A Tour For The Ages

After three weeks of punishing pedalling the torture is finally over and the 167 finishers can rest easy in their beds, safe in the knowledge that they don’t have to get up and ride another 180 km over the toughest roads in France in the morning. This Tour will go down as one of the most fiercely contested in recent history, the yellow jersey was settled in the penultimate stage’s time trial, the green jersey on the Champs-Elysees and the polkadot jersey went down to the final climb up l’Alpe d’Huez. It was a year of firsts as well, Australia got its first Tour Champion with Cadel Evans, Britain got its first green jersey winner with Mark Cavendish and a true climber and GC contender won the KoM jersey, Olympic road race Champion Samuel Sanchez, for the first time since Richard Virenque in 2006 (I’m not counting Michael Rasmussen’s ‘titles’ in 2005 and ’06).

The yellow jersey or 'maillot jaune' in the Tour de France is the biggest prize in cycling. Photo: Stewart Dawson

Before I look at the star’s of this year’s race let’s have a quick recap of how the last week’s racing unfolded:

Stage 16

Thor Hushovd got his second win of the race and tenth in total, outwitting fellow Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen to win the final sprint into Gap.  The real action came behind though as Evans, Contador and Sanchez stole time from the Schleck brothers with some aggressive riding on the descent from the Col de Manse which left Andy complaining of dangerous race routes.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Vanendert

Stage 17

A second consecutive stage for Norway and a second for Boasson Hagen and Team Sky. The race ventured on to foreign soil for the only time this year as the peloton crossed into Italy, Boasson Hagen attacked from the breakaway on the ascent of the final climb and distanced Jonathan Hivert and Bauke Mollema with a combination of aggressive descending and mistakes from those in pursuit. Contador and Sanchez attacked again on the final descent but didn’t have enough in their legs to stay away as they were caught in the final 500m by the group containing all the race favourites.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Vanendert

Stage 18

The climbing got serious today, three hors category climbs, all over 2350m and the highest summit finish ever in le Tour on top of the Col du Galibier. Fresh from the criticism he faced over his comments made earlier in the week, Andy Schleck attacked on the Col d’Izoard and no-one could go with him as he rode up the road to find support in the form of two teammates from the day’s early breakaway. They couldn’t help him for long though as he powered past them and up the Galibier to win the famous stage with one of the gutsiest rides in modern Tour history. Meanwhile behind Evans effectively rode solo up the Izoard and Galibier as Contador struggled to stay in touch with his group and Frank Schleck understandably hitched a ride on Cadel’s back wheel. Andy’s lead over the Evans and yellow jersey group was up around the four-minute mark at the foot of the Galibier but the tireless work from Evans and a final burst from Voeckler saw the heroic Frenchman reduce his deficit on the line to 2 mins 21 secs, meaning he kept the yellow jersey by just 15 secs.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Vanendert

The Cold du Galibier gave the Tour its highest ever summit finish. Photo: Guido Bellomo

Stage 19

Not content with one trip up the Galibier, the Tour organisers scheduled another gruelling stage as the riders hauled themselves over the Col du Telegraphe before tackling the Galibier once again and finishing atop the iconic Alpe d’Huez. Contador, out of the GC reckoning after ‘hitting the wall’ on the previous day’s final climb, attacked on the first climb of the day and was followed by Andy. Evans, Sanchez and Voeckler couldn’t, or didn’t, follow the attack and the two attackers rode to the head of the race, leading the field over the Telegraphe and the Galibier. They could never establish a significant gap over the chasing pack though and the whole field was back together at the foot of l’Alpe d’Huez. Yellow jersey holder Thomas Voeckler knew he didn’t have it in him to follow the attacks that would come so his right-hand man Pierre Rolland was set free to steal some glory for himself as he attacked on the Alpe along with Canadian Ryder Hesjedal. Contador countered the attack and compatriot Samuel Sanchez followed, last year’s champion caught and passed Rolland and Hesjedal and looked like the Contador of old as he set a tempo that no-one else could live with. Sammy Sanchez wasn’t done though and he worked with Rolland to claw his way back to Contador only for Rolland to spring another attack and ride away from both of them to the finish line. Sanchez crossed the line in second to seal the KoM jersey ahead of Andy Schleck, who in turn took the lead in the race as Thomas Voeckler finally surrendered the maillot jaune.

