VeloHuman

Author: VeloHuman

  • Tour de France 2013: An In-depth Guide for New Fans

    Tour2012

    Race Overview

    The 100th Tour de France will run from June 29th to July 21st, covering over 3400 km (2110 mi) across 21 stages. July 8th and 15th are rest days. The race begins in Corsica, visiting the island for the first time in the history of the Tour, and from there it moves to the mainland. For the first time since 1988, the Tour will take place completely within French borders. With 22 teams (all 19 WorldTour teams and 3 Pro Continental teams) of 9 riders each, 198 riders will make the start.

    18 of the 21 stages are mass-start races, in which riders leave in a large group and, depending on how technical the route is, generally finish in groups as well (large groups if it’s a flat stage, smaller groups if there is climbing). Seven of these mass-start stages are classified as flat stages, five are classified as medium mountain stages, and the other six are classified as high mountain stages. Three stages of the 2013 Tour de France are time trials—two are individual time trials, and one is a team time trial. In an individual time trial, riders start by themselves at staggered times and race against the clock for the best time. Drafting is not permitted. Special equipment, including handlebars that extend off the front of the bike allowing for a more aerodynamic position, are permitted in this discipline. A team time trial also uses a staggered start and special equipment, but riders race with their teams and are allowed to ride in their team members’ slipstreams. A team’s riders are awarded the time of the fifth best rider on the team (assuming they had the same or a better time than that rider). This requires the team to work together and plan to finish with at least five members in the group.

    The Tour de France is one of cycling’s three Grand Tours, along with the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy), held in May and won this year by Vincenzo Nibali, and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), held in August and September and won most recently (2012) by two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador. As with all Grand Tours, the Tour de France involves many different competitions across its three weeks. Some riders come to the Tour seeking to finish with the best overall time in a quest for what is known as the General Classification (GC). The GC leader wears an iconic yellow jersey while he retains the lead. Typically, the rider who wins the yellow jersey is a skilled climber and time trialist, as it is on these types of stages where the biggest gaps between riders tend to form. Last year’s winner was Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky. Wiggins will not be riding in this year’s Tour de France; Team Sky will instead be led by last year’s runner-up, Chris Froome.

    Other riders come to the Tour with other objectives. Each of the Tour’s 21 stages is a race in and of itself, and winning an individual stage of a stage race at this level is a highly coveted honor. In addition to the General Classification, the Tour de France (like many other stage races) has a Points Classification, in which riders compete to accrue the most points, awarded for high placings at the finish line of each stage, and at intermediate sprint points along the way. Unlike the overall classification, the points classification does not penalize riders for having bad days. It doesn’t reward them for finishing in the back of a large bunch, either. Points are only awarded for placing highly at intermediate sprints and the finish line. While riders aiming for the General Classification have no special incentive to race to the line when finishing in a group, the Points Classification exists to award those who do push for the finish line even when the peloton is traveling en masse. Naturally, this classification is especially coveted by those riders who specialize in sprinting to the finish line. The leader in the Points Classification wears a Green Jersey. Last year’s winner was Peter Sagan of Cannondale.

    The most highly placed GC rider who is 25 years of age or younger gets to wear a White Jersey, denoting the leader of the “Young Rider” classification. Last year’s winner was American Tejay van Garderen of Team BMC.

    The polka dot jersey is awarded to the rider who accrues the most mountain points: steep climbs are categorized by difficulty, from Category 4 (easiest) to Hors Categorie (French for “beyond classification,” hardest), and the first riders over the tops of these climbs score mountain points for their efforts. Quite often, the mountains classification is won by a climbing specialist who does not have a strong hope for winning the GC, and is therefore allowed to ride ahead on some stages. The winner can be difficult to predict, as the polka dot jersey often goes to a rider who begins the race with GC aspirations but for whatever reason has to shift focus. Last year’s winner was Thomas Voeckler of French team Europcar.

