Podia: Tour de France 2017 in review
July 30, 2017 |
| @ ASO |
Calm has been restored to the streets of Paris; one-hundred-and-sixty-seven exhausted men can finally go home to their families after a forced three week absence. Thirty-one of their comrades went home to their families earlier, but they're not the lucky ones, as they were forced to abandon their heroism because of sickness, failure or injury, or -in one certain case- disqualification. The 104th Tour de France has come and gone, time for some reflection: in useful list-format!
Like a veritable Vuelta d'Espagna of listicles, I'm going to prevent you not with one list, but a whole armada of top three's: I'll start off with my personal three highlights of this Tour, a review of the main classifications, followed by three riders who must be disappointed in their performance, three surprising performers, a farewell to three great riders and finally a review of the performance of my personal favourite team, Orica-Scott.
The Classifications
1) The general classification
Long before the route of this year's Tour was revealed, there was a clear favourite for the overall victory: Chris Froome. Some minor doubts, such as his lacklustre performance in the Dauphine and the relatively small amount of TT kilometres, could not overcast his status as top favourite. Theoretically, there was fierce competition; Porte looked stronger than ever before, the duo of Aru and Fuglsang had been flying in the weeks before, and the line-up of challengers was impressive. The two time trials, each short enough by themselves, nevertheless completely decided the GC. Partly caused by the strategic placement of the TT's, on the opening day and wedged between two sprint stages at the very end of the tour, but it was here that the Tour was won. I have to wonder what would have happened if Uran had rode the first TT less carefully or if Porte had not crashed out.
1) The general classification
Long before the route of this year's Tour was revealed, there was a clear favourite for the overall victory: Chris Froome. Some minor doubts, such as his lacklustre performance in the Dauphine and the relatively small amount of TT kilometres, could not overcast his status as top favourite. Theoretically, there was fierce competition; Porte looked stronger than ever before, the duo of Aru and Fuglsang had been flying in the weeks before, and the line-up of challengers was impressive. The two time trials, each short enough by themselves, nevertheless completely decided the GC. Partly caused by the strategic placement of the TT's, on the opening day and wedged between two sprint stages at the very end of the tour, but it was here that the Tour was won. I have to wonder what would have happened if Uran had rode the first TT less carefully or if Porte had not crashed out.
2) The mountain classification
The people's favourite took this one home with a wide margin. Warren Barguil's 169 points are double that of the points gathered by his closest rival, Primoz Roglic. Although Barguil certainly put in some heroic efforts to collect this price, there was never any actual competition, unfortunately: both his closest competitors, Roglic and De Ghendt, were ultimately more interested in stage victory and combativity than the polkadot, but Wawa walked away with all three. The early days of this competition saw Cannondale-Drapac passing the jersey around, it was a delightful sight to see how this seemed to kickstart a momentum of good vibes in the team. Fabio Aru meanwhile declared himself a great aficionado of the red-on-white, which I consider a definite boon to his panache!
Forse sarà per i colori della mia Sardegna... ma questa Maglia mi piace proprio! ⚪️🔴⚪️🔴🔝 @LeTour #ilcavalieredei4mori pic.twitter.com/fVuJ7qtKv2— Fabio Aru (@FabioAru1) 7 juli 2017
4) The youth classification
Orica Scott managed to conquer the white jersey back to back, and the team had prepared with a snappy white-with-navy bibshort, staying well clear from the traditional white shorts/black shorts debate. For the majority of the race, the white never really was in danger, unless Yates would crack completely. Although it looked like a few cracks showed in the final week, the team's behind-the-scenes materials show they consciously capped their efforts at an acceptable time loss. Both Yates and his closest competitor, South African Louis Meintjes, will not be eligible for the white jersey next year, so it'll be interesting to see which priorities they'll take their careers towards.
Highlights
These are some moments that, for me at least, contributed the most to this year's Tour. On a personal note, I'd like to add the Circuit de Spa to this list: I was there at the roadside during stage three, and it was a magnificent sight to see the escapees and the peloton slither first through the wide valley and then up the unexpectedly steep uncategorized hill.
