All-Stars Take Two

2005 TdF All-Star team.

GC Men: Lance Armstong (Discovery) & Ivan Basso (CSC)
I have to agree with Gioia. It’s such a no-brainer. Armstrong is the strongest cyclist in the world, and Basso was the only one who could compete with him.

Sprinters: Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) & Robbie McEwen (Lotto)
I have nothing to add, as we finish up the no-brainer picks. Hushovd was the living embodiment of our theory of going for those intermediate sprints. All of those little points do matter. And he was the very model of consistency. Boonen would have won had he not hurt himself in the Alps, and McEwen would have won had not his brain frozen up when he decided to head butt O’Grady. Still, Mcewen was awesome as usual.

Climbers: Mickael Rasmussen (Rabobank) & Oscar Pereiro (Phonak)
Rasmussen deserved the polka dot jersey. Unlike Virenque or Moreau, he attacked on big climbs and actually hung with the big boys on those critical climbs of the Tour. Rasmussen was always in that finishing group, fighting for the podium as well as the climbing points. And what to say about Pereiro? His downright insane tactical decision to attack every single climb won him a spot on my All-Star team. Sure, he burned out on some big ones, but he was there.

Time Trialist: Jan Ullrich (Telekom)
He made the podium by virtue of his excellent time trial. No one made more of an impact on the Tour, outside of Armstrong, on the time trial. Give credit to Ullrich.

Domestiques: Oscar Sevilla (Telekom) and George Hincapie (Discovery)

In a down year for Discovery. Hincapie came up huge. He was the only guy Lance could always count on, and he showed why he’s the only guy to ride for Armstrong on all seven of his Tour wins. As for Sevilla, I feel that I spent so much time criticizing Telekom, I really should be effusive in my praise. On a team of selfish riders, Sevilla played the loyal domestique, perhaps the hardest job anyone had in the Tour.

Most aggressive rider: Oscar Pereiro (Phonak)
Well, duh.

Best rider we never mentioned: Cadel Evans (Lotto)
Wow, you’re right, He had a very Georg Totschnig sort of Tour. He was always there, not good enough to make the podium, but strong enough to hang around with the leaders. I’m also not sure how much we mentioned Mancebo, who also had one hell of a Tour.

Iron man award: Iker Flores (Euskatel)
What’s up with this? Can’t we get someone to get their shorts torn off in a finishing crash? Without any one supreme act of toughness to symbolize this Tour, I give my Iron Man to the guy who finished in last, Iker Flores. He finished 4:20:24 behind Armstrong in 155th place, but he finished. There are 24 riders who started the race who can’t say that.

Best surprise: Totschnig winning a stage.
He’s a consistent top ten guy, but he’s never had a real moment in the spotlight. It was nice to see him get his moment.

Worst surprise: Baden Cooke.
FDJ’s not a powerhouse team, but they’ve turned in some pretty decent Tours recently. They’ve managed to make themselves into a nice peleton-worthy team. And Cooke was their real shot at a jersey. I’m not surprised he didn’t win the green, but finishing in 9th place, especially considering the quality leadouts he was getting in the first week, is inexcusable.

Best attack: Vino.
I’m just in awe of the guy. His attack on the Champs d’Elyses had no chance of working. Only it did. Telekom ended the Tour on a real high note.

Best tactic: Credit Agricole’s refusal to lift a damn finger to raise the pace in the final week.
Knowing the best way to defend Hushovd’s Green Jersey was to let other teams gobble up the points, C.A. just sat back on every attack in the final week and did nothing to reel in the attackers. Cofidis and Lotto just didn’t have the riders to control the peleton, so the breaks succeeded and Husovd wins the Green Jersey.

Worst tactic: Kloden & Ullrich chasing down Vinokourov’s attack in the mountains.
This was just a monumentally stupid move. I can’t even talk about it anymore, it was the dumbest tactical decision we’ve seen.

