Steve's All-Star Team
The team rundown and Jason's awards are coming, but here is my All-Star team of this year's Tour:
GC: Alberto Contador, DSC
GC: Cadel Evans, LOT
Really, who else? These were the two strongest riders on the Tour and they battled back and forth throughout. You can't say enough good things about either of them.
Time Trialist: Levi Leipheimer, DSC
Time Trialist: Fabian Cancellara, CSC
OK, Evans probably deserves to be in this group but I've already put him up in the GC. Leipheimer put forth one of the all-time great time trials in Stage 19, and almost stole this race from everybody. Cancellara gets a mention for winning the prologue and making the first week special. Seems like ages ago.
Climber: Juan Soler, BAR
Even if Rasmussen had not been ejected from the race, Soler still would have won the polka dot jersey. There is absolutely no taint on his win. He was the biggest pleasant surprise of this Tour. We both dismissed Barloworld, and they were real players.
Sprinter: Tom Boonen, QSP
Sprinter: Erik Zabel, MIL
Boonen fianlly gets his green jersey, and he did it with relative ease. He had comfortable lead throughout and just never let anyone off the mat. And can you believe Zabel is still a competitive sprinter? He didn't actually win anything, but he was in on everything, and that was pretty amazing.
Domestique: Yaroslav Popovych, DSC
Domestique: Micheal Boogerd, RAB
Domestique: Andreas Kloden, AST
Popovych is obvious. He was a beast for three weeks. The other two are here for doing the heavy lifting for a guy who was kicked out of the Tour. I don't think this minimizes or diminishes their efforts. Boogerd was the most outspoken in his bitterness towards his team captain, but he decided to ride into Paris and take his 11th place finish. He's not usually a great climber, but he did a great job sticking around on the big stages.
Kloden is now the most unfortunate figure in cycling. He gave up his goal of winning the Tour to help Vino win. It took the team a few days to figure out that Vino didn't have it this year and decide to ride for Kloden, but not after Kloden sacrificed time to help out Vino. And then, when Astana finally decides to ride for Kloden, the whole team gets booted for Vino's positive test. No rider sacrificed more for his captain than Kloden. He might have even given up a yellow jersey.
GC: Alberto Contador, DSC
GC: Cadel Evans, LOT
Really, who else? These were the two strongest riders on the Tour and they battled back and forth throughout. You can't say enough good things about either of them.
Time Trialist: Levi Leipheimer, DSC
Time Trialist: Fabian Cancellara, CSC
OK, Evans probably deserves to be in this group but I've already put him up in the GC. Leipheimer put forth one of the all-time great time trials in Stage 19, and almost stole this race from everybody. Cancellara gets a mention for winning the prologue and making the first week special. Seems like ages ago.
Climber: Juan Soler, BAR
Even if Rasmussen had not been ejected from the race, Soler still would have won the polka dot jersey. There is absolutely no taint on his win. He was the biggest pleasant surprise of this Tour. We both dismissed Barloworld, and they were real players.
Sprinter: Tom Boonen, QSP
Sprinter: Erik Zabel, MIL
Boonen fianlly gets his green jersey, and he did it with relative ease. He had comfortable lead throughout and just never let anyone off the mat. And can you believe Zabel is still a competitive sprinter? He didn't actually win anything, but he was in on everything, and that was pretty amazing.
Domestique: Yaroslav Popovych, DSC
Domestique: Micheal Boogerd, RAB
Domestique: Andreas Kloden, AST
Popovych is obvious. He was a beast for three weeks. The other two are here for doing the heavy lifting for a guy who was kicked out of the Tour. I don't think this minimizes or diminishes their efforts. Boogerd was the most outspoken in his bitterness towards his team captain, but he decided to ride into Paris and take his 11th place finish. He's not usually a great climber, but he did a great job sticking around on the big stages.
Kloden is now the most unfortunate figure in cycling. He gave up his goal of winning the Tour to help Vino win. It took the team a few days to figure out that Vino didn't have it this year and decide to ride for Kloden, but not after Kloden sacrificed time to help out Vino. And then, when Astana finally decides to ride for Kloden, the whole team gets booted for Vino's positive test. No rider sacrificed more for his captain than Kloden. He might have even given up a yellow jersey.
posted by Poseur at 10:46 AM
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