Stage 20
Armstrong won the yellow on Saturday, and the Aussies squared off for the Green today. It didn't just come down to the final day, it came down to the final sprint, as Cooke won the Points title by several centimeters.
You just don't get much closer than that. So FDJeaux comes out of the Tour with an absolutely huge award, the biggest title aside from the yellow. Baden Cooke is your 2003 Sprinting champ of the Tour de France. It's tough to analyze a sprint, so let's just say it was an absolutely terrific climax to a terrific Tour.
We're going to do a rundown of each of the teams as well as a comparison of the five guys who have won five Tours, so stay tuned for that. But first, we'll hand out some coveted BartCopSport's TdF awards. First, my top nine team:
GC: Lance Armstrong (US Postal). Well, duh. Five straight wins puts him among the very best ever.
GC: Tyler Hamilton (CSC). An absolutely inspiring Tour. Fourth overall with a broken collarbone. I think he would have had a podium finish if he was entirely healthy, and had an outside shot of winning the yellow.
Climber: Iban Mayo (Euskatel). Everyday he was on the attack in the mountains. He simply dominated the mountain stages, setting the pace. Even on Stage 15, it was Mayo who attacked, not Armstrong.
Climber: Richard Virenque (Quick Step). He won the King of the Mountains by 157 points. Only three riders accumulated that many points total.
Time Trialist: Jan Ullrich (Bianchi). He beat Armstrong. By a lot. His time trial victory completely obliterated the entire field and served notice that Jan is back.
Time Trialist: David Millar (Cofidis). I don't like Millar. I think he's the biggest whiner in the sport, but the man can time trial. Bad luck kept him from winning the Prologue, though he shouldn't have publicly taken it out on his team, but he did win the final time trial. And in Stage 12, he finished 7th overall, keeping up with Ullrich's insane pace.
Sprinter: Baden Cooke (FDJ). He not only won the Green, he deserved it. He was the guy people were marking and trying to contain. He dominated the sprints and is a worthy champ.
Domestique: Manuel Beltran (US Postal). If Beltran signs with Binachi, Ullrich might have won the yellow. He was unbelievable in this Tour, picking up the slack for the infirm Heras. He set the pace for Lance at every stage of the game.
Domestique: Daniele Nardello (Telekom). No team had a better rank and file than Telekom. Unfortunately, Vinokourov wasn't quite on the same level as the big two, and Zabel has just lost a little bit in his sprinter's legs. that doesn't diminish the amazing job the domestqiues of Telekom did. I chose Nardello as the top domestique from the team, but this is really an award for the entire Telekom team. They didn't win, but they rode an outstanding race.
Some other awards....
BEST GUY NOT LISTED ABOVE
Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom)
He had an unbelievable Tour, finally stepping out of the shadow of all of the great Telekom riders in the past and making it to the final podium. He attacked like mad, and though he is not as strong of a rider as Lance or Jan, he pressed his advantage far more and almost stole the yellow jersey.
NEXT GUY TEAM BIANCHI AND US POSTAL WILL FIGHT OVER
Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R)
24th overall, within an hour of the leaders, but riding for a lousy team. This guy was in on almost every huge climb, but he just doesn't have the legs to finish it off. He's begging to be a domestique for someone who can win.
BEST DOMESTIQUE WITH NO ONE TO RIDE FOR
Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour)
It's not like Jean Delatour is going to add a big name, but come on, Halgand's never going to win this thing, but he's always hanging around on climbs. He burns out, but he picks up huge chunks of time in the mountains. Give him someone to ride for.
BIGGEST DUD
Gilberto Simoni (Saeco)
Yes, he won a stage. Big whoop. He talked a big game and then proceeeded to get his ass kicked all over the course.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank)
It's not his fault, but his crash on Stage 1 robbed us of a chance to see three Americans duke it out for the podium slots. I just feel awful for him.
FLUKY HIGH CLASSIFICATION
Laurent DuFaux (Alessio)
He finished 2nd in the climbers category. I can't for the life of me remember him on any big climb. Something seriously needs to be done to revamp the scoring for the pola dots.
WORST CRASH
Joseba Beloki (ONCE)
Worst yey, it might be a career-ending crash. The Stage One crash was pretty awful as well, but Beloki's skid will never be forgotten.
BIGGEST SUPRISE
Francisco Mancebo and Denis Menchov (Banesto)
I didn't think they had a snowball's chance in hell of doing as well as they did, both finishing within 20 minutes of Armstrong at 10th and 11th overall. And Menchov won the white jersey by 42 minutes, abd it wasn't really that close. That was supposed to go to Rogers, but he was a complete non-factor.
BEST LAST TOUR
Erik Zabel (Telekom)
OK, we don't know that's it, but I can't imagine him coming back to merely be an average sprinter. He's lost some of his explosiveness, but he still showed glimpses of the talent that made him possibly the greatest sprinter in Tour history. He lost on the last day in 2002, so it made sense to come back and try for his 7th Green Jersey, but he was just not enough to keep up with the top two guys. Still, he was clearly better than every other sprinter in a very talented field.
BEST MOMENT
Tyler Hamilton (CSC)
Hamilton's win in Stage 16 was simply unbelievable, and the most stirring moment of the Tour. It takes a lot to steal the spotlight from one of the closest Tours ever, but Hamilton did just that.