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| Circuit de Spa, ©Gruber Images |
3) Le Planche de Belle Filles
The much hyped first mountain stage of the Tour was supposed to prove a first test for the general classification. In a sense it did, as GC-contestants all crossed the line with minor time gaps between them, although in the end the gaps were too minor to be of much influence. The escape group including Voeckler and Gilbert reached the final climb but once there was quickly reeled in by the peloton, a pattern returning in many stages to come. At 2.7k to go, Fabio Aru went on a decisive attack and even Thomas working in yellow for his team leader couldn't bring him back. For me, this was the only moment where the GC truly felt up for grabs, and Aru and Daniel Martin just the men who could go and grab it.
2) La Course on the Izoard
La Course, the Tour de France's women race, experimented with a new format this year. Instead of a lightning fast criterium on the Champs Elsysee, the elite ladies got a grueling mountain stage. Shortly before, the Giro Rosa had already shown how exciting women's races can be. (Seriously. Go watch that mountain time-trial. Wow.) I was looking forward a lot to this race. Anna van der Breggen wasn't participating, but beyond her the quality of the field was huge. Annemiek van Vleuten attacked with about 5k to go, with a second attack a few hundred meters later enabling her to shake off the other favourites. It was a tense and long road to go until the top, but eventually she took a winning 43 seconds there. Strava gave us the insight that in the men's field only Barguil and Bardet rode those final 5k faster than she did, but it's not that fact that makes this a stage worth remembering: it's enough that it was a beautiful race.
1) Contador-Landa tandem on Bastille day
The shortest day of the 2017 tour, but without doubt the day that is burned into my memory. The shortness of the stage and the symbolic day all but guaranteed fireworks. After a frantic fight to get into the day's breakaway, the spark that lit the fuse came from the group of favourites. Contador, who by then had dropped down significantly in the overall standings showed why he has got so many fans: he launched an attack that could only be followed by Team Sky's Mikel Landa. Convincing the Basque to work together, the two embarked on a tandem attack that has become the most iconic image of this tour. Only Warren Barguil, on the hunt for KOM points, and Nairo Quintana, who like Contador had tumbled down the GC before this stage, managed to chase the two down. This was also one of the most controversial days in the tour, as it sparked plenty of discussion on whether Landa had gone rogue and had started chasing his own glory. The unhappy domestique did wear the virtual yellow jersey for a while, but in the end did not manage to win enough time. Team spokesmen later claimed the attack was a planned move to get two Sky riders unto the podium, but Froome and Thomas' relentless work in the chase group most certainly suggest otherwise. Il Pistolero certainly poured oil on that fire, when Landa revealed the attack had been planned by his rival, and the old champion himself declared in an interview: “I was doing all I could to help Landa, it’s better to keep the Tour ‘in house.’” And if there's anyone who knows how to win a tour without your team's support...
Not everyone's Tour can be full of highlights, but here I tried to list three exceptionally unlucky tours.
3) Bahrein Merida
I suspect this must be a tour where many domestiques will have ridden with very little objectives apart from reaching the finish in Paris. GC teams' domestiques at times seemed practically useless thrown in front of the Sky train, while sprinter teams' efforts could rarely prevent Kittel's win. It must have been a frustrating tour for all those Astana, BMC, Lotto Soudal or Cofidis riders as they could do very little to aid their sprinter or classification rider. Bahrein Merida stands out however in their complete invisibility. This was the first Tour for this new WT team, and the team clearly intends to put a mark on GC battles for the future grand tours. They were unlucky with their leader crashing out badly during the opening TT, but there was no back-up plan to speak off. I don't believe I have seen their super talented sprinter/puncher Colbrelli once in this tour and I think only Grmay managed to slip into a breakaway or two, without any extraordinary feats. Sure, they deserve some slack for losing their GC leader, but the least they could have done was to animate a bit more breakaways.
