hehe I was sure that you would obtain it (if you do not believe me he reads the post that I wrote at the beginning of the Tour where I was saying to you that you would obtain it ) It has been incredible to see a Skil rider rising to the final podium of Paris... and more to gather an award as important as the KoM!
This history is an authentic enjoyment. Also it is serving to me to learn many things since Im a new "historian" in the forum
It's been truly amazing Pelli. It's been the best Tour report in the history of this website, imo. You got that nice victory with Timmer and we have seen epic fight for the KOM, with Bonnin. Quite amazing really.
Edited by Alakagom on 18-12-2011 10:25
Thanks a lot everyone. It's great to see so many followers.
@ alakagom: Wow, a big extra thank you for the incredibly nice words. But Kittel didn't win a stage, Timmer did.
Post Tour summary
Surprises
Robert Gesink showed his true potential in this Tour. He stayed on his bike for the whole race and also demonstrated that his climbing and timetrialling has improved a lot since the last Tour. Those things together created a very surprising Tour winner.
Sure, we knew Klöden was good, but I couldn't imagine him finishing on the final podium, less than a minute away from the victory. The German proved me, and many others wrong though, and was probably the second strongest in the mountains, behind Schleck. If he hadn't failed in the time trial, he'd have won this Tour.
Sixth overall as a helper. That's quite impressive when your name is Bauke Mollema. He stayed with his team mate and eventual Tour winner Gesink on most harder stages and therefore stayed high up in the GC thanks to his team's strong team time trial. Giro and Vuelta next year for him, as leader?
The two Swedes, Kessiakoff and Löfkvist both entered this Tour expected to help their respective team captains, Kreuziger and Wiggins. However, when those two proved to be weak, their helpers filled up, both finishing in the Top 10. Sure, Wiggins did finish one place ahead of Löfkvist in the GC, but that was thanks to his two solo wins in the Alps.
Matthew Goss was prepared to do some hard work for Mark Cavendish in the sprints, but when the Manx Missile was out of shape and missed the time limit, Goss took over, winning two stages and the Green Jersey on the way to Paris. Next year he and Cavendish will be rivals, not team mates. Cav will certainly have to be in much better shape if he wants to take green then.
I honestly didn't think it would be possible, but all the work we done to get into the breakaways actually payed off with Bonnin taking over the King of the Mountains jersey on the final stage. Possibly the biggest surprise in the whole race.
Andy Schleck might have finished second overall, but with probably the most fitting route ever in the Tour and Contador out, this was an almost too good opportunity for him. However, his weak timetrialling once again punished him, losing the Tour on the penultimate stage. I doubt he'll ever win if this continues.
Ivan Basso said before the race that he was here for the overall victory and nothing else. I'd say he never came close. A collapse already on the first Pyrenean stage saw him losing four minutes to his big rivals, time that he wasn't able to gain back. 19th in the overall is definitely not what he wanted. I guess it was once again riding the Giro-Tour double that stopped him.
If Basso failed, then I don't know what Samuel Sanchez did. He looked super strong all the way to Plateau de Beille, where he cracked completely, lost huge time and got degraded to team mate role, helping Igor Anton, who went on to finish fourth. The team is probably fine with it, but I doubt Sanchez is.
Fail in the Giro, fail in the Tour. This season hasn't been too bright for Scarponi. It's still unclear what went wrong in the Giro, but it seems to me that it was the same thing that happened here. Fortunately for Lampre, Przemyslaw Niemiec saved the team by finishing 7th overall.
Together with Contador, maybe the biggest failure of all. Pierre Rolland started the Tour as the French hope, the home crowd finally dreaming of a Frenchman finishing on the final podium. Those plans crumbled already on stage one, where Rolland couldn't follow the peloton on the flat. That trend continued, with the Europcar rider looking like he aimed for Lantern Rouge.
Philippe Gilbert didn't fail, but didn't have a successful Tour either. He did finish third in the points competition, but he didn't win a single stage, something I really think he wanted to do. He definitely had the form, he just didn't have the legs.
One of the, imo, biggest failures in the whole Tour came from the whole Garmin team. Their strong lineup with Thor Hushovd, Tyler Farrar and Heinrich Haussler weren't able to win one single stage and therefore definitely underperformed. Ryder Hesjedal saved the team a little bit with some nice breakaways.
Thanks again! Nice to hear you enjoyed the review.
During the last days of the Tour, we've also been in Italy, and the Brixia Tour. It's a small stage race, usually a quite mountainous one, taking on some climbs around the Brescia area. Famous winners of the race are for example Igor Astarloa, Davide Rebellin and Domenico Pozzovivo.
Skil squad:
Fröhlinger will go for an overall result here, in the absence of his compatriot and German champion Geschke. The rest of the team is pretty much the same as the one we used in Austria, Doi and Sprick as luxury helpers for Fröhlinger, while Kluge will be going for mass sprints.
20.07 - 24.07: Brixia Tour
Stage 1
Palazzolo sull'Oglio
A medium length team time trial will open up the race, in order to cause some gaps between the riders. We'll be limiting our losses.
As hugely expected, Garmin was the fastest team out on the course, putting young American Andrew Talansky in the first yellow jersey. We did pretty well I think, 9th without a single 70+ timetriallist.
Already here the first of two mountain top finishes in this race. This one is the easier of the two, taking on two climbs, with the latter climbing up to Cima Poffe and the finish line.
After great work by Doi and Sprick up the final climb, Fröhlinger attacked with just one and a half kilometres to go, holding off Astana's Francesco Masciarelli for the stage win. Race leader Talansky kept Fröhlinger behind him in the overall by a few hundreds.
Back on the flat with stage three, and a first opportunity for the sprinters to test their speed. Mass sprint heavily expected.
One man proved to be a level above the others, Roger Kluge. After a perfect leadout from Martin Reimer, he just left the others in the dust with a kilometer to go, winning by a huge margin to Sacha Modolo.
The penultimate day in this race provided the queens stage, finishing up the slopes of the mighty Passo Maniva, or is it Fai della Paganella, from Giro del Trentino? Either way, it's another hard day in the mountains.
Dèjá-vu stage two in the final kilometres, as a smart Fröhlinger covered all attacks from his main rivals before launching out of Masciarelli's wheel in the final kilometer, celebrating a second stage win.
The race ends with a celebration stage, an easy day for the overall contenders and another chance for the sprinters. Two out of two for Kluge perhaps?
Nah. The breakaway made it all the way to the finish, where relatively unknown Czech Frantisek Padour (PSK) got the better of breakaway companions Bernard Colex (Amore & Vita) and Stijn Vandenbergh (Katusha). Michel Kreder (Garmin) lead home the peloton a couple of minutes later. Fröhlinger finished well inside it, saeling up overall victory.
