TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: DAY-BY-DAY SUMMARY

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published 26 July 2008

Welcome to Cycling Weekly?s daily update from the Tour de France.

This is our digest of what happened on each day of the 2008 race.

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STAGE 21

The usual slow roll-out, photo opportunities, glass of Champagne, tall rider swaps bikes with short rider, you know the drill. Then the pace lifted as they reached Paris. Xavier Florencio and Jose Ivan Gutierrez were among the first to attack. Then Carlos Barredo and Nicolas Vogondy had a go for a lap or so. Later Stephane Auge, Kanstantin Siutsou and Alexandre Botcharov got away. Francaise des Jeux?s pair Arnaud Gerard and Philippe Gilbert had separate digs too, but the sprint was inevitable. The bunch split up on the run-in ? which never used to happen ? and Sastre conceded seven seconds to Evans bringing the margin down to under a minute.

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STAGE 20

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STAGE 19

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STAGE 18

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STAGE 17

10/10 - The best stage of the race so far. Everything led to Alpe d'Huez. The move by Peter Velits and the way Jerome Pineau went across was more than a mere precursor, it was an exciting racing. The tactical battle of wits on Alpe d'Huez between the favourites was superb to watch. It reminded us what made us fall in love with bike racing in the first place... Let's just hope our memories are not sullied.

Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ), Peter Velits (Milram) and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) attacked after just three kilometres. Stefan Schumacher bridged across shortly afterwards - getting into the break for the second successive day. By the top of the Croix-de-Fer Velits was alone. On the descent Jerome Pineau caught the yellow jersey group but went straight through and got across to Velits. They were caught as soon as Alpe d'Huez began. Sastre tried one attack, which Menchov matched, then another, which saw him get clear by himself. From then on it was a race against the clock.

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STAGE 16

The six men who could win the Tour became five. Christian Vande Velde was dropped on the Bonette-Restefond, suffered a minor crash on the descent, and lost 2-36 to the Frank Schleck group. Denis Menchov lost touch on the extremely fast descent of the Bonette-Restefond, losing another 35 seconds to Evans. Young South African John-Lee Augustyn of Barloworld reached the summit of the Tour's highest climb first then had a spectacular crash which sent him plunging down the gravely bank. Fortunately he was not badly hurt. And a Frenchman won a mountain stage - Cyril Dessel.

A 24-rider group went clear, with Stefan Schumacher going clear by himself on the Col de la Lombarde. John-Lee Augustyn led over the top of the Bonette-Restefond but crashed, leaving the way clear for Cyril Dessel (AG2R), Sandy Casar (FDJ), David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) and Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto) to get clear on the descent. They covered the 23 kilometre descent in a mind-boggling 23 minutes - that's an average of 60kph. And they were hitting 100kph at times on the straights.

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STAGE 15

Going into the stage, Frank Schleck was just one second behind Evans in the GC. CSC-Saxo Bank were fully aware of the situation and had three riders in the group - however, Evans had no one to assist him and attempted to police every move made by the CSC trio. There's only so much you can do on your own. Evans let Kohl, Sastre, Valverde and Menchov go up the road, concentrating his efforts on following Frank Schleck.

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STAGE 14

Barloworld - The company announced it would be ending its sponsorship after the Tour de France. What a shame the company didn't insist on an externally-managed anti-doping programme, preferring instead to cut and run after the positive test. Wouldn't it also say a lot more if Barloworld cut its ties now, today, instead of reaping the publicity for another week. If you want to go, go. Courier some plain white jerseys and black shorts to the Barloworld riders and say 'thanks for everything'. Either they want to be involved in cycling or they don't.

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STAGE 13

Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) attacked as soon as the race exited the neutralised zone. The pair got a maximum lead of seven minutes. As they were pulled back, Brard's team-mate Stephane Auge bridged across, but they were caught with 14km to go and Terpstra was passed with 10km left. Another Cofidis man, Sylvain Chavanel, went for it with seven kilometres left. His bid failed with three kilometres left. And that meant the inevitable Cavendish win.