    Rider Overview

    Yellow Jersey Favorites:

    • Chris Froome (UK) – Sky
      • Odds-on favorite (literally, he has better than 1:1 right now), though given the enormity of the task of winning the TdF, Froome vs. the field is a really close call. The 28-year-old was runner up in last year’s Tour to teammate Bradley Wiggins, though on multiple stages it was clear that Froome was the stronger rider. He’s been almost untouchable on the bike this year, winning big stage races like the Tour de Romandie and the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, and coming in second to Vinny Nibali in Tirreno-Adriatico. He can do it all, but some are concerned he may have peaked too early…
    • Alberto Contador (ESP) – Saxo-Tinkoff
      • Contador is the rider with the most experience winning Grand Tours. Whereas Froome has yet to win a Grand Tour, Contador’s won all three, and he’s won the Tour twice and was the winner of a third until it was stripped from him after a positive test for clenbuterol. Won last year’s Vuelta in his first Grand Tour back from suspension… BUT he hasn’t looked great this year, and was decidedly not awesome at the Dauphiné. Perhaps he will peak at just the right time. Many dismiss his poor performances so far this year as irrelevant. Got his start really young so while he’s been around awhile, but he’s only 30.
    • Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez (ESP) – Katusha
      • Climbing specialist who has nine Grand Tour top 10s and numerous stage wins, to go along with a boatload of podium finishes in the big single day climbing races. He’s not much in a time trial, but the Tour organizers have done a smart thing by reducing the number of individual time trials from 3 to 2, and making one of them hilly, so the course suits him better than ever. At 34, he’s starting to get up there. Not a great Dauphiné performance.
    • Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar
      • Winner of the 2009 Vuelta, two-time winner of the biggest single-day climbing race in the sport (Liege-Bastogne-Liege), and winner of a boatload of Grand Tour stages, Valverde is an all-rounder with climbing ability. To boot, he has a killer team backing him up, with young dark horse Nairo Quintana and winner of the Tour de Suisse Rui Costa to help out. Not great at the Dauphiné, not terrible.
    • Richie Porte (AUS) – Sky
      • Froome’s top lieutenant and a heck of a racer in his own right, Sky could go 1-2 overall (which they did in the Dauphiné). Unlike last year, when Froome looked stronger than Wiggins on a number of days and their lukewarm relationship was clear (and blossomed into something worse this year), this year will see Sky led by two guys who really like each other and who hang out a lot, so a leadership crisis is less likely. Porte’s been really strong for the last two years and is hitting his prime.
    • Cadel Evans (AUS) – BMC
      • Old-man Cadel took third at the Giro and he’s in a weird position now. On the one hand, not many people expected him to be so strong at the Giro. On the other hand, 1) Ryder Hesjedal and Bradley Wiggins both dropped out of the Giro, and 2) Cadel sort of faded as the race went on, finishing third to Sky’s Rigoberto Uran. So now nobody really knows how to view Cadel. He struggled in last year’s Tour in the mountains and finished 7th.
    • Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC
      • 5th in last year’s TdF and might have taken 4th if he hadn’t had to wait for team leader Cadel a bunch of times. He won the Tour of California in commanding fashion, but there weren’t that many real superstars there. Then he went and had a dud of a Tour de Suisse. BMC named Cadel the team leader again, but that could just be smoke and mirrors. It seems likely that Tejay won’t get held back this year if he can prove that the Suisse was a fluke and that he still has his form. He’s a strong climber and a very strong time trialist. He’s 24 and he’s from Tacoma, WA. Moved to Bozeman, MT as a kid. Speaks Dutch. Not counting team time trials (BMC is killer in a TTT, but the TTT in this year’s Tour is short enough that it’ll be a relatively pointless day with not much in the way of time differences) he’s never actually won a WorldTour race (Tour of California was on the America Tour, and although the biggest race on that tour and attended by plenty of stars like Sagan, not as huge as, say, the Critérium du Dauphiné). He doesn’t seem to really care about stage wins either. Even if he doesn’t mount much of a challenge for yellow, he’ll still be in contention for the young rider classification.