Most forgettable moment: Watching David Zabriskie crash his way out of the Tour.
It started on the Team Trial when he inexplicably crashed in the final few kilometers and just got worse from there. He went from the lead to a withdraw in a few days. It hurt to watch.

Most memorable moment: That final podium.
Seriously, Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich? It was like the Mt. Rushmore of cycling up there.


Team Review

Tete de la course

Discovery Channel. (Armstrong, 1st)
Yellow jersey, white jersey, 4 stage wins
Not as dominating as we’ve come to expect, but that’s picking nits. They absolutely dominated the Tour. Armstrong goes out with his seventh, and they alos picked up the White Jersey for Popovych.

Telekom (T-Mobile) (Ullrich, 3rd, +6:21)
Team champion, 3 stage wins.
I was incredibly critical of the team, but let’s be honest, they are still one of the three giants. Yes, they are dysfunctional, but they are also incredibly good. No one notices the power dynamics of Ag2R.

CSC (Basso, 2nd, +4:40)
1 stage win
The last of the three powers. They don’t bring home much hardware aside from a few days in yellow and Basso’s trip to the podium, but they were always driving the peleton along with Discovery. The three big teams were everywhere, this was their race.

Poursuviants

Credit Agricole (Moreau, +16:26)
Green jersey
I couldn’t quite put them with the Big Three, it didn’t feel right. They won the Green Jersey by simply sitting back and doing nothing, which let’s face it, is a pretty easy strategy to enact. Then again, it takes guts to do that, because if it doesn’t work, the second guessing would be unbelievable.


Rabobank (Rasmussen, 7th, +11:33)
Polka dot jersey, 2 stage wins.
Wow. Rabobank, King of the Mountains? They simply dominated the polka dots competition, with two riders keeping it warm for Rasmussen before he took the thing over. The race for dots was essentially over by the second weekend. Rasmussen of course was the power here, but Boogerd quietly had a pretty nice Tour as well. And come on, Erik Dekker won a stage.

Lotto (Evans, 8th, +11:55)
3 stage wins
Some great results with a fairly soggy team effort. As always, McEwen got virtually no help from his team, and their inability to reel in even one breakway in the final week cost McEwen his third points title. Well, and his own stupidity. Evans had a great Tour, which leads Lotto to a crossroads, when do they start supporting someone in the GC, which should be wide open next year?

Phonak (Landis, 9th, +12:44)
1 stage win
A team that is one step away from the elite. Pereiro was great, as was Landis. One bad day pretty much destroyed Botero’s Tour, but he was involved for awhile. More importantly, they seemed to be the only team the top three actually took any notice of.

Gerolsteiner (Leipheimer, 6th +11:21)
1 stage win
Totschnig said he didn’t have the form this year and was right, even though he got a well-deserved stage win. Leipheimer makes his case now as the Best Active American Cyclist.

Illes Balears (Banesto) (Mancebo, 4th +9:59)
1 stage win
Mancebo was terrific, quietly putting together a great race. Valverde looked like was going to have a great race, until team doctors forced him to retire. They didn’t win the White Jersey, which is sort of their calling card, but they look set up perfectly for the Veulta and then next year’s Tour.

Peloton

Cofidis (Vasseur, 44th +1:33:17)
1 stage win
A quietly innocuous Tour. Pretty much define peleton.

Liberty (Jaksche, 16th, +24:07)
1 stage win.
Signing Roberto Heras hasn’t exactly panned out. When Jaksche is your highest placed rider, you have to realize you aren’t in the running for anything, so a stage win is a nice consolation prize.

Autobus

Quickstep (Rogers, 41st, 1:24:32)
2 stage wins
Boonen crashed out, Rogers got crushed in the GC. Yup, Autobus it is. Boonen gets a pass on dropping out, as he actually did crash out of the race and it wasn’t a Petacchi-esque “I don’t want to ride in the mountains” kind of thing. I’m most disappointed in Rogers, who really should have managed more than 41st.

Fassa Bortolo (Bernucci, 62nd, +2:03:67)
1 stage win.
I missed Petacchi’s drop out. They were a complete non-factor, but the stage win keeps it from being a total waste of our time.

