20 July 2013
The Tour is nearly over. I admit this
last stage worked out nearly perfectly. Very good racing from
several riders. Rolland did not get the KOM jersey, which will upset
some French people, but one of the two best climbers in the race won
it. Nairo Quintana. Stage win, young rider's white jersey and KOM
jersey. Quite a debut. No one will say “who?” after this
performance. He is now going to be one of the favourites for any
stage race he enters, and any mountain stage he rides. Rolland gave
it a try, but he simply is not the best climber. Full stop. Not
even by the slightly warped system that is used by the Tour to
determine that jersey. In my mind, he lacks any sort of racing
intelligence. And somehow his directors do not tell him what to do.
It was rather apt, almost poetic to watch the three podium finishers
ride up the last hill together, with Valverde trailing slightly and
Talansky trying really hard to make the top ten. Rodriguez made some
effort to drop the other two, but they were as good as he was.
Froome made an attack to clean out the rest of the riders, or for
some reason that I don't understand. I am pretty sure he did not
want to win the stage, even if he could have. Bad taste. Rodriguez
led them up the climb trying to find a few seconds to get hm on the
podium. Quintana waited until the end, then simply accelerated to
win the stage. Valverde never gave up, and got fourth. Contador
just did not have that little bit extra today, or even during most of
the Tour. That is, he was as good as anyone but the very best, but
he was not the very best. We even saw young Talansky dig deep, so he
caught and passed Contador. Tejay should have been there too, but
the young have to learn somehow.
Before I go into any details, I LOVED
seeing Jens Voigt out in front for so long. The guy is the oldest
guy in the peloton and he simply rides like the wind forever.
Admittedly he can't climb like the actual climbers, so we knew he
would probably get caught. But if he had won, it would have been
ever better. Quintana has many years to win stages, and he will.
Jens, he went out on a high. Although for all we know, he will be
back next year. What team would leave him out of the Tour. He could
ride for anyone.
The results of the stage followed the
previous patterns. More an evolution that a big change all at once.
Quintana and Rodriguez moved up one and two places respectively to
make the podium. Contador dropped down two place to make room for
them. Alberto was one of the losers of the day, and as far as I can
tell, he ought to change his training methods. The idea that he was
constantly saying he would be strong in the third week was silly. He
should be ready the first week, and get stronger as time goes on. He
was badly prepared. He should be ready and strong in the first week.
I am beginning to believe he really is not serious enough and spends
too much time at home with his family. He is so good he will win a
bit here and there, but until he buckles down and gets serious, his
glory days are over. Maybe he does not care. His teammate Kreuziger
dropped one place, but he was helping Alberto at all times. So it is
very that he finished that well, overall and on the day. He will be
one rider who might wonder what would have happened if he had been
free to go on his own. Mollema and Fuglsang both kept their places.
I hope they confirm their level in the near future, and this is not
just a one off. Mollema no doubt will, I am not so sure about
Fuglsang. Valverde moved up one place to be solidly anchored in the
top ten. He must still be slightly annoyed about his wheel, and the
wind at the exact moment he needed a new one. Andrew Talansky moved
up two places to join the top ten. Navarro dropped one place, but he
also made the top ten.
Other small losers of the day were
Laurens ten Dam who dropped another two places to what I think is his
rightful level, 13th. Rogers also dropped two places, but
he had a simple job this year, and finishing in the top ten was not
part of the job description. Helping Alberto win was his job.
Everyone else in the top twenty pretty much stayed the same. Andy
Schleck finished in the top twenty. Bravo. I surely hope he gets
his act together, and gets serious about training and riding at the
top level. Otherwise he is a has-been, even a rider who never was
what he could have been.
As far as the jerseys go. Quintana won
the spotted jersey and the young jersey, both throughly deserved.
That guy is going to make cycling history. As the older cyclists
fade a bit, it is always reassuring to see the new ones move into the
limelight. Sagan and Froome have not really been threatened since
they took their jerseys. That's about it.
Just as they would wish, I want to
visit that area for sure one day. The lake was lovely, and my wife
loves that area, so it will happen, one day. And tomorrow we get
Versailles and the Champs Elysée at dusk. I am hoping for a Cav
win. He might not win that many more stages in the Tour with all the
young guys coming up. Today one of his rivals, Sagan, did a one
handed wheelie and a back wheel skid as he came over the line with
his four teammates. I suppose Sagan will try to win on the Champs,
but he does not have to bother, maybe he will let the true sprinters
duke it out.
The flops this year were guys like
Evans (perhaps the biggest flop of all), Hesjedal, Dan Martin
(illness?), Matthew Goss (who never even showed up for a decent
sprint), Pinot and Bouhanni (both for injury or illness reasons, but
also because they were not ready for action), Tejay van Garderen (who
showed he could have been a player, but was not), Voeckler (who was
invisible) and Schleck (who promised a bit, but never even delivered
on that). The riders who either surprised or confirmed what we
already knew, especially the young ones, were Quintana, Fuglsang,
Mollema, Kwiatowski and Talansky. But I also think that many were
surprised by the “best French rider”, who was Romain Bardet.
Those of us who follow cycling closely knew about him, but he did
show us he can ride a three week Tour pretty well. Not
as well as Quintana's first Tour, and he will never beat Quintana,
but still, good job.
From another blog, Inring.
“And
if you want to know the difference between the pros and the amateurs,
Ramunas Navardauskas was the last finisher on Mont Semnoz was still
faster than the winner of the Etape du Tour, the cyclo event held on
the same course two weeks ago. Navardauskas
has been racing almost every day for the last three weeks.”
Still too early to say how
my various fantasy teams did, but I have hunch two of them did very
well indeed, one was very mediocre, and the other slightly above
average. In any case, they really do add a bit of interest. What
can I say about my abilities in that direction? Above average
maybe, but not all that wise, knowledgable or careful in my choices.
It would be so much easier if I had a pal who also was picking teams,
someone I could talk to about it. But most of my pals would not
waste their time on such trivial useless stuff. Still.
