Tour de France All-Star Team
GC men:
JASON: Lance Armstrong (USA-USPS) and Andreas Kloden (Germany-Telekom)
Big surprise here. You’d have to be a moron to leave Lance off your team. Kloden was not a flashy competitor, only attacking once, but in a war of attrition survival is the key. His time trials were great, and he was excellent in the mountains. When he was dropped he was among the last to go.
STEPHEN: Lance Armstrong (USPS) and Thomas Voeckler (BLB)
You’re right, Lance is a no-brainer. He’s really, really good. The only real argument is how he ranks historically (still behind Eddie Merckx), and what else he can do. Win seven? Go for a double?
Voeckler may have finished 18th overall, but he held the yellow jersey longer than we had any reason to suspect. He showed just an amazing amount of grit, holding on to the lead which he knew that would not hold up. In a race in which Lance won number six, Voeckler became the lead story.
Time Trialist:
JASON: Jan Ullrich (Germany-Telekom)
I thought Ullrich might struggle on the Alpe d’Huez time trial, but he proved me wrong. Yeah, Lance beat him by a lot, but he beat everyone by a lot. And Ullrich beat everyone else.
STEPHEN: Jan Ullrich (TMO)
Since Lance already has an all-star slot, I very well can’t put him on the team twice. The only guy to even be on the same planet as Armstrong in the time trials was Ullrich. But I almost gave Armstrong two slots.
Sprinter:
JASON: Robbie McEwen (Australia-Lotto) and Thor Hushovd (Norway-Credit Agricole)
Another big surprise. Zabel stayed in contention by being steady, and O’Grady exploded in two days, but McEwen and Hushovd were simply faster than anyone else in the race.
STEPHEN: Robbie McEwen (LOT) and Thor Hushovd (C.A.)
McEwen was just the strongest guy. Lotto’s not the greatest team on earth, but they know their mission: lead out McEwen. They do this reasonably well. Hushovd, on the other hand, got spotty and disorganized help from his team. Credit Agricole gave him nothing, and Hushovd looked like the strongest sprinter throughout the race, but he just didn’t get the support of Zabel and McEwen. It cost him the Green Jersey.
Climber:
JASON: Ivan Basso (Italy—CSC)
Yes, Virenque picked up the points no one cared about. Basso was the one man who could keep pace with Lance Armstrong. I’ll pick him.
STEPHEN: Ivan Basso (CSC)
We’re agreeing far too much. Basso took Lance to the line several times, and he was definitely the best mortal climbing the mountains. Did you also see that the Tour awarded Virenque the Most Aggressive rider award? If picking up uncontested cheap points counts as aggressive… then, yeah. Since Piil didn’t finish, he was ineligible for this award, so how about the organizers throw Voeckler a bone? Or Tom Boonen, winner of two stages? Or Jerome Pineau, who authored several breaks? Or give Rabobank something, what about Rasmussen? There are other Frenchmen they could’ve handed this thing to.
Domestiques:
JASON: Floyd Landis (USA-USPS), George Hincapie (USA-USPS), Jacob Piil (Denmark-CSC).
I’ll take Landis as my mountain domestique, and what an unlikely candidate. Now, you can make a case for Jose Azevedo, but after the week Landis had, I can’t deny him. After all, he did drop Azevedo, and he beat him in the time trial. Sure, Azevedo is a better climber than Landis, but since I’m awarding them for what they did over the last 3 weeks. In third week, when Azevedo’s legs were weary, Landis stepped up to fill the void. That’s greatness in a domestique. Not only does he do his job, but he takes on another’s when he’s having trouble.
George Hincapie has grown into a pretty good mountain climber. But if I need a man to drive a peloton anywhere, mountains, flats, or cobblestones, I’ll take Hincapie.
Jacob Piil. He busted a tendon and had to abandon, but I’ll pick him anyway. In the first week he was in almost every attack. He can lead out a sprint, he’ll pull in the mountains, and you know he’s itching to attack on command.
STEPHEN: Floyd Landis (USPS), Jakob Piil (CSC), Mickael Rasmussen (RAB)
If we were totally honest, we’d just give it to the whole Postal team, but Landis is my standard-bearer for all of them. Azevedo came over and did what he’s supposed to do, and Hincapie has been Armstrong’s faithful sidekick for so long that its no longer noteworthy. Landis, however, was a revelation this year. He’s never been able to carry Lance for this long, and he picked up the slack when Azevedo slowed in the third week. Simply put, an amazing job.
