Le Tour 2006 redux
Most of my friends know that I'm a big Tour fan, but none of them are big fans. I think one of the reasons I'm a fan because we lived in Waterloo, Belgium when I was a kid, and it was extremely popular, especially during the reign of Eddy Merckx. I got several calls during the Tour, and I had to beg them not to tell me what happened before I could go home and watch my TiVo'ed version of the live race start to finish.
It's been a big dent in my social life, but I've watched every minute of the live coverage so far, probably close to eighty hours in three weeks. I just knew that as much as I enjoyed watching Armstrong dominate the race, that this would be one of the most interesting Tours in the last few years. Operation Puerto disappointed me, because I was looking forward to Ulrich and Basso duking it out, and maybe Vino having some impact on the overall, but the end result was awesome. One of the great Tours, and definitely no asterisk.
Observations
1) The accomplishments of Lance Armstrong are in sharp relief to this Tour, where in the last stage at least three riders had a good chance to win the race. Armstrong wasn't ever in this much danger that I can recall, even though there was some suspense, you always knew he was going to win by the last week.
2) It's clear that cycling is a team sport, and what the team does impacts the race in a huge way. Several team mistakes dictated the finishing order of the race, including Phonak allowing Oscar Pereiro to gain back 30 minutes, and CSC letting Landis gain back the 9 minutes he needed to win the race
3) It's 21 stages for a reason, if it was a shorter race, it wouldn't be won by the best overall cyclise
Surprises
1) The poor showing of the Americans, despite Landis' win. Maybe all the hype was in the American press, but I know that Leipheimer (13th) and Hincapie (32nd) were top-5 favorites before the race (after Operation Puerto). I expected more out of Bobby Julich (crashed) and Zabriski (74th and no time trial win).
2) The poor showing of Team Discovery. Hincapie didn't come through, and Popovych (25th) was supposed to be at least an outside contender.
3) Freire abandoning before the last stage, even though he was out of the runnign for the green jersey, he was almost in Paris. He must have been pretty sick.
4) A much more entertaining Tour without a dominant rider
5) No team time-trial, one of the more beautiful events in sports. The race organizers must feel that it's an unfair advantage to the better teams.
6) Another compelling story of an American rider overcoming long odds and a medical problem to win the Tour, ala Greg LeMonde and his hunting accident, Lance Armstrong and his bout with cancer.
Unsurprises
1) A very tight race right up until the end. No one could totally dominate the race, no one out of this group is the next Lance, at least, not for a few years. Landis won't have the longevity, and it's doubtful he could have made the comeback against climbers like Basso, Ulrich and Mancebo.
2) No Frenchie on the podium again this year
3) Next year looks to be just as wide open
Read more in my series on the 2006 Tour de France:
First | Prev | Next | Last
It's been a big dent in my social life, but I've watched every minute of the live coverage so far, probably close to eighty hours in three weeks. I just knew that as much as I enjoyed watching Armstrong dominate the race, that this would be one of the most interesting Tours in the last few years. Operation Puerto disappointed me, because I was looking forward to Ulrich and Basso duking it out, and maybe Vino having some impact on the overall, but the end result was awesome. One of the great Tours, and definitely no asterisk.
Observations
1) The accomplishments of Lance Armstrong are in sharp relief to this Tour, where in the last stage at least three riders had a good chance to win the race. Armstrong wasn't ever in this much danger that I can recall, even though there was some suspense, you always knew he was going to win by the last week.
2) It's clear that cycling is a team sport, and what the team does impacts the race in a huge way. Several team mistakes dictated the finishing order of the race, including Phonak allowing Oscar Pereiro to gain back 30 minutes, and CSC letting Landis gain back the 9 minutes he needed to win the race
3) It's 21 stages for a reason, if it was a shorter race, it wouldn't be won by the best overall cyclise
Surprises
1) The poor showing of the Americans, despite Landis' win. Maybe all the hype was in the American press, but I know that Leipheimer (13th) and Hincapie (32nd) were top-5 favorites before the race (after Operation Puerto). I expected more out of Bobby Julich (crashed) and Zabriski (74th and no time trial win).
2) The poor showing of Team Discovery. Hincapie didn't come through, and Popovych (25th) was supposed to be at least an outside contender.
3) Freire abandoning before the last stage, even though he was out of the runnign for the green jersey, he was almost in Paris. He must have been pretty sick.
4) A much more entertaining Tour without a dominant rider
5) No team time-trial, one of the more beautiful events in sports. The race organizers must feel that it's an unfair advantage to the better teams.
6) Another compelling story of an American rider overcoming long odds and a medical problem to win the Tour, ala Greg LeMonde and his hunting accident, Lance Armstrong and his bout with cancer.
Unsurprises
1) A very tight race right up until the end. No one could totally dominate the race, no one out of this group is the next Lance, at least, not for a few years. Landis won't have the longevity, and it's doubtful he could have made the comeback against climbers like Basso, Ulrich and Mancebo.
2) No Frenchie on the podium again this year
3) Next year looks to be just as wide open
Read more in my series on the 2006 Tour de France:
First | Prev | Next | Last
Labels: Blog, Sports, Tour de France
posted by drewc4 at
8:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home