    GC Outsiders (alternatively, possible mountain stage winners if they fall off of GC):

    • Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ
      • 23 year old French rider who was 10th last year, second to Tejay for the young rider jersey, and he won a stage, too. Looked good in the Suisse last week. Basically has immense pressure on him because he’s the first French rider in years who looks capable of being a superstar. Can climb with the best of them and is a great candidate to win a late climbing stage if he falls of the lead for GC and the yellow contenders don’t mind him going off ahead. Stage 15 falls on Bastille Day, and if he’s out of contention for GC, he or some other French rider will try to climb the summit finish first for national glory.
    • Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar
      • 23 year old rising star who can climb like crazy. Beat Richie Porte and Alberto Contador in the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this year and did it while putting in a beast time trial performance that was somewhat unexpected. He weighs 130 pounds. Grew up dirt poor. Feel good story kinda kid.
    • Jurgen van den Broeck (BEL) – Lotto-Belisol
      • Four Grand Tour top 10s, and a good climber.
    • Dan Martin (IRL) – Garmin-Sharp
      • 26 year old who has won major shorter stage races, a stage at the Vuelta, and most recently, the aforementioned Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Likely to pack a heck of a punch with Garmin’s three-pronged attack, but it’s unclear whether he’s built to handle three weeks of racing. He needs to show now whether he’s up for it or whether he is more of a shorter race kinda guy. Awesome climber and a great bet to win climbing stages. Still unproven as a time trialist.
    • Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Sharp
      • Won the 2012 Giro and has top 10ed in the TdF and a bunch of single day climbing races. Integral to teammate Dan Martin’s LBL win earlier this year. Big favorite for the Giro but he got sick/didn’t look that great anyway so he dropped out. Then he crashed out of the Tour de Suisse. Who knows? If he’s on form he’s awesome at everything. Big if.
    • Bauke Mollema (NED) – Belkin
      • Best rider (climbing-oriented) on a strong team Belkin (who took on that name today after several months without sponsorship, during which time they went by the awesome name “Blanco”). Won the green jersey in the Vuelta in 2011 (the Vuelta is so hilly that climbers who can sprint win the green pretty often, which is kinda weird compared to the Tour). 2nd in this year’s Tour de Suisse. Blanco/Belkin has a bunch of young Dutch guys with loads of talent who have yet to prove themselves. Hopefully he doesn’t fall apart.
    • Andrew Talansky (USA) – Garmin-Sharp
      • Florida-born Talansky has had some great results in his young career (he’s 24). He was 7th in last year’s Vuelta. He was 2nd to Porte in Paris-Nice this year (Tejay was 4th). Unfortunately, he got really sick at the Dauphiné and now it’s hard to say how well he’s prepared. Garmin-Sharp has three really strong riders, but Talansky is least likely to be “team leader.” Seems likely that Hesjedal will be captain or co-captain with Martin.
    • Andy Schleck (LUX) – Radioshack-Leopard-Trek
      • Has earns a mention as someone worth knowing even though it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll win. He’s one of the biggest names in the sport. Four Grand Tour podium appearances and he’s still relatively young (28). Winner of the 2010 Tour after Contador was stripped of his result. Winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Superstar climber. In 2012 he crashed hard and took a little time off. Had ample time to recover but he has barely finished a race since then. He’s done nothing of note since taking 2nd overall and a stage in the 2011 TdF, and doesn’t look good this year. Many question his resolve. Lots of media spotlight because he’s done so well in the past.

    Green Jersey Favorites:

    • Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale
      • Winner of last year’s green jersey, Sagan is an incredibly versatile rider. He can win on all but the most mountainous stages. He’ll be near the top for the flat stages. He’s a beast and he’s only 23. Fiery and totally dominant whenever the field has dropped the guys who are flat sprinters. They call him the terminator. Won the green last year. Sometimes called a sprinter but he’s shown that he deserves to be considered an all-rounder, just last week the only Points-hopeful to stick with the GC contenders over some very steep climbs in the Tour de Suisse.
    • Mark Cavendish (UK) – OmegaPharma-Quickstep
      • Fastest man on a bike, assuming the road is perfectly flat and he doesn’t have to go all-out for too long. Cav will probably win the most stages, but there will be a number of stages that Sagan can win where Cav won’t make it with the main group; on the flip side, on the really flat stages, Sagan will still be there in the top 20, so it’s likely that Cav will win more stages but Sagan will finish highly in a bunch of stages and win the green. Known as the Manx Missile (because he’s from the Isle of Man, self-governing Crown Dependency in between Britain and Ireland). Likes to win on the Champs-Elysses, where he has yet to be beaten.
    • Andre Greipel (GER) – Lotto-Belisol
      • Cav’s main competition on the very flat stages. The finish in Paris is likely to come down to these two. Will turn 31 in July but he seems to still have plenty of power. Won three stages in last year’s Tour. Known as the “Gorilla.” Clearly, sprinters get the best nicknames.