I thought about leaving Piil off because he didn’t finish the race, but come on, he was just all over the place in the first two weeks. There’s no way I could leave him off. I bumped Carlos Sastre, who did some heavy lifting for Basso.
Finally, we tend to focus on the domestiques of the podium guys, so I’d like to take the time to recognize the guy who did the hard work for Levi Leipheimer. Rasmussen ended up third in the climbing standings, and during the epic stages, he was able to set a pace for Leipheimer, who had his first top ten finish.
Other Awards
Best rider never mentioned during the Tour:
JASON: Oscar Pereiro Sio of Phonak. When Tyler Hamilton abandoned this team wasn’t left with much hope. It was hard to notice him hanging in the back of the elite group of climbers, but he was there. He finished 10th, and that should be good enough to get his name in the paper.
STEPHEN: Georg Totschnig (GST)
Seemingly always the last guy dropped, he was never a threat to win the race, but he ended up finishing 7th overall. He had a consistent, unremarkable, and ultimately very successful Tour.
Best Stage
JASON: #13 to Plateau de Beille
Azevedo shredded the field for Lance, and Basso was the only one who could hang on. By the end of the day Armstrong had a comfortable lead on almost everyone. Stage 13 also had the best moment of the whole Tour. Despite being dropped repeatedly in the mountains, Thomas Voeckler just would not give up. In the final kilometer his manager rode up to him in the team car to tell him he had to cross in a couple minutes or he’d lose the race lead. A short while later he made the final turn, looked at the clock, and pumped his fist, knowing he had kept the yellow jersey. He knew he had no chance to win, but he defended that jersey like mad.
STEPHEN: Stage 16
Virenque and Rasmussen go out ahead of everybody, only to get swallowed up on the final climb. It was the perfect stage: Virenque gets the climbing points and Lance gets the stage. The group of ten riders that duked it out on the final climb was a who’s who of contenders, and that was when Armstrong decided to win this thing.
Biggest disappointment
JASON: Tyler Hamilton’s abandon. We thought he would be a contender, but that crash took a lot out of him. He was weak on the first climb, and decided to go home once he realized he couldn’t win. Dishonorable mention to Roberto Heras and Iban Mayo.
STEPHEN: Iban Mayo
Hamilton hurt himself quite badly, and given that he’s never abandoned before, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. It’s a shame he got hurt, but at least he has an excuse. So what the hell happened to Mayo? This course was designed so he could beat Lance and he was down by half an hour before we even got to the mountains. We thought he could then at least challenge for the dots, and he did no such thing. He eventually abandoned because he was riding so poorly.
Iron Man award
JASON: In the past Daniele Nardello and Tyler Hamilton earned the Iron Man award by finishing after horrible injuries. This year the award goes to a guy who couldn’t finish the Tour. Matthias Kessler of Telekom had a vicious crash into a wooden post. Though he had to abandon, he finished the stage with cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Dude, you could have died. Get into the ambulance.
STEPHEN: Kessler
We didn’t have the joy this year of watching a guy absolutely torture himself just to make it to Paris. Any rider who finishes is a tough man, surviving inhuman punishment and enough scrapes and bruises to leave most of us in bed. But Kessler’s crash was just brutal. He didn’t finish the Tour, but just finishing the stage was unbelievable. These guys are tough.
Anemic man award
JASON: It was fitting that Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini abandoned on the same day (amazingly before a mountain!). We came, we saw, we went home.
STEPHEN: Alessandro “Abandon” Petacchi
When the mountains come into view, it’s time for Petacchi to throw in the towel. If you’re not even gonna try to finish, why bother showing up? At least Cipo’s finished this race before, and he’s an old man riding an almost ceremonial victory lap. I’ll give him a pass.
Best quote
JASON: “The Vikings have returned to Brittany” Thor Hushovd after his stage 8 win.
STEPHEN: “No gifts.” Lance Armstrong, pretty much defining the way this Tour would go.
Biggest whiner
JASON: Axel Merckx complaining about Richard Virenque stealing stage 10, even though Merckx lost a 10 minute lead and finished 71st.
STEPHEN: Fillipo Simeoni
Yeah, it’s not fair that Lance rode your wheel so you couldn’t have a shot at the breakaway and a stage win. But don’t make enemies with Lance and then bitch about it when he makes your life hell. And it’s not just Lance who hates Simeoni, nobody went to the back of the peleton to talk with Simeoni. You reap what you sow. You start bad-mouthing the peleton, and they will enact revenge.
