VeloHuman

Tag: Marcel Kittel

  • Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 Preview

    T-A2012

    Top Talent Everywhere at Tirreno-Adriatico

    Being able to watch two WorldTour stage races at the same time is almost too good to be true. Paris-Nice has kicked off already, and it’s been a thrilling ride so far, with three different sprinters winning the opening three stages; Bouhanni and Degenkolb were well above the competition in stages 1 and 3, respectively, and Moreno Hofland (VH did tell you he looked great this season!) made a brilliant WorldTour entrance on stage 2. There is even more action on the way tomorrow with the beginning of the “Race of the Two Seas,” boasting a start list packed with talent from all angles and specialties. While Paris-Nice took an unconventional approach to stage planning this year, drawing up a course with no mountaintop finishes and no time trials, Tirreno-Adriatico looks to be an archetypical stage race, opening with a team time trial, offering a few flat sprinters’ days and a few days in the mountains for the climbers, and then closing with an individual time trial. This race was made for a true blue GC rider at the head of a strong team.

    Before I dive in: don’t forget to follow the just-launched @VeloHuman on Twitter for more news and views during the race! And as usual, if you just want to cut straight to the GC Top 10 predictions, they’re at the bottom of this post.

    All-Rounder Roundup

    True blue GC riders leading strong teams are all over the startlist. First on the docket is a rider who wasn’t scheduled to ride this race until just this weekend, when Plan A, Chris Froome (who was 2nd last year to Vincenzo Nibali, currently at Paris-Nice), withdrew from Tirreno-Adriatico with back pain. Richie Porte steps into his place. The Australian was set to defend his Paris-Nice title, but he may have lucked out; with his combination of TT ability and long haul climbing, T-A seems to suit him much better than P-N. He’ll also have the benefit of a great chrono team on the opening stage, as Sky brings Bradley Wiggins, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Dario Cataldo, and Ian Stannard as well. Wiggins was another late addition, and after he announced a plan to also ride the Volta a Catalunya, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Sir Bradley with his own GC ambitions.

    Tinkoff Saxo’s Alberto Contador nabbed 3rd place and the Points Classification of last year’s edition. He’s off to a hot start, winning a stage and taking 2nd in the Volta ao Algarve. He’ll bring quite a team to the 2014 race, with elite climbers Nicolas Roche and Roman Kreuziger (also looking sharp) to serve as impressive seconds. Tinkoff-Saxo will be a very difficult team to beat.

    Nairo Quintana and his Movistar squad will also bring serious firepower, with a squad well selected for this race: Quintana will love the uphill mileage but he’ll struggle on the final day’s time trial; good thing for him that Movistar is likely to set him up nicely from the first stage with some top men against the clock, including Alex Dowsett, Jonathan Castroviejo and Adriano Malori. Benat Intxausti, Igor Anton, Eros Capecchi, and Andrey Amador (surprisingly 8th here last year), will provide quite a buffer of talent on the hills as well. With the kind of form he showed in the Tour de San Luis, Quintana could put serious time on anyone not climbing at an elite level right now. I think it’s likely he will.

    BMC’s Cadel Evans has looked good in the early goings, and he’s won here in the past. With his all-round abilities, he can be a strong player in the GC game at this race. Other than Philippe Gilbert, he won’t have the name recognition supporting him that the other big GC guys will have, but Darwin Atapuma will make a strong ally on the slopes.

    OPQS is bringing a pairing of potential team leaders, making it difficult for opponents to plan accordingly. One of the hottest riders in the peloton right now is Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski, and he’ll roll into T-A as a great candidate for the overall, especially with the stalwart support of the team’s world-beating time trial skills giving him an advantage right out of the gate. He’s also a good pick to have the best final day chrono of any GC contender, as he excels in that discipline, especially over short distances. Meanwhile, OPQS is also sending top climber Rigoberto Uran, who will be a favorite on both mountain stages, and who will also be helped by the TTT. He was one of the strongest riders in the Tour of Oman, where he finished on the podium.

    I think the top of the leaderboard will be very tight among these top favorites. All of them are big names with big support and proven Grand Tour style talent, with the exception of Kwiatkowksi, who makes up for what he lacks in experience with on fire form. But this is one of the most impressive startlists you’ll see for a one week stage race this year, and that doesn’t simply apply to the top favorites.

    A number of challenger squads are taking a 1-2 punch approach: Belkin’s pairing of Robert Gesink (looking sharp so far) and Bauke Mollema will make them very difficult to plan against; both riders are very well-rounded, which will be helpful in this race. Garmin-Sharp brings their own top duo of Andrew Talansky and Daniel Martin, and there’s something for both of them here: Andrew Talansky has the big tank necessary for the long haul climb of stage 4 (and the finishing time trial), while Martin is just the type of rider to explode up the sloping finish of stage 5, and his style won’t be too hampered by the time trial, which will be short enough that he can probably cope; however, the form of both Garmin riders is an unknown. AG2R’s Domenico Pozzovivo and Jean-Christophe Peraud, both excellent uphill sloggers and both off to strong starts this year, will make a formidable mini-train when the road goes skyward. Lampre-Merida could go with the hot hand of Italian wunderkind Diego Ulissi, a force in the bonus seconds game and a strong presence at the Tour Down Under, or with newly acquired vet Chris Horner, who, despite being teamless for most of the offseason, looked like he hadn’t lost much form when he took to the slopes at the Volta ao Algarve. Astana sends former winner Michele Scarponi, looking alright so far this year, and Tanel Kangert, who gets better at climbing every day.

    Dani Moreno gets to race on his own in a rare occurrence, and he tends to do well enough as it is when he’s second to Purito; watch out for him here with bonus seconds in play and an ITT short enough not to disadvantage him too heavily. Thibaut Pinot pulled out of Oman, making his form an unknown, but he’s a contender if he’s in shape, though FDJ’s weak TTT squad won’t help his cause; Alexandre Geniez is another option. Europcar’s Pierre Rolland is in a similar boat. Jurgen van den Broeck hasn’t showed much this year, but he’ll head up Lotto’s GC ambitions. Ivan Basso is yet another bringing unknown form but obvious talent. Robert Kiserlovski is probably Trek’s go to GC man, and he’ll at least have a decent start thanks to Cancellara and Co. in the opening stage.