2) The breakaway
Speaking of breakaways, this wasn't their tour. In recent years, the Sky train's dominance meant the team could often confidently control the peloton while the break was allowed to take the stage, but not so this year. Only four stages ended with a win for escapees; Lilian Calmejan, Bauke Mollema, Primoz Roglic and Edvald Boasson Hagen being the successful adventurers. Although they're not to blame for this, the lack of breakaway success seems to have hit two riders with a reputation disproportionately hard. Timetrialist Tony Martin has built up a reputation for pulling off long range solos during the tour. When the opening TT ended in a deception, a concussion kept him from trying something different. Eventually, Martin gave it another go, and cycling fans around the collectively sat back in full reassurance that der Panzerwagen would do it again, but alas. A rider with a similar reputation for pulling off great escapes is Stephen Cummings. His reputation and his form, as showcased by his British Nats victory, put him on the top of the lists of favourites for every stage marked as one for the break. Fans and journalists alike expected a lot of Stevo, and every day he seemed slightly more irritated at not being able to pull it off -same goes for his teammate Pauwels. Don't worry Stevo; we still love you, and we're sure that you'll show that British jersey in another race this year.
1) Nairo Quintana & Movistar
I think this needs little explanation. The Bartali to Froome's Coppi (or, the Coppi to Froome's Batali, we're not judging here), Nairo Quintana was already downgraded from main challenger to outsider for this years yellow jersey after under performing in the Giro earlier this year. Those who had hoped his performance there was as sing of holding back to save for the TdF were dissappointed, as the climber was unable to keep up with the favourites. A week after the Condor joined up with Contador and Landa during the Bastille Day stage, the Spanish Pistolero tried to seduce Colombian into another long-range attack, but in a humiliating turn of events Nairo was unable to follow. More embarrassing than their leader's off-year was Movistar's inability to impact the race in any meaningful manner. Formerly the only team who could aspire of matching Sky's brutal force, that honour now is passed to AG2R who punched far above their weights while Movistar clearly underpreformed.
La Course, the Tour de France's women race, experimented with a new format this year. Instead of a lightning fast criterium on the Champs Elsysee, the elite ladies got a grueling mountain stage. Shortly before, the Giro Rosa had already shown how exciting women's races can be. (Seriously. Go watch that mountain time-trial. Wow.) I was looking forward a lot to this race. Anna van der Breggen wasn't participating, but beyond her the quality of the field was huge. Annemiek van Vleuten attacked with about 5k to go, with a second attack a few hundred meters later enabling her to shake off the other favourites. It was a tense and long road to go until the top, but eventually she took a winning 43 seconds there. Strava gave us the insight that in the men's field only Barguil and Bardet rode those final 5k faster than she did, but it's not that fact that makes this a stage worth remembering: it's enough that it was a beautiful race.
 |
| ©Kramon |
The shortest day of the 2017 tour, but without doubt the day that is burned into my memory. The shortness of the stage and the symbolic day all but guaranteed fireworks. After a frantic fight to get into the day's breakaway, the spark that lit the fuse came from the group of favourites. Contador, who by then had dropped down significantly in the overall standings showed why he has got so many fans: he launched an attack that could only be followed by Team Sky's Mikel Landa. Convincing the Basque to work together, the two embarked on a tandem attack that has become the most iconic image of this tour. Only Warren Barguil, on the hunt for KOM points, and Nairo Quintana, who like Contador had tumbled down the GC before this stage, managed to chase the two down. This was also one of the most controversial days in the tour, as it sparked plenty of discussion on whether Landa had gone rogue and had started chasing his own glory. The unhappy domestique did wear the virtual yellow jersey for a while, but in the end did not manage to win enough time. Team spokesmen later claimed the attack was a planned move to get two Sky riders unto the podium, but Froome and Thomas' relentless work in the chase group most certainly suggest otherwise. Il Pistolero certainly poured oil on that fire, when Landa revealed the attack had been planned by his rival, and the old champion himself declared in an interview: “I was doing all I could to help Landa, it’s better to keep the Tour ‘in house.’” And if there's anyone who knows how to win a tour without your team's support...
Tour Fiasco'sImagine if Landa goes full Contador '09 and wins the tour with his team working against him... #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/cElQqAHN2l— Badger (@badgerbaroudeur) 22 juni 2017
Not everyone's Tour can be full of highlights, but here I tried to list three exceptionally unlucky tours.