Yellow – A. Schleck, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Sanchez

Stage 20

Heading into the decisive 42.5 km time trial Andy Schleck had a lead of 53 secs over brother Frank and 57 secs over Cadel Evans. They were the only 3 with real ambitions of wearing the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees, the big question was whether 57 secs was a big enough buffer for notoriously shaky time-triallist Andy. The question was answered emphatically by Cadel Evans on the route around Grenoble with the outcome being a resounding no. The stage itself was won by German Tony Martin but the ride of the day came from Evans as he rode the time trial of his life to come in just seven seconds behind the HTC rider and 2’32” ahead of Andy. The Aussie was finally wearing the yellow jersey on the day it really mattered, on the final roll into Paris and on to the Champs-Elysees. The Schleck brothers occupy the remaining steps on the podium with Andy ahead of big brother Frank, Contador put in a champions ride to finish the stage in third and haul himself back up to fifth overall, leaving new French hero Voeckler to keep hold of his fourth place.

Yellow – Evans, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Sanchez

Stage 21

The roll into Paris now regularly sees celebratory sipping of Champagne by the team of the yellow jersey and this year was no different as Cadel Evans and the rest of his BMC team toasted a job well done  as the peloton ambled its way through the Paris suburbs. The real action started once they reached the capital and it finished as it has done for the past two years, HTC caught the breakaway in the final lap and set up a procession win for Cavendish, only this year it had the added bonus of a green jersey for the fastest man on two wheels at the end of it.

Yellow – Evans, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Sanchez

Stars Of The Tour

Cadel Evans had prior knowledge of the TT course having ridden it in the Dauphine Libere in June. Photo: Petit Brun

Cadel Evans – The oldest post-war Tour winner at 34 years and the 2009 World Champion becomes the first Southern hemisphere rider, not just Aussie, to win the yellow jersey. The nearly man finally emerged victorious in the world’s biggest bike race after plenty of attacking riding in the first week, consolidation in the second week, and mountains of solo work in the Alps as those around him refused to help him drag attacks back. It was then all finished off with a stunning time-trial to take the yellow jersey when it really mattered.

Mark Cavendish – Only the second Brit to ever win a jersey at Le Tour, the first since Robert Millar won the climber’s polkadot jersey in 1984 and the first Brit to win the coveted green jersey for sprinters. A change in tactics to target the intermediate sprints paid off and another five stage wins capped a near faultless tour for the Manx missile.

Samuel Sanchez – Olympic road race champion and last year’s 4th placed rider was Mr. Consistency in the mountains and his second place on the final climb up l’Alpe d’Huez clinched the polkadot jersey for the Spaniard. A change in the points allocation for this competition meant the jersey went to a true climber who finished high up the GC instead of an opportunist who simply racked up the points over the early climbs of the day.

Pierre Rolland – France may have stumbled upon their next star of road cycling as Thomas Voeckler’s chief helper in the mountains turned in a virtuoso performance in the final mountain stage of the race to win on l’Alpe d’Huez. He followed it up with a solid time trial to hold off Estonian Rein Taaramae and win the young rider’s white jersey competition.

Thomas Voeckler – The new hero of French cycling, surpassing his deeds of 2004 to hold on to the yellow jersey for another ten days through the Pyrenees and the Alps, finally giving it up on the final climb of the race.

Thor Hushovd and Edvald Boasson Hagen – Two stages apiece for the Norwegian duo and a 1-2 in stage 16 as world champion Hushovd got the better of his heir apparent. Their achievements were widely celebrated as a large contingent of Norwegian fans lined the streets of every stage to cheer on their heroes.

Johnny Hoogerland and Juan Antonio Flecha – Victims of the Tour’s most bizarre incident as a television car crashed into Flecha who inadvertently bundled Hoogerland off the road and into a barbed-wire fence. Both riders got up and finished the stage, had the next day off on the first rest day and then emerged battered and bruised to ride to the finish in Paris.

So it’s all over for another year, it’s hard to imagine how next year could match the tension, competitiveness and excitement that this year’s edition has brought us but it will give it a go anyway. 2012 will hopefully see a fully fit Contador and a motivated Wiggins back to battle it out with the Schleck brothers and reigning champion Evans, and who knows there might even be another French contender for the GC in the shape of an older and wiser Pierre Rolland.