    Stagehunters

    The list of riders here to chase stages is perhaps even more impressive. The four biggest names in sprinting will be in attendance, namely, Andre Greipel, Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, and Peter Sagan. Greipel looks amazing right now and Kittel took several wins in Dubai. Mark Cavendish got started a bit later than Greipel and Kittel, but he took a stage win against very talented sprinters in the Volta ao Algarve. Sagan is his usual self, probably just a hair behind the big three pure sprinters but always lurking, and he’ll be gunning for the slightly uphill third stage finish. FDJ’s Arnaud Demare (who can probably handle stage 3 as well), Lampre’s very hot Sacha Modolo, MTN-Qhubeka’s Gerald Ciolek, and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Daniele Bennati and Michael Morkov will try to nab a sprint victory from the bigger names. Philippe Gilbert could also feature on the third stage. I’d love to see a guy like Sam Bennett take a stage win here but with such a talented field, it’s hard to see guys on the fringe with much of a shot.

    Not to be outdone by the caliber of sprinting talent in attendance, the three biggest names in time-trialing will set out from Donoratico as well: Tony Martin, Bradley Wiggins, and Fabian Cancellara. The final stage will be a treat for fans of chronos with so many TT specialists and GC contenders with TT ability gunning for victory. Orica-GreenEdge seems to have brought a squad hellbent on performing in both the opening team time trial and the final short ITT, with Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Cam Meyer and Svein Tuft all making the start. Every stage of this race really will feature top talents in every cycling specialty.

    VeloHuman Predictions

    GC Winner: Nairo Quintana

    GC Podium: Michal Kwiatkowski, Richie Porte

    GC Top 10: Alberto Contador, Rigoberto Uran, Domenico Pozzovivo, Cadel Evans, Diego Ulissi, Robert Gesink, Andrew Talansky

    Check back in soon for post-race analysis and the next VH race preview (Milano-Sanremo is less than two weeks away). In the meantime, look for more news and views @VeloHuman on Twitter.

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Antonio Cinotti.

  • Coasting Through February

    1stFebruaryPicA

    Takeaways from the Early-year Interlude 

    We are two weeks into February and still, two long weeks remain until March, the month of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-San Remo and Gent Wevelgem. Until then, a few notes about the past several weeks in the peloton. We may not have had any WorldTour contests to follow, but the gap between the Tour Down Under and the spring classics is not entirely without action, much of it offering a fine glimpse into early season form for some big names.

    Orica-GreenEdge followed up their Tour Down Under victory with an overall win at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, with Simon Clarke nabbing GC honors. Teammate Simon Gerrans also found himself in the top 10; if he can maintain this sort of form into next month, he’ll be a strong contender to nab Monument number 2 in San Remo. Meanwhile, Avanti’s Jack Haig, winner of the young rider’s jersey at the Tour Down Under, nabbed the final spot on the Herald Sun Tour podium; the 20 year old is making a name for himself, taking his opportunities when they’ve come. Garmin-Sharp’s Nathan Haas (5th in the Tour Down Under) continued to show off his talent with another top 5 performance. He’s a pleasant surprise for Garmin early in 2014, and it’s likely we’ll see the squad continue to give him chances as the year goes on.

    The Asia Tour offered back to back races in the Arabian peninsula to start the month, both of them mostly flat affairs essentially decided in a single stage. Taylor Phinney’s time trial victory in the opening day of the Dubai Tour (an impressive win over Tony Martin, though perhaps less indicative of form than of changing windspeeds between their start times that day) gave him enough of a time gap to hold on for the overall through the end of the race; Marcel Kittel nabbed all three other stage victories with dominant sprints. It’s a good sign for the young German, who had a disappointing trip to Australia last month. In the subsequent Tour of Qatar, Niki Terpstra jumped ahead of the peloton on a crosswind-heavy first stage and hung on at the top for the rest of the week. His team dominated the Tour, with FIVE of their riders finishing in the top 10. The performance of one of those riders made a strong statement, especially after his frustrating, injury-riddled 2013: Tom Boonen nabbed two stage wins, 3rd overall, and the points classification in Qatar. It’s a good sign he’s back on track, though the Pro Continental level Tour of Qatar, in which main rival Fabian Cancellara was mostly just picking up some training miles, is not Paris-Roubaix. We’ll see if this form holds. Lotto-Belisol also had a fine Tour, with Andre Greipel nabbing a stage win and Jurgen Roelandts picking up 3rd overall. Arnaud Demare, looking to make a name for himself in the classics this year, took a fine stage victory on the final day. Perhaps a little more under-the-radar, Aidis Kruopis of Orica-GreenEdge and Sam Bennett of NetApp-Endura both had strong performances with a number of high placings at stage finishes.

    On the Europe Tour, the four races of Vuelta a Mallorca went to Sacha Modolo, Sacha Modolo again, Michal Kwiatkowski, and Gianni Meersman. Francisco Ventoso and Francesco Gavazzi also had nice visits to the Spanish island, which is always a good place for all-rounders with fast finishes to show their stuff.

    On a less positive note, Giacomo Nizzolo suffered a broken collarbone in a training crash this week and will likely be out for several weeks. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery in time for some of the later classics of the year.

    In other news, it’s been ten years since the death of Il Pirata, Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner Marco Pantani, who stood on multiple Grand Tour podiums and won over a dozen Grand Tour stages in his colorful career before his untimely death. So many riders at the top of today’s peloton were teenagers when Pantani won his yellow jersey, and his famously aggressive style made a big impact on many of them. His well-documented usage of various substances is a reminder of a low point for the sport, but while time can only tell whether those same problems still live on, watch many of today’s elite climbers vaunt out of the saddle on an all-out attack up an Alpine slope and you’ll see Pantani’s athletic influence alive and well.

    The Tour Mediterranean heads into the mountains this weekend. Not long after, the Tour of Oman kicks off in Suwayq and the Volta ao Algarve begins in Faro, Portugal. Only a few more weeks of Continental level racing remain before the spring’s biggest races. Keep an eye out for more at VeloHuman, and be ready for a March (and beyond) full of previews.

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Mark Swallow.

  • Tour Down Under 2014 Preview

    Nuriootpa

    Lifting the Curtain on the 2014 WorldTour

    The long offseason break is finally coming to an end. The WorldTour peloton is getting clipped back in at the 2014 Santos Tour Down Under this Tuesday in Nuriootpa (and a sizeable group is also gearing up for the Tour de San Luis in Argentina instead). While the cyclocross season draws to its conclusion in the frigid Northern Hemisphere, the WorldTour kicks off under the hot Australian sun. Since we last watched the biggest names in the sport hunting for success on the road, the cycling world has seen a few changes, as it does every year. Some big names have moved to new teams. A few new faces will make appearances at the highest level, where others have hung up the proverbial cleats. Vacansoleil and Euskaltel will be conspicuously absent from the roads Down Under, their long tenures in the pro ranks now complete. Meanwhile, Europcar has been elevated to the top level, guaranteeing that we’ll be seeing a lot more of the French squad. After so many dull days waiting for the next event, the ever popular Tour Down Under will finally offer the year’s first in-competition look at the 2014 WorldTour peloton.

