2014 Tour de France—Winners and Losers

Here is the 2014 TDF wrap-up.  Of the 198 riders who started, 164 finished in Paris.  Cheng Ji, the first Chinese to ride the Tour, was the lantern rouge.

Winners

• Nibali and Astana.  Nibali rode a great race and the team defended well.  It's hard to say what would have happened if Contador and Froome had been in the mix, but I think that Nibali would still have been a major player.  I am going to believe that he is clean, until I hear otherwise.  The only downside is Astana's general manager, Alexander Vinokourov.  Vino is an unrepentant doper, and there might well be some truth that he has bought several races, including a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
• France.  Second and third on the podium, best young rider, best team (AG2R), three riders in the top 10, ten riders in the top 50.  Kadri won a stage as did Gallopin, who wore yellow even if it wasn't very long.
• Germany.  Kittel, Martin, and Greipel won seven stages.   Kittel is fast even if he almost gets dropped on the highway over passes.
• Tinkoff-Saxo.  In spite of losing Contador, they won three stages and the polka dot jersey.
• Cannondale.  Sagan won the points jersey even if he couldn't win a stage.
• Omega Pharma-Quick Step.  Even though Cavendish crashed out, there were stage wins for Martin and Trentin.   Tony Martin is the man.  He won the time trial and a long solo breakaway stage.  The day after his solo breakaway, he pulled the break single handedly for over two hours even if Kwiatkowski couldn't close the deal on the white jersey.
• Belkin.  Lars Boom wins on the cobbles.  Two riders in the top ten and a sponsor for 2015.  Mollema needs to learn to time trial.

Coming Up Short

• BMC.  Van Garderen moved up to fifth on shear luck.  It seemed that he was always playing catchup.  With all of its high priced talent, BMC should be doing better.
• Garmin.  Talansky crashed out.  Had it not been for  the great stage win by Navarduaskus, the team would have absolutely nothing to show for the last three weeks.  Ben King (53rd) was the top placed Garmin rider.
• Spain.  Contador crashed out, Rodriguez had the polka dot jersey but couldn't hang onto it, and Valverde faded to fourth place.  Only four riders in the top 50.
• Trek.  Zubledia finished 8th.  Cancellera couldn't win on the cobbles and dropped out to concentrate on other races.  As for the Schlecks, Frank did okay, but Andy will probably have a very difficult time getting a contract next year with any team.
• Europcar.  Rolland was burnt out after doing the Giro.  Now that France has some Tour contenders like Pinot, maybe the French will become less obsessed with Voeckler.
• Orica GreenEdge did nothing, ZERO.
• Cofidis, IAM, and Bretagne - Seche Environnement, all wildcard teams did nothing.
• Sky.  The team totally derailed after Froome crashed out.  Porte got sick, and the other riders assumed the role of pack filler.  They should have brought Wiggins and figured out how to make the team work with him on it.
• Lampre-Merida.  Costa got pneumonia and Horner didn't have the legs to crack the top 10.

Photos from the Start of Stage 19 of the Tour

I thought about fighting the crowds yesterday to go watch Stage 18 of this year's Tour de France.  The stage finished with a climb up Hautacam, which is right across the valley from where I am staying.  I ended up watching from the couch.  After all, you can see much more of the race on TV.

It turned out to be a pretty exciting stage.  Valverde, who started the stage in second place overall, attacked on the descent of the Tourmalet.  He was going so fast that the motorcycles were having difficulty keeping up.  The finishing climb up Hautacam goes up to a ski resort.  The climb itself is very steep (15 kilometers long with grades of up to 13%).  Chris Horner was first to attack, but he was quickly followed by the yellow jersey (Nibali, who is the race leader).  Nibali caught all of the riders who were up the road and ended up winning the stage.  Perhaps the more interesting was the race for second and third place. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) followed a move by Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) to put some distance into Alejandro Valverde. Valverde fell to fourth place, but only 15 seconds separate places second through fourth.  Stage 20 on Saturday should decide the final podium (top three).

This morning I drove to the start of Stage 19 in Maubourguet with three Australians staying at the hotel next door. Mike knew someone at Orica-GreenEdge, who managed to get us passes to get in the area with all of the team busses. It was actually possible to talk to the riders. This will definitely be one of the highlights of this year's trip to France.  Photos and captions below.

Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida)

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha)

Omega Pharma-Quick Step Rider

Peter Sagan (Cannondale and Points Jersey)

Garmin Sharp Rider

Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo and Best Climber)

André Greipel (Lotto Belisol and Winner of Stage 6)

Belkin Rider

Wish I had one of these!

Eurocar

Nice Cervelos

Bjarne Riis (Manager of Tinkoff-Saxo, Former TDF winner, and former doper)

Orica GreenEdge

Lotto Belisol

Giant Shimano

BMC Rider (Notice the €500,000 Team Bus)

Teejay Van Garderan's Bike (#141)

Chris Horner (Oldest Rider in the TDF at Age 42.  He's the second placed American rider at #20.)

