and now the moment you’ve all been waiting for
July 25th, 2008This morning when you were tossing and turning in bed, you may have wondered why you had such a lack of serenity, but deep, deep inside you knew. You don’t know how I feel about this year’s Tour de France. Don’t worry, here you go.
Some people have described this year’s TdF as “exciting” which could only be true if they are completely unfamiliar with bicycle racing and the phrase “boring as hell.” Close racing does not equate exciting racing, because after all, if everyone road every day in the pack and never did anything, and if there were no time bonuses, everyone would finish every stage race tied. Wouldn’t that be awesome!
It’s no secret that Cadel Evans, should and, unless God strikes him down for being so boring, will win the tour during tomorrow’s time trial. I doubt he’ll win the stage, but he can put two minutes into Sastre with his eyes closed, and judging from the number of small crashes he’s been in, he’s probably been practicing. However, he’s not alone. Virtually every favorite has hit the pavement in some stupid little crash that impacted the race. Valverde crashed. VandeVelde crashed out of contention. Schumacher crashed out of yellow. Cunego crashed out of the race. The Schleck’s crash so much that they ride afraid of crashing. Hincapie looks like a Pinata.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, more favorites got popped for doping. I can overlook some of the older Spanish riders as being members of a doped generation. EPO is mother’s milk to those guys, but Ricco (and Piepoli, because he’s a stage winner) was a huge disappointment, although as I told friends, I’ve never felt guilty like this before at being excited that someone tested positive for dope. At least the ability to test for CERA shows that WADA and drug manufacturers are serious about developing good tests, although as the recent study on EPO testing and an interesting article in Bicycling (can’t believe I just wrote those words) about Cristian VandeVelde’s blood values confirm, testing isn’t a black and white thing. The tests have remarkable variability and more than that, it sounds like a great percentage of the labs suck worse than Cavendish on a climb.
Speaking of VandeVelde, isn’t he lucky his breakout year happened on a team with longitudinal (passport style) independent dope testing? If not, the scenario of aging, American, ex-Armstrong lieutenant, with little in the way of previous results sitting in contention for yellow would be a little bit suspicious, no? While I’m happy for him, and maybe this is what Garmin-Chipotle is capable of, it’s still kind of a strange strategy. No one remembers fourth or fifth place in last year’s tour, so even with a great ride, VdV will at best be a footnote in the tour. Other than that, a couple of close calls is all the “Argyle Armada” has to show. Not bad mind you, but I’d trade the whole package for a single stage win or jersey.
Truthfully, only two teams and one country have had a good tour. As a country, shockingly, France has done pretty well with Chavanel, Dumoulin, Dessel as stage winners and Feillu in yellow. French riders have dominated most breaks. Top team spot goes to Columbia for snagging yellow with Kirchen, then not working too hard to keep him in yellow, getting four stages from Cavendish (who might go down as the Gary Payton of ProTour trash-talking), and picking up scraps with Burghardt. The other team of note is CSC, who especially if you throw out tainted Saunier Duval results, has done well. However, for all their tactical praise, and yes, they know what they are doing, and have the riders to do it, they’ll probably lose this tour with only a couple of stage wins, the young rider’s competition and a few days of yellow to show for it. For a team of this class, anything less than outright victory is a disappointment, and they should have been more aggressive in the mountains to get it done.
They’re not alone.
The big problem with this tour has been the lack of aggression. The excitement of the tour comes down to time trials, the Alps and the Pyrenees, and so far I’d say that the first time trial was tainted with a suspect winner, and the mountain stages were a strange mix of detente and few summit finishes. The worry is that this style of riding is characteristic of a post-drugs peloton. The helpers can’t help, the attackers can’t attack, and the decent time trialers are more than happy to sit in. Sastre is the only GC favorite to actually make an attack stick, and for that he’s branded a hero, when he didn’t gain enough time to put Cadel out of reach and he didn’t attack again to try and gain more time.
Unless we find some aggressive, attacking riders tours will be less fun to watch, and again inferior to the Giro in excitement. In my mind that’s even the big difference between Indurain and Armstrong. Both were dominant, but at least Armstrong lit some fireworks in the mountains. Whether that was a sign of times past, we may not know for a few years, but regardless it made for good television. The tour without talented agitators, is, well, boring. Racing not to lose isn’t the same as racing to win.
But since you haven’t been watching, you already agree.
IF you have been watching, or following, what have you taken from it?