    The six-stage race has gotten hillier and hillier over the past few years; there was a time when star sprinter Andre Greipel could win the General Classification (he did, twice), but that time is probably past. While there are no real mountains along the road to the finish line in Adelaide, there are several steep climbs that will force selection before the week is done.

    All-rounder Roundup

    With almost two months until the next race on the WorldTour calendar, the Tour Down Under is always a race full of uncertainty–it’s hard to tell who is on form this early in the season. Only a handful of competitions have been held thus far in the year, leaving little data worth utilizing for prediction. Fortunately, a number of the race’s biggest stars just engaged in a clash of Aussie Titans at the Australian National Championship title last week. The collection of high profile names didn’t disappoint: unsurprisingly, at the end of the day it was Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans, and Richie Porte vying for the finish line. Gerrans, whose burst has nabbed him so many wins over his career, was easily the fastest man to the line, leaving elder statesman Cadel Evans to settle for runner-up and Porte in third. Fresh off their perfomances in Nationals, the trio of Aussie riders are all numbered among the favorites for this week’s Tour Down Under, with new champion Gerrans at the head of the line.

    Even had he not just shown his current condition, Gerrans would have the make up to be considered a major contender in this race. Not only has he won it twice already, in 2006 and 2012, but the race suits him more and more these days as short, steep climbs are injected to add excitement to the contest. The former Milan-San Remo winner has explosiveness in spades, and we’re sure to see it on Corkscrew Hill in stage 3 and Old Willunga Hill in stage 5. Having demonstrated his form, Gerrans is the man to beat in his home tour, and it doesn’t hurt that he’ll have some of Oz’s finest pros backing him. He can rely on the likes of Daryl Impey and Simon Clarke as stellar support (or second choices if need be) when the going gets tough.

    TDU2012S1

    Cadel Evans, for one, won’t be going down without a fight. He still feels he has a lot left in the tank and he’ll want to use this opportunity to prove it. He may not have the punch of Gerrans, but he’s no slouch for quick speed, he’s clearly in form, and he’ll have a nice supporting cast with last year’s 5th place finisher in this event, Ben Hermans, at his side. Richie Porte, meanwhile, heads into 2014 with the loftiest ambitions of his career, setting his sights on a Grand Tour victory and hoping to claim a spot among the sport’s top stage racers. Grand Tour season is a long way off, but Porte looked good at Nationals. He doesn’t have the explosiveness or finishing move of his aforementioned compatriots, but he’s a determined contender, and he’s also quite a bit younger. Sky also has Geraint Thomas, 3rd in last year’s edition, as a second card to play, though the bumps in the road may not quite suit his skillset; still he’s a multi-talented, aggressive rider who has shown a knack for success here,and his fast finish could be vital in a race for bonus seconds. Bernie Eisel and Ian Stannard are along for support as well.

    Rohan Dennis might have been another high finisher in last weeks Australian Nationals, but he caught a bit of misfortune in the run-up to the race, crashing while time trialing. The incident did not leave him seriously injured, but it did cause him a fair bit of pain from which he is still recovering. The young all-rounder from Garmin-Sharp pulled out of the champs race but has had more time to recover since then, and he showed a very versatile array of skills in 2013. Depending on how well he has healed up, Dennis could pose a major challenge to his more established countrymen in the GC competition–he was 5th in the 2012 edition when he was just 21 years old, and he’s shown serious improvement on all levels of his game since then.

    However, a second round of Australian Nationals this race is not; it’s a WorldTour competition, and it draws serious world-class, international talent. There will be plenty of challengers, familiar and not-so-familiar, hungry to pick up the first big race of the year far from home. Last year’s winner Tom-Jelte Slagter will be absent from the startline, so a repeat victory is not in the cards for him. His former team Belkin sends one of its top talents to pick up the slack in Robert Gesink. An up-and-down 2013 ended on a rather high note when Gesink redeemed his lackluster Giro d’Italia with a surprise win in Quebec, a top 10 in Lombardy and another top 10 in the Tour of Beijing. He showed a greatly improved finishing kick in his late season success, and with Jack Bobridge (the 5th place finisher in last week’s Nationals) and two other Aussies as well as workhorse Stef Clement for backup, Gesink could be a force to be reckoned with.

    Few teams are coming to this race as stacked as Movistar, which is probably a sentence that can apply to most of their races these days. The Tour Down Under squad, however, does not include the team’s two biggest names, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. Instead, the group is composed of a bevy of versatile riders hungry for a chance at glory while their more well-known teammates are elsewhere. For the rest of the year, Javier Moreno will likely ride in support of said teammates, but January in Australia is the time and place for Javier Moreno to make his mark on the WorldTour. He was runner-up and King of the Mountains in the 2013 edition and 8th the year before that, and he’ll have a powerful team backing him. I’m not sure I see him standing atop the podium, but another top 10 finish seems attainable. JJ Rojas may focus more on nabbing single stages, but it’s possible that he might aim for GC as well. Giovanni Visconti could have been another strong option in this race, but he unfortunately suffered a broken leg this weekend and will be sidelined for weeks while he recovers.

    I see Jan Bakelants, riding at the head of new team Omega Pharma-Quick Step, as one of the most dangerous challengers in this race. 6th here in 2012, Bakelants really came into his own in 2013, with a stage win in the Tour de France, top 10s in the Eneco Tour and the Tour of Beijing, and a one day victory at the Grand Prix de Wallonie. In all of these events, he earned his success with strong climbing ability and a fast finish, which, as has already been mentioned, will be necessary to challenge for GC here. Also boasting top-shelf climbing punch and a fast finish, and also coming off a career year, Lampre’s Diego Ulissi is the other non-Aussie I consider among the most likely contenders in this race. Ulissi does have a habit of disappearing in big races (late last year he was a non-factor through most of the Vuelta, in the World Championship Road Race, and in Il Lombardia, while claiming a string of fantastic victories in one-day Italian races during the very same time period), but he’s shown elite talent. Having proven himself as a force to be reckoned with last year, he’ll be the guy for Lampre in this and many other races this year, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the spotlight.

    Astana is another team full of talented riders who will have a rare chance to be more than domestiques. Enrico Gasparotto, Andriy Grivko, Francesco Gavazzi, and Lieuwe Westra are all capable contenders. Gasparotto in particular has quietly established himself as a rider to watch on the punchy climbs, and Grivko finished last year with high placings in the World Championship Race and the Eneco Tour thanks to a similar skillset. Only Orica-GreenEdge can rival Astana in terms of the number of viable GC contenders at the Tour Down Under.

