The 2011 edition of the Tour de France is the blue riband event of the season, and all eyes will be turned on France during the month of July. The race will start in England, with a prologue in London, followed by the first stage to Canterbury in Kent. After that, the riders board the ferry and head back to the continent!
Past Editions
Past editions have been hotly contested, with Contador prevailing in the past 2 seasons (giving him 3 wins in total).
We have had success in previous years, finishing 2nd last year, and 3rd in 2008. Also, we have won the KOM jersey in the past 2 years, and won the sprint jersey in 2009!
Squad Plans
The 2011 Tour de France is one for the Time trialists, with 1 prologue TT, 1 long ITT, 1 mountain ITT and a 60km TTT. To that end, the team I am fielding reflects that:
The Team Time Trial is an obvious one for a team stage victory, with an average TT stat of 75 across the nine man team, even taking into account Siutsou’s stat of 65! Wiggins will try for the Prologue in London, and Pardilla will try for victories in the mountain and long individual TTs.
GC is simple: Pardilla, Pardilla, Pardilla! Everything will be done to support his attempt to win the Tour. As well as being a sponsor objective, it is the one GT that has so far eluded me. In my 3 completed seasons with Columbia, I have won the Vuelta twice (Pardilla and Gerdemann), and Giro once (Ricco), but the big one is yet to happen!
KOM contender will either be Crawford, Rogers or Siutsou, depending on who seems up for the challenge when the mountains come around. Both have won the KOM jersey in one of the Grand Tours for me in the past so are fully capable of repeating the feat. Gesink, Rogers and Blanco will be there to support Pardilla, but we may let one of them loose for an intermediate mountain breakaway late in the race if the opportunity presents itself.
Wiggins, EBH and Cav could well be unstoppable on the flat, and I’m definitely hoping for stage victories there. In addition, as with Lars Boom in the Giro, this is EBH’s first GT outing and he does have the skills to go for a breakaway win, so we’ll look out for that too.
The sponsors want us to win this one, and so do I. I would also love the KOM jersey, and sprinters jersey too! Gonzalez of SDV will be the favourite for the young rider’s jersey, as well as one of the main players on the GC, and I don’t think Gesink will be able to win that jersey in the Tour as well as the Giro.
What can I say? This might just be the toughest Tour yet! Defending Champion Alberto Contador isn’t even the Astana team leader!!
Ona, Basso, Contador, Pardilla, Gonzalez, Kloden, Evans, Menchov, Valverde, Sastre, both Schlecks, Dekker and Kreuziger are all riding!
Gerolsteiner
David Ona – yes, a Frenchman is favourite for the Tour de France! I can’t remember when the last Frenchman won Le Tour! Anyway, Ona’s biggest problem will be the lack of quality mountain support within his team. Chicchi will be a threat in the sprints.
Astana
Basso is team leader and his helpers (if you can call them that) are Contador, Barredo, Brigaud, Gusev, Huizenga, Gutierrez and Zapata! Something tells me that this team will be good in the mountains and the Team Time Trial!
Saunier Duval
Hector Gonzalez is their leader, and Benat Intxausti his Lieutenant. Gonzalez has several decent mountain riders to help him, and will be a threat!
Agritubel
A strong team from Agritubel, led by Kloden, with Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, Jonathan Bourgeais and Tadej Valjavec in support. Rodriguez is their only sprinter, but probably isn’t good enough to do much in the Green jersey competition.
Caisse d’Epargne
Caisse were clearly focusing on the Giro as Valverde is largely unsupported for the mountains, with the exception of Amets Txurruka! I can't see Valverde winning this one.
Rabobank
Sastre leads the team, but there are no real climbers in there apart from him and Ladino! I think Sastre’s time tiraling will let him down in what will be his final tour before retirement. Rabobank have the best chance for glory on the sprinting side, with 2 supersprinters riding. Steve Schets has already chalked up 17 wins this season!
Silence-Lotto
Andy Schleck leads, supported by Ben Greenwood. Like Sastre, Schleck’s time tiraling will let him down in this year’s tour. Passeron comes off a decent Giro and should feature heavily in the sprints.