    Other Points Hopefuls:

    • Marcel Kittel (GER) – Argos-Shimano
      • There are guys who can climb and then sprint (Sagan is so good at this he warrants being called in all-rounder), and guys who focus on the dead sprint to the lines in a pancake flat (Cavendish/Greipel). Argos-Shimano is coming to the Tour to win stages, and they have two star riders that neatly fit into each category and therefore, shouldn’t be competing with each other. Kittel is the man for the flats. He’s 25 and he’s had a good year so far.
    • John Degenkolb (GER) – Argos-Shimano
      • Degs is the Argos sprinter who can climb. He’s at his best on tougher “flat” stages that have hills to drop the pure sprinters. He won a whopping 5 stages at last year’s Vuelta, and he took another win in stage 5 of the Giro this year.
    • Matthew Goss (AUS) – Orica-GreenEdge
      • In 2011 he won one of the five Monuments, Milan-San Remo, and stages in Paris-Nice and the Tour Down Under, and he also finished 2nd in the World Championships. He has shown that can sprint with the best of them—and yet, after driving expectations quite high early in his career, he hasn’t been able to meet those expectations recently. He’s only 26, but he needs to win more at Grand Tours to show that he has what it takes. Unfortunately, he’s sort of like Barkley or Malone or Ewing or anyone else who didn’t live in Chicago in the 90s. Hard to prove yourself when there are guys who will one day be considered all-time greats taking all the wins.
    • Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – Sky
      • Boasson Hagen has Sagan’s ability to win nearly anywhere—he can even time trial, winning the Norway national champs six times, and he’s only 26! He’s won shorter stage races and single-day classics. He has one of the best team’s the world has ever seen backing him up. Unfortunately, Sky ain’t here to get Boasson Hagen stage wins, so it’s hard to say whether he’ll have the support he deserves. Wiggins was happy to be the leadout man for Cavendish last year when they both raced together (a sight not often seen, the yellow jersey in a leadout). We’ll see if Froome and Porte are as supportive of Eddy Boss’s hopes against Sagan, Degenkolb and Goss.
    • Alexander Kristoff (NOR) – Katusha
      • Another powerful rider from Norway, Kristoff looked strong at the Tour de Suisse and will be gunning for a win or two in France, though his team will be mostly made up of climbers in support of Joaquim Rodriguez.
    • Tyler Farrar (USA) – Garmin-Sharp
      • America’s best sprinter. He’s won stages in all three Grand Tours, as well as the Vattenfall Cyclassics twice. If he were from Wallonia (that’s in Belgium) instead of Wenatchee, Washington, he’d be a sports star in his homeland. Will be tough for him to get a win in against such awesome competition.
    • Philippe Gilbert (BEL) – BMC
      • Current holder of the world champion’s rainbow jersey, but yet to win a race this year. A puncheur who likes to charge over short steep climbs, Gilbert has a strong finishing kick on lumpy stages but will be up against difficult competition from Sagan on the less mountainous stages and the GC guys/his own limitations on the bigger climbs.

    Other Names:

    • Jens Voigt (GER) – Radioshack-Leopard-Trek
      • His sixteenth TdF, and he’s now participated in more than 15% of the Tours ever ridden. Best on rolling hills often seen in transitional stages too hilly for the traditional sprinters, wins by breaking away from the peloton, usually when there are undulations all the way to the finish, preventing the peloton from gaining too much of a drafting advantage to catch back up.
    • Simon Gerrans (AUS) – Orica GreenEdge
      • Another guy who likes hilly stages. He’s a very smart rider and he’s won stages of all three Grand Tours. He can hang on in a breakaway and he can sprint well, too. Won last year’s Milan-San Remo.
    • Thomas Voeckler (FRA) – Europcar
      • French rider who can climb and win in a breakaway. Won the Mountains Jersey last year to go along with two stages.
    • Pierre Rolland (FRA) – Europcar
      • Young French climber who can get into a breakaway and may try something on Bastille Day.
    • Tony Martin (GER) – OmegaPharma-Quickstep
      • Best time trialist in the world. You probably won’t see him much except on stage 10, a scenic time trial to Mont Saint-Michel, and possibly stage 17, which is hillier and might be too much for him. But if you do tune in to watch the beautiful helicopter shots over Mont Saint-Michel, expect to see him near the top of the leaderboard on the day.