    To name a few others: Saxo-Tinkoff’s Rory Sutherland, Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen Roelandts, Giant-Shimano’s Simon Geschke, AG2R’s Maxime Bouet, Cannondale’s up-and-comer from New Zealand George Bennett, FDJ’s Jussi Veikkanen and Kenny Elissonde, and, of course, Trek’s Frank Schleck, back to racing after his doping suspension–there’s no telling what sort of form he’s on, but the podium finisher in the 2011 Tour de France is obviously a strong candidate for GC if he has his legs. That’s the story behind most of these predictions really; fortunately, the wait to find out what state our contenders are in is almost over.

    Stagehunters

    The opportunities for sprinters may be lessened in recent editions of this race, but that hasn’t stopped two of the world’s big three pure sprinters from making the trip. Andre Greipel has had a great deal of success in his many trips Down Under, and his always-effective leadout train is with him, but they’ll have their hands full against Marcel Kittel and his own supporting cast. Stages 4 and 6, with flat run-ins to the finish, are the most likely to see their battle royale.

    Other fast men hoping to pick up stage wins include Elia Viviani of Cannondale, the JJs Rojas and Lobato of Movistar, the Van Poppel brothers on their new team, Trek Factory Racing, Michael Matthews and Matthew Goss of Orica-GreenEdge, Andrew Fenn and Mark Renshaw of OPQS, Garmin-Sharp’s Steele von Hoff, Lampre’s Roberto Ferrari, and Caleb Ewan of UniSA-Australia, to name a few. Given the importance of explosiveness in the Tour Down Under GC battle, many of those mentioned as ochre jersey hopefuls could just as easily vie for stage victories.

    Uncertainty is the name of the game in the Santos Tour Down Under, guaranteeing surprises every year (Tom-Jelte Slagter was certainly a surprise winner in 2013). As the curtain opens on the 2014 season, we can expect the unexpected in Australia–while the many big names in attendance are sure to deliver fireworks, this race tends to bring new names to the fore as well, and what better way to start a new year than with new faces looking to make their mark at the sport’s highest level.

    VeloHuman Predictions

    General Classification Winner

    Simon Gerrans

    GC Podium

    Richie Porte, Jan Bakelants

    GC Top 10

    Diego Ulissi, Cadel Evans, Javier Moreno, Robert Gesink, Enrico Gasparotto, Rohan Dennis, Geraint Thomas

    -Dane Cash

    Photos by Daniel Lang and Anthony Cramp.

  • Post-year Impressions: Charting the Arrivals and Step-ups of 2013

    HesjedalCostaBetancur

    2013 is in the books! Beñat Intxausti won the GC of the final WT race of the year, the Tour of Beijing, by taking a victory on the decisive fourth stage. Joaquim Rodriguez finishes the year as repeat WorldTour champion on the back of his GrandTour successes, a Monument victory, and a truckload of high placings in other big races.

    As this site is in the business of prospective analysis, my look back at 2013 will mostly be a look forward. I hope to shed some light on what we learned about the top riders in the sport this year, and which riders to watch in the future. If you’re reading VeloHuman, you don’t need me to tell you that Chris Froome is a rider to keep an eye on next year, or that Vincenzo Nibali is shaping up to be his main rival, or that Fabian Cancellara is still a talented racer. Instead, it’d be more productive for me to focus on the riders who made vast improvements in 2013, who we might say “arrived” this year, and who have set themselves up to do big things next year, so I’ll do just that, and name some names that I think made big strides this season and look to continue to do soon in the near future.

    A rather obvious duo headlines my list of the most emphatic arrivals this year. While everyone was busy wondering which Spaniard would present the best case against Chris Froome in the Tour de France, a 23-year old Colombian leg-muscled his way onto the scene, building off of early season success in the Tour of the Basque Country with a fierce display of climbing prowess on some of the Tour’s most difficult stages: Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez, Mont Semnoz. Though the early lead Froome had built up was insurmountable, Quintana’s later stage performances, matching the Sky captain’s every move uphill on his way to 2nd overall, a stage win, the polka-dot KoM jersey and the young rider’s white, he saved Movistar’s Tour after their team leader Alejandro Valverde hit some raw luck with a mechanical that dropped him out of contention. No one will overlook him next year, especially with such a climbing-oriented 2014 edition of the Tour de France on the docket. Alternatively, he could set his sights on the Giro. Quintana’s time trialing might need a bit of work, but he showed this year that he can outclimb most of the sport’s biggest names, and you have to think he can only get better, still a few years shy of his prime.

    Countryman Carlos Betancur blazed onto the scene with similar brightness. Top 10s at La Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Tour of the Basque Country were followed by a highly successful Giro d’Italia, in which the young Colombian took 5th overall and the young rider classification. Like Quintana, he is sorely lacking in the time trialing department—his remarkable Giro was made all the more remarkable by his appearance in the top 10 after losing almost five minutes to the eventual winner of the race in the first ITT. Like Quintana, he’ll gun for future Grand Tour success in chrono-light parcours while he improves in that discipline, and while he may be a shade shy of Quintana’s level on the longer Tour style climbs, he’s more explosive than the Movistar wunderkind, and will surely be a fixture in the climber’s classics to come.

    Zdenek Stybar is my other most emphatic arrival of the year. His situation is unique, in that cycling fans have heard Stybar’s name for years, but in a different discipline. Making the switch from cyclocross appears to have worked out for the Czech rider: even after a collision with a fan robbed him of a potential podium position in Paris-Roubaix, he still finished 6th in that race, and followed it up with a dominant Eneco Tour and a beautiful stage win in the Vuelta where he outsprinted none other than former World Champ Philippe Gilbert. His versatility was dazzling, and he will go into the 2014 classics season as a hot favorite across all kinds of terrain—and isn’t that the perfect expectation for a former cyclocross world champion?

