A sporting smörgåsbord of a summer

Every year the football season ends, and every year the television and radio broadcasters roll out their trailers for the ‘summer of sport’, complete with soundtrack from Dodgy or Mungo Jerry.

You can forgive them for going a little overboard this year though, this year’s slightly different; in case you weren’t aware of it yet (although I’m not sure that’s possible), there’s the small matter of a summer Olympic Games in London to think about.

The games have become such a sporting behemoth that they have, and will, influence just about every other sporting event on the 2012 calendar.

London’s Olympic stadium will be at the centre of the sporting world this summer. Photo: Phil Jones

With this in mind I’m going to add to the list of summer previews and give my take on the events in store for us in the next 3 months.

I won’t cover all the events, mainly because there are just too many to talk about, but I will give a brief overview of what I will be keeping an eye on, why it is worth your attention, and giving my prediction of how events might unfold (there’s no real insight involved in my predictions and any money lost from bets placed is not my responsibility).

Where to start then? Well we’re in the middle of the French Open tennis so that’s as good a place as any:

French Open Tennis (May 28 – June 10):

Why? – The potential for numerous pieces of history to be made. Rafael Nadal can set a record of seven titles in the Paris suburbs and join Bjorn Borg on 11 major titles. Novak Djokovic could become the eighth man to win the career grand slam, whilst simultaneously completing the ‘Djoko Slam’ of holding all four major trophies at once, and keeping alive his chances of completing the calendar Golden Slam. Federer could become only the third man to complete a second career grand slam were he to win, and Maria Sharapova could complete her first if the Russian gets her hands on the women’s title.

Who? – Nadal and Sharapova. I’d be stupid to bet against Nadal really. If Djokovic makes the final I’d still back Nadal, but he’d be less of a certainty to win. If he’s up against Federer though, then I can’t see the Swiss getting anywhere near the trophy. On the women’s side it just seems like everything has come together for Sharapova to triumph – the Williams sisters are both out, as is Francesca Schiavone and world number one Victoria Azarenka, Na Li hasn’t been too convincing either. I’d keep an eye out for Sam Stosur though.

UEFA European Championship Finals (June 8 – July 1):

Why? – It’s England in a football tournament, no matter how much we say we don’t expect anything, we can’t help but get caught up in the excitement. The Euros tend to provide more entertainment than the World Cup, less meaningless games and the football is generally of a higher quality. Any tournament with an Irish presence is better for it as well.

Who? – I’ll be very boring, play it safe, and say Netherlands v Spain in one semi, Germany v France in the other. That means the final could be a repeat of Euro 2008, but I’ve a sneaky feeling the Germans might just get their revenge and win their first tournament since Euro ’96.

Andy Murray faces a potentially career defining summer in 2012. Photo: Carine06

Queen’s Club, Aegon Championships (11 – 17 June):

Why? – It marks the start of the British sporting summer, it means Wimbledon is just around the corner and there are few finer sights than watching a load of professional athletes slipping around at the back of a slick grass court.

Who? – If Murray’s fit then I’d take him to make it three titles in West London. He humiliated Roddick there last year and the American is worse now than he was then, suggesting that Murray’s only real competition will come from Big Willy himself, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Olympics Athletics trials (22 – 24 June):

Why? – The cream of British athletic talent all fighting for their place at a home Olympics. There’ll be some surprises, athletes who come from relative obscurity to book their place in the Olympic village, and there’ll no doubt be the odd high profile one who misses out too.

Who ? – I’m going to go for James Dasaolu to make headlines for all the right reasons. I interviewed him last summer during another period of rehab from injury, even at that stage his only focus was getting fit for the Olympics in his home city of London. The second fastest Brit over 100m last year, he’s already bagged an A standard qualifying time this season – all he’s got to do now is finish in the top two in the trials for his dream to become a reality. I also reckon a certain Mr. Chambers will fail to qualify for the individual event, his form this season doesn’t look good and I think the emotional roller coaster he’s been on over the past few years may have finally taken its toll.

Wimbledon Championships (June 25 – July 8):

Why? – Because it’s Wimbledon. Centre court has played host to some of the greatest finals of all time in the past five years and as is the way with any major tournament in this era, there are records to be broken. Federer could finally equal Pete Sampras’ record seven titles, or (depending on how events unfold in Paris) Novak Djokovic could march on to the third piece of the Golden Slam, Nadal could potentially win his twelfth major title or (whisper it) Andy Murray could win his first/second major title (OK 2nd is a little ambitious).

