Love Bikes

The 2011 Tour de France was the best Grand Tour I’ve ever seen. It should be noted that I’m no expert, and I’ve probably watched, start to finish, less than a dozen. That said, cycling experts all over the place agree that it was a fantastic event, and perhaps the best Tour de France in many, many years.

I’ll get slated by pro-cycling fans the World over for saying it, but from someone relatively new to the sport, it’s an easy way in if there are Brits doing well - if you’re from the UK. Early in the race, it was easy to see that Bradley Wiggins was in form; Geraint Thomas managed to get his hands on the White jersey for a few days; Ben Swift looked in awe of the race at first, but settled well; David Millar was his usual dandy self; and Mark Cavendish, well he doesn’t need me to tell him that he’s head and shoulders above all other sprinters right now.

Not that I care only about the Brits; some of my favourite moments came from those outwith this little island. Below are my favourite riders, taken from the Top 10 in each classification, but not necessarily the winner of each.

General classification winner: Cadel Evans; Love Bikes pic: Thomas Voeckler

Voeckler defied the naysayers for days, and days, and days. He’s not pure climber so shouldn’t have been able to stay with the GC contenders in the Pyrenees, let alone the Alps, but he held the yellow jersey for 10 days and did France proud. In the end, he knew he was spent and let his super domestique leave his side and push for the win on Stage 21. Pierre Rolland, another Frenchman, did just that.

Points classification winner: Mark Cavendish; Love Bikes pic: Thor Hushovd

This was a fantastic tour for Norway, but ended up being in the shadow of the recent killings that took place in Oslo and Utoya. In fact, before the final stage, both Hushovd and Boasson Hagen - the other Norwegian in this year’s Tour - were photographed observing a moment of silence to commemorate those that had died.

Hushovd himself took two stage wins, one of those an amazing endeavour over the Pyrenees mountains, in pursuit of the ever-present-in-the-breakaways Jérémy Roy. As sorry as I felt for Roy, I couldn’t help but be delighted for the big, likeable Norwegian. 

The God of Thunder showed his class throughout this race and did the World Champions jersey proud.

Mountains classification winner: Samuel Sanchez; Love Bikes pic Johnny Hoogerland

How could you not admire Johnny Hoogerland, after all he went through in the early stages of the race? Taken out by a combination of a French TV car and Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha, Hoogerland needed the majority of the skin on his legs to be stitched back together, and still carried on, all the way to Paris.

From what I understand, he’s not the most popular man in the peloton, but he definitely won the hearts and minds of the watching public as he fought through the pain to finish the race.

Young Riders classification; winner: Pierre Rolland; Love Bikes pic: Pierre Rolland

Pierre Rolland was as much a part of Thomas Voeckler’s yellow jersey as Voeckler himself was, such was his constant presence alongside the maillot jaune. The White jersey changed hands a few times and finally came to rest on the young Frenchman’s shoulders, ensuring not only that the he achieved legendary status among his countrymen, but also raised expectation for next year’s tour.

If the tour had finished a week earlier, I would’ve had Geraint Thomas in here as the Love Bikes White jersey pic, but the young Welshman faded a bit towards the end and was actually overshadowed by his Norwegian teammate in terms of performances.

All in all, it’s been a great Tour and I’m very much looking forward to the next one. That said, it’s only a few weeks until the Vuelta a España.

Tour de France, Stage 19. Pierre Rolland delights in taking France’s first stage win

In a day that saw the yellow jersey change hands from Voeckler to Andy Schleck, you would expect the French to be in mourning. If not for the young Europcar domestique they might well have been.

Rolland has worked, and worked, and worked for every minute of every day that his team leader has Thomas Voeckler held onto the yellow jersey. At one point during today’s stage, Voeckler told Rolland “it was over” and to “go for the win”, and he did just that. Chapeau!

As for the GC contenders, well it’s all changed. The Schleck’s are into first and second -  youngest first - with Cadel Evans breathing down Frank’s neck in third. The big money’s on Cadel to out time trial both, and he has around 57s to make up on Andy to take the yellow jersey.

I wouldn’t put it past him but I have a sneaky feeling about Frank’s chances.

Tour de France, Stage 18. Andy Schleck shows his relief to take the stage win…

…but, more importantly, a big step towards the yellow jersey.

I had a rant at Schleck Jr a couple of days ago, so credit where it’s due. He was fantastic today. Superb, tactical cycling from Leopard-Trek, executed in a way that was not only effective but exciting, too.

Andy now moves up into 2nd behind Thomas Voeckler who still won’t let go of the yellow jersey. Chapeau!