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Adam Bowie.

  • Tour de Suisse 2013 Post-race Impressions: Costa Takes Yellow on the Final Day, Sagan Versatile as Ever

    TdSCorneringBrief Recap

    Mathias Frank might have spent the majority of the week in yellow, but Rui Costa’s final day victory to take the jersey from the Swiss rider came with an air of inevitability. After Cameron Meyer won a whacky opening time trial of just 8.1 kilometers in which conditions changed dramatically over the course of the afternoon, Mathias Frank took the lead in the third stage after back to back days of climbing (though Meyer, to his credit, never gave up his pursuit of GC). Over the next few days of flats and gentle hills, Costa was always lurking, watching sprinters and rouleurs racking up the points and waiting for his moment. In the race’s seventh and queen stage, Costa mastered a selective climb and won the day with Bauke Mollema and Tejay van Garderen in tow. By the end of the following and penultimate stage, Frank’s lead on GC had dwindled to just 13 seconds over Costa, and with a difficult time trial to cap off the race, it was clearly going to be too much to ask of Frank to hold onto the yellow jersey. He finished a disappointing 19th in the time trial. Meanwhile, Costa dominated the course, finishing 21 seconds ahead of Tanel Kangert and 29 seconds ahead of Bauke Mollema, and sliding easily into the overall win.

    Peter Sagan took the points classification after two impressive stage wins, first managing to hang on to the group of GC contenders over a tough climb in the race’s third stage and then outsprinting Daniele Bennati in the eighth stage.

    The final general classification standings looked like this:

    1. Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Movistar Team | 31:08:11

    2. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | +0:01:02

    3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | +0:01:10

    4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | +0:01:26

    5. Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team | +0:01:43

    6. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team | +0:01:51

    7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | +0:02:23

    8. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp | +0:02:42

    9. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha | +0:02:42

    10. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | +0:03:44

    Takeaways

    While their respective teammates were not living up to expectiations at the Critérium du Dauphiné (this would be a reference to Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde and Saxo-Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador), Rui Costa and Roman Kreuziger showed strong form in Switzerland. Costa was a favorite coming into the race after winning last year, and this year he was head and shoulders above the rest, finishing with more than a minute’s lead over Bauke Mollema. His performance in the final time trial was even more impressive than anyone expected. With a podium finish in Romandie and now this at the Tour de Suisse, Costa’s confidence has to be pretty high heading into the Tour de France, so it will be interesting to see how Movistar handles their trio of powerful mountaineers (along with Valverde and Costa, Pais Vasco winner Nairo Quintana makes three) in the Pyrenees and Alps.

    Bauke Mollema’s terrific week in Switzerland, capped off with a stage win and second overall, earned him the nod as team leader over Giro dropout Robert Gesink in the upcoming Tour de France. After a slower-than-hoped-for experience in the first day’s strange time trial, Mollema came out fighting the next day, soloing to the stage victory and beginning a tough climb up the leaderboard that ultimately put him onto the podium. For Blanco (which will be Team Belkin by the end of the month), who has seen a lot of underperforming lately, this kind of grit is a welcome sight. Blanco/Belkin will be sending a team composed almost solely of GC contenders and domestiques to France, and Mollema has proven himself a worthy leader.

    American Tejay van Garderen and Irishman Dan Martin finished one before the other, and both left Switzerland with question marks. Neither had a good opening time trial day, but Fabian Cancellara couldn’t even figure that stage out. When Frank took the leader’s jersey, van Garderen was happy to play lieutenenant for a little while in the former’s home tour. Meanwhile, Martin’s team went from strong to mediocre when 2012 Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal sustained hospitalization-level injuries in a bad stage 3 crash and was forced to pull out. Both riders managed to hang within striking distance of the podium over the next few days, but despite an uphill final day that suited both of them, Martin and van Garderen couldn’t make up any ground in the time trial either. As a favorite going into the race, van Garderen will be disappointed, but he generally hung on when the road went up and it’s tough to say how much of his time deficit to the leaders was due to his support of Frank. Martin will probably be less disappointed, managing a top 10 finish in his first WorldTour race since his Monument win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April, and without Ryder Hesjedal. Hesjedal’s injuries apparently were not too serious, but there is no word yet on whether he will be good to go for the Tour. If he is, Garmin will take a strong team to France with Talansky, Martin and Hesjedal (and likely Farrar for stage wins).