Photos: Yellow jersey – Stewart Dawson, Galibier – Guido Bellomo, Evans – Petit Brun

The Long Road To Paris

Have you ever ridden a bike for 180 km in a single day? Ever woken up the next day and, with your legs screaming in agony thought ‘that was fun, let’s do it again’? Ever done this for three weeks straight over some of the toughest mountain passes in Europe? Didn’t think so, but this is the challenge facing the world’s elite road cyclists in the coming weeks.

The Champs Elysees shuts down every Summer for the climax of Le Tour. Photo: sacratomato_hr

Yes it’s Tour de France time, the biggest bike race in the world is commonly referred to as simply ‘The Tour’. There are numerous other stage races called a tour of somewhere; Tour de Suisse, Tour of Britain, Tour Down Under, Tour of California to name just a few, but there is only one Tour. It captures the attention of the world like no other cycling event, the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana may pose equally daunting physical challenges over their three-week durations but the intensity and desire to succeed of every rider taking part makes the Tour something special. For team sponsors it’s time to reap the rewards of the investment they make to fund their team all season long. The riders themselves are aware of this and have been known to launch solo attacks and get into breakaways purely to get their team sponsor some more airtime, such is the focus of attention on this race. It is easy to spot a first-time stage winner in a major race as, providing time permits, an experienced pro will do up their jersey after a long day in the saddle several hundred metres before the finish line just to make sure the sponsors logo is fully visible as they cross the line, arms aloft with a thousand camera lenses trained on them. Those first-time winners are often naive and so caught up in the momentous, life-changing occasion that they can forget their professional duties and cross the line with their jersey half unzipped and all the photographers capture is the rider’s sweat soaked vest clinging to their emaciated rib-cage.

It is a mark of how much the Tour means to every rider that just finishing the grueling ordeal is enough for many. Getting to the finish line on the Champs-Elysees is the personal goal for all but the chosen few at the start of the race. Some will target a stage win, some will have their eyes on taking home a jersey come Paris but most are there to work for their team leader, set a pace, fetch water and protect them from the inevitable bumps and scrapes of racing in such a large peloton. There will be the odd breakaway that will be successful though, and a formerly unheralded domestique can write their name into the record books. Mark Cavendish, the 15-time Tour stage winner, repeatedly states that he would be happy with one stage win every year as a single stage win in the Tour can make a cyclist’s career. Magnus Backstedt, the Swedish giant of a man tells a story of how, having just signed a single year contract with Chris Boardman’s Credit Agricole team he won the 19th stage of the 1998 Tour. That evening he was sitting down with the team’s sporting director who ripped up Backstedt’s current contract and handed him a new two-year deal with an improved salary – that is what the Tour means to teams and riders alike.

This year’s edition, the 98th running of the event, gets started on Saturday on France’s Atlantic coast in the Vendee region, so clear skies and energy sapping sun are almost guaranteed to wave the riders off as they embark on their 3000+ km anti-clockwise journey around the roads of France. The anti-clockwise nature sees the riders tackle the Pyrenees first and with two of the three high mountain stages ending with summit finishes they will give an early opportunity for the general classification (GC) contenders to separate themselves from the rest of the peloton. The Alps then follow in the final week and with the Col du Galibier being climbed twice in 24hrs to mark 100 yrs since it was first climbed in the Tour, it really is a climber’s route this year. Summit finishes on the top of the Galibier and the iconic Alpe-d’Huez will no doubt be fought out by race favourites Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck, but can anyone get near the top two from the past two Tours?

For many the attraction to the Tour de France is watching others suffer, Mark Renshaw knows all about suffering on a bike. Photo: GeS

My guess would be no, the battle for the final podium spot has been one of the most intriguing stories of the last two Tours though with Lance Armstrong edging out Britain’s own Bradley Wiggins in his breakout Tour of 2009 and Russian Denis Menchov managed to stay on his bike for long enough in 2010 to beat Sammy Sanchez on to the podium. Sanchez will be targeting the podium again along with a host of others, and with only 65.5 km of time-trialling to deal with this year and 23 of those being the team time-trial, it’s not unlikely that you’ll see a bunch of pure climbers fighting it out for that third step in Paris. That unfortunately would seem to eliminate Wiggins, who whilst appearing to be in spectacular form as his win in the Dauphine last month suggests, will always rely on his time-trialling prowess to build an advantage over the ‘mountain goats’ and then limit his losses when the roads start to point skywards.