It’s not just the men’s draw that entices though, Sharapova will most likely be the favourite on the women’s side but those Williams sisters always save their best for the grass of South West London. Petra Kvitova won’t give up her title without a fight and Victoria Azarenka will be determined to reassert her authority on the women’s game. Throw into that the unpredictability of the women’s game at present and you may as well pick the quarter finalists out of a hat.

Who? – I’m going to stick with my Roland-Garros predictions and go for Sharapova and Nadal. Djokovic just isn’t quite on the high that he was last year, and if he’s not right on the top of his game then I think Nadal has the edge over him – as shown by the two clay court finals they’ve contested thus far this spring. You can never completely write off Roger either but his recent record at Wimbledon (only QF’s in the past two years) is worse than Murray’s, so you’d have to give Murray more chance than the Swiss magician.

On the women’s side, Sharapova has been pretty consistent in 2012, generally only losing to Azarenka, and should she make the final in Paris she’ll be coming to London with the number one ranking, a more consistent serve than she’s had for a couple of years, and potentially the confidence that comes with just having won a major title.

Will Dwain Chambers have be forced to run at in Helsinki to confirm a place at the Olympics? Photo: maxzix74

European Athletics Championships (June 26 – July 1):

Why? – Taking place the week after the trials, it’s surely the final opportunity for British athletes to grab the third discretionary place on offer at the Olympics if they didn’t perform at the trials. There may well be a lack of big names as the already qualified athletes will take a week’s rest in preparation for the games, but the competition is sure to be intense with so much at stake for those who do make the trip to Helsinki.

Who? – Who knows? It all depends what happens in Birmingham the previous weekend, who will have guaranteed their place and who will still be desperate to impress the selectors?

Tour de France (30 June – 22 July):

Why? – A sporting highlight every year for me. I can understand why people may find it boring and I can understand why some may be disillusioned with the regularity with which drugs cheats are highlighted in cycling. But I’ve been watching it since I was young, when I didn’t know what EPO was and when channel 4 gave me coverage in bite sized chunks at 6:30pm every evening. I remember Tom Steels blinding past me in 1998 to sprint to another stage victory, and I remember sitting having dinner in Lausanne, watching Marco Pantani ride past on his way to winning a post Tour criterium. Much has changed in the world of professional cycling since those days but much is reassuringly the same, Gary Imlach’s hair and the voices of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen are synonymous with the Tour de France, bringing an air of class to proceedings come those three weeks in July.

Who? – Without wishing to sound too myopically patriotic, Britain’s riders genuinely have the potential to make history at this year’s Tour. Bradley Wiggins has what will probably be his best chance ever to grab himself the yellow jersey in Paris, and Mark Cavendish doesn’t look to have much serious competition in defending his green jersey. Doubt comes in the form of Wiggins’ main rivals for yellow, whom we should know more about after this week’s Dauphiné, in which Brad is looking to defend his title from last year. There will also be doubt over Team Sky’s ability to support both Wiggins and Cavendish in their separate goals, the squad as a whole is looking good though and if any squad is capable of winning two jerseys, then I’d suggest Sky are the team to do it. With that in mind I’ll go for Wiggins in yellow, Cavendish in green and Cadel Evans and Pierre Rolland rounding off the podium places.

Test Series v South Africa (July 19 – 20 August):

Why? – The top two ranked test nations in the world going head to head. England desperate to hang on to top spot and Graeme Smith’s South African side desperate to wrestle it away from them. Eight of the world’s top twenty batsmen will be on show (four each), seven of the world’s top twenty bowlers (4-3 to England), the world’s best all-rounder, this series has it all.

Who? – Take your pick really. Dale Steyn is the best bowler in the world, Vernon Philander is chasing him for that moniker and James Anderson would like to have a say in the matter too. Andrew Strauss could become England’s most prolific century maker of all time, Kevin Pietersen always likes to put on a show against his former compatriots, Ian Bell loves batting in the English summer and Jacques Kallis is a match winner with bat or ball. Were it any other year this would be the most anticipated sporting contest of the summer.