    Many other riders who were already well within the sights of cycling fans took leaps onto the highest level. Outside of Quintana, the most emphatic arrivals among riders who finished the year in the WorldTour top 10 were made by Dan Martin and Rui Costa. Dan Martin was already a name on the minds of observers at the start of the season, with a Grand Tour stage win in 2011 and the overall victory at the Tour de Pologne in 2010, but he took a Monument Classic, a Tour de France stage win, and the overall at the Volta a Catalunya this year, successes that vaulted him to 6th place in the final WorldTour rankings of 2013 (putting him ahead of Spartacus himself). And Rui Costa came into the year as a well-known talent as a winner of a Canadian GP, the Tour de Suisse, and a stage in the Tour de France, but his two Tour de France wins and World Championship (to go with another dominant Tour de Suisse) put him at cycling’s center stage. He goes to Lampre in 2014 as the team leader, a Tour de France GC hopeful. Another star of the Tour, Bauke Mollema was already a well-known name for many fans of the sport, having finished 4th overall and 1st in the points classification in the 2011 Vuelta, but he came into his own this year with strong performances all over the calendar, in the Ardennes Classics, the Tour de Suisse, Tour de France, Vuelta (where he won a stage to redeem a disappointing GC effort), and Clasica de San Sebastian. His emergence comes at just the right time, with teammate Robert Gesink having another disappointing year in terms of Grand Tour GC contention; however, Gesink showed strong late season form in shorter races, winning the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and placing highly in other events, suggesting a possible change of focus to shorter races going forward. And the timing was ripe for Marcel Kittel to make an explosive entrance: after injury in 2012 robbed him of an opportunity to make his mark on that year’s tour, his 2013 outing, which earned him a quartet of stage wins, suddenly sees him in the best-of-the-best conversation with Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.

    In case you missed it, his teammate Luka Mezgec was one of a number of young up-and-coming sprinters who showed promise this year. Mezgec spent the whole year nipping at the heels of other sprinters, racking up countless top 5s without a win until he finally picked up his first of the year and his first WT level win ever on the very last day of the WorldTour calendar in Beijing. Nacer Bouhanni took a pair of wins in that race to go with the points jersey, as well as a number of other wins this year, a boon for FDJ. His squadmate Arnaud Demare took stages in the Eneco Tour and the Tour de Suisse, an armful of honors in the Four Days of Dunkirk he won, and high placings in a number of one-day races. Yet another French, Europcar’s Bryan Coquard, a former track cycling star, transitioned quite nicely onto the road, collecting honors left and right on the Continental circuit. The 21 year old will be a major force on the fast finishes in 2014 now that Europcar looks to be joining the top division of teams. Michael Matthews came into the Vuelta flying high after Continental Tour success and proceeded to establish himself as the best sprinter in that race, with a special talent for nabbing victories after tough days in the saddle. His skills nabbed him a pair of stage wins, including the victory on the final day’s sprinter battle royale.

    Speaking of quick hardmen, Alexander Kristoff gets a paragraph of his own: he built on a strong 2012 (in which he took an Olympic Bronze Medal) with top 10s in three Monument Classics and his first WorldTour level win in the Tour de Suisse (besting Peter Sagan on a tough day that ended in a sprint). He has established himself as a serious contender for hardman sprinter’s races going forward.

    The Vuelta gave us an opportunity to see a number of coming out parties for GC contenders. Leopold Konig landed in the top 10 and picked up a stage win at the head of a Pro Continental team, quite a feat for the 25 year old. He’ll stay with NetApp for another year and will hope his performance garners further invitations to big events, where he’s sure to continue his success. Meanwhile, Saxo-Tinkoff’s Nicolas Roche achieved some long awaited success with a top 5 finish and a stage win. His constant presence at the front of the pack on mountaintop finishes in Spain suggests that he may finally have taken the step up to the next level, a good sign for 2014.

    Ulissi

    Poland showed off a pair of riders with top level ability this year. Nico Roche’s teammate Rafal Majka didn’t win any races, but he was 7th overall in the Giro d’Italia and 2nd to Betancur for the young rider classification in that race, and he followed up with a 4th overall in his home tour to go along with his 1st place in the points classification of that race. The honors kept piling up as the year went on, when he narrowly missed out on a victory in Milano-Torino against another rising star (pictured above) and then stood on the podium in the final Monument of the year in Lombardy. By the same token (eerily), Michal Kwiatkowski may still have yet to win a pro race, but he burst onto the scene this year with a boatload of strong performances. 4th in both Tirreno-Adriatico and Amstel Gold, 5th in La Fleche Wallonne, and a heartbreaking 11th in the Tour de France after fellow up-and-comer Andrew Talansky grabbed the final top 10 spot on the last day of climbing, Majka looks to be a likely candidate for continued climbing success, and Kwiatkowski showed an incredible array of skills and looks poised to stake a claim to best all-rounder in the very near future.

    A significant number of teams saw young climbing talents rising up the ladder this year. Many are Italian. 2011 Giro stage winner Diego Ulissi took a big step forward with successes on both ends of the season, nabbing a top 10 at Paris-Nice early and then a stage win in the Tour de Pologne and a string of semi-classic victories in Italy. So far, most of his quantifiable successes have been on smaller stages, but he performed at a high level in some big races this year (he was lurking in a number of stages in the Vuelta even if he didn’t come away with a win), inspiring a lot of confidence going forward. He’ll be part of an explosive one-two combination with Rui Costa at Lampre in 2014. Astana teammates Fabio Aru and Simone Ponzi look like prime candidates for success next year. Another Italian, Moreno Moser, had several standout performances this year for Cannondale; he disappeared at times when he was expected to bring his success to a bigger stage, but he showed in Strade Bianche and other races in 2013 that he certainly has the ability to turn promise into achievement in 2014.

    Spaniard Jon Izagirre won’t be sweating the dissolution of his former team Euskaltel too much now that he has a new squad in Movistar, and it’s easy to see why they signed him. He nabbed the runner-up honors in the Tour de Pologne with a surprising time trial performance on the last day, and notched top 10s in the Tour Down Under and the one day Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal as well.

    Vichot

    24 year old Arthur Vichot looks to be one of yet another up-and-comer for FDJ with strong climbing legs and a fast finish, abilities that netted him the French national championship, the runner-up honors in Quebec, and the victory in the Tour du Haut Var-matin. AG2R’s Romain Bardet, winner of the Tour de l’Ain and a high finisher in the Tour of Beijing, appears to have a bright future, and he joins teammate Carlos Betancur as part of a crop of young uphill chargers on that team.

    Wilco Kelderman, a natural time trial talent, came into his own as a climber with a number of high-level successes in 2013. He picked up top 10s in Romandie, the Eneco Tour, and the Tour Down Under, and dominated the Tour of Denmark, where he won a stage, the points classification, and the overall. He’s another exciting up-and-comer for Belkin.

    Argos-Shimano teammates Warren Barguil and Tom Dumoulin got themselves onto the map this year, the former nabbing a pair of breakaway victories in the Vuelta, and the latter claiming runner up honors with an impressive Eneco Tour performance. Alongside Marcel Kittel, Luka Mezgec, and John Degenkolb, the duo makes a potent quartet of Argos riders 25 and under.

    Riccardo Zoidl nabbed the GC win at the Tour of Austria, and climbed at a high level in a number of other events. Darwin Atapuma moves up from Team Colombia to BMC after nabbing his first WorldTour win this year in Poland—that team desperately needs new blood, and Atapuma will be happy to oblige.