Funniest moment
JASON: When Lance Armstrong chased down Fillippo Simeoni in order to prevent him from staying in the breakaway and having a chance at a stage win. It must suck to be Simeoni.
STEPHEN: Thomas Voeckler demanding extra kisses on the podium. Hey, the cycling babes are hot and Voeckler’s a hometown boy done good. Give him that fourth kiss.
Best free agent
JASON: Vladimir Karpets is a future winner. Every single team should contact his agent tomorrow.
If you’re looking for a sprinter to win the green jersey in 2007, take Tom Boonen.
Telekom has Ullrich, Kloden, and Vinokourov. Someone’s going to have to leave the team.
STEPHEN: Sylvain Chavanel (domestique), Andreas Kloden (captain), Jean-Patrick Nazon (sprinter)
Chavanel put his personal goals on the shelf to help out the emergent Voeckler. That’s what domestiques do. He’s not good enough to win the Tour, so he can either ride out his career as the captain of a mid-level French team, or he can go help somebody like Basso win a Tour.
Telekom’s got Ullrich, Vino, and Kloden. That’s three GC contenders. There’s no way in hell they keep all three. Who do you keep? Ullrich is about to enter his decline, so personally I’d cut him loose, but that’s not a popular decision. I’d want to keep Vino and Kloden, but I think they’ll retain Ullrich and Vino. Kloden’s nobody’s domestique. Not anymore.
And AG2R suddenly has two pretty good sprinters. Nazon’s the better of the two, and with a really good team, he could contend for green.
I think QuickStep’s trying to become a top team, so they’ll throw money at Boonen, Rogers, and Virenque to stay. That’s a good core.
Mr. Invisible
JASON: What happened to Brad McGee? Did he miss the memo that the Tour started? You’d think that he might try to defend his green jersey. He was almost 200 points behind McEwen.
STEPHEN: And it’s not like O’Grady was having a good Tour either. Is there some Aussie holiday we missed? But McGee was awful. Also, what the hell happened to Heras? A total non-factor.
Oh, and a special congratulations to Jimmy Casper of Cofidis. He’s now finished dead last in two consecutive Tours, but at least he finished. That’s something 42 riders who started this race cannot say.
GC men:
JASON: Lance Armstrong (USA-USPS) and Andreas Kloden (Germany-Telekom)
Big surprise here. You’d have to be a moron to leave Lance off your team. Kloden was not a flashy competitor, only attacking once, but in a war of attrition survival is the key. His time trials were great, and he was excellent in the mountains. When he was dropped he was among the last to go.
STEPHEN: Lance Armstrong (USPS) and Thomas Voeckler (BLB)
You’re right, Lance is a no-brainer. He’s really, really good. The only real argument is how he ranks historically (still behind Eddie Merckx), and what else he can do. Win seven? Go for a double?
Voeckler may have finished 18th overall, but he held the yellow jersey longer than we had any reason to suspect. He showed just an amazing amount of grit, holding on to the lead which he knew that would not hold up. In a race in which Lance won number six, Voeckler became the lead story.
Time Trialist:
JASON: Jan Ullrich (Germany-Telekom)
I thought Ullrich might struggle on the Alpe d’Huez time trial, but he proved me wrong. Yeah, Lance beat him by a lot, but he beat everyone by a lot. And Ullrich beat everyone else.
STEPHEN: Jan Ullrich (TMO)
Since Lance already has an all-star slot, I very well can’t put him on the team twice. The only guy to even be on the same planet as Armstrong in the time trials was Ullrich. But I almost gave Armstrong two slots.
Sprinter:
JASON: Robbie McEwen (Australia-Lotto) and Thor Hushovd (Norway-Credit Agricole)
Another big surprise. Zabel stayed in contention by being steady, and O’Grady exploded in two days, but McEwen and Hushovd were simply faster than anyone else in the race.
STEPHEN: Robbie McEwen (LOT) and Thor Hushovd (C.A.)
McEwen was just the strongest guy. Lotto’s not the greatest team on earth, but they know their mission: lead out McEwen. They do this reasonably well. Hushovd, on the other hand, got spotty and disorganized help from his team. Credit Agricole gave him nothing, and Hushovd looked like the strongest sprinter throughout the race, but he just didn’t get the support of Zabel and McEwen. It cost him the Green Jersey.
Climber:
JASON: Ivan Basso (Italy—CSC)
Yes, Virenque picked up the points no one cared about. Basso was the one man who could keep pace with Lance Armstrong. I’ll pick him.
