 50''
10	Jérémy Roy	01h 07' 18''	+ 03' 05''
11	David Zabriskie	01h 07' 25''	+ 03' 12''
12	Matthieu Sprick	01h 07' 33''	+ 03' 20''
13	Ruben Plaza Molina	01h 07' 37''	+ 03' 24''
14	Daniel Oss	01h 07' 40''	+ 03' 27''
15	Anthony Roux	01h 07' 47''	+ 03' 34''
16	Vincenzo Nibali	01h 07' 51''	+ 03' 38''
17	Christian Vande Velde	01h 07' 53''	+ 03' 40''
18	Bert Grabsch	01h 07' 56''	+ 03' 43''
19	Andréas Kloden	01h 08' 02''	+ 03' 49''
20	Jens Voigt	01h 08' 02''	+ 03' 49''

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

2012 Tour de France, Stage 19: Route, TV Schedule, Live Updates And More

2012-07-21T07:00:06Z

Saturday's Stage 19 -- the next-to-last leg of the Tour de France -- is a time trial that spans 53.5 kilometers and takes the riders from Bonneval to Chartre. The route is largely flat, with some mild hills here and there. Here's what Jean-Francois Pescheux has to say about it:

"The final round before the finish in Paris. What will come out of this 53.5 km time trial on rather flattish terrain, except the first part on the rolling hills of the Perche region? Personally, I expect gaps of two to three minutes between leaders. Three weeks into the race, 53.5 km are a long way to go in a time trial. This also holds true for the yellow jersey, who will probably come behind specialists such as Martin or Cancellara. Think of the Pauillac time trial in 2010, when Cancellara took the win on a similar course and Menchov, the freshest of all the leaders, propelled himself onto the final podium."

For additional information on this stage, visit the Tour de France website.

Television coverage begins at 6:00 a.m. on the NBC Sports Network.

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

2012 Tour de France Results: Mark Cavendish Sprints Way To Victory On Stage 18

2012-07-20T16:02:25Z

With the mountains out of the 2012 Tour de France, the cyclists are now heading north to Paris for the finish on Sunday. On Friday, Mark Cavendish, the world's top sprinter, won Stage 18, his second stage victory of the Tour this year.

Cavendish was behind Matthew Goss and Peter Sagan just meters away from the finish line in Brive-la-Gaillarde before he accelerated his way ahead of them and finished several lengths ahead of them. However, the next 13 cyclists all received the same time as Cavendish.

Bradley Wiggins still wears the yellow jersey with a +2:05 lead over Sky Procycling teammate Chris Froome.

Saturday will offer an individual time trial from Bonneval to Chartres.

Here are the top 10 finishers for Stage 18 (full standings):

Pos.	Rider	Time	Gap
1	Mark Cavendish	04h 54' 12''
2	Matthew Goss	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
3	Peter Sagan	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
4	Luis Leon Sanchez	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
5	Nicolas Roche	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
6	Tyler Farrar	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
7	Borut Bozic	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
8	Sébastien Hinault	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
9	Daryl Impey	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''
10	Samuel Dumoulin	04h 54' 12''	+ 00' 00''

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.

Tour de France 2012, Stage 18: TV Coverage, Route And More

2012-07-20T07:00:06Z

Stage 18 of the 2012 Tour de France spans 220.5 kilometers and takes the riders from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde. The stage is peppered with climbs, though none are as arduous as some of the big mountain climbs the riders endured in earlier stages.

Jean-Francois Pescheux:

"Blagnac-Brive-la-Gaillarde: a 222.5 km hop to bring us a little closer to Paris and give leaders the chance to spin their legs before the Bonneval-Chartres time trial. This is obviously a golden opportunity for sprinters to shine again. I have already said that this Tour is not especially sprinter-friendly, since we have always chucked in one or two climbs to scatter the bunch. In fact, everything points to intermediate sprints being more important for the green jersey than the stage finishes. All in all, a race within the race, very strategic and exciting. There are 65 points up for grabs today!"

The NBC Sports Network will once again have the coverage, which begins at 6:00 a.m. MT. For additional information on Stage 18, including a map of the route, visit the Tour's Stage 18 page.

SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.