Luca Paolini (Katusha—You can't miss the beard)

Tony Gallopin??

I also saw Alejandro Valverde, Tony Martin, Jens Voight, Laurens Ten Dam, Thomas Voeckler, and Richie Port but didn't manage to get photos.

The Baronnies

The Baronnies are the low mountain range just north of Mont Ventoux in southeastern France.  Legend has it that Hannibal and his elephants crossed the Baronnies about 200 BC.  Later, the Romans occupied the area.  The Baronnies were independent of France until around 1300.  During the 1500s,  region was also a Protestant stronghold.  As a result, the Baronnies did not fare well during the French wars of religion (late 1500s).  From the 1700s until just recently, the Baronnies suffered economically, but they became a tourist destination around 1980.

I arrived in Buis-les-Baronnies (founded in the 12th century) last week.  The weather was hot and sunny, a welcome change from the rainy weather of Alsace.  I stayed in a 12-room hotel, Les Arcades Le Lion D'or.  Each room had air-conditioning, and there was even  swimming pool (although I never found out exactly where the pool was located).  The breakfasts were good, and the local market was located right in front of the hotel, which made parking slightly problematic on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  However, this wasn't anything that couldn't be dealt with.

I managed to get in two great rides during my time in the Baronnies.  My first ride headed north from town (you either head north or south) to go over three cols (Col de Perty (Cat 1) + Col de St. Jean (Cat 2) + Col de Mévouillon (Cat 4)).  I had planned to do two more, but my legs ran out of gas.  The following day, I rode up through one of those Provence hillside villages (Brantes).  Olive trees in the foreground, and Mont Ventoux in the background.  The olive groves may have been around since Roman times.  

And no visit to Provence would be complete without lavender.

Alsace (where it rains)

Last week was spent enjoying the rain in Alsace and the heat in the Baronnies, but I had a great time. I managed to avoid the worst of the rain, and my hotel room in Buis-les-Baronnies had air-conditioning, a bit unusual for France.

Alsace is in the northeast corner of France.  It is famous for winemaking.  The viticulture dates back to when the Romans controlled the region.  More recently, Alsace has been traded back and forth between Germany and France (the current owners).  Many of the place names are German, and the second language taught in schools is German and not English.

The southern part of Alsace features the Vosges, a low mountain range.  The rounded summits of the Vosges are called ballons, the French word for balloon.  The highest point in the Vosges is the Grand Ballon (literally, the "big balloon").  There are also the Petit Ballon and the Ballon d'Alsace.  Even though the Vosges are a "low" mountain range, the climbs can be 12–15 miles in length and gain up to 3000 vertical feet.  Some of the climbs such as La Planche des Belles Filles are very steep with grades of up to 18%.  In other words, think kitchen wall steep.  Below is the top of Ballon d'Alsace.

This year, the Tour made its way through Alsace, with two stages in the Vosges.  The first stage was over the Grand Ballon.  I rode up earlier in the day to see the spectacle.  "Camper van city" at the top of Le Markstein is below as are the barriers of the final climb up the Grand Ballon.  I was back at the hotel to watch the Tour go over the same climbs on the TV.  A wise decision on my part, since it was raining hard up there when the race went by.

I stayed at a wonderful little hotel in Saint-Amarin.  There were six guest rooms, a restaurant, and a bar.  It wasn't the Four Seasons, but it did have a certain charm.  The owner has a cousin who is racing in this year's Tour, Christophe Riblon.  Riblon won the stage up Alpe d'Huez last year.  Such a win makes your career.  There was a nice pizza house down the street too.  I had dinner there one evening and had a nice chat with the owner.  It gave me an opportunity to work on my French, since he spoke zero English (his words).

More on the Baronnies in the next post.

First Rest Day in the Tour of France—Winners and Losers

Winners

• Vincenzo Nibali and Astana.  He has won two stages and had a fantastic ride on the cobbles.  It's still a long way to Paris, but the yellow jersey is his to lose.
• Germany.  Between Greipel, Kittel, and Martin, the Germans have won five stages.
• France.  Four of the top 10 riders are French.  Bardet is currently in the white jersey for the best  young rider, Tony Gallopin belt the yellow jersey for a day, and Blel Kadri won Stage 8.
• Omega Pharma Quickstep.  Tony Martin and Matteo Trentin both won stages.  Kwiatkowski has spend quite a bit of time in the white jersey, although he over reached a bit on Stage 10.  This helps ease the pain of losing Cavendish on the first day.
• Lars Boom for winning on the cobbles.
• Lotto Belisol.  Greipel won a stage and Gallopin held yellow for a day.
• AG2R.  A stage win and the white jersey.
• Giant-Shimano.  Kittel has won three stages and won yellow on the first day.

