Kyle gets his first major victory of his career at Le Flèche Wallonne beating Andy Schleck and then trading places in LBL with Andy taking the win and Kyle in 2nd. Perhaps with this major victory now behind him, he can start looking towards winning in the Grand Tours.
In his first time trying to defend a victory from the previous season Kyle would put a strong effort against the worlds best coming in 3rd behind Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck as the California is graced with perhaps its strongest field ever. I'm sure now deep into May all of these riders are starting to set their sights on the Tour de France just over a month away.
If this was a tuneup for the Championships and the TdF the rest of the teams better watch out. Garmin - Barracuda easily took 1st and 2nd with Lewis and Van Avermaet separated by 46 seconds, and third place another 2 minutes behind. Edvald Boasson Hagen pulled in 6th place for Garmin as well. For Lewis this might mark the first time we have really seen him perform as an all-round rider, getting in the top 5 in the time-trial and then taking control in the hills. We should see Kyle at least one more time in the US championships before the TdF, and we could possibly see him in Switzerland as well.
3rd place is never bad, but once again just like earlier in California, Lewis is 3rd behind Contador and Schleck. The veteran pair were separated by 2 seconds as Contador was able to make up his 27" deficit to Schleck in the final stage, a time-trial around Schaffhausen. Lewis however was already well behind and finished more than 2 minutes of the pace of the leaders. Maybe he will have a little bit more in France, but it certainly looks like there is still a gap between the world's best Grand Tour riders and Kyle Lewis.
Edited by Kentaurus on 08-05-2012 22:36
Bagneres de Bigorre - Oloron Sainte Marie (Mountains)
4th, +53"
Jul10
Pau - Biarritz (Sprint)
120th, +0"
Jul11
Bayonne - Arcachon (Breakaway)
98th, +1'13"
Jul13
Bergerac - Limoges (Breakaway)
126th, +17"
Jul14
Bourges - Autun (Sprint)
110th, +0"
Jul15
Dole - Lyon (Breakaway)
96th, +7'32"
Jul16
Givors - Vienne (ITT)
24th, +1'17"
Jul17
Vienne - Grenoble (Mountains)
14th, +1'49"
Jul18
Grenoble - La Müre (Hills)
23rd, +6'33"
Jul20
Le Bourg d'Oisans - Risoul (Mountains)
14th, +1'14"
Jul21
Guillestre - Dignes les Bains (Sprint)
23rd, +0"
Jul22
Barcelonnette - Col de Lombarde (Mountains)
20th, +6'31"
Jul23
Auxerre - Provins (Sprint)
39th, +0"
Jul24
Creteil - Paris (Sprint)
98th, +0"
In his first Tour de France as team leader and a GC contender Kyle earned 6th overall and wore the Yellow jersey for the first time in his career for just a day. The length of the tour seemed to tax Lewis as he started to fall farther behind later in the tour, though perhaps that was more due to the Alps being a bit tougher than the Pyrenees. From here I would expect to see Kyle at San Sebastián, and certainly at the Worlds, otherwise I'm not sure how much he will do in the rest of the season.
Edited by Kentaurus on 08-05-2012 23:55
In a bit of a surprise we see Kyle go to Britain to prepare for the worlds, with a surprisingly hilly course for the Tour of Britain, this turns out to be a perfect opportunity to get back into form after the TdF. Winning the Tour of Britain is also a bit of a surprise since he certainly wasn't going to be picking up any time bonus' from the sprinters.
At first I didn't like the style of the reports but they are starting to grow on me, especially with the results lately Keep them coming, very curious on how many GT's Kyle Lewis will win in his career.
Yes, his contract did get renewed, think it was 3 years, so don't have to worry about it again yet. No, he got hurt somewhere right before worlds so he was not able to race. It took me a while to figure out what happened (since I set the US roster, the one thing I do get to control) and I know I had him in the race. Once I saw him not there I started digging for why, and check his status and he was injured. Guess he came back strong for Lombardie though.