    Speaking of stage wins, Peter Sagan did what he does best, wowing everyone with a pair of gutsy victories and winning the points jersey commandingly. There is no question of his being on form for France, and he showed his versatility more than ever with a win in the mountains of Switzerland. It will be tough for Cavendish, Griepel and co. to contend for green with a guy who can win stages with all but the steepest climbs. Arnaud Démare had an impressive week as well, notching a win in stage 4 and coming in third on stage 5. At just 21, he’s an exciting up-and-comer for FDJ.

    FDJ’s other exciting up-and-comer managed a 4th overall. Thibaut Pinot has to feel good about that display heading into the biggest competition on everyone’s calendar, which happens to be a home race for Pinot and his team.

    Simon Špilak finished in the top 10, but VeloHuman tipped him as a major podium contender—his 9th place is a bit of a disappointment. Katusha will also have been disappointed by Joaquim Rodriguez’s uninspiring Dauphiné. Fortunately, Dani Moreno picked up the slack with a podium finish there, but the team will be looking for the other two to show early in the Tour that they are, in fact, in shape this summer.

    Katusha will be thrilled, however, with Alexander Kristoff, who picked up his first WorldTour win in the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, out-sprinting guys like Sagan, Démare, and Matt Goss. At just 25, Kristoff will carry Katusha’s flat stage hopes in the Tour.

    Hats off to Cameron Meyer, who won the opening time trial and tried to hang on as long as he could despite not being as strong a climber as the other GC guys. He fell out of the top 10 after stage 4 but fought to get back in, and ended the race in a respectable 10th place. It’s not easy to go from the track to a top 10 in Switzerland, and Orica-GreenEdge will be looking for more from him in the Tour in case Matthew Goss continues to ride without results.

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Bruno Hotz.

  • Critérium du Dauphiné 2013 Post-race Impressions: Chris Froome Distances Himself from the Competition

    FroomeWinBrief Recap

    Chris Froome’s dominant performance at the Dauphiné cements him as the favorite heading into this year’s Tour de France. After salvaging a very impressive Giro performance from the shambles of Bradley Wiggins’s withdrawal, Sky took the Dolphin by storm, and they will certainly be the force to be reckoned with once again at this year’s Tour de France. The race kicked off with three stages of relative calm in the General Classification, leaving all of the big favorites equal heading into a stage 4 Individual Time Trial. Froome took third on the day, 52 seconds back of TTing superstar Tony Martin, and in doing so he picked up a big chunk of time over major rivals Alejandro Valverde (3:29 back of the leader Martin), Alberto Contador (3:37 behind the leader), and Joaquim Rodriguez (3:48 back). Froome’s top lieutenant Richie Porte also had a strong fourth day (1:20 behind Martin), and while that fourth stage put Garmin’s Rohan Dennis in yellow for the day, the decisive day gave Sky’s leader and his second a commanding lead over the rest of the main contenders, and it was only a matter of time before Froome took and held the yellow. He charged past Contador on Stage 5’s uphill finish to take the stage win and the overall lead, and didn’t look back from there, holding onto the race lead without much of a challenge into the final stage in the mountain town of Risoul, where took second in the stage and closed the deal on GC.

    The final General Classification top 10 looked like this:

    1. Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 29:28:46

    2. Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling | +0:00:58

    3. Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha | +0:02:12

    4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | +0:02:18

    5. Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | +0:02:20

    6. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | +0:03:08

    7. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | +0:03:12

    8. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp | +0:03:24

    9. Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | +0:04:25

    10. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | +0:04:27

    Outside the top 10, Joaquim Rodriguez finished the race in 16th, 9:04 down on Froome.

    Takeaways

    The big four names heading into the Critérium du Dauphiné were Froome, Contador, Valverde, and Rodriguez. Froome distanced himself from all three rather quickly. He proved that he was the far better time trialist, but also that his climbing skills are tuned and ready for the three week struggle to come. Contador looked off-form all week. He didn’t really show up for the time trial, and his best efforts to outclimb Froome were unsuccessful. He insists that he is right where he wants to be in the run-up to the TdF, and it’s very important to remember that for some of the guys out there in the Dauphiné, actually winning the race is an afterthought to the main objective, getting in a little practice time. Perhaps this is all that guys like Joaquim Rodriguez wanted out of the Dauphiné; it should be noted that of the prior six Dauphiné winners, only Bradley Wiggins went on to win that year’s Tour de France.