    To match all these young climbers coming into their own, a few time trialists are on the rise: Adriano Malori looks to be a threat in that department, putting in a top 10 at the World Championship ITT and taking second place behind Tony Martin on a few time trial stages in WorldTour races to go along with his ITT victory and the overall in Bayern-Rundfahrt. Rohan Dennis out-time-trialed Chris Froome in the Criterium du Dauphine on his way to a top 10 there and then showed his versatility when he won a stage and the overall in the Tour of Alberta. The 23 year old has established himself as a promising member of Garmin’s youth movement.

    This list is by no means exhaustive, and obviously much depends on how you define breakout success, but hopefully I’ve rattled off the names of many of tomorrow’s biggest names. And thanks to the Tour Down Under and its January start date, we won’t have too long to wait for the opening of the 2014 calendar–in just 11 weeks, the pro peloton heads to Nuriootpa, Australia to kick off the new season!

    -Dane Cash

    Photos by Flowizm, brassynn, and Georges Ménager.

  • Eneco Tour 2013 Pre-race Outlook

    Eneco

    All-rounder Roundup

    The weeklong drought of WorldTour racing since Weening took the Tour de Pologne in grand style with a strong final stage performance is finally over. The Eneco Tour is here, and WT cycling is finally returning to the territory of the spring classics, with the occasional crosswinds, cobbles, and short but steep climbs to keep things interesting.

    In years past, this has been a race whose outcome has been almost wholly determined by time trialing prowess, with one or two stages against the clock providing the brunt of the time gaps, and a number of flat stages in between. Organizers have gradually provided more and more bumps in the road to liven up the GC, with last year seeing an ascent of the Muur van Geraardsbergen (formerly of the Tour of Flanders) in the queen stage, a climb that shook up the leaderboard and gave Lars Boom the victory and Niki Terpstra a podium position.

    This year’s Eneco Tour is the hilliest yet. Stages 1-4 will be for the sprinters (though hills on Stage 2 might reduce the pack a bit), but then the GC battle will heat up on some difficult roads. The Stage 5 time trial is short — 13.2 km — but technical and lumpy, too. Stage 6 combines the roads of Amstel Gold and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Stage 7 returns to Geraardsbergen. Last year’s GC was dominated by time trialists who were capable of staying with the pack on the tougher classics-style climbs. This year’s hills should be even more selective in terms of the overall leaderboard. The winner will be a true all-rounder, who can possibly nab bonus seconds at the finish lines, produce a top-tier time against the clock, and climb at a high level.

    Last year’s winner, Lars Boom, is a capable climber, a top-notch time trialist, and a good enough handler to take on the technical course. He’s likely to repeat a high level performance; however, his results this year have not been as impressive as he might have liked; he didn’t make the podium in the Dutch time trial championships, his classics campaign was disappointing, and he did not produce any remarkable results in the Tour de France. Moreover, the hilly route may be a bit too much to ask from Boom to expect an outright victory. A podium may be doable, especially with the support of a strong team Belkin. The Dutch squad may have another rider better suited to this year’s edition, coming off a strong win in the Tour of Denmark: Wilco Kelderman. Kelderman is already sporting top 10s in this year’s Tour Down Under and Tour de Romandie, and he is targeting this race. He is a good climber who should be able to hang on when the road goes up: the 22-year old could be primed for a high finish.

    Serious competition could come from another Benelux squad, Omega Pharma-Quick Step. Sylvain Chavanel was second last year and also in 2009. His 11th in the San Sebastián might not have been as great as he’d hoped for, but he managed to hang with a group of strong-climbing chasers to show good form after a disappointing Tour de France. He won the French time trial championship in June and, despite lacking a signature World Tour win this year, he’s managed a number of top 10s in stage races and classics in 2013. With help from a team well-suited to succeed low country crosswinds, Chavanel should be able to hang on the hilly stages, even if he loses a few seconds to climbing specialists atop summit finishes, and he’s sure to place highly in the time trial. Teammate Niki Terpstra, 3rd last year, may find the parcours a bit trying, but he’s another strong bet for a good finish.

    Bradley Wiggins leads Team Sky at the Eneco Tour. At his best, he’s certainly able to hang on on these types of climbs, and he’s one of the strongest time trialists in the world (and one who thrives with a hill or two in a race against the clock). He showed last week in the Tour de Pologne that he’s still capable of dominating the discipline, winning by nearly a minute over Fabian Cancellara. The big question is, of course, whether or not the 2012 Tour de France winner is targeting the General Classification here. His big target for the year is the World Championship time trial, and he will surely look to outshine the competition on the Eneco Tour’s fifth stage. Only time will tell whether he plans on fighting for GC. If so, it’s hard to look past his combination of skills.

    Orica GreenEdge is primed to get plenty of sponsorship time on camera with a strong team of all-rounders on the start list. Svein Tuft has done well in past Eneco Tours and figures to at least place highly in the Stage 5 TT. However, last year’s hills proved his undoing, and this year’s parcours will not do him any favors. Teammates Pieter Weening (fresh of a Tour de Pologne win) and Sebastian Langeveld (top 10s this year in Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, and E3 Harelbeke, and 9th in last year’s Eneco Tour) are maybe stronger candidates for GC this year.

    lieuwe

    Lieuwe Westra won the Dutch TT championship and he’s got the package of all-rounder skills necessary to finish highly. Unfortunately, Westra was forced to pull out of the Tour de France due to some health problems. He seems to be recovered, but the question marks remain, enough to keep him out of my podium predictions. If he’s healthy, I can see him winning the whole thing, and Dutch squad Vacansoleil would sure love to have something to be proud of this year, currently sitting at dead last in the UCI team rankings.

    RadioShack-Leopard sends Belgians Jan Bakelants and Stijn Devolder to the Eneco Tour. Devolder’s past few years have been frustrating in terms of results, but he did just win the Belgian national championship race. Bakelants was third in that championship race, and just took a stage in the Tour de France in impressive style. He was 10th in last year’s edition of the Eneco Tour, and a capable all-rounder. A repeat top 10 might be doable, as Bakelants is the type of rider who should not be too troubled by some added inclines. Maxime Monfort of RadioShack is a bit of a dark horse to keep in mind: it’s unclear whether he’s targeting the Eneco Tour, but he’s a Belgian with strong all-rounder capabilities who had a good under the radar Tour de France (14th overall).

