Highlights from the 100th Tour de France

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The Tour de France has been raced and won for another year. This year's tour, the 100th edition, might have been a one horse race for the yellow jersey but it certainly didn't detract from the excitement.

Here are a few of my highlights:

1. As an Aussie, of course the number one highlight would be Simon Gerrans winning stage 3 and the Orica-Green Edge taking the win in the Team Time Trial on stage 4 elevating Gerrans to the yellow jersey position. An Aussie holding the leaders jersey is special, but an Aussie wearing the leaders jersey as a member of an Australian pro-cycling team is something else.

2. Nairo Quintana. The pint sized Colombian walks away from her first Tour de France with two jerseys! The white young riders jersey as well as coveted polka-dot King of the Mountain jersey. Quintana has proven his worth as a serious contender for overall honours in years to come.

3. The Green Jersey Competition. Although Sagan practically had this wrapped up early on with his aggressive attacks during the intermediate sprints the battle between Sagan, Cavendish, Greipel and Kittel was still exciting to watch. Kittel was the surprise packet of the sprinters proving that his stage 1 win was not due to luck but talent and speed taking a total of four stages. Some say a changing of the guard with Mark Cavendish having an understated tour, but I wouldn't be writing him off just yet especially considering he is going to have the likes of Alessandro Petacchi and former team mate Aussie Mark Renshaw set to join his lead out team in 2014.

4. The Alps. The anticipation when the riders reach the serious mountains of the French Alps is always huge and this year was no different. Would Froome and Team Sky be able to survive? Would Contador make his move? What did Movistar have planned? How would the little Colombian Quintana hold up on the big climbs? All questions were answered in spectacular fashion. Once again the Alps didn't disappoint. Especially exciting was the race for the podium with four or five riders vying for the minor places and indeed going down to the wire.

5. Chris Froome. He may have been the red hot favourite but it was for good reason as he and his Sky team mates crossed the line on the Champs Elysees victorious. Chris Froome proved he was the the best of the best. His remarkable attacks and show of speed with this trademark high cadence on the high climbs left no doubts that he was the best of the best and deserving of the yellow jersey. Team Sky was under pressure all tour with many doubting their ability to hold it together for Froome but they certainly had all the answers, in particular another Aussie Richie Porte. Porte was Froome's right-hand man with unwavering support for his Team Leader.

6. SBS Australia. Here in Australia free to air TV channel SBS is the home of cycling. They package the tour up in all its glory and serve it to us on a silver platter beautifully. And they are set to do so for another 10 years which makes this little Peloton lover very happy indeed.

Lowlights?
Of course there were a few disappointments along the way. Cadel Evans had a tour he would rather forget. It would seem that his efforts on a third place in this years Giro d'Italia took more out of the Aussie battler than he had hoped. Time will tell if Cadel's time in the peloton is up and whether TeeJay van Garderen should take up the team leaders position next year at BMC.
Contador too was not his usual self. He lacked the legs and punchy acceleration to make any impact unable to even hold on to a podium position. Make of that what you will, but I hope the Contador of old is back next year.
Stage 1 carnage. The most anticipated opening to this years tour with a visit for the first time to beautiful Corsica promised so much, but a mammoth crash not too far from the finish line saw to it that many of the sprinters were taken out of action. The major sprinting contenders were looking forward to taking out opening stage honours and spectators and fans alike were waiting for an edge-of-the-seat fast finish but it wasn't to be. However, ask Marcel Kittel and he would be more than pleased with the outcome!

So that's a wrap on this year's tour. Now I have scheduled in a few nights of catch up sleep, which after than I'm sure the post tour blues will kick in. Thank goodness there's only a few weeks until the final grand tour of the year, The Vuelta Espana!

What were your favourite moments of this years tour?

Stories from l'Alpe d'Huez

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Stage 18 of the 2-1 Tour de France lived up to expectations. So many stories.


Do I talk about the story of Teejay van Garderen, so close yet so far?

Contador and Team Saxo Bank team tactics failing?

Rodriguez, Quintana, and Froome smashing the peloton?

The ride of Richie Porte powering up the hill to rejoin when Froome was being challenged?

The controversy of Froome taking on drink and food within the last kilometers?

Quintana taking advantage and riding away from them all, riding for a place on the podium and then Rodriguez inching back at the line?

The heroic ride of Riblon biding his time in second place for so long of the stage and then finally attacking taking the stage for his country?

The story of Porte nursing a limping and flat Froome to the line?

Contador finishing with a desperate, lethargic burst trying to limit his losses?


So many stories. Thank you Alpe d'Huez, you never fail to disappoint.

Alpe d'Huez beckons

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The 2013 Tour de France hits the breathtaking French Alps tonight with a bang. I have been looking forward to this stage since the start of the race and the way things have unfolded it sure is shaping up to be a ripper of a stage. Not only are the riders going to be tackling the monster climb once, but twice!

If you have never been to Europe and seen the mountains, particularly the French and Swiss Alps, it really is hard to describe their magnificent grandeur. The vertical walls of rock reaching high into the sky their often snow capped peaks kissing the heavens. They are honestly breathtaking. Not that I think any of the riders will be marvelling at their beauty today, they will more likely be cursing the steep climbs and unrelenting hairpins.