3) Bahrein Merida
I suspect this must be a tour where many domestiques will have ridden with very little objectives apart from reaching the finish in Paris. GC teams' domestiques at times seemed practically useless thrown in front of the Sky train, while sprinter teams' efforts could rarely prevent Kittel's win. It must have been a frustrating tour for all those Astana, BMC, Lotto Soudal or Cofidis riders as they could do very little to aid their sprinter or classification rider. Bahrein Merida stands out however in their complete invisibility. This was the first Tour for this new WT team, and the team clearly intends to put a mark on GC battles for the future grand tours. They were unlucky with their leader crashing out badly during the opening TT, but there was no back-up plan to speak off. I don't believe I have seen their super talented sprinter/puncher Colbrelli once in this tour and I think only Grmay managed to slip into a breakaway or two, without any extraordinary feats. Sure, they deserve some slack for losing their GC leader, but the least they could have done was to animate a bit more breakaways.
 |
| @Gruber Images |
2) The breakaway
Speaking of breakaways, this wasn't their tour. In recent years, the Sky train's dominance meant the team could often confidently control the peloton while the break was allowed to take the stage, but not so this year. Only four stages ended with a win for escapees; Lilian Calmejan, Bauke Mollema, Primoz Roglic and Edvald Boasson Hagen being the successful adventurers. Although they're not to blame for this, the lack of breakaway success seems to have hit two riders with a reputation disproportionately hard. Timetrialist Tony Martin has built up a reputation for pulling off long range solos during the tour. When the opening TT ended in a deception, a concussion kept him from trying something different. Eventually, Martin gave it another go, and cycling fans around the collectively sat back in full reassurance that der Panzerwagen would do it again, but alas. A rider with a similar reputation for pulling off great escapes is Stephen Cummings. His reputation and his form, as showcased by his British Nats victory, put him on the top of the lists of favourites for every stage marked as one for the break. Fans and journalists alike expected a lot of Stevo, and every day he seemed slightly more irritated at not being able to pull it off -same goes for his teammate Pauwels. Don't worry Stevo; we still love you, and we're sure that you'll show that British jersey in another race this year.
 |
| Quintana tries but is unable to follow Contador, @ASO |
1) Nairo Quintana & Movistar
I think this needs little explanation. The Bartali to Froome's Coppi (or, the Coppi to Froome's Batali, we're not judging here), Nairo Quintana was already downgraded from main challenger to outsider for this years yellow jersey after under performing in the Giro earlier this year. Those who had hoped his performance there was as sing of holding back to save for the TdF were dissappointed, as the climber was unable to keep up with the favourites. A week after the Condor joined up with Contador and Landa during the Bastille Day stage, the Spanish Pistolero tried to seduce Colombian into another long-range attack, but in a humiliating turn of events Nairo was unable to follow. More embarrassing than their leader's off-year was Movistar's inability to impact the race in any meaningful manner. Formerly the only team who could aspire of matching Sky's brutal force, that honour now is passed to AG2R who punched far above their weights while Movistar clearly underpreformed.
Pleasant Surprises
Apart from the disappointing results above, the tour also packed some delightful surprises.
Apart from the disappointing results above, the tour also packed some delightful surprises.
3) Future stars: Guillaume Martin & Stefan Kung
Two young riders riders really caught my eye this tour the France; Guillaume Martin and Stefan Küng. Küng was the better known rider previously. Mostly known for being a strong rider against the clock, he's also performed well in a few stages in line earlier this year, winning a stage in the Tour de Romandie and coming second in the Swiss championships. His mountain pedigree is underwhelming so far, but so was Tom Dumoulin's in 2014. What struck me was his demeanor wearing the white jersey, a friendly confidence lacking both arrogance or nervousness.
Guillaume Martin was even more of an unknown coming into this tour, but he has left his mark. His biggest result to date is winning the LBL for U23's in 2015, though his more recent 2nd place in the 2016 Tour of Austria and the 18th place in this year's Dauphiné give a clearer indication of his rising talent. Finishing 23rd overall in his first Grand Tour -and 2nd best rider amongst the continental squads- is no small feat, and although at 24 years old he's got less development in front of him than some other young talents, I'd be surprised if he doesn't get snatched up by some World Tour squad before his current contract ends. Martin sealed his promise with a 3rd place on the prestigious 8th stage, crossing the line as first rider in the peloton.