    Philippe Gilbert has had an immensely disappointing season in the rainbow jersey, but top 10s in Amstel Gold and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a 2nd place at Brabantse Pijl suggest that he’s not totally off-form in 2013. He’s also not a bad time trialist when he puts his mind to it, nabbing second at the Belgian champs this year. The final two stages fit the skill set of the Boar of the Ardennes, and he’s was champing at the bit all Tour while riding in support of disappointing teammates. A stage win would be completely within reasonable expectations of the Gilbert of 2011 (when he was 2nd overall and took a stage), but it is unclear whether he’s got much of that old self left. Still, he deserves a mention not just as a stage win contender, but as a possible GC threat, with the support of a strong team BMC.

    Argos-Shimano’s stable of sprinter talent shouldn’t make you forget young Tom Dumoulin, who scored podium positions in the Dutch road and TT champs. He is targeting the Eneco Tour and should be up to the variety of challenges the weeklong race poses. I tend to use a “Watch Out For” tag to tip young up-and-comers or dark horses who could be boom or bust type picks, but I really think Dumoulin will be in the top 10 overall, so he merits mention as more than just a sleeper pick.

    Moreno Moser leads the Cannondale attack after a top 10 in San Sebastián and a great showing on the double d’Huez ascent in the Tour. He’s only 22 so the word “inconsistent” probably isn’t appropriate, but his results have been a bit hard to predict. He lacks much in the way of time trialing results in his young career, but this one is a short one, with a pair of lumps. Moser could do well in the GC if he can deliver on the hard uphill finishes.

    Simon Spilak leads Katusha, and he certainly has the climbing and TTing chops to compete. Weeklong stage races have been his forte. However, after a strong start to the season, Spilak’s form is in question this August.

    Stagehunters

    The sprinting and pure time trailing talent in attendance at the Eneco Tour should make for some exciting individual stage finishes. Headlining the fast men are Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel. Theo Bos and Mark Renshaw of Belkin, Tyler Farrar, Yauheni Hutarovich, Danny van Poppel, Ben Swift, Gert Steegmans, Daniele Bennati, Arnaud Demare, Elia Viviani, Francisco Ventoso, JJ Rojas, and Daryl Impey could also feature in the bunch sprints.

    Contenders for the win in the time trial will also be numerous, with a number of pure TT stars in attendance beyond those riders who can TT and climb well enough for GC. Svein Tuft and Taylor Phinney headline the list of guys who might find the week as a whole too hilly, but who could perform highly in the time trial. Both have done well time trailing here before (and in GC, as well, though this year will likely prove too lumpy). Alex Dowsett, who won the first ITT at the Giro and took the national title in Britain, is also in attendance. Wiggins, mentioned above, might be interested in GC, but he is certainly interested in coming away with a win in Stage 5, and if I had to pick one name for the stage win, it would be his.

    VeloHuman Predictions

    General Classification Winner

    Sylvain Chavanel

    GC Podium

    Wilco Kelderman, Lars Boom

    Other Strong GC Contenders

    Bradley Wiggins, Tom Dumoulin, Philippe Gilbert, Lieuwe Westra, Moreno Moser

    Stages

    Stage 1: Koksijde > Ardooie | 175.3km | Flat

    Stage 2: Ardooie > Brussel | 176.9km | Medium Mountains

    Stage 3: Oosterhout › Schouwen-Duiveland | 187.3km | Flat

    Stage 4: Essen › Vlijmen | 169.6km | Flat

    Stage 5: Sittard-Geleen › Sittard-Geleen | 13.2 | ITT

    Stage 6: Riemst › Aywaille | 150km | Medium Mountains

    Stage 7: Tienen › Geraardsbergen | 208km | Medium Mountains

    -Dane Cash

    Photos by Wouter de Bruijn and Georges Ménager.

  • Tour de France 2013 Post-race Impressions: Froome Lightyears Ahead and a Youth Movement on the Rise

    Paris2

    Brief Recap

    After Chris Froome crested stage 8’s Ax-3 Domaines way ahead of everyone else in contention, many were worried that the remaining two weeks of competition would be boring. While Team Sky’s 28-year old leader held onto the jersey tightly all the way to Paris, even increasing his lead on the rest of the bunch, this year’s two was anything but boring, even after Froome’s dominant first high mountain stage.

    Froome increased his lead with a predictably awesome time trial on Stage 11. He lost around one minute when Saxo-Tinkoff and Belkin broke away on a windy flat stage, but gained it right back climbing up Mont Ventoux. He put in another masterful performance in the mountain time trial, though this time his rivals kept their time losses to a minimum. The pressure was high heading into the double ascent of Alpe d’Huez on stage 18, the first of three grueling Alpine stages, but Froome never cracked. Breakaways took stages 18 and 19, though the GC contenders duked it out when they reached the slopes, and stage 20 saw a showdown between all top climbers in the peloton, but despite the best effort of Joaquim Rodriguez, and stacked teams like Movistar and Saxo-Tinkoff, Froome’s lead barely shrunk. The high uphill tempos across the last few days were too much for Contador, who tumbled down to 4th place by the time all was said and done in the mountains, unable to keep up with Froome, Quintana, and Rodriguez on the steep summits: the relentless assaults by the young Colombian Quintana and seasoned veteran Rodriguez nabbed them spots on the podium beside the man who dominated the Tour almost from start to finish, Chris Froome. The final results looked like this:

    1. Christopher Froome (UK) Sky Procycling | 83:56:40

    2. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | +0:04:20

    3. Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha | +0:05:04

    4. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | +0:06:27

    5. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | +0:07:27

    6. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team| +0:11:42

    7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | +0:12:17

    8. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | +0:15:26

    9. Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | +0:15:52

    10. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp | +0:17:39

    Peter Sagan won the Points Classification, and Nairo Quintana won both the King of the Mountains polka dots and the white jersey of the best young rider.

    Froome Dominates and Young Guns Step Up

    Starting with the obvious, Froome was simply head and shoulders above the competition. The 100th edition of the Tour de France was very exciting to watch, but the fiercest competition was for the other two spots on the podium: Froome’s hold on the top was basically unassailable. He jumped well ahead early in the Pyrenees, solidified his position with stellar time trialing, and held on through the Alps despite vicious assaults from Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez. His teammate Richie Porte showed rare talent as well, and together they were able to overpower the competition on the summit finishes. Porte gave everything he had for Froome’s victory, gladly sacrificing his own top 10 aspirations for the cause, and I fully believe he could have been on the podium had he not done so: he went so hard leading Froome up stage 8’s climb that he was exhausted on stage 9, and he chose not to contest stage 17’s time trial so as to save energy to lead Froome through the Alps. The word is that he’ll be given team leadership at one of the other two Grand Tours, and I believe that if he focuses on his position rather than a teammate’s, he’s more than capable of a Grand Tour win.