FDJ (Casar, 29th, +56:47)
They shouldn’t be back here. They’ve turned themselves into a fairly decent team, but they are having a crisis of leadership. Casar’s a domestique and everyone knows it. Find a GC man, I hear Vino’s available. Cooke should have been their sprinter, but he put in a miserable effort. The leadouts were there, and the team actually controlled the finishes, but there was no one to set up. Just a bizarre tactic.

Saunier Duval (Piepoli, 23rd, +36:20)
Every time I saw one of their jerseys. I thought it was the yellow at first. Seriously, ONCE used to have the decency not to wear yellow, so can you guys. Horner had a nice Tour, as did Piepoli. They aren’t good enough toactually win anything, but they probably met their rather modest standards.

Bouygues Telekom (Brochard, 28th, +55:29)
A mere step away from the Abandons. Not a good Tour, but they avoided total disaster.

Abandon

Euskaltel (Zubeldia, 15th, +23:43)
Re-read Gioia’s comments and realize that he is perhaps the biggest Euskatel fan out there. Really, their race was a total embarrassment. No one, and I mean no one, was worse.

Lampre (Mazzolini, 13th, +21:16)
A strange split between Mazzolini’s nice ride and, well, the rest of the team. Memo to the big teams: Mazzolini is available.

Liquigas (Garzelli, 32nd, 1:04:49)
You’re telling me Garzelli couldn’t even get within an hour of Lance? This isn’t Domina, they actually have a few decent riders. They have no business back here.

Domina Vacanze (Iglinskiy, 38th, +1:18:44)
They suck. And they turned in a performance in accordance to their abilities.

Ag2R (Astarloza, 27th + 54:03)
Astarloza had another decent Tour. Really, compare them to FDJ who were their equals about three seasons ago. FDJ’s moved forward but Ag2R is still stuck in neutral. There just isn’t a plan.

Tour aftermath

I presume TD is busy driving his UHAUL across America now and unable to respond to my emails. So, I'll just post my own version of Tour reviews, not that anyone is checking this page anymore. Usually this works better when TD rebuts my comments, but he ain't got no internet access in BFE. But he's wrong about most things, so do you really need his comments?

2005 TdF All-Star team.

GC Men: Lance Armstong (Discovery) & Ivan Basso (CSC)
This is the most obvious pick every time. Lance is the strongest climber and time trialist. Basso’s the second best climber, and he’s good enough at the time trial. Lance rode passively in the Tour and still won comfortably. Basso showed he can attack in the mountains too. He made everyone else crack but Lance.

Sprinters: Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) & Robbie McEwen (Lotto)
McEwen was clearly the best sprinter in the Tour. He won three stages and dominated everyone (with the exception of Boonen before he crashed) in the bunch sprints. Hushovd won the green jersey without winning a stage. How is that possible? Consistently finish high without getting a goose egg in points & go after the intermediate sprint points. That’s how.

Climbers: Mickael Rasmussen (Rabobank) & Jan Ullrich (Telekom)
Armstrong and Basso are better, but they’re already taken. Several readers will probably cry protest because Rasmussen gets on the All-Star team, but Virenque didn’t. Well, Rasmussen was climbing with the elite every day, which is something Virenque wouldn’t do. He was with the big guns on the final climbs, not just the early ones, and that nearly put him on the podium. Who would have thought I’d put Ullrich on the team as a climber? Look, the man was strong in the mountains. He attacked a lot and dropped Mancebo, Vinokourov, Rasmussen, Landis, Leipheimer, et al. It’s unexpected but he earned it.

Time Trialist: Alexandre Vinkourov (Telekom)
This is also bizarre, but the guy finished third in both time trials. The only riders to beat him were Armstrong (twice), Ullrich, and Zabriskie, and I’m not putting Zabriskie on the All-Star team for 19km of riding. We would have expected Ullrich to be on the All-Start team as time trialist and Vino as mountain climber, but it turned out just the opposite.