Francaise de Jeux
Andy’s brother Frank leads the team, supported by Carlos Ochoa and Veikkanen in the mountains. Sebatien Chavanel, who also rode the Giro, will be their main sprint threat.
Euskaltel
Thomas Dekker flies the flag for the team, with David Arroyo supporting.
Liquigas
Roman Kreuziger leads, with Christian Knees in support.
CSC Saxo Bank
A strong team, with German Champion Artjom Grafenstein leading, supported by Mario Aerts, Igor Anton, Ben Justesen, Maxime Bouet and Jesus Del Nero.
Lampre
Kasper Linde rides the Tour as well as the Giro, supported by Rodrigo Garcia. Grillo will be their main sprint threat.
Quick-Step
Surprisingly light on the sprinters, Quick-Step sends Bernhard Kohl, Christian Meier, Vlad Efimkin and Marco Osella
Barloworld
Mauricio Soler will try to last a bit longer in the Tour than he did in the Giro!
The rest
Of the remaining teams, Lastras of AG2R can win on the hilly stages, and Sylvain Chavanel of Acqua e Sapone is a good all-rounder, but I wouldn’t look to these teams for more than a breakaway win late in the race.
In July 2007, the Tour came to England for the first time in over 20 years. Fabian Cancellara swept to victory on The Mall in the opening Time Trial of the Tour de France, on a 7.9km course taking in the sights and sounds of the Palace of Westminster
Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park,
And finishing along The Mall
in the centre of beautiful London, Eng-er-land! Last time British Olympic multi-medalist Bradley Wiggins finished in 4th position.
Well, today they’re back! Cancellara isn’t riding the Tour this year, but Wiggins is!
Ben Greenwood sets off early, and sets the pace with a time of 10’38”.
Kasper Linde is not long after Greenwood, and beats him by 4 seconds. Lampre have the lead!
Basso is not impressive today, finishing 8 seconds off the pace!
World TT champion Sergio Pardilla is our 2nd rider off, and very early on the day.
He’s on top form today, and beats Linde by 16”, taking the lead on the stage. This will be a very difficult time to beat.
TT specialist Stefan Schumacher rides well, and takes 2nd place!
French TT champion Thomas Brigaud sets off next. He could do well today!
And Gonzalez sets off straight after Brigaud. Only a 3rd of the riders have started and already many of the favourites have ridden the course
Brigaud crosses the line with the same time as Pardilla, but the Columbia man hangs on to the lead.
But Gonzalez is on peak form, and goes 11” faster than Pardilla!
A host of other riders set off, but no-one can get close to Gonzalez.
Wiggins is our last rider to go, and is in good spirits!
But despite his best effort he can only match his 4th place finish of 2007!
Stage Results
1 Héctor González Saunier Duval - Scott 10'07 2 Sergio Pardilla Team Columbia + 11
3 Thomas Brigaud Astana Cycling Team s.t. 4 Bradley Wiggins Team Columbia + 12
5 Andreas Klöden Agritubel + 16
6 Denis Menchov Agritubel + 21
7 Roman Kreuziger Liquigas + 23
8 Stefan Schumacher Agritubel + 25
9 David Ona Gerolsteiner s.t.
10 Sebastian Lang Gerolsteiner + 26
11 Thomas Dekker Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
12 Kasper Linde Lampre + 27
13 Christian Meier Quick·Step s.t. 14 Michael Rogers Team Columbia + 28
15 Andrés Zapata Astana Cycling Team + 29
16 Leif Hoste Silence - Lotto + 30
17 Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
18 Ermanno Capelli Saunier Duval - Scott + 31
19 Maxime Bouet Team CSC Saxo Bank s.t.
20 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.
21 Artjom Grafenstein Team CSC Saxo Bank s.t.
22 Ben Greenwood Silence - Lotto s.t.
...
29 Ivan Basso Astana Cycling Team + 35
...
44 Carlos Sastre Rabobank + 39
...