Where else to look for action this year:

Team Time-Trial – many a team will be eyeing up the 23 km second stage as a chance to get themselves some glory, and a good shot at the yellow jersey to boot. Team Sky have made no secret of their desire to attack every stage this year and will see it as an ideal opportunity for their first yellow jersey in their sophomore year. They’ll face stiff competition though from HTC-High Road, Garmin-Cervelo, the Schleck’s newly formed Leopard-Trek outfit and the Contador-led Saxo Bank. The Schleck’s and Contador will be less worried about being in yellow during the first week as they’ll see it as more of a burden on the team than anything, but they won’t want the likes of Wiggins or HTC’s Tony Martin gaining too much of an advantage too early.

Green Jersey – Last year’s winner Alessandro Petacchi is present again, as are controversial Belgian Tom Boonen, 2005 and 2009 winner Thor Hushovd and Manxman Mark Cavendish. The four of them will all slug it out for the points jersey. Adjustments have been made to the intermediate sprints this year with only one per stage, but with more points on offer Cavendish has already said he will have to divert from his previously unsuccessful game-plan of focussing solely on stage victories to win green. Cavendish has had another slow start to the season but two stage victories in May’s Giro gave him a boost and plenty of training miles were got into the legs during the Tour de Suisse so he should be able to pick up more than his prerequisite one victory again this year. There aren’t many flat sprints this year though so it does seem tailor-made for a big man such as Hushovd to emerge victorious again, but with four sprinters of such pedigree in the field it won’t be a walk in the park for any of them.

Individual Time Trial – It’s hard to look past the usual suspects of Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins, Alberto Contador, Tony Martin and David Millar for the penultimate stage. Millar and Wiggins have both got the better of four-time World time trial champion Cancellara this year but the man they call Spartacus always seems to perform on the big occasion so shouldn’t be written off.

King of the Mountains (KoM) – With two of the last three winners having had their title stripped due to doping irregularities it seems rather difficult to predict a winner this year, and for how long they will manage to keep hold of their title. Anthony Charteau was wearing the polka dot jersey in Paris last year after fighting all the way with compatriot Jerome Pineau, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to repeat the trick for a second successive year. Gone are the days it seems of a KoM winner placing high in the GC as well, the tactics nowadays seem to be to breakaway early on in a stage, hoover up the points on the early climbs and then let the big boys pass you by on the final slope. With this in mind I wouldn’t like to put too much money on anyone this year but the French seem to have been targeting this jersey somewhat in the past couple of years as they try to bring back some pride to French cycling in the lack of a real GC contender.

Philippe Gilbert – Swept up in the Spring classics and with a tough first week not looking tailor-made for the usual sprint-fest then the Omega Pharma-Lotto rider could well be in with a chance of a stage to add to his three other Grand Tour victories in Italy and Spain.

My predictions:

Yellow Jersey – Contador to take it by around a minute from Schleck the younger, only to have this year’s and last year’s victories taken away from him when the Court of Arbitration for Sport hear the appeal for his drugs ban in August.

Mark Cavendish is fond of the colour green but has yet to make it to Paris with anything other than green sunglasses. Photo: RoxanneMK

Green Jersey – Yes I said it wasn’t built for Cavendish this year but I’m still going to go for him anyway, he’s acknowledged that he’ll have to change his approach this year and seems more determined than ever finally grab the green jersey to match his green sunglasses.

KoM Jersey – Not much more than a guess for this one but I’ll go for a Spaniard and David Arroyo in particular, not sure why just had to pick someone.

3rd Spot – With Andy Schleck pencilled in for second I’ll go for the returning Vinokourov to steal third, he finished 16th in support of Contador last year so with the full backing of his Kazakh team behind him he’ll be going all out this year.

Aside from all the inevitable talk around Contador’s ongoing doping saga I also think this will be a very clean Tour, and hopefully accident free given the couple of horrible incidents cycling has had to bear recently. Whatever happens though it is sure to be three weeks of pure theatre, set against the stunning backdrop of France’s imposing mountains and numerous châteaux.