Domestiques: Fred Rodriguez (Lotto) and George Hincapie (Discovery)

Rodriguez is the best lead out man in the peloton. He’s so good, even Robbie McEwen decided to follow him on some of the bunch sprints. Hincapie is the superman of domestiques. How many sprinters learn to climb the big mountains so they can stay with their team leader? He can lead the peloton on flat roads or 7% grades, and he never has a bad day.

Most aggressive rider: Oscar Pereiro (Phonak)
The Tour directors got it right. It’s hard to be more aggressive than Vinokourov, but Pereiro was. I lost track of how many times he attacked or got into long breakaways in the mountains. What’s cool is that last year he finished 10th without getting noticed because he never attacked and just followed the leaders. He did the exact opposite this year and still finished 10th.

Best rider we never mentioned: Cadel Evans (Lotto)
It’s almost a crime that we never talked about him. He finished 8th overall on a team that didn’t lift a finger to support him. In stage 16 he sacrificed his shot at a stage win by doing the lion’s share of the work for the breakaway. The trade-off was picking up more time on the contenders. Worth it! He should sign with a team that is willing to support him.

Iron man award: none
There was no amazing act of toughness in this Tour. Andrey Kashechkin got a bloody nose after a fan accidentally smacked him in the face, but that doesn’t compare to Nardello’s bloody shirt, Hamilton’s broken collarbone, or Kessler’s punctured lung.

Best surprise: George Hincapie winning a mountain stage.

Worst surprise: Vladimir Karpets. We’ve gotten used to Mayo and Heras laying an egg. Karpets usually rides well. Aside from a decent final time trial, he was AWOL.

Best attack: I was torn between Moncoutie’s excellent Bastille Day escape and Guerini’s perfectly timed attack that delivered him a stage win, but when Vinokourov beat everyone to the line on the Champs Elysees, that settled it. When’s the last time you saw an escape survive on the Champs Elysees? It’s been the property of sprinters for years. Vino stole the show and it also moved him up to 5th in GC.

Best tactic: Rabobank sent three riders ahead of the field so that they could claim mountain points instead of anyone else, thus protecting Rasmussen’s lead.

Worst tactic: Kloden & Ullrich chasing down Vinokourov’s attack in the mountains. Juan Garate’s idea of going for little points on cat. 3 & 4 climbs after Rasmussen had already built up a 130 point lead was also pretty dumb, but not as bad as Telekom.

Most forgettable moment: It was sad when Jens Voigt got eliminated on time. He was burned out after defending the yellow jersey against all odds in the mountains the previous day. They guy dug deep out of respect for the race and lost his spot in it as a result.

Most memorable moment: Lance passed Ullrich on a time trial. It still seems surreal.




Team Review

Tete de la course

Discovery Channel. (Armstrong, 1st)
Yellow jersey, white jersey, 4 stage wins
The team changes names, but it’s still the cream of the crop. The list of hardware is just gluttonous. They took home over half a million euros in prize money, more than double the next highest team. Armstrong’s yellow jersey was routine. Stage wins by Hincapie and Savoldelli were bonuses. Popovych’s white jersey lets everyone know they’ve got designs on the future.

Telekom (T-Mobile) (Ullrich, 3rd, +6:21)
Team champion, 3 stage wins.
They may not function like a team, nor ride with great tactics, but outstanding talent goes a long way. Plus, Kloden was 1 cm away from another stage win. If they got their heads screwed on right, they’d be even better.

CSC (Basso, 2nd, +4:40)
1 stage win
I wasn’t sure if they belong at Tete de la course, because they didn’t win a whole lot, but outside of Basso’s great Tour, they had two guys wear the yellow jersey. Also they are the only team besides Telekom and Discovery to win more than a quarter million in prize money. Money talks—go to the head of the course.

Credit Agricole (Moreau, +16:26)
Green jersey
With the green jersey and two riders in the top 20, you’d think they’d be a lock for Tete de la course. But my problem is that they didn’t win a stage. There’s something wrong about winning the green jersey without winning a stage. Still, I’m going to give them the nod because they competed for everything. Kashechkin was the runner-up for the white jersey, and he and Moreau did a decent job in the KoM.