Armstrong won the yellow on Saturday, and the Aussies squared off for the Green today. It didn't just come down to the final day, it came down to the final sprint, as Cooke won the Points title by several centimeters.
You just don't get much closer than that. So FDJeaux comes out of the Tour with an absolutely huge award, the biggest title aside from the yellow. Baden Cooke is your 2003 Sprinting champ of the Tour de France. It's tough to analyze a sprint, so let's just say it was an absolutely terrific climax to a terrific Tour.
We're going to do a rundown of each of the teams as well as a comparison of the five guys who have won five Tours, so stay tuned for that. But first, we'll hand out some coveted BartCopSport's TdF awards. First, my top nine team:
GC: Lance Armstrong (US Postal). Well, duh. Five straight wins puts him among the very best ever.
GC: Tyler Hamilton (CSC). An absolutely inspiring Tour. Fourth overall with a broken collarbone. I think he would have had a podium finish if he was entirely healthy, and had an outside shot of winning the yellow.
Climber: Iban Mayo (Euskatel). Everyday he was on the attack in the mountains. He simply dominated the mountain stages, setting the pace. Even on Stage 15, it was Mayo who attacked, not Armstrong.
Climber: Richard Virenque (Quick Step). He won the King of the Mountains by 157 points. Only three riders accumulated that many points total.
Time Trialist: Jan Ullrich (Bianchi). He beat Armstrong. By a lot. His time trial victory completely obliterated the entire field and served notice that Jan is back.
Time Trialist: David Millar (Cofidis). I don't like Millar. I think he's the biggest whiner in the sport, but the man can time trial. Bad luck kept him from winning the Prologue, though he shouldn't have publicly taken it out on his team, but he did win the final time trial. And in Stage 12, he finished 7th overall, keeping up with Ullrich's insane pace.
Sprinter: Baden Cooke (FDJ). He not only won the Green, he deserved it. He was the guy people were marking and trying to contain. He dominated the sprints and is a worthy champ.
Domestique: Manuel Beltran (US Postal). If Beltran signs with Binachi, Ullrich might have won the yellow. He was unbelievable in this Tour, picking up the slack for the infirm Heras. He set the pace for Lance at every stage of the game.
Domestique: Daniele Nardello (Telekom). No team had a better rank and file than Telekom. Unfortunately, Vinokourov wasn't quite on the same level as the big two, and Zabel has just lost a little bit in his sprinter's legs. that doesn't diminish the amazing job the domestqiues of Telekom did. I chose Nardello as the top domestique from the team, but this is really an award for the entire Telekom team. They didn't win, but they rode an outstanding race.
Some other awards....
BEST GUY NOT LISTED ABOVE
Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom)
He had an unbelievable Tour, finally stepping out of the shadow of all of the great Telekom riders in the past and making it to the final podium. He attacked like mad, and though he is not as strong of a rider as Lance or Jan, he pressed his advantage far more and almost stole the yellow jersey.
NEXT GUY TEAM BIANCHI AND US POSTAL WILL FIGHT OVER
Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R)
24th overall, within an hour of the leaders, but riding for a lousy team. This guy was in on almost every huge climb, but he just doesn't have the legs to finish it off. He's begging to be a domestique for someone who can win.
BEST DOMESTIQUE WITH NO ONE TO RIDE FOR
Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour)
It's not like Jean Delatour is going to add a big name, but come on, Halgand's never going to win this thing, but he's always hanging around on climbs. He burns out, but he picks up huge chunks of time in the mountains. Give him someone to ride for.
BIGGEST DUD
Gilberto Simoni (Saeco)
Yes, he won a stage. Big whoop. He talked a big game and then proceeeded to get his ass kicked all over the course.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank)
It's not his fault, but his crash on Stage 1 robbed us of a chance to see three Americans duke it out for the podium slots. I just feel awful for him.
FLUKY HIGH CLASSIFICATION
Laurent DuFaux (Alessio)
He finished 2nd in the climbers category. I can't for the life of me remember him on any big climb. Something seriously needs to be done to revamp the scoring for the pola dots.
WORST CRASH
Joseba Beloki (ONCE)
Worst yey, it might be a career-ending crash. The Stage One crash was pretty awful as well, but Beloki's skid will never be forgotten.
BIGGEST SUPRISE
Francisco Mancebo and Denis Menchov (Banesto)
I didn't think they had a snowball's chance in hell of doing as well as they did, both finishing within 20 minutes of Armstrong at 10th and 11th overall. And Menchov won the white jersey by 42 minutes, abd it wasn't really that close. That was supposed to go to Rogers, but he was a complete non-factor.
BEST LAST TOUR
Erik Zabel (Telekom)
OK, we don't know that's it, but I can't imagine him coming back to merely be an average sprinter. He's lost some of his explosiveness, but he still showed glimpses of the talent that made him possibly the greatest sprinter in Tour history. He lost on the last day in 2002, so it made sense to come back and try for his 7th Green Jersey, but he was just not enough to keep up with the top two guys. Still, he was clearly better than every other sprinter in a very talented field.
BEST MOMENT
Tyler Hamilton (CSC)
Hamilton's win in Stage 16 was simply unbelievable, and the most stirring moment of the Tour. It takes a lot to steal the spotlight from one of the closest Tours ever, but Hamilton did just that.
posted by Poseur at 1:35 PM
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