    Still, it’s hard to argue with Froome’s dominance at the head of the race, and with minutes worth of time separating him and his biggest challengers, he goes into the Tour de France with a lot of confidence. This isn’t really all that surprising, given his strong performances in Romandie (1st) and Tirreno-Adriatico (2nd to Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali) so far this year. He’s the man to beat, no doubt, but what was maybe a bit surprising was the stellar performance of his second in command, this year’s Paris-Nice winner Richie Porte. It doesn’t seem like this sets up any sort of in-team rivalry (Porte and Froome are close friends and training partners), which means Sky must be thrilled to have two guys who are so on-form heading into the Tour. Impressive stuff. Contador, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be panicking, but he has yet to notch an overall win this year and, though he finished in the top 10 in each, always looked just a step below the competition in Tirreno-Adriatico, Pais Vasco, and this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

    Other impressors: Though Purito’s performance was disappointing, his teammate on Katusha, La Fleche Wallone winner and two-time Vuelta top-10 man Daniel Moreno, rounded out the podium with a week of strong climbing (not that we expected anything different). He looks like he hasn’t lost the form that he had in the Ardennes Classics this spring. Brief race leader Rohan Dennis finished in 8th place (the second Kiwi in the top 10 with Michael Rogers) and first in the Young Rider classification: Garmin-Sharp must be thrilled with his continuing success he only turned 23 the week before the race started. Elia Viviani finally took his first win of the after a string of close finishes in the Giro. Gianni Meersman took the Sprinter’s jersey without winning a stage, with top three finishes in the first three stages. Andrew Talansky, one of the favorites heading into the race after a 2nd place in Paris-Nice this year, caught sick at the beginning of the race and dropped out of overall contention immediately. However, he stayed in the race and recovered over the course of the week, crossing the line immediately behind Froome to take a solid third on the final stage; surely he would have preferred to go through the whole race in full health to get a sense of his form for the upcoming Tour, but he’ll take encouragement from this last day.

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Agamitsudo.

  • Tour de Suisse 2013 Pre-race Outlook

    PRIAll-Rounder Roundup

    Of June’s two major pre-Tour de France tuneup stage races, this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné has a reputation for being the one most favored by the Grand Tour’s top General Classification contenders, and this year that is especially true. With Froome, Contador, Valverde, and Rodriguez opting to take on the Critérium, the upcoming Tour de Suisse is starting to look like the practice run for some of the Tour de France’s other favorites. Still, the Tour de Suisse startlist is sporting some big names, and with the three Spaniards not exactly blowing the doors off of the Dauphiné (though Froome looks dominant), many of the GC-types at the Suisse will be looking to prove that they, too, belong among the list of Tour de France podium favorites.

    Some of the more well-known GC-type names in attendance at the Suisse? Tejay van Garderen, Rui Costa, Ryder Hesjedal, Michele Scarponi, Fabian Cancellara, and (obligatorily) Andy Schleck. However, just as is the case for the Critérium du Dauphiné, the top names at the Suisse may or may not decide to make an attempt at being the top performers overall. This is true for any race, of course, but it is especially true for the final race prior to cycling’s biggest event.

    Still, BMC told Cycling News that van Garderen is looking for a win at the Suisse, and we’re inclined to believe that the American will give it his best shot. After a commanding performance at the Tour of California, van Garderen looks like he has only gotten stronger since his top 5 finish at last year’s Tour de France. With the team’s full support, it’s hard to see van Garderen as anything but a favorite.

    Last year’s winner Rui Costa put in a strong performance at the Tour de Romandie in April, taking third (repeating his 2012 performance), showing strong form in advance of the Suisse. The rider from Portugal is the type who will probably not be sandbagging for the Tour de France, so if he’s feeling good, expect him to push for the GC at the Suisse with the full support of an ever-impressive Movistar team.