I’m still not sure. Putting them in the class with Telekom and Discovery seems like an insult to those superpowers.

Poursuviants

Rabobank (Rasmussen, 7th, +11:33)
Polka dot jersey, 2 stage wins.
Could you imagine saying Rabobank had a great Tour without being a factor in the green jersey race? Two days in the mountains made their Tour, and Rasmussen was strong enough as the race went on to hold a high spot in GC. Aside from him, the team owned the KoM jersey. Three different guys wore it for a total of 18 days.

Lotto (Evans, 8th, +11:55)
3 stage wins
McEwen was the strongest sprinter, but didn’t win green because he head-butted Stuart O’Grady and never bothered to go for IS points. Cadel Evans gave them a reason to be interested in the GC. I can’t believe they finally took it seriously. Evans had a great first Tour.

Phonak (Landis, 9th, +12:44)
1 stage win
Landis was great as the subtle team leader. Pereiro got the stage win and was the most aggressive man in the race, a true madman. Botero was a disappointment, but this team still did a fine job. Everyone would like to have two riders in the top 10. Just a couple steps behind the best teams.

Gerolsteiner (Leipheimer, 6th +11:21)
1 stage win
Levi had his best Tour ever. Totschnig didn’t, but he got his first stage win and finished a respectable 26th. They even borrowed the KoM jersey from Rabobank for a day.

Illes Balears (Banesto) (Mancebo, 4th +9:59)
1 stage win
Mancebo had his best Tour ever too. Valverde looked great until he got hurt and abandoned. He and Vlad Karpets each wore the white jersey briefly. An average Tour for them, which is better than most teams get.

Peloton

Cofidis (Vasseur, 44th +1:33:17)
1 stage win
They have nothing in GC, but Moncoutie got a nice stage win and O’Grady was runner-up for the green jersey. It’s the typical Cofidis Tour. Do a couple things well to get noticed, then get outshined by the good teams.

Liberty (Jaksche, 16th, +24:07)
1 stage win.
Another textbook “average Tour.” Serrano got them a stage win. Jaksche had a strong ride and threw in a couple attacks in the mountains to climb up to 16th. Alan Davis was 5th in the points competition. Their talent isn’t great, but they managed to get something good out of it.

Autobus

Quickstep (Rogers, 41st, 1:24:32)
2 stage wins
Had Tom Boonen stayed in the race, he would have dominated the green jersey. Almost doesn’t count. After he left the race, they retreated to the Autobus and put it on cruise control. Finishing dead last in team time ain’t good.

Fassa Bortolo (Bernucci, 62nd, +2:03:67)
1 stage win.
This team doesn’t give a damn. They took their stage win and called it a day. Hardware is hardware, and that keeps them out of the basement.

FDJ (Casar, 29th, +56:47)
Their tactics in the green jersey race were stupid, as they couldn’t decide who their leader would be—McGee or Eisel. Note to team: Don’t alternate leaders day-to-day. Casar isn’t very good, but at least he tried. It seemed like he and Carlos DaCruz were constantly in breakaways during the last week. Not a good Tour, but their effort keeps them out of the bottom tier.

Saunier Duval (Piepoli, 23rd, +36:20)
Another team that at least gave a stab at it. Peipoli must have ridden just out of the view of the camera, because I hardly ever saw him, yet he finished 23rd. Chris Horner was 33rd, and was pretty aggressive to get into a couple breakaways. Not a good team, but at least they had a pulse. Their logo looks like the Wu-Tang Klan logo.

Bogus Telekom (Brochard, 28th, +55:29)
They put 3 riders in the top 50 and Thomas Voeckler wore the KoM jersey for a day. Brochard and Voeckler at least tried to get into some breakaways.