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STAGE 12

4/10, rising to 9/10 for the final three kilometres. It was a real going-through-the-motions day on the Tour. A tailwind meant a fast day and an impossible task for the escapees. The bunch was still fanned out across the road with 30 kilometres remaining. The sprint was exhausting and amazing to watch though, as Team Columbia took control, lost it, regained it, lost it again and the finish descended into anarchy. The roundabout with three kilometres or so to go played a huge part in disrupting the attempt to get a train going. Cavendish was incredible.

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STAGE 11

A break got away and was allowed to stay away. Amael Moinard made the boldest - some may say, stupidest - move of the Tour by attacking the group miles from the finish. However, his response after the race reiterated the spirit and point of bike racing in a heart-warming way. In the sprint Martin Elmiger tried to sit on Kurt-Asle Arvesen's wheel but justice prevailed and the Norwegian gave CSC their first stage win of the Tour.

Barloworld - Moises Duenas tested positive for EPO. CW quite literally no longer likes the cut of his jib. Paolo "Dont' Call Me Jennie" Longo Borghini crashed and broke his collarbone. Felix Cardenas had 'sore tendons' and got himself dropped, then pulled out. A terrible, terrible day for Claudio Corti's team - which makes you wonder whether Geraint Thomas, Steve Cummings and Chris Froome wouldn't be better off somewhere else sooner rather than later.

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STAGE 10

Saunier Duval did a one-two on the stage, with Leonardo Piepoli edging out Juan Jose Cobo. Hinault and LeMond at Alpe d'Huez in 1986 it wasn't. But it did reaffirm the Spanish team's dominance in the two Pyrenean stages. Frank Schleck attacked and almost denied Cadel Evans the yellow jersey. The Aussie leads by a single second. For Alejandro Valverde it was a disaster. He lost 3-35 after getting dropped near the top of the Tourmalet

By the foot of Hautacam, Di Gregorio's lead was down to 40 seconds. CSC had been setting a fierce pace, thanks to Jens Voigt. Saunier Duval were extremely aggressive. Piepoli and Cobo took turns to attack and eventually got clear with Schleck. Evans tried to counter-attack but was closed down each time. Eventually Menchov agreed to share the chase with him and they pegged the Schleck group without making any in-roads.

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STAGE NINE

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STAGE EIGHT

Laurent Lefevre and Jerome Pineau (both Bouygues Telecom), Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale) got clear just before the second climb of the day and settled in. They didn't get too far ahead at any point and in the last hour of racing there were a number of escapes from the bunch in an attempt to bridge across. None worked. With 13km to go, Pineau attacked the other three and only Txurruka could go with him. They were both caught 3.5km from the line, which is when Columbia took over. They looked briefly to have lost control of the lead-out but Ciolek and Cavendish were ideally placed and once the Isle of Man sprinter got going there was no doubt about the result.

Oscar Freire - In green and with a decent 14-point lead over Thor Hushovd. The green jersey competition is going to be absolutely fascinating from here on, with Kirchen and Valverde likely to score well in the mountain stages. Freire may be tempted to go all the way to Paris now, though. Freire is tied with Kirchen and may lose the lead again tomorrow but if a sprinter is going to win the jersey, it's most likely to be the Spaniard

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STAGE SEVEN

Things really got going on the second-category Col d'Entremont, when Josep Jufre (Saunier Duval) attacked. Luis Leon Sanchez went after him and decent quartet was made up of another Saunier Duval rider, David De La Fuente, and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas. They worked together to gain almost two minutes, putting pressure on Team Columbia, who had to chase. There were some tired faces at the front of the peloton. When the peloton split the biggest name stranded in the second half was Damiano Cunego.