Olympic Games (July 27 – August 12):

Why? – The biggest sporting occasion in history, in London. Do I really need to add anything more?

Who? – Too many to mention and that’s why I love the Olympics – wherever you look there are stars being born. The obvious star is a certain Jamaican sprinter, Yohan Blake will push Bolt all the way for the sprint double but I think Bolt will still win both and add the relay title to cement his place in sporting legend.

Elsewhere I think Jess Ennis might just falter, but I reckon Phillips Idowu, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford could all have a golden summer.

In the hockey I think the GB women could go all the way to the final. They beat the world number 1s Argentina twice recently, however the Argentinians were missing their star player in Luciana Aymar, so I’ll hold fire on predicting a definite gold. The GB girls are more than capable of delivering it though. For the men I think the best they can do is fifth, since winning the European Championships in 2009 and a silver in the 2010 Champions trophy, they seem to have been on somewhat of a downwards spiral of results – I’ll go for a German victory over Australia in the final.

Will Laura Trott ride away with omnium gold? Photo: Rob Duin

We won’t be as all-conquering in the velodrome as we were in Beijing. I still think we’ll come away with five golds though; both pursuit teams, the women’s omnium and one each from Sir Chris Hoy and Vicky Pendleton – not a bad return really!

On the road (providing safe passages through the Tour) I think it’ll be win or bust for Mark Cavendish, IF he makes it over Box Hill 9 times and is still on the front then the gold is his for the taking – if not then someone like Tom Boonen or Thor Hushovd is more than capable of riding away with gold. In the time trial I think Wiggins can get a medal, probably not gold but I’d be surprised if he didn’t make the podium.

For the women I’m not so au fait with the opposition, although in Nicole Cooke and Lizzie Armitstead we have two of the best road racers in the world, and Emma Pooley has previous in the time trial as well.

In the triathlon I’d be hugely shocked if there wasn’t a Brownlee on the top step of the rostrum. Don’t ask me to say which one but Jonny’s early season form and Alistair’s pedigree suggest that if they’re both fit they’ll be fighting between themselves for gold and silver. For the women then Helen Jenkins looks to be in top form so far this season, she’s not as far above the rest of the pack as her male teammates but anything less than a podium place would be a big shock.

I could keep going and going but my knowledge starts getting a bit patchy for other sports now, so I’ll let you make up your own minds as to who’ll take home the medals in the greco-roman wrestling.

Will Djokovic have had a record-breaking summer when he gets to New York? Photo: Carine06

US Open Tennis (Aug 27 – Sep 9):

Why? – For every reason I’ve mentioned previously. Nadal, Djokovic and Federer are a joy to behold, throw in Murray’s penchant for the hard courts and crowds of New York and we’ve got the recipe for another cracker on our hands. On the women’s side, Serena would dearly love to put last year’s meltdown in the final behind her, Sharapova could well be coming to New York with two major titles and an Olympic gold medal round her neck, and Azarenka could have bounced back on the hard courts she loves to be a favourite again.

Who? – We’re still three months away from the action kicking off at Flushing Meadows with an awful lot of tennis to be played in between so it’s too early to say really. All the usual suspects will be there, but I’d throw the names of Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki into the mix as well.

That’s me done for now, no doubt I’ll go into more detail for specific events as the summer progresses. I’d be interested to see how many of my predictions you agree with though, and if anyone fancies calculating how much I’d win if I put an accumulator on all my predictions then you can have a cut of the proceeds when they all come good!

What have I missed?:

Three golf majors, England vs. Australia ODI series, a summer of Formula 1, a summer of Moto GP, Royal Ascot, Eastbourne tennis, domestic T20, Paralympics, Vuelta a España, World T20.

Enjoy your summer.

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

Voeckler Comes of Age

Former French champion Voeckler is getting used to standing on the podium. Photo: Petit Brun

I mentioned in my preview to the Tour de France that the French had been searching for a real GC contender since Laurent Jalabert won the Vuelta a Espana back in 1995. Well it seems they had simply been looking in the wrong place for the last seven years since a 25yr old Thomas Voeckler surprised everyone by hanging on to the Maillot jaune for ten days in the 2004 Tour before relinquishing it to eventual winner Lance Armstrong.

