Tour de France at the rest day
Jul. 17th, 2011 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philmophlegmI don't often do cycling posts because I'm not sure that anyone other than pellegrina has any interest in cycling. If you do, then please shout up. (And I don't count people who ride on bicycles, I mean people interested in the sport, and specifically road racing.)
I'm going to make an exception because we might, just might be on the brink of one of the biggest stories in cycling in years. And maybe some of you might take more of an interest if you knew this.
Take a look at my userpic. The gentleman in the multicoloured* jersey is Bernard Hinault. Monsieur Hinault was the last French rider***** to win the Tour de France, back in 1985. Since then, the late Laurent Fignon came closest, losing to the American Greg Lemond by just eight seconds in 1989******. Since then, no French rider has really come close. If you consider how much gnashing and wailing there is because Britain hasn't produced a Wimbledon singles champion since 1977, then bear in mind that cycling is France's national sport, not a niche minority event only of interest for two weeks a year.
In recent years, there has been a succession of 'great French hopes' - the likes of Luc Leblanc, Richard Virenque, Laurent Jalabert and Sylvain Chavanel. Those riders had success in different ways, but none ever became a real contender for Yellow.
In the last couple of years, the situation has got even worse. Not only did France fail to produce Yellow Jersey contenders, it failed to produce elite cyclists at all. The highest ranked French cyclist in 2010 was a gutsy but generally limited rider from the Alsace via Martinique by the name of Thomas Voeckler. Last year, he won a stage of the Tour and was French champion and that was definitely considered a good year.
This year, everything has changed.
Voeckler first grabbed the attention of the cycling world in 2004 when he led the Tour for ten days, having been in a breakaway group that gained a lot of time in the first week. He seemed to gain strength from being in Yellow and survived the Pyrenees despite not being considered a climber. Only in the Alps was Lance Armstrong able to take the jersey off him.
And in a way, history is repeating itself this year. Once again, Voeckler took Yellow by being in a breakaway that got a lot of time over the peloton. And once again, he's survived the Pyrenees to take the Yellow Jersey through to tomorrow's rest day. Up until yesterday's stage to Plateau de Beille, pretty much everyone thought that while he might hang on to the Jersey for a couple more days, he would probably lose a lot of time on that stage, and then give it up when the race reached the Alps.
Except that...
When we got to yesterday's big mountain stage, not only was Voeckler able to stay with the climbers and the favourites, he probably looked stronger than any of them. Alberto Contador doesn't look to be in good form. He's won the race three times and won the Giro d'Italia in May by a big margin, but possibly the Giro and the Tour was too much in one year. The Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank tried to attack but every time their attacks were pulled back, often by Voeckler himself. Cadel Evans may be the biggest threat, but even he wasn't able to gain any time.
As we go to the rest day, Voeckler has a lead of 1 minute and 49 seconds over Frank Schleck and more than 2 minutes over everyone else. There's still the Alps to come (with particularly hard stages on Thursday and Friday) and then an individual time trial on Saturday (and he's not a great time triallist compared to the likes of Evans and Contador), so Voeckler is certainly not favourite even with a two minute lead. But he is definitely a contender. And the French haven't had a genuine contender in the final week of the Tour in over twenty years.
A word of caution to French fans though, from Voeckler himself today: “If I say it with any honesty at all, I have no chance to win the Tour this year”. If he does somehow win, it will be the biggest story in cycling in years and he'll be the most popular winner in decades (and not just in France).
* Back in those days, there was a competition for the rider who was on average best placed in all three of the yellow**, green*** and polka dot**** jersey competitions, and he wore this rather garish multicoloured jersey.
** Overall race leader
*** Points leader
**** Best climber
***** We're talking about the men's race, not the Tour Feminin.
****** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RV2ukMPNc
I'm going to make an exception because we might, just might be on the brink of one of the biggest stories in cycling in years. And maybe some of you might take more of an interest if you knew this.
Take a look at my userpic. The gentleman in the multicoloured* jersey is Bernard Hinault. Monsieur Hinault was the last French rider***** to win the Tour de France, back in 1985. Since then, the late Laurent Fignon came closest, losing to the American Greg Lemond by just eight seconds in 1989******. Since then, no French rider has really come close. If you consider how much gnashing and wailing there is because Britain hasn't produced a Wimbledon singles champion since 1977, then bear in mind that cycling is France's national sport, not a niche minority event only of interest for two weeks a year.
In recent years, there has been a succession of 'great French hopes' - the likes of Luc Leblanc, Richard Virenque, Laurent Jalabert and Sylvain Chavanel. Those riders had success in different ways, but none ever became a real contender for Yellow.
In the last couple of years, the situation has got even worse. Not only did France fail to produce Yellow Jersey contenders, it failed to produce elite cyclists at all. The highest ranked French cyclist in 2010 was a gutsy but generally limited rider from the Alsace via Martinique by the name of Thomas Voeckler. Last year, he won a stage of the Tour and was French champion and that was definitely considered a good year.
This year, everything has changed.
Voeckler first grabbed the attention of the cycling world in 2004 when he led the Tour for ten days, having been in a breakaway group that gained a lot of time in the first week. He seemed to gain strength from being in Yellow and survived the Pyrenees despite not being considered a climber. Only in the Alps was Lance Armstrong able to take the jersey off him.
And in a way, history is repeating itself this year. Once again, Voeckler took Yellow by being in a breakaway that got a lot of time over the peloton. And once again, he's survived the Pyrenees to take the Yellow Jersey through to tomorrow's rest day. Up until yesterday's stage to Plateau de Beille, pretty much everyone thought that while he might hang on to the Jersey for a couple more days, he would probably lose a lot of time on that stage, and then give it up when the race reached the Alps.
Except that...
When we got to yesterday's big mountain stage, not only was Voeckler able to stay with the climbers and the favourites, he probably looked stronger than any of them. Alberto Contador doesn't look to be in good form. He's won the race three times and won the Giro d'Italia in May by a big margin, but possibly the Giro and the Tour was too much in one year. The Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank tried to attack but every time their attacks were pulled back, often by Voeckler himself. Cadel Evans may be the biggest threat, but even he wasn't able to gain any time.
As we go to the rest day, Voeckler has a lead of 1 minute and 49 seconds over Frank Schleck and more than 2 minutes over everyone else. There's still the Alps to come (with particularly hard stages on Thursday and Friday) and then an individual time trial on Saturday (and he's not a great time triallist compared to the likes of Evans and Contador), so Voeckler is certainly not favourite even with a two minute lead. But he is definitely a contender. And the French haven't had a genuine contender in the final week of the Tour in over twenty years.
A word of caution to French fans though, from Voeckler himself today: “If I say it with any honesty at all, I have no chance to win the Tour this year”. If he does somehow win, it will be the biggest story in cycling in years and he'll be the most popular winner in decades (and not just in France).
* Back in those days, there was a competition for the rider who was on average best placed in all three of the yellow**, green*** and polka dot**** jersey competitions, and he wore this rather garish multicoloured jersey.
** Overall race leader
*** Points leader
**** Best climber
***** We're talking about the men's race, not the Tour Feminin.
****** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RV2ukMPNc
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-18 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-18 06:48 pm (UTC)Your post made for an interesting conversation over dinner, so thank you. He's not convinced Voeckler has a realistic chance of winning but takes the point about him being the best French contender for some time.