Tour de France 2021

Here are my thoughts on the 2021 Tour de France.

Winners

• Tadej Pogacar won his second Tour de France decisively.  At the end, he had a lead of over 5 minutes.  Do I think that Pogacar was doping?  No, most of his strong competitors were early crash victims.  However, I am a notoriously bad predictor of who is doping in the TDF.
• Mark Cavendish tied the record for the most TDF wins.  Both now have 34 wins.  He also has a second green jersey.  He is truly the TDF greatest sprinter ever.  More than that, Cavendish is an inspiration.  He was ready to quit racing last year, but signed a one-year contract with Deceunick-QuickStep.  Four stage wins.  What an inspiration to us all.
• Mattieu van der Pol held the yellow jersey for 6 days before quitting to concentrate on the Tokyo Olympics.
• Wout van Aert won on Mont Ventoux, the final time trial, and on the Champs Élysées.
• Deceunick-QuickStep.  Alaphilippe wore yellow and what else can I say about Cavendish.
• Ben O'Connnor (AG2R).  Fourth overall for the Australian.
• Jumbo-Visma showed that they were more than just Roglic.  Besides van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard was on the second step of the podium.
• Richard Carapaz deserves mention for making the podium.

 Losers 

• Ineous Grenadiers arrived at the TDF with one of the strongest teams.  Thomas, Porte, Geoghangen Hart all lost time early in the race due to crashes, etc.  Only Carapaz did well
• Last year's runner-up, Roglic, crashed out and left the race.
• Crashes!  Lots and lots of big crashes.  One fan caused a crash by holding up a huge cardboard sign in front of the peloton.  The crashes took out many of Pogacar's main competitors.
• Rigoberto Uran was a sure bet to finish in the top three until he lost almost 9 minutes on Stage 18.
• MovieStar usually does well but not this year.
• After a police raid at their hotel, Bahrain Victorious is under investigation for doping.