Voeckler (or Voikla if your name’s Phil Liggett) has climbed with the best in the world to get through three gruelling Pyrenean mountain stages, not to mention safely negotiating three tricky flat stages to keep hold of the yellow jersey he took from Thor Hushovd going into the first rest day last week. Most ‘experts’ were predicting that ‘little Tommy’ would surrender the jersey on the first high mountain stage but that wasn’t to be and he further confounded those so called experts by holding on to the jersey with aggressive riding, not just sucking wheels to drag him up the mountains whilst limiting his losses.

Stage 10

Cav loses! Yes the Manx missile is human, former teammate Andre Greipel beat the diminutive HTC rider into second by the slimmest of margins. It took what Cavendish admitted to be a ‘perfect sprint’ to beat him, Cav was not happy at losing having been set up so perfectly once again by his reliable team but conceded that Greipel was the better man on the day. Greipel’s teammate and Cavendish’s main rival for the green jersey, Philippe Gilbert, knowing that he can’t beat Cavendish in a bunch sprint, attacked off the front of the peloton in the closing kilometres. It was a suicide mission though and the peloton swallowed him up leaving the Belgian to come in 15th and lose a large chunk of points to Cavendish.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green –  Gilbert, KoM – Hoogerland

Stage 11

Revenge didn’t take long to be served up by Cavendish and his bunch of merry men, the pouring rain ensured it was definitely served cold as well. The stage into Carmaux was drenched by a torrential downpour but the gun-barrel straight approach to the finish line left Cav’s rivals surfing his bow-wave as he rode away from the field to bag his 18th Tour de France victory and 3rd of this year’s edition. Greipel was a distant 2nd and Gilbert a lowly 66th, so 45 points for the win added to the 4 he’d taken from the Belgian in the intermediate sprint gave Cavendish the green jersey in le Tour for the 1st time since 2009. On the podium he kissed the jersey and was still grinning when he walked off the podium to speak to ITV’s Ned Boulting, telling the reporter ‘Green suits me doesn’t it?’.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Hoogerland

Greipel has been receiving more of the limelight since his move away from HTC. Photo: kei-ai

Stage 12

The first high mountains of the Tour were tackled here and there were two brutes to contend with, after dealing with the 1st category Hourquette d’Ancizan the riders were faced with the Col du Tourmalet and then a race to the summit at Luz Ardiden. Without Wiggins it was feared that British interest would fade as the roads turned upwards but Geraint Thomas had other ideas as he got himself into the day’s breakaway and summited the Tourmalet in second place before being swallowed up and spat out by the GC contenders on the day’s final climb. Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez took the stage win ahead of Belgian new boy Jelle Vanendert, Frank Schleck looked the stronger of the brothers as he rode away from a group containing his brother, Evans and Basso in the final kilometres. The story of the day though was defending champion Alberto Contador being dropped by the lead group and losing further time to his rivals. The yellow jersey rolled in shortly after and maintained his time gap over second place with a defiant display of climbing that few had predicted.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Sanchez

Stage 13

A slightly easier stage the next day; only three categorised climbs, although one of them was the giant Col d’Aubisque, and a flat finish meant that the big boys were less likely to come out and play and a breakaway had a good chance at success. The breakaway was a large one, ten riders got clear after the first climb including world champion Thor Hushovd and the two Frenchmen Jeremy Roy and David Moncoutie. Roy attacked with 50km to go and built up an advantage over the splintered chasing pack but Hushovd wasn’t going to let the Frenchman away that easily. The Norwegian descended the Col d’Aubisque like a madman, hitting a top speed of 112kph, he eventually caught up with Moncoutie but the Cofidis rider was reluctant to help him chase down Roy and deprive the French public of a stage win. It was left for Hushovd to do all the chasing and he eventually caught Roy with just 2km remaining and rode straight by him to claim his most famous Tour stage win yet.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Roy

Stage 14

Voeckler had got this far in the yellow jersey but this really was the day he was expected to give it up to a real contender. A punishing day in the saddle saw the field climb over five mountain passes before facing the 15km long drag up to Plateau de Beille for a summit finish expected to provide some fireworks in the battle for yellow. The fireworks never really came though, the day’s breakaway was overtaken on the final climb and the main contenders seemed happy to mark each other as Sammy Sanchez and Jelle Vanendert rode away from them to the finish line again. It was Vanendert who emerged victorious this time but Sanchez pulled further time back on the rest of the field after his nightmare first week. The attacks in the yellow jersey group were all coming from Schleck the younger today with the odd spurt from Basso and Voeckler to test the legs of those surrounding them but no-one seemed to have the legs to put the hammer down and ride away from the group. The attacks were covered by Evans and eventually Contador but it was clear to see that Contador was simply trying to survive the Pyrenees in the hope that his ailments will have eased and he can attack hard in the Alps.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Vanendert