    Canadian Ryder Hesjedal failed to defend his Giro title, abandoning the race before it reached its hardest stages, stating that his withdrawal was due to illness. It’s hard to say whether or not he’s back up to his form, but if so, he’ll be happy to have a chance to prove that he’s ready again to handle a big stage race. Michele Scarponi, on the other hand, had a very strong Giro, but he finished the whole thing and might not be ready just yet to push for a victory in the Suisse.

    Cancellara won the Suisse a few years back, but since then he seems content to go for stage wins in his native territory; I don’t see why this year would be different, as he’s not a natural Alp-climber. Not much to say about Andy Schleck—he has yet to show that he’s still got it.

    There are a number of other names who will challenge, especially given that many of them aren’t just here for the tuneup. Blanco is absolutely stacked. They bring a stable of impressive all-rounders to the Suisse. Steven Kruijswijk was 3rd here in 2011. Bauke Mollema took 5th that year and has had strong performances in some of the Europe Tour stage races so far this year. A bit under the radar still, Wilco Kelderman showed good form at this year’s Giro, placing within the top 20, and he was 5h in Romandie and 6th at the Tour Down Under. He’s a great time trialist and one to watch. Luis Leon Sanchez is here, too. The number of possible contenders they have makes it difficult to tab one as a winning pick.

    Saxo-Tinkoff’s Roman Kreuziger, winner of the 2008 Suisse and at least on form enough this year to take a victory at Amstel Gold, should put in a strong performance; Nicolas Roche is here, too. Katusha’s Simon Špilak stands to build on his growing reputation as a strong GC guy after a 2nd place overall and a stage win in Romandie. In terms of form, he seems like one of the best bets to go far at the Suisse. Domenico Pozzovivo is another possible contender after a top 10 at the Giro.

    Garmin’s Dan Martin has had a terrific year so far, winning Cataluyna and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Given teammate Ryder Hesjedal’s big disappointment in the Giro, Garmin may be open to giving Martin a chance to show his stuff; this one may simply come down to whether Martin wants to push for victory or be content as a support rider. I think he wants to continue to prove himself as a GC type guy, and he certainly has the chops for a strong performance if he gives it his all. Mathias Frank is another interesting name whose role is as of yet unclear—surely he’d like to put in a strong performance in his home tour, and his past results have shown that he’s capable, but will BMC let him ride for his own edification?

    Stagehunters

    The aforementioned Fabian Cancellara will certainly produce some highlights in a number of stages, with time trials and hillier sprints awaiting his skillset. He had another laurel-filled Spring campaign and will be tough to beat on his home turf. On the flip side, Philippe Gilbert’s spring campaign was an immense disappointment. He has yet to earn his first victory of the year; he hasn’t even podiumed in a WorldTour race in 2013 yet. The rainbow jersey should be out for stage wins, but he and Cancellara will face stiff competition for points: Peter Sagan is here, coming off another strong Tour of California (after another amazing Spring). John Degenkolb and Orica’s Michael Albasini and Matthew Goss will be in the mix as well. This year’s “flat” stages seem to cater to all of these guys, with some bumps thrown in to keep things interesting. It will be interesting to see if Gilbert can finally notch his first WorldTour win this year against so many familiar faces. The Suisse has also potential for breakaway winners, so watch out for the ageless Jens Voigt, who showed California audiences in May that he’s still got it.

    Stages

    Stage 1: Quinto | 8.1km | ITT

    Stage 2: Quinto > Crans-Montana | 170.1km | Summit Finish

    Stage 3: Montreux > Meiringen | 203.3km | High Mountains

    Stage 4: Innertkirchen > Buochs | 161km | Medium Mountains

    Stage 5: Buochs > Leuggern | 176.4km | Flat

    Stage 6: Leuggern > Meilen | 186.1km | Flat

    Stage 7: Meilen > La Punt | 206km | High Mountains

    Stage 8: Zernez > Bad Ragaz | 180.5km | Medium Mountains

    Stage 9: Bad Ragaz > Flumserberg | 26.8km | ITT (Mountain)

    GC Predictions

    Winner: Tejay van Garderen

    Podium: Rui Costa, Simon Spilak

    Other strong contenders: Bauke Mollema, Wilco Kelderman, Roman Kreuziger, Mathias Frank, Dan Martin

    -Dane Cash

    Photo by Alfio Brignoni.

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