It's Wednesday, and I'm still going through major Tour de France withdrawal. I couldn't have written a better script for the 2011 TDF. WOW!
Thomas Voeckler defends the yellow jersey for 10 days and finishes fourth overall, Pierre Roland wins on the Alpe and goes home with the white jersey for the best young rider. Not bad for a team that almost didn't exist last October because they couldn't find sponsorship.
Cadel Evans the yellow jersey home to Australia. He won on top of the Mur Bretagne, had a fantastic time trial in Grenoble, and chased down Andy Schleck on the Galibier when no one else would or could help. And if you can ride Alberto Contador off your wheel on a climb, you can never be considered a wanker.
Garmin had a great Tour with Danielson in ninth place, a win in the team time trial, and the overall team classification. And a certain Norwegian had a great Tour. Hushovd hit 112 kilometers per hour (70 mph) on the descent of the Soulor. Who says the rainbow jersey is a curse?
Samuel Sanchez has the polka dot jersey and a win at Luz Ardiden. With Mark Cavendish in the green jersey and Tony Martin winning the time trial, I hope that HTC-Columbia gets a sponsor for next year.
Andy Schleck made a really gutsy move on the Izoard for which he should be commended, but neither of the Schlecks are going to win the TDF until they learn to time trial. Andy also needs to learn that bike races go downhill as well as uphill and to stop complaining and making excuses.
As for the losers, Radio Shack had terrible luck. I would have liked to see what Horner could have done. Katusha had the only doper...I hope. I'm not a huge Vinokourov fan, but I hate to see anyone end a career with a broken femur. I’m also not a huge Contador fan, but I have to admit that the guy went down swinging.
A lot of the favorites crashed out early. This year it was Brajovic, Horner, Kloden, Vinokourov, and Wiggins. Boonen, Stegmanns, Kern, Popovych, Zabriskie, and Lars Boom were among the other casualties. Last year it was Armstrong, Evans, and Schleck. I think that things are changing in the TDF. The speeds are higher and everyone wants to be at the front on narrow roads. In the mountains, it really doesn’t matter because the terrain naturally thins out the peloton. However, the early flat stages are absolutely nuts. Conventional wisdom is that you did not do too much work during the first week if you have a podium contender. BMC did a very smart thing by including some classics riders on the team (Hincapie, Burghardt, and Bookwalter). These are big, strong guys who did a lot of work during the first week keeping Evans at or near the front of the race. The result—all nine riders finished the race and the team took home the yellow jersey.
Finally, there's Johnny Hoogerland, who crashed into the barbed wire. It takes a lot of guts to get back on your bike and finish the Tour after something like that. Chapeau Mr. Hoogerland! The photo of Hoogerland in the polka dot jersey was taken by Paddy Sweeney on Luz Ardiden a few days AFTER the crash. If you look closely, I am off to the side.
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