    QuintanaWhile Froome’s lead was never really in doubt, a number of young riders achieved other immense successes at the 100th Tour de France. The festivities started and ended with Marcel Kittel winning stages. His final tally was four stage wins, and he beat Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel in flat sprints more than once. After years of dominance from the Manx Missile, who had never been beaten on the Tour’s final day, Kittel’s emergence at age 25 promises to give cycling fans a real show of speed for the next several years. At age 23, Peter Sagan dominated the points competition in a manner similar to Froome’s dominance of the general classification. And of course, Colombian prodigy Nairo Quintana arrived loudly and clearly, adding a stage win, 2nd overall, the young rider’s jersey, and the King of the Mountains jersey to his resume. What a year he has had, winning the Tour of the Basque Country in style (beating the likes of Alberto Contador and Richie Porte in the final day’s time trial to take the win) and now this. His team gave most of its support to Alejandro Valverde for the first two weeks of the race; with full support, if Quintana can improve his time trial and his attacking strategy, he is more than capable of repeating or even bettering this performance in the future, as he isn’t even close to hitting his prime. Andrew Talansky clawed his way back after a day of suffering in the heat of the Pyrenees early on and found himself in the General Classification Top 10 when the peloton finally rolled over the finish line in Paris, good enough for second in the young rider’s competition. Michal Kwiatkowski finished in the top 10 of six separate stages with varying profiles, and he managed to nab 11th place overall in the Tour. Surely, in a few years, he could be a top 10 favorite here, or a favorite for the points classifications of the Vuelta or Giro, where points aren’t split up to favor the sprinters over other riders. He was one of the most complete riders in the Tour de France, with a rare combination of climbing, sprinting, and time trialing ability.

    There were many other great storylines to follow as well. For all the success Nairo Quintana had, his team struggled in the middle of the Tour. Alejandro Valverde fell out of contention for the podium on stage 13 due to mechanical problems on a windy day, and Rui Costa plummmeted, too, when Movistar sent him back to help Valverde. Undeterred, the team fought tooth and nail for glory over the last several days: Costa won not one but two stages, and Valverde powered his way back into the top 10 overall.

    Much was made of the contenders’ form heading into the first days of the Tour in Corsia. Of the four biggest favorites (Froome, Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde), only Froome seemed to be in impeccable form, having won every stage race he attempted this year except for Tirreno-Adriatico, in which he placed second to Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali. Contador, on the other hand was only so-so all year long, prompting questions about his ability to peak in time. Rodriguez had a strong spring and then struggled in the Dauphine. Valverde also had a strong spring and wasn’t great in the Dauphine. As it turned out, starting on form made all the difference for Froome, as it was his first real mountain day that put him virtually out of reach. Contador, meanwhile, never did really round into old form; 4th isn’t anything to sneeze at, but he could never really keep up with the top 3 riders in the race. Joaquim Rodriguez steadily improved as the Tour went on, chipping away at an early deficit to the other contenders and improving his position in the Alps. Valverde will be left wondering what might have been had he not suffered some very bad luck on stage 13; he finished ahead of Contador on both Alpine summit finishes and his stages 8 and 11 had originally given him an impressive chunk of time on Purito and around half a minute on Contador. In any case, Froome has been dominant all year and continued his dominance into the Tour, Rodrigez and Valverde showed good form earlier in the year and were able to maintain a high level and then peak again for the Tour, and Contador never showed his old levels of ability earlier this year and was unable to round into form this July.

    Other riders who impressed? Roman Kreuziger, Bauke Mollema, and Jakob Fuglsang. All 28 or younger. Kreuziger managed a 5th place despite working for his teammate Alberto Contador. Bauke Mollema was as high as 2nd as late as stage 14, but he faded a bit as the Tour crested more and more summits—still, he adds a 6th overall to a resume that already includes a 4th overall and the points classification at the Vuelta. Jakob Fuglsang was steady throughout the race despite having very little team support compared to the other riders who finished in the top 8—given the kind of help from Astana that his teammate Vincenzo Nibali gets, Fuglsang could take on the Giro or Vuelta with podium aspirations while the Shark heads to the Tour. With Rodrigez, Valverde, and Contador all on the wrong side of 30, these guys could be hanging around Grand Tour top 10s a lot in years to come.

    On the other hand, it would be an oversight not to mention BMC’s terrible three weeks. Despite their massive team budget, the red and black squad managed no stage wins and didn’t place anyone in even the top 20 overall. For some reason, team management expected Cadel Evans to perform at a high level despite the fact that he entered the race only a month after finishing a grueling Giro. His Tour was a flop–he lost a lot of time on stages 8 and 11 and then faded badly after. Tejay van Garderen fell out of contention early, finishing over twelve minutes behind Froome on stage 8, apparently due to an inability to cope with heat in the Pyrenees. Philippe Gilbert proved again that if your form wasn’t good heading into the Tour, it’s probably not going to magically appear when you get there. His best finish was 5th on stage 3. In the wake of so much team failure, BMC sports director John Lelangue has just quit his job.

    Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Jean-Christophe Peraud, and others were forced to abandon after suffering various serious injuries. Peraud broke his collarbone on an early morning recon ride of stage 17’s time trial course when he was still in the top 10 overall: he started the race that day anyway, only crash and fall on the same side, one of the more cringe-worthy moments of the Tour. Hopefully they will all recover quickly.

    And to end positively? Daniel Navarro went from 20th overall and more than twenty-three minutes behind Froome after stage 15 to 8th overall by the time the peloton rode into Paris, thanks to a few breakaway successes and a good ride up the Semnoz. What a climb up the leaderboard! Jens Voigt, age 41, treated us to what may have been the last Tour de France breakaway attack of his career. Peter Sagan gave chanting fans what they wanted time and again with his trademark wheelie-popping, even doing it without hands on occasion. And to showcase a little globalization, a South African, Daryl Impey, wore the yellow jersey from stage 6 to stage 8 before he handed it over to Chris Froome, who was himself, of course, born in Africa.

    The Tour de France may be cycling’s biggest race, but the 2013 season still has yet to present the third Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana, as well as the final Monument Classic, the Giro di Lombardia, and the World Championship race, in addition to a number of other major events on the calendar. This Saturday will showcase not one but TWO WorldTour races, with the start of the Tour de Pologne, and the single-day Clasica de San Sebastian. Many of the same riders you saw in the Tour de France will be targetting these races to come, as will some of the sports biggest names who skipped the Tour this year, names like Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali, and Fabian Cancellara. To summarize: keep watching! There are a number of big events right around the corner!

    -Dane Cash

    Photos by Natalie Marchant and Tom Ducat-White.