USA Today reports on Christian Vande Velde’s unexpected success so far in his sixth Tour de France.

From the article: “Christian Vande Velde is a dangerous rider,” said the American’s former CSC teammate Jens Voigt. “Not enough people talk about him, but he is an excellent time trialer. He is still very close and within striking distance.”

Vande Velde left the powerful CSC team to join the fledgling Boulder, Colo.-based Garmin-Chipotle squad this season, and transformed himself from a domestique — or support rider — to team leader.

“That’s the biggest difference. So many times I’ve had decent form but I’ve always been riding for a great leader, whether it be Lance or (Ivan) Basso or Carlos (Sastre),” Vande Velde said.”

Featured athlete: Danny Pate

Provided courtesy of Saris Cycling Group

Team Garmin-Chipotle’s Danny Pate had an incredible ride in Sunday’s Stage 15 of the Tour de France, getting into the race-winning break within the first 12 kilometers of the 183 kilometer stage.

In order to stay away from the field, he and his 3 breakaway companions had to keep their pace high and steady over the entire race distance, which included two major climbs - the Hors Categorie Col Agnel and the Categorie 1 Prato Nevoso.

For the first 15 minutes of the race, attacks and counter attacks ensued as teams tried to get their riders into a break. When the dust settled, it was the combination of Simon Gerrans (Crédit Agricole), Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Euskaltel - Euskadi), José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (AG2R La Mondiale), and Danny Pate who were able to break free from the peloton.

Once the break was established, it was a matter of keeping pace to stay away from the main field, and the 4 riders took turns at the front to keep the speed high. For Danny Pate, this meant holding an average of 296 watts, or 4.21 watts/kg for the entire 183 kilometers. Perhaps even more impressive is the averages that Pate was able to maintain on the two major climbs of the day. For the twenty-three-and-a-half uphill kilometers from the Chateau Queyres to Col Agnel, his 347 watts put him at an average of almost 5 watts per kg. Then, even after 163 kilometers of hard riding, Pate averaged 355 watts for the final 20 kilometer climb from Villanova Mondovi to the Finish - an average of over 5 watts per kg.

Danny Pate’s efforts meant that his teammates, including 3rd-place Christian Vande Velde could sit comfortably in the field drafting off of other riders until the final climb to the finish. At that point, it was up to Christian to maintain pace with the lead GC riders. Although he moved into 5th on the GC after the stage, he remains within striking distance of the yellow jersey.

The Christian Science Monitor profiles David Millar as, “..the Scottish rider, once banned from the sport for two years for doping, now competes with a team pioneering a new drug-testing model.”

From the feature: “Today Millar has become a poster child for a budding movement to clean up a sport that has arguably been more damaged than any other by doping. After being stripped of his world championship and banned by the British cycling federation from the sport for two years, he is back with a team that is pioneering new methods to prove its athletes are drug-free…While some on the cycling circuit fault Millar for trying to capitalize on his conversion, his team’s self-policing approach has become a model that an increasing number inside and outside the sport are emulating.”

The rest day is a day when you have a chance to sleep in an hour later. Then afterwards…

* Clean the truck interior, shelf by shelf.

* Coolers have to be washed and bottles prepared for the next day.

* Riders train around 11 am, so we put bottles on their bikes. When they return, we collect their laundry and wash and dry it.

* Huge shopping to stock the truck with items for breakfast, sandwiches, sweets for the staff, fruit, nuts, soft drinks, 50 5-liter water bottles, 20 6-packs of 1.5 liter water bottles for the rooms, washing detergents, etc.

* Vacuum and clean car interior and gas car for next day; add cycling caps, fill CLIF bar and gel containers and add newspaper for descents!

* Lunch at 13:30 with 1 hour to relax or perhaps organize my suitcase. Perhaps take a coffee and chill with other staff.

* At 16:30 start massage with 1 hour for each rider.

* Shower and take massage table down and bring it to the transfer vehicule.

* Dinner 19:30-20:00

* Time to have a beer and chill. Yep, ready for another day.

Rest days are still an effort, but they are great for morale!

Yes, six of eight went down yesterday in a massive pile-up in a round-about outside Cuneo, 50 km before the finish (Julian Dean pictured left post crash). Six of seven really since Danny was off the front. None of the guys were hurt badly. Mostly abrasions and not particularly bad ones at that. Fast moving slide-out crashes on damp oily surfaces like yesterday’s often turn out that way. But of course serious race-ending (even season-ending) injuries can very easily occur in that scenario as well, so we’re feeling quite lucky. Also we’re fortunate in that, if we had to have nearly everyone hit the pavement, then the day before a rest day is probably the best day to do it.

All the guys are patched up, treated by team chiropractor Kevin Reichlin, and have just finished a really upbeat 1.5-hour rest day ride. Now the final push over the mountains towards Paris.

CyclingNZ.com reports on Julian Dean’s 4th place finish in stage 14 of the 2008 Tour de France.

From the report: “Kiwi super sprinter Julian Dean (Garmin-Chipotle p/b H3O) has taken the higest individual race placing of a New Zealander in the Tour de France. The two time and current New Zealand road race champion sprinted home to an impressive 4th placing behind stage winner and three time world champion Oscar Freire.”

Just 12 km into today’s stage, Danny Pate (above) jumped in on a four-man breakaway that managed to hold off the wet, crash-weary peloton over the hors categorie Col d’Agnel climb and the steep final category 1 climb to the finish at Prato Nevoso. Pate dug deep today on the first of a series of Alpine stages to stick with and challenge Euskatel climber Egoi Martinez and finished third on the stage.

Meanwhile, behind Danny’s drama, the race for the yellow was heating up. Multiple attacks and counters splintered the 10-man group Maillot Jaune in the final kilometers of the finish climb. Christian Vande Velde (right with Frank Schleck) held his own in the intese battle, finishing tenth on the stage and moving into fifth overall. Today’s events only tightened the race for the yellow with less than 49 seconds separating the top six.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O stage 15 results
1. Simon Gerrans 4h50′44″
3. Danny Pate +10″
10. Christian Vande Velde +4′43″
63. Ryder Hesjedal +16′29″
96. Trent Lowe +20′46″
105. David Millar +21′57″
115. Martijn Maaskant +25′33″
136. Julian Dean +25′33″
137. Will Frischkorn +25′33″

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O GC
1. Frank Schleck +63h57′21″
2. Bernhard Kohl +7″
3. Cadel Evans +8″
4. Denis Menchov +38″
5. Christian Vande Velde +39″
51. David Millar +52′37″
69. Ryder Hesjedal +1h12′41″
71. Trent Lowe +1h13′17″
89. Danny Pate +1h29′57″
110. Julian Dean +1h53′22″
138. Martijn Maaskant +2h15′02″
139. Will Frischkorn +2h17′05″

In his daily VeloNews diary, Will Frischkorn writes about the pouring rain and crashes that greeted them for their first day in the Alps.

From the diary: “I was sixth in our line, just behind Christian, and watched as each of my teammates hit the deck, then followed suit. A Gerolsteiner bike ended up below me as I was sliding and I clearly remember thinking “man, lucky this bike is taking the brunt of this” as the thing was just ground into the pavement for 10 meters. Then I realized the chainrings were in my hip; a little tattoo to remember the day by.”