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STAGE SIX

The self-styled Cobra - Riccardo Ricco - kept a cool head and got the jump on Alejandro Valverde to win the first summit finish of the Tour. Yellow jersey Stefan Schumacher hit Kim Kirchen's back wheel as the sprint started to open up and went down. He lost 32 seconds and the race lead. The usual rule is that riders who crash or have a mechanical problem in the final three kilometres will be given the same time as the group they were with - but that does not apply to stages with a summit finish. Kirchen took the yellow jersey.

Sylvain Chavanel - There was no secret to Chavanel's strategy. He went out in search of king of the mountains points and did just enough to pinch the lead from Thomas Voeckler. Cofidis have apparently had a special polka-dot jersey designed. Quite what's special about it we'll have to wait and see. Chavanel and Voeckler are actually level on points but the Cofidis rider gets the edge because of his better placing on the second-category climb.

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STAGE FIVE

Lilian Jegou (Francaise des Jeux) attacked after three kilometres and was followed by Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) and Florent Brard (Cofidis). The French trio were allowed their head and their maximum lead was 8-15. Slowly, over the final 85 kilometres, the gap came down but the chase went right to the wire. With 1,400 metres to go Vogondy went for it. The other two were caught and for a moment it looked as if Vogondy might make it. But the Columbia train, plus a spurt from Credit Agricole's Mark Renshaw, narrowed the gap. Cavendish had to go from a long way out, more than 250 metres, and only got past the rapidly fading Frenchman with about 75 metres to go.

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STAGE FOUR

Fabian Cancellara lost. CW wasn't the only one convinced the Swiss moto had it in the bag. There was a general feeling around the race that it'd take something special to topple him. Stefan Schumacher produced that something special to obliterate his time by 33 seconds. If you had told Kim Kirchen, David Millar and Cadel Evans this morning that they'd beat Cancellara but not win the stage, they'd probably have laughed at you.

That's probably the question Cancellara and co at CSC will be asking themselves for a few days. But Cancellara was simply not at the races all day. Christophe Riblon of AG2R set the early marker and saw Stef Clement (Bouygues Telecom), Danny Pate (Garmin-Chipotle), Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) beat it in succession. The race 'proper' started when Jens Voigt (CSC) set the best time, seemingly setting up the inevitable Fabian romp. Denis Menchov (Rabobank) was leader briefly until Cancellara pulled out all the stops over the final ten kilometres to take over. That was until Schumacher blitzed round the course.

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STAGE THREE

The day the break succeeded. Despite all our confident predictions about how we'd see a sprint in Nantes and how Alejandro Valverde would keep the yellow jersey until the Cholet time trial, the Tour de France was turned on its head by four breakaway heroes. Samuel Dumoulin became surely the shortest Tour stage winner for years, while Roman Feillu (who won the Tour of Britain last year) became the first Frenchman to pull on the yellow jersey since Cyril Dessel in 2006. Dumoulin's moment of glory was interrupted by a protestor in a hi-vis jacket.

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STAGE TWO

A French of Sylvain Chavanel and Thomas Voeckler got away and were joined by David Le Lay and Christophe Moreau. As they were mopped up in the final handful of kilometres, Fabian Cancellara attempted his now familiar last spurt before the Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd won a hectic sprint to clinch the sixth Tour de France stage win of his career. The much hoped-for Mark Cavendish assault on a Tour stage would have to wait another day.

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STAGE ONE

Juan Mauricio Soler ? crashed with 9.5 kilometres to go. Shaken by his fall he badly mis-judged a left-hand bend as he was chasing to get back. Eventually lost 3-04. However, this may work in his favour when he needs space to move in the mountains. All he needs now is to ride round the Cholet time trial with his back brake wedged on and he?ll be allowed to attack in the Pyrenees in search of the polka-dot jersey

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: STAGE REPORTS

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: NEWS

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: PHOTOS

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: BLOGS

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: GUIDE

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2008: DAY-BY-DAY SUMMARY

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