It’s not over yet, though. Not only are there more mountains to climb tomorrow, but Cadel Evans - probably the greatest time trial cyclist of the top 4 - is hot on their tails, waiting for a chance to shine on Saturday’s penultimate stage.

Thomas Voeckler, still leading the Tour de France, with 4 stages remaining.

Some great images from the Denver Post.

Tour de France, Stage 16. Andy Schleck loses time as we hit the mountains

Today, I think, we saw a fragility of the mind that is not something you like to expose in the last week of a grand tour. Shortly after being beat fair and square, and after losing several seconds to his nearest competitors, Andy Schleck felt the need to complain about today’s route, and to as good as suggest that fast descents should not be included in the Tour de France.

“It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. People don’t want a race that is decided in a downhill. We don’t want crashes or thoughtless risks.”

The problem with this is that his competitors got down that hill just fine; hell, some of them even seemed to enjoy it! It seems that Schleck Jnr is struggling at the moment, and trying to find someone or something to blame, when really he should work on his bike handling and descending skills.

“I must do something” always solves more problems than “Something must be done”.

Aside from all this, a stage was won! And it was won by The God of Thunder, Thor Hushovd, edging out his younger countryman, Edvald Boassan Hagan after a short sprint. I actually think Eddy the Boss could’ve beaten Thor if he’d been paying attention to Thor when he made his attack. Instead, he was staring off into middle distance, perhaps thinking of his and Geraint Thomas’ next video offering.

Evans, Contador and well, just about everyone made time on the Schlecks, meaning that the GC table looks a little different this evening. Evans is now into 2nd, taking 20-odd seconds out of Voeckler.

I would suggest that Evans is now the favourite, although Contador’s form today suggests he’s got something to bring into the Alps. Outsiders? Well, Sanchez is looking decent and he’s closer to Voeckler than Contador.

Everything will be decided in the mountains. Or, if not, perhaps in the Individual Time Trial on Saturday.

Tour de France, Stage 9. A - physically, emotionally - battered and bruised Johnny Hoogerland accepts his polka dot jersey 

Well, what is there to say after a stage like this? Not long after I’d posted a list of riders who had left this year’s Tour through injury, a French TV car sideswiped Juan Antonio Flecha and took both the Sky rider and Movistar’s Vacansoleil’s Johnny Hoogerland out of contention for the stage win. That they both finished the stage is testament to their courage and to the stature of the race itself.

I mentioned on twitter that I was interested in what Sky’s Dave Brailsford would say after the race, but it seems that he’s put his sensible head on, decided to keep quiet tonight and offer his thoughts tomorrow. I’ve yet to hear anything from Movistar’s Vacansoleil’s DS, but Hoogerland himself had this to say, after picking up his polka dot jersey.

We can still be happy that we’re alive. It’s horrible. I can blame everyone but I don’t think anyone does this sort of thing on purpose. I think the people in the car will have a very big guilty feeling and they will surely apologize to me and Flecha. Juan Antonio came to me an he apologized. It should not happen but it’s always possible that this sort of thing happens. Nobody can be blamed for this. It’s a horrible accident and I was in it. But I said to Flecha, We’re still alive and Wouter Weylandt died in a crash. Cycling is getting more and more hectic which is also nice because more and more people are watching but, for sure, some people will say that it may be like this because well, I can’t explain it but I think most people feel very, very bad about this sort of thing. I have three cuts that are about seven centimeters long and quite deep too. I’ll go to the hospital now and I think I’ll need about 30 stitches at least I did what felt like a few somersaults. I don’t know where the car came from. Before I knew it, Flecha was on the ground and there was nothing I could do. I landed on the fence and I looked at my legs and thought, Is this what cycling is about?’ I have the polka-dot jersey but I’m going to spend the rest day in a lot of pain.

Very humbling words from someone who had every right to tear ASO a new one, much like the barbed wire fence he landed on almost did to him.

Prior to the Flecha and Hoogerland incident, there had been a serious crash on the descent of the Puy Mary. From an interview with David Millar after the race it seems that Zabriskie clipped the wheel of someone in front of him, causing both a pileup; and several riders to crash over the side of a safety barrier and down the side of a hill. Most severely injured in this incident were Vinokourov (femur break, possible pelvic injury), Zabriskie (wrist break) and Van Den Broeck (scapula break, possible collapsed lung).

Aside from the crashes and injuries - although it’s hard to escape the impact they had - French favourite “little Tommy” Voeckler finished 2nd but done enough to take the yellow jersey from Thor Hushovd, and Luis-Leon Sanchez took the stage win.

An eventful day all in; there are plenty of riders who are now looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day, I’m sure.

Photo links through to nieuwsblad.de, where there are some graphic photos of Hoogerland’s torn arse.