Losers

• Froome and Contador for crashing out.
• England.  Both Froome and Cavendish are out. In fact, for all of the hype about British cyclists,  Yates and Thomas are the only two British riders left in the race.
• Garmin.  Talansky has spent some time on the deck and has dropped out the top 25.  He needs to learn to control his temper.
• Trek.  Andy crashed out, Cancellera is dropping out, and their highest placed rider is Frank (#25).
• Tinkoff-Saxo lost Contador.
• Cannondale.  They can't get Sagan across the line in first place.  Rumor has it that Cannondale will sponsor Garmin next year and that Sagan and Basso are going to Tinkoff-Saxo.

Yet to be Determined

• Sky may yet salvage their race hopes with Richie Porte.  It was a really dumb move to leave Wiggins at home.
• Sagan.  He is a ahead in the Green jersey competition, but he has yet to win a stage.
• BMC.  Not much to show for a lot of high priced talent.  Van Garderen has fought his way back into the top ten, but he needs to stop complaining about the cobbles.
• Belkin.  Mollema is now in the top ten, and Boom won Stage 5.  Now if Belkin could only find a sponsor for next year.
• Movistar.  Valverde is now in third place.
• Katusha.  Rodriguez has the points jersey.  Can he keep it?
• Lampre.  Costa is in the top ten and Horner is show signs of life.
• Europcar.  Rolland is fighting back.
• Orica GreenEDGE, Cofidis, IAM Cycling, Netapp-Endura, and Bretagne-Seche have pretty much been pack filler so far, although a few riders have shown some life.

The Hard men

• Contador for crashing twice, getting up, and then riding 10 km on a fractured tibia before throwing in the towel.
• Froome for trying to race on a fractured wrist.
• Martin for a great solo win on Stage 8 and then pulling the break for most of Stage 10, the next day.
• Lars Boom for winning Stage 5 on the cobbles.
• Nibali for third place on on Stage 5.

Notes

• There were 50,000 fans on the final climb of Stage 10 yesterday—in the rain!
• The owner of the Au Cheval Blanc, where I stayed for the last four nights has a cousin in the race—Christophe Riblon.  Riblon won the Alpe d'Huez stage last year.
• I spent the last three days riding in the Vosges and doing some of the same climbs as the Tour.  The Vosges are not the Alps or the Pyrenees, but the climbs are hard.

France 2014—Getting Here and the First Ride

Getting to Paris from Houston was a bit more complicated than usual this summer, since I used frequent flier miles to buy my ticket.  It was Houston to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Paris.  Usually, I can get a direct flight from Houston to Paris, or make one connection in Paris or Amsterdam if I am flying to Geneva.  However, I guess the extra hassle was worth it, since my ticket only cost 60,000 miles and $168.90 (taxes and extra legroom in economy plus).

Since my first flight left Houston at 7 AM, I left the house at 3 AM on Thursday to make the two hour drive to the airport. After connections in Atlanta and Cincinnati, I landed in Paris early Friday morning. We arrived at the gate early, but the ground crew parked the plane in the wrong spot and the jetway couldn't reach the place.  We had to wait at least 20 minutes for the airport to find someone who could operate the tractor that pushed the plane back to its proper spot.  If something can go wrong at Charles de Gaulle Airport, it will.

The wasn't a line a passport control, and my bag was one of the first out on the luggage carousel.  And the bicycle made it to oversized luggage very quickly.  I picked up my leased car, filled it with diesel, and left the airport around 7:30 AM.  Instead of driving directly to Saint Amarin, which would take me through Nancy, and I decided to take the southern route to Mulhouse to avoid the Tour traffic.  This route was a bit longer, but the Tour de France was schedule to finish in Nancy on Friday.  My GPS decided to route me through the Paris morning rush hour. When I realized my mistake, it was too late.  Twenty-five miles and over 2 hours later, I finally left Paris. I took my time getting to the Vosges, making a few stops and at least one power nap along the way.  After 600 km, I finally checked into the hotel around 6 PM on Friday. Figuring in the 7 hour time difference between Texas and France, that's about 32 hours in planes, airports, and cars.  I had dinner in the hotel and slept for the next 10 hours.

After a good night's sleep, I felt much better this morning.  After a typical French breakfast at the hotel,  I went out to the garage to put the bike back together.  The job took about 45 minutes, but the bike survived the flight very well and everything now works.  After a trip to the store to pick up a few odds and ends, I headed out to bag my first climb—the Col d'Oderen.  This is one of the category 2 climbs that the TDF will pass over on Monday on their way to La Planche des Belles Filles.  The Col d'Oderen is 7 km long averaging 5.5%, although it kicks up to 10.3% in place.

I made it to the top just as it started to rain.  The plan was to ride 4 hours today, but there were a few drops at the top and a light rain by the time that I finished the descent, so I decided to head back to the hotel.  It started raining seriously for the last 3–4 km, and I heard the first thunder just as arrived at the hotel.  I saw plenty of other riders coming up the climb as I descended, so I imagine that they got really soaked.

Depending on the weather (big chance of rain), I will ride up to watch the TDF tomorrow and Sunday.  More on the TDF and Saint Amarin in the next post.