2) Rigoberto Uran
From the crucial ninth stage of the tour onwards, the whispers went: Rigoberto Uran is conquering the general classification unseen. At the end of the tour, he's finished second and people are still claiming he did it 'unseen', but as he managed to cash in at least one spectacular stage victory more than the GC-winner, I'm willing to dispute this reputed 'invisibility'. Not many still believed in Uran's GC changes at the start of the tour, and Cannondale's reported tactical plan (all three mountain riders would chase their own GC while the rest of the team consisted of classic-style baroudeurs) didn't improve my opinion of his chances. The atmosphere within the team was vibrant though, and Rigo rode that wave unto the podium in Paris. When I was in Liège, the Colombian crowd payed no heed to the Green Argyle team bus, but I imagine that Colombia's Mick Jagger attracted quite a crowd at the end of the tour!
1) Edvald Boasson Hagen
An even greater revelation for me was Edvald Boasson Hagen. Even more than in Rigoberto's case, EBH's glory days seemed far behind him. After Mark Cavendish' unfortunate crash Eddie became the team's de-facto leader. He was rewarded with a win from stage 19's break, but although this win breaks a long dry spell for EBH, it's not this win that suprised the most. It came in a 'typical' EBH-fashion; surprising the remains of a successful break in a sprint for the finish. Much more noticeable were his almost wins: three 3rd places and two second places, all gathered in mass sprints, a territory where we haven't seen Edvald shine since his heyday.
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| Martin (left) and Küng (right), @Photonews & @Stefan Küng |
2) Rigoberto Uran
From the crucial ninth stage of the tour onwards, the whispers went: Rigoberto Uran is conquering the general classification unseen. At the end of the tour, he's finished second and people are still claiming he did it 'unseen', but as he managed to cash in at least one spectacular stage victory more than the GC-winner, I'm willing to dispute this reputed 'invisibility'. Not many still believed in Uran's GC changes at the start of the tour, and Cannondale's reported tactical plan (all three mountain riders would chase their own GC while the rest of the team consisted of classic-style baroudeurs) didn't improve my opinion of his chances. The atmosphere within the team was vibrant though, and Rigo rode that wave unto the podium in Paris. When I was in Liège, the Colombian crowd payed no heed to the Green Argyle team bus, but I imagine that Colombia's Mick Jagger attracted quite a crowd at the end of the tour!
 |
| @ASO |
1) Edvald Boasson Hagen
An even greater revelation for me was Edvald Boasson Hagen. Even more than in Rigoberto's case, EBH's glory days seemed far behind him. After Mark Cavendish' unfortunate crash Eddie became the team's de-facto leader. He was rewarded with a win from stage 19's break, but although this win breaks a long dry spell for EBH, it's not this win that suprised the most. It came in a 'typical' EBH-fashion; surprising the remains of a successful break in a sprint for the finish. Much more noticeable were his almost wins: three 3rd places and two second places, all gathered in mass sprints, a territory where we haven't seen Edvald shine since his heyday.
Farewells
This tour most probably saw quite a few who'll never return; be it because they are or will be in a continental squad next year, or because they will miss selection, go to the Giro, or whichever reason. There were however three greats for whom this tour may have been a last great hurrah.
3) Alberto Contador
I'm placing Alberto Contador on the third spot here, because he's the only of these three who we might still see in a grand tour once more. It's almost certain this was Contador's last Tour de France, and with such a great champion, that means an end to an era. I first became aware of cycling through Rasmussen and Sastre, but when I started actually watching the sport, the three brightest stars were all Spaniards: Valverde, Purito Rodriguez and, brightest of all, Alberto Contador. I'll make no secret of being a big fan of all three of them, the last two a bit more than the first, and it seems their generation is slowly moving out. After injury, even Valverde's future seems uncertain. I'm glad that Alberto will have spend his last one (or 1.5) season in a happier home than Oleg Tinkoff's. Awkward photo's with his former rival Andy Schleck (guess whose side I used to be on?) aside, he seems to feel very much at home with Trek. Although his GC plans didn't come to fruition, nobody animated the race as Contador did. If I had to hand out a personal Super Combatative award, this is where it'd end up!