STEPHEN: Ivan Basso (CSC)
We’re agreeing far too much. Basso took Lance to the line several times, and he was definitely the best mortal climbing the mountains. Did you also see that the Tour awarded Virenque the Most Aggressive rider award? If picking up uncontested cheap points counts as aggressive… then, yeah. Since Piil didn’t finish, he was ineligible for this award, so how about the organizers throw Voeckler a bone? Or Tom Boonen, winner of two stages? Or Jerome Pineau, who authored several breaks? Or give Rabobank something, what about Rasmussen? There are other Frenchmen they could’ve handed this thing to.
Domestiques:
JASON: Floyd Landis (USA-USPS), George Hincapie (USA-USPS), Jacob Piil (Denmark-CSC).
I’ll take Landis as my mountain domestique, and what an unlikely candidate. Now, you can make a case for Jose Azevedo, but after the week Landis had, I can’t deny him. After all, he did drop Azevedo, and he beat him in the time trial. Sure, Azevedo is a better climber than Landis, but since I’m awarding them for what they did over the last 3 weeks. In third week, when Azevedo’s legs were weary, Landis stepped up to fill the void. That’s greatness in a domestique. Not only does he do his job, but he takes on another’s when he’s having trouble.
George Hincapie has grown into a pretty good mountain climber. But if I need a man to drive a peloton anywhere, mountains, flats, or cobblestones, I’ll take Hincapie.
Jacob Piil. He busted a tendon and had to abandon, but I’ll pick him anyway. In the first week he was in almost every attack. He can lead out a sprint, he’ll pull in the mountains, and you know he’s itching to attack on command.
STEPHEN: Floyd Landis (USPS), Jakob Piil (CSC), Mickael Rasmussen (RAB)
If we were totally honest, we’d just give it to the whole Postal team, but Landis is my standard-bearer for all of them. Azevedo came over and did what he’s supposed to do, and Hincapie has been Armstrong’s faithful sidekick for so long that its no longer noteworthy. Landis, however, was a revelation this year. He’s never been able to carry Lance for this long, and he picked up the slack when Azevedo slowed in the third week. Simply put, an amazing job.
I thought about leaving Piil off because he didn’t finish the race, but come on, he was just all over the place in the first two weeks. There’s no way I could leave him off. I bumped Carlos Sastre, who did some heavy lifting for Basso.
Finally, we tend to focus on the domestiques of the podium guys, so I’d like to take the time to recognize the guy who did the hard work for Levi Leipheimer. Rasmussen ended up third in the climbing standings, and during the epic stages, he was able to set a pace for Leipheimer, who had his first top ten finish.
Other Awards
Best rider never mentioned during the Tour:
JASON: Oscar Pereiro Sio of Phonak. When Tyler Hamilton abandoned this team wasn’t left with much hope. It was hard to notice him hanging in the back of the elite group of climbers, but he was there. He finished 10th, and that should be good enough to get his name in the paper.
STEPHEN: Georg Totschnig (GST)
Seemingly always the last guy dropped, he was never a threat to win the race, but he ended up finishing 7th overall. He had a consistent, unremarkable, and ultimately very successful Tour.
Best Stage
JASON: #13 to Plateau de Beille
Azevedo shredded the field for Lance, and Basso was the only one who could hang on. By the end of the day Armstrong had a comfortable lead on almost everyone. Stage 13 also had the best moment of the whole Tour. Despite being dropped repeatedly in the mountains, Thomas Voeckler just would not give up. In the final kilometer his manager rode up to him in the team car to tell him he had to cross in a couple minutes or he’d lose the race lead. A short while later he made the final turn, looked at the clock, and pumped his fist, knowing he had kept the yellow jersey. He knew he had no chance to win, but he defended that jersey like mad.
STEPHEN: Stage 16
Virenque and Rasmussen go out ahead of everybody, only to get swallowed up on the final climb. It was the perfect stage: Virenque gets the climbing points and Lance gets the stage. The group of ten riders that duked it out on the final climb was a who’s who of contenders, and that was when Armstrong decided to win this thing.
Biggest disappointment
JASON: Tyler Hamilton’s abandon. We thought he would be a contender, but that crash took a lot out of him. He was weak on the first climb, and decided to go home once he realized he couldn’t win. Dishonorable mention to Roberto Heras and Iban Mayo.