46 Sylvain Chavanel Acqua e Sapone - Caffè Mokambo + 41
... 52 Robert Gesink Team Columbia + 43
...
61 Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne + 46
...
65 Fränk Schleck Française des Jeux + 47
...
78 Andy Schleck Silence - Lotto + 51
...
95 Cadel Evans Agritubel + 56
...
121 Yannick Talabardon Crédit Agricole + 1'03
Apologies for the lack of action here, I've been setting up the nursery for a new addition to the family who is due in late April, so as you can imagine I've been a bit busy! Stage 2 is complete and hopefully I will get to play stage 3 and 4 tonight - then I can post them!
Stage 2 sees the start of the race proper, with a simple 176km run from London to Canterbury
The profile follows the same route as the Tour took a few years ago, but with only 1 KOM sprint.
We enter the stage with the happy task of not having to control the peloton! Obviously we will be trying for a stage win with Mark Cavendish, although Steve Schets will be our main rival!
As the riders set off, Yannick Talabardon poses for the cameras on his new Cervelo bike!
The Tour leaves London, and the attacks begin!
They are thick and fast
Saunier Duval lets them go however!
And pretty soon a group of 13 riders have escaped
Vaugrenard of Caisse d’Epargne takes the mountain sprint, and will wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow
Half distance on today’s stage and Saunier are still controlling the pace of the pack, but the break has almost 6 minutes lead
The sprint teams his the front as they approach the finish, and the gap starts to drop
With less than 15km to ride the break has almost been caught, but some of the riders have the energy to launch a long range attack for the line
But its all for naught as the sprint trains start to form – this will end in a bunch sprint! Our train of Wiggins, EBH and Cav are well placed
Inside the last few km and we are nearing the front. Schets is well placed to our right in the Belgian Champions jersey, being led out by the supersprinter Machado! He’s got Alex Pichot of Bouygues in his wheel. Valverde is on his right!
As the sprint starts we get a head on shot, but where are Tea mColumbia? Race radio indicates that Wiggins lost the wheel of the train and we went backward!
The Acqua train has the advantage, but Steve Schets goes past his lead out man like a rocket. Pichot is after him and Hagen grabs his wheel. Cav is just behind Hagen!
Schets hits the front and is going to be difficult to beat. Valverde is alongside EBH and is blocking Cav!
Schets powers away from Pichot, and won’t be beaten today!
Cav tries to get past EBH, but Valverde is still blocking his route!
And on the line its Schets who takes the win by a country mile!
A disappointing day for us today - we really hoped that Cavendish would be able to do something on home soil, but we lost our way a bit just before the sprint!
No change in the GC, but Schets will wear the green points jersey, and Vaugrenard will be in the polka dot tomorrow.
Stage Results
1 Steve Schets Rabobank 3h46'35
2 Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
4 Matthew Goss Team CSC Saxo Bank s.t. 5 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia s.t.
6 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia s.t.
7 Aurélien Passeron Silence - Lotto s.t.
8 Sébastien Chavanel Française des Jeux s.t.
9 Matti Breschel Team CSC Saxo Bank s.t.
10 Lluis Guillermo Mas Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
General Classification
1 Héctor González Saunier Duval - Scott 3h56'42 2 Sergio Pardilla Team Columbia + 11
3 Thomas Brigaud Astana Cycling Team s.t. 4 Bradley Wiggins Team Columbia + 12
5 Andreas Klöden Agritubel + 16
Points Classification
1 Steve Schets Rabobank 35 35
2 Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom 30 30
3 Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne 26 26
4 Matthew Goss Team CSC Saxo Bank 24 24 5 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia 22 22
6 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia 20 20
7 Aurélien Passeron Silence - Lotto 19 19
8 Sébastien Chavanel Française des Jeux 18 18
9 Matti Breschel Team CSC Saxo Bank 17 17
10 Lluis Guillermo Mas Caisse d'Epargne 16 16
Mountain Classification
1 Benoit Vaugrenard Caisse d'Epargne 3 3
2 Christian Murro Lampre 2 2
3 Mickael Buffaz AG2R La Mondiale 1 1