2) Haimar Zubeldia
Initially, Haimar wasn't even supposed to start the Tour, but thanks to a doping suspension, the old Basque could claim a spot on team Trek-Segafredo. I shudder to think of the goodbye he'd gotten without the grand tour to introduce his farewells, because on the rest day Haimar announced his intention to stop riding after (today's) San Sebastian. Haimar was a super domestique, and heardbroken not to go to the tour. I think the combination of the Grand Boucle and his home race the Klasikoa, where he could start with the number #1. A worthy farewell!
1) Thomas Voeckler
French heartthrob Thomas Voeckler is a divisive cyclist: in my experience, you either love him or you hate him. To be fair, it's mostly the French who love him while, if twitter is a measure to go by, all others can't stand him. I'm honestly perplexed as to why, because Titi is a wonderful cyclist! Although his palmares will never match up with that of great champions, but he makes up for it in panache. He's been absolutely loyal to his team manager and even more loyal to his fans. His lust to animate races still shows even at his age. I think cycling will miss him dearly.
Fanzone: Orica-Scott
I've betrayed more than one preference in the course of this preview, but anyone who follows me on twitter will know that there's one team I'm a huge fan of, so I couldn't end this review with a reflection on Orica-Scott's performance.
3) Chavito's troubles
Although the team started a few years back with a bunch of Australian adventurers, Colombian GC-man Esteban Chaves is arguably the team's biggest star. After a successful early season, Chavito sustained a nagging injury right before the Colombian Nationals in March, and has been off the bike since then. His first race was the Dauphinée, where he road ostensibly without any ambitions, as a warm-up for the tour. Originally, Chavito was planned to be the team's leader, but by moving Yates from the Giro to the Tour the team coyly admitted that Chavito's form would not be up to the task. It was with dread, and perhaps a bit of fanciful self-deception, that I awaited to see Chaves' performance in the mountains. Alas, the signs were worse than expected, as Esteban often dropped long before many less experienced climbers. In itself, his tour performance isn't too worrying, but I'm hoping that his injury will not turn out chronic.
2) The Yates double
After Adam managed to conquer the white jersey last year, Simon came to this year's tour with a clear objective. They're said to be the first brothers to both wear the white jersey in Paris, and as I've mentioned before, the mission rarely looked in danger. Simon is more of a puncher than Adam, and it was noticeable that he looked stronger in the first week than in the third. There seemed little threat or ambition apart from this; his GC position since stage five never was higher or lower than 6th or 7th place.
1) The Domestiques
Who can forget Damien Howson's effort in last year's Vuelta? It rivalled Michael Kwiatkowski standstill in this year's Tour, but with the added effort of a long distance breakaway. In the mountains, I expected Damien to be one Yates' main mountain domestiques. In reality, I don't think I've seem him, unfortunately. Roman Kreuzinger was the only helper who could regularly stay with Yates for a while, and Daryl Impey on occasion. Now, to be fair, as I mentioned before this has been an issue for all teams apart from Sky and AG2R. What surprised me was that Orica didn't change tactics in the same way that Movistar ceraintly did: put riders in the break, so they can either go for stage victory or so they help out after dropping back or being caught.
Overall, I think Orica will be satisfied. They committed to one goal, and grasped it. I wonder if there could have been more in it for the team though, by committing more to breakaways or a more aggressive spirit in the GC, the latter of which was made unlikely because of the large time gaps behind the top 5. Another take-away about the team is beside the bike: the team has gained a large share of fans through their Backstage Pass youtube-videos, a series they started before it was the hip thing to do. This time, they showed those videos weren't dependent on one crew member, as their original creator, the magnificent Dan Jones, went home down under to become a father. Congratulations Dan! The BSP was taken over by the team that already had done a great job on the Giro Rosa. To top it off, Orica used the Tour to promote their upcoming feature length film: All for One. Now, I'm off to find out when it'll have a European screening.
Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed it! As you can see, producing text isn't my problem, rather, I'll try to be more concise in the future.