STEPHEN: Iban Mayo
Hamilton hurt himself quite badly, and given that he’s never abandoned before, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. It’s a shame he got hurt, but at least he has an excuse. So what the hell happened to Mayo? This course was designed so he could beat Lance and he was down by half an hour before we even got to the mountains. We thought he could then at least challenge for the dots, and he did no such thing. He eventually abandoned because he was riding so poorly.
Iron Man award
JASON: In the past Daniele Nardello and Tyler Hamilton earned the Iron Man award by finishing after horrible injuries. This year the award goes to a guy who couldn’t finish the Tour. Matthias Kessler of Telekom had a vicious crash into a wooden post. Though he had to abandon, he finished the stage with cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Dude, you could have died. Get into the ambulance.
STEPHEN: Kessler
We didn’t have the joy this year of watching a guy absolutely torture himself just to make it to Paris. Any rider who finishes is a tough man, surviving inhuman punishment and enough scrapes and bruises to leave most of us in bed. But Kessler’s crash was just brutal. He didn’t finish the Tour, but just finishing the stage was unbelievable. These guys are tough.
Anemic man award
JASON: It was fitting that Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini abandoned on the same day (amazingly before a mountain!). We came, we saw, we went home.
STEPHEN: Alessandro “Abandon” Petacchi
When the mountains come into view, it’s time for Petacchi to throw in the towel. If you’re not even gonna try to finish, why bother showing up? At least Cipo’s finished this race before, and he’s an old man riding an almost ceremonial victory lap. I’ll give him a pass.
Best quote
JASON: “The Vikings have returned to Brittany” Thor Hushovd after his stage 8 win.
STEPHEN: “No gifts.” Lance Armstrong, pretty much defining the way this Tour would go.
Biggest whiner
JASON: Axel Merckx complaining about Richard Virenque stealing stage 10, even though Merckx lost a 10 minute lead and finished 71st.
STEPHEN: Fillipo Simeoni
Yeah, it’s not fair that Lance rode your wheel so you couldn’t have a shot at the breakaway and a stage win. But don’t make enemies with Lance and then bitch about it when he makes your life hell. And it’s not just Lance who hates Simeoni, nobody went to the back of the peleton to talk with Simeoni. You reap what you sow. You start bad-mouthing the peleton, and they will enact revenge.
Funniest moment
JASON: When Lance Armstrong chased down Fillippo Simeoni in order to prevent him from staying in the breakaway and having a chance at a stage win. It must suck to be Simeoni.
STEPHEN: Thomas Voeckler demanding extra kisses on the podium. Hey, the cycling babes are hot and Voeckler’s a hometown boy done good. Give him that fourth kiss.
Best free agent
JASON: Vladimir Karpets is a future winner. Every single team should contact his agent tomorrow.
If you’re looking for a sprinter to win the green jersey in 2007, take Tom Boonen.
Telekom has Ullrich, Kloden, and Vinokourov. Someone’s going to have to leave the team.
STEPHEN: Sylvain Chavanel (domestique), Andreas Kloden (captain), Jean-Patrick Nazon (sprinter)
Chavanel put his personal goals on the shelf to help out the emergent Voeckler. That’s what domestiques do. He’s not good enough to win the Tour, so he can either ride out his career as the captain of a mid-level French team, or he can go help somebody like Basso win a Tour.
Telekom’s got Ullrich, Vino, and Kloden. That’s three GC contenders. There’s no way in hell they keep all three. Who do you keep? Ullrich is about to enter his decline, so personally I’d cut him loose, but that’s not a popular decision. I’d want to keep Vino and Kloden, but I think they’ll retain Ullrich and Vino. Kloden’s nobody’s domestique. Not anymore.
And AG2R suddenly has two pretty good sprinters. Nazon’s the better of the two, and with a really good team, he could contend for green.
I think QuickStep’s trying to become a top team, so they’ll throw money at Boonen, Rogers, and Virenque to stay. That’s a good core.
Mr. Invisible
JASON: What happened to Brad McGee? Did he miss the memo that the Tour started? You’d think that he might try to defend his green jersey. He was almost 200 points behind McEwen.
STEPHEN: And it’s not like O’Grady was having a good Tour either. Is there some Aussie holiday we missed? But McGee was awful. Also, what the hell happened to Heras? A total non-factor.
Oh, and a special congratulations to Jimmy Casper of Cofidis. He’s now finished dead last in two consecutive Tours, but at least he finished. That’s something 42 riders who started this race cannot say.
posted by Poseur at 3:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home