Lotto-Belisol chase, Tour de France 2012, stage two

André Greipel won the Tour de France yesterday with the help of Lotto-Belisol team-mate Greg Henderson, but there were a number of helpers trying to position their sprint captains. It happens every day in the Tour: rider after rider, until the lead-out man takes over to drive his leader to the line.

Some famous lead-out men are Giovanni Lombardi, Ivan Fanini and more recently, Mark Renshaw. Renshaw used to lead Cavendish, but left for Rabobank. Sky's focus is on the GC in the Tour, but Cavendish still has Bernard Eisel and Edvald Boasson Hagen to help.

A good indicator of who did the work is to look at the finishing image. In the background, you'll usually see the successful lead-out man celebrating as if had crossed the line first.

"I'm happy if I've done my job properly and someone wins, it's a huge satisfaction," Robert Hunter told Cycling Weekly. He is assigned to work for Garmin-Sharp's Tyler Farrar, who crashed in the final metres in the last two days.

"You can see it with Lotto's Greg Henderson. He did his job, [André] Greipel wins, and he has his hands in the air, it's a huge satisfaction doing the job correctly and seeing your guy winning."

Hunter explained that his job depends on how many men the team has to dedicate to the sprint. So far, only Lotto-Belisol and Orica-GreenEdge have been dedicating a full train to their men, Greipel and Matt Goss, respectively.

"My job is to lift the pace up by two K an hour. I come from a track background, so I'm good at that, accelerating at high speeds," Henderson told Cycling Weekly. "My only concern is that I don't gap off André. It needs to be a consistent acceleration. When I practice sprinting off of the motorbike, that's what I'm practicing."

After joining Orica, Daryl Impey moved to Girona to be closer to his team-mates. He trains regularly with Brett Lancaster, who used to lead out the sprints for Erik Zabel in team Milram. Orica was impressed with his work in the Giro d'Italia and decided he should also race this Tour.

"I pretty much go as late as possible. Goss will gauge, as well. When the speeds start to drop then he'll go. Ideally, from 150 to 200 metres, is the best place to drop him off," Impey told Cycling Weekly.

"Sprints like the one like yesterday suit him, which was kind of an uphill drag. The flatter finishes are really suited to sprinters like Greipel or Cav, who's really quick off the mark."

"It all depends," added Hunter. "If you got guys looking after you, your lead-out man wants to be going at about 400 metres to 150 meters.

"In this Tour, you try to do as much as you can to keep your guy rested until to the last kilometre because there's no real trains at the moment except for Lotto and GreenEdge."

Hunter and Farrar have crashed in the last stages and have been unable to perfect the lead-out. However, when it all goes well, the lead-out train is a work of art.

Tour de France 2012: Latest news

Liquigas's yellow and green jersey aim at Tour

Brailsford: Sky on the front for Cav and Wiggins

Fourth Tour crash for Farrar

Greipel on a roll at the Tour

Cavendish and Eisel expected to continue after stage four crash

Injury report: Tour stage four

Garmin-Sharp adjust Tour de France plans after injury problems

Sky down to eight after Siutsou crash

Tour de France 2012: Teams, riders, start list

Tour 2012: Who will win?

Tour de France 2012 provisional start list

Tour de France 2012 team list

Tour de France 2012: Stage reports

Stage five: Greipel wins again as Cavendish fades

Stage four: Greipel wins stage after Cavendish crashes

Stage three: Sagan runs away with it in Boulogne

Stage two: Cavendish takes 21st Tour stage victory

Stage one: Sagan wins at first attempt

Prologue: Cancellara wins, Wiggins second

Tour de France 2012: Comment, analysis, blogs

Analysis: How much time could Wiggins gain in Tour's time trials

CW's Tour de France podcasts

Blog: Tour presentation - chasing dreams and autographs

Comment: Cavendish the climber

Tour de France 2012: Photo galleries

Stage five by Graham Watson

Stage four by Graham Watson

Stage three by Graham Watson

Stage two by Andy Jones

Stage two by Graham Watson

Stage one by Graham Watson

Prologue photo gallery by Andy Jones

Prologue photo gallery by Roo Rowler

Prologue photo gallery by Graham Watson

Tour de France 2012: Team presentation

Sky and Rabobank Tour de France recce

Tour de France 2012: Live text coverage

Stage five live coverage

Stage four live coverage

Stage three live coverage

Cycling Weekly's live text coverage schedule

Tour de France 2012: TV schedule

ITV4 live schedule

British Eurosport live schedule

Tour de France 2012: Related links

Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Cavendish

Brief history of the Tour de France

Tour de France 2011: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

1989: The Greatest Tour de France ever

 

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