Stage 15

The final flat stage before Paris offered the sprinters one last shot at glory before facing up to the high Alps next week. It also presented the last real chance for Cavendish to build up a buffer of points over Gilbert and Rojas to take into the final sprint on the Champs-Elysees. Never one to miss an opportunity that’s exactly what Cav did, finishing ahead of both his rivals in the intermediate sprint and beating Farrar by a wheel on the finish line with Rojas back in 5th and Gilbert nowhere to be seen. The win boosted Cavendish’s advantage to 37 and 71 points over the Spaniard and Belgian respectively. Gilbert had once again attacked with 3km to go but with men from Sky, Garmin and HTC all working on the front of the peloton the attack was doomed and Mark Renshaw once again gave the perfect lead-out for Cavendish to do his thing and claim his 19th win in the Tour de France in 4 years.

Yellow – Voeckler, Green – Cavendish, KoM – Vanendert

Stars of the Week

Thor Hushovd is racing like a true champion in the Rainbow Jersey. Photo: richardmasoner

Thomas Voeckler – Held on to the yellow jersey against all odds, repeating his heroics of 2004 on the Plateau de Beille to finish the week with the same lead as he started it with. It’s not only the French who are now considering him to be a real contender, he leads both Schlecks and Evans by around two minutes, Basso by three and Contador by four. No his time-trialling isn’t brilliant but should he survive the Alps and still be in yellow then the chasing group aren’t necessarily the best time-triallers in the field either and the yellow jersey on a Frenchman’s back can make him do strange things.

Mark Cavendish – Won another two stages and should he make it over the Alps has more than a good chance of reaching Paris with his beloved green jersey on his back. A Brit has never won the points jersey in the Tour before so should he do it next weekend he would cement his place as a true great of British sport.

Thor Hushovd – Did the rainbow jersey of the world champion proud with a stunning stage victory, the former sprinter and two-time green jersey winner seems to have transformed himself into somewhat of a climber as he won in the Pyrenees.

Jeremy Roy – Present in most of the breakaways of the week, held the polka dot jersey for a day and was within touching distance of a stage win only for that big Norwegian to steal it at the last-minute.

Jelle Vanendert & Samuel Sanchez – When all around them seemed content with marking each others accelerations these two threw down the gauntlet and rode away from the pack to occupy the top two positions on both of the summit finishes in the Pyrenees.

Philippe Gilbert – May not have replicated the heroics of his early season and first week of the Tour but his aggressive riding style is entertaining to watch and it’s been a long time since a green jersey contender has flirted with the top 50 overall (he’s currently 28th).

Coming Up

The big boys can’t hide for much longer and if they want to take the yellow jersey off Voeckler’s shoulders then they’ll have to start riding like they mean business. Two more summit finishes are in store for the riders in the Alps as they climb above 2000m for the first time this year. The Galibier and Alpe d’Huez will give the opportunity for plenty of attacking riding and for those that have less confidence in their time-trialling ability will be the launch pad for their attack on the yellow jersey.

Cavendish seemingly just has to make it through the Alps (not an easy task by any means) to win Green, Gilbert will have to attack on both stages 16 and 17 if he is to stand any chance of clawing back those lost points and overtaking Cav before Paris.

The KoM competition seems to be between Sanchez and Vanendert now and they are only separated by two points. Both will fancy their chances of taking the prize but maybe Vanendert is the slight favourite as he is further back in the GC standings so will be let go more readily by the field than Sanchez.

Finally it was nice to see a week pass with fewer major crashes and less abandonments, and Kolobnev’s positive test is still the only one so far so that bodes well for the future reputation of the race.

One last thing, the Tour always provides some of the most photogenic sporting action of the year and this gallery illustrates just that: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/07/2011_tour_de_france_part_1.html

Photos: Voeckler – Petit Brun, Greipel – Kei-ai, Hushovd – richardmasoner

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.