Abandon

Euskaltel (Zubeldia, 15th, +23:43)
Bravo to Zubeldia for having another solid ride. I think he finished 10th on one stage. Wow! These mountain climbing specialists distinguished themselves only by their absence. It’s like they didn’t even try. And it shows. In addition to having the lantern rouge on their team, they were also dead last in prize money, picking up a measly 9300 euros. Seven teams won over 10 times that amount. Euskaltel sucked again and should not be invited to the Tour again. That will also thin down the crows on the mountains.

Lampre (Mazzolini, 13th, +21:16)
Mazzolini had a nice tour. No one else on his team did. They challenged for nothing. Only three of their guys finished in the top 100. Only 5 finished the Tour.

Liquigas (Garzelli, 32nd, 1:04:49)
Not impressed. The only thing I liked about this team was the way Phil Liggett pronounced the name: “Leaky-gas.” I think it’s Italian for “fart.”

Domina Vacanze (Iglinskiy, 38th, +1:18:44)
Their highest placed rider is someone I can’t recall seeing on the TV screen at all. That about sums up this team. Their jerseys looked cool, but I only caught a brief glimpse.

Ag2R (Astarloza, 27th + 54:03)
This team can never make progress, can it? Every year we look at them and say, they have very little to offer, but maybe another team will sign Astarloza to be a domestique. Ditto.

"Vive le Tour"

Well, Lance isn't the greatest public speaker in the world, but his address to the crowd on the podium was a nice finish to his career. Respectful of his rivals, defiant to his critics, and sort of uncomfortable on stage. He'd rather impress us with his riding skill than with his words. His remarks were obviously not prepared, which made them more heartfelt. And his kids are pretty damn cute.

The final podium was a fitting one. Lance on top, flanked by his greatest rival (Ullrich) and the emerging superstar (Basso). It would have been nice had Rasmussen held on, but it probably is better this way. The guys on that final podium are the true giants of the sport, it won't look out of place a few years later. He beat the very best.

Ullrich showed me a lot in this final week. I don't think there's been anyone who has been more critical of Jan and his team than I, but he showed me how much it means to him in this last week. He was not going to be denied his rightful place on the podium during the last celebration of Armstrong. He earned the right to be there, and his most impressive moments to me were when he was not his strongest. He refused to give in, waiting for that time trial in which he blew the field away. He's going to go down as the modern day Poulidor, always doomed to second place. Had he ridden during almost any other era, he'd be enjoying multiple yellow jerseys himself. He will forever be linked to Lance, and I don't believe Armstrong would be the rider he is without Ullrich to push him.

Rasmussen cruised to the polka dots, and Popovych won the white by a huge margin. These awards were not in doubt for the last week, but the Green Jersey was up for grabs. However, the race for the points title was a dud, as neither of the Aussies stepped up to the plate, allowing Hushovd to quietly sneak off with the title. They never mounted that last furious charge, as on stage after stage, they couldn't stop the breakaways.

In the end, I'll remember this Tour not just as Lance's Seventh, but as the changing of the guard. It seemed a young rider won his first stage almost every other day, and while the heavy hitters eventually took the podium, a lot of the big names we're used to seeing laid an egg: Heras, Mayo, Botero, etc. We have a first time King of the Mountians champ and a first-time Green Jersey winner. We also have an emerging sprinting star in Tom Boonen, who could not finish. But a glance at the final standings show the emerging stars of the sport. The rule of thumb has always been that a rider enters his prime Tour-winning years at age 30. Check out the ages of half of the top 12:

#2 Ivan Basso (27 years old)
#4 Francisco Mancebo (29 years old)
#8 Cadel Evans (28 years old)
#9 Floyd Landis (29 years old)
#10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (28 years old)
#12 Yaroslav Popovych (25 years old)

These guys can conceivably duke it out over the remainder of the decade before losing form. And that's not including Ullrich and Leipheimer, who will contend the next year or two. Or some top riders who didn't finish top ten or didn't ride this race: Cunego, DiLuca, Kloden, Horner, Savodelli, or Rogers. We're entering the post-Armstrong world, but the roster is stacked. I can't wait.