Cheers,
Badger Baroudeur.
2) Haimar Zubeldia
Initially, Haimar wasn't even supposed to start the Tour, but thanks to a doping suspension, the old Basque could claim a spot on team Trek-Segafredo. I shudder to think of the goodbye he'd gotten without the grand tour to introduce his farewells, because on the rest day Haimar announced his intention to stop riding after (today's) San Sebastian. Haimar was a super domestique, and heardbroken not to go to the tour. I think the combination of the Grand Boucle and his home race the Klasikoa, where he could start with the number #1. A worthy farewell!
💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔— Haimar Zubeldia (@hzubeldia) 23 juni 2017
1) Thomas Voeckler
French heartthrob Thomas Voeckler is a divisive cyclist: in my experience, you either love him or you hate him. To be fair, it's mostly the French who love him while, if twitter is a measure to go by, all others can't stand him. I'm honestly perplexed as to why, because Titi is a wonderful cyclist! Although his palmares will never match up with that of great champions, but he makes up for it in panache. He's been absolutely loyal to his team manager and even more loyal to his fans. His lust to animate races still shows even at his age. I think cycling will miss him dearly.
Fanzone: Orica-Scott
I've betrayed more than one preference in the course of this preview, but anyone who follows me on twitter will know that there's one team I'm a huge fan of, so I couldn't end this review with a reflection on Orica-Scott's performance.
3) Chavito's troubles
Although the team started a few years back with a bunch of Australian adventurers, Colombian GC-man Esteban Chaves is arguably the team's biggest star. After a successful early season, Chavito sustained a nagging injury right before the Colombian Nationals in March, and has been off the bike since then. His first race was the Dauphinée, where he road ostensibly without any ambitions, as a warm-up for the tour. Originally, Chavito was planned to be the team's leader, but by moving Yates from the Giro to the Tour the team coyly admitted that Chavito's form would not be up to the task. It was with dread, and perhaps a bit of fanciful self-deception, that I awaited to see Chaves' performance in the mountains. Alas, the signs were worse than expected, as Esteban often dropped long before many less experienced climbers. In itself, his tour performance isn't too worrying, but I'm hoping that his injury will not turn out chronic.
2) The Yates double
After Adam managed to conquer the white jersey last year, Simon came to this year's tour with a clear objective. They're said to be the first brothers to both wear the white jersey in Paris, and as I've mentioned before, the mission rarely looked in danger. Simon is more of a puncher than Adam, and it was noticeable that he looked stronger in the first week than in the third. There seemed little threat or ambition apart from this; his GC position since stage five never was higher or lower than 6th or 7th place.
1) The Domestiques
Who can forget Damien Howson's effort in last year's Vuelta? It rivalled Michael Kwiatkowski standstill in this year's Tour, but with the added effort of a long distance breakaway. In the mountains, I expected Damien to be one Yates' main mountain domestiques. In reality, I don't think I've seem him, unfortunately. Roman Kreuzinger was the only helper who could regularly stay with Yates for a while, and Daryl Impey on occasion. Now, to be fair, as I mentioned before this has been an issue for all teams apart from Sky and AG2R. What surprised me was that Orica didn't change tactics in the same way that Movistar ceraintly did: put riders in the break, so they can either go for stage victory or so they help out after dropping back or being caught.
Overall, I think Orica will be satisfied. They committed to one goal, and grasped it. I wonder if there could have been more in it for the team though, by committing more to breakaways or a more aggressive spirit in the GC, the latter of which was made unlikely because of the large time gaps behind the top 5. Another take-away about the team is beside the bike: the team has gained a large share of fans through their Backstage Pass youtube-videos, a series they started before it was the hip thing to do. This time, they showed those videos weren't dependent on one crew member, as their original creator, the magnificent Dan Jones, went home down under to become a father. Congratulations Dan! The BSP was taken over by the team that already had done a great job on the Giro Rosa. To top it off, Orica used the Tour to promote their upcoming feature length film: All for One. Now, I'm off to find out when it'll have a European screening.
Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed it! As you can see, producing text isn't my problem, rather, I'll try to be more concise in the future.
Cheers,
Badger Baroudeur.
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