Today's stage is going to be a cracker with Froome's closest rivals undoubtedly going to try and isolate him from his partner in crime Richie Porte and then attack him multiple times in the hope that he cracks before they do. But what will they have left in reserve to take time from him if they do manage to break the Froome-dog? And then will they have the legs for the next couple of days through the alps?

So many questions. So much anticipation!

Are you as excited to see the stunning Alpe d'Huez stage as I am? 

Isn't that racing? Tour de France 2013

On an exciting action packed day, Stage 16 of the Tour de France saw the rivalry continue long after the riders crossed the line.

The normally mild mannered Chris Froome had a few things to say regarding the incident that saw Contador come off his bike during the fast decent into Gap.

Contador had been in an aggressive move attacking Froome during the climb which was more psychological in nature rather than an attempt to take time. Then on the decent Contador continued his aggressive riding seeing him take a corner a little too fast and come off the bike, fortunately without any dire consequences. However, Contador's mishap caused Froome who was riding not far behind him, to have to change is line into the corner forcing him toward the end of the road having to slow down and unclip to get back on the road.

Turns out Froome wasn't too impressed with Contador's assertiveness, tweeting the following after the race:

Now I am a little bemused by Froome's comments. The last time I looked the Tour de France was a race. You take every chance you can get. It was not reckless riding, Contador was taking advantage of his (usually) superior descending skills and misjudged the corner. That's racing. Yes, it was unfortunate that Froome was hindered by Contador but... that's racing. 

My take on this is Froome was a little rattled by Contador this stage and although the yellow jersey is pretty much sewed to his back, the race isn't over until it's over and the leader of the race is always the wanted.

I think the next few days in the Alps are going to be rather interesting don't you?

Froome displays his prowess

One of the most anticipated stages of this years tour de France certainly didn't disappoint and it was yellow jersey holder Chris Froome (Team Sky) who showed who was boss of this years race.

The climb up daunting Mount Ventoux is 21 kilometers of unrelenting torture and it didn't take long before the pressure of Team Sky, namely Richie Porte, started to separate the contenders for the pretenders.

The anticipated show down between Froome and Contador was looming and when Porte dropped off after doing his jo,b within seconds Froome raised the pace. Contador was unable to match him and Froome rode away to join Quintana of MoviStar before leaving him behind as well and crossing the line for the stage win and cementing his right as race leader.

With all the talk of the possible weakness of Team Sky, they again proved they have what it takes and Froome can do it alone when necessary.

Contador admitted he couldn't keep the pace, but also said the race wasn't over. With the alps to come and days of multiple climbs he still believes he can break Froome. Only time will tell, but there would need to be a fairy tale come true for Contador to claw back the 4:25 he needs to in order to take the yellow jersey.

However, for me one of the highlights of the day was Peter Sagan. He managed to take off with the early break away in order to gain the sprint points for the green jersey which he took, now maintaining an almost unbeatable lead.

After his effort taking the uncontested sprint Sagan continued on only surrendering at the beginning of the Mount Ventoux climb. But in pure Sagan Style he didn't just casually rejoin the peloton, no, he marked the occasion with a one handed wheelie!

Gotta love his spirit!
You can view a snippet of it at http://video.cairns.com.au/v/123382/Peter-Sagan-pulls-wheelie-midstage-in-Tour-de-France

Reckless Cav?

Stage 10 of the tour delivered on an exciting sprint finish with Marcel Kittel taking the points over Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan. But it was Cav everyone was talking about after an interesting incident with Tom Veelers only 100 meters from the line.

Amazingly after the 'shove' 'bounce' 'clash' 'shoulder' or whatever you like to call it from Cav, Veelers was the only one to come crashing to the ground, but many riders including Matt Goss were held up and taken out of the sprint finish. And after much deliberation, Cav was controversially cleared of any wrong doing.

So what do you think? Was Cav simply 'following the road' or was he reckless?

You be the judge.

Should Froome be worried?

During last year's tour I wrote a blog post titled 'You are only as strong as your team.........leader' where I wrote about how Chris Froome almost tore the tour apart by almost upstaging his team leader and eventual winner Bradley Wiggins. Fast forward twelve months and this week we saw the brilliance of Chris Froome during stage 8, where he took a stranglehold on this years race, with amazing support of his team, notably Australian Richie Porte.

But....Stage 9 saw things take an unexpected turn and I could have very well titled this post 'You are only as strong as your....team.' Full Stop.

Poor Richie Porte had a tough day and couldn't keep the pace and ended up losing a huge chunk of time and team Movistar worked well to isolate Froome from his team and really test the waters of possibilities, although disappointingly not doing much more than that.

So the question needs to be asked...Should Chris Froome be worried?

Well, firstly it is the Tour de France and anything can happen. The race is three weeks long and there is so much to come.

Secondly, Chris Froome was, coming into this years race, a red hot favourite. The tour is Froome's ultimate goal this year and his form has been great. But is Team Sky the Team Sky we saw powerful and dominating at last year's race? On paper the answer would have to be no. And although they are certainly a strong team they have shown that they are far from unbeatable.

Stage 9 has certainly opened up the race once again. Katusha (Rodriguez), SaxoBank (Contador) and Movistar (Valverde) will all be bouyed by the events of yeserday which in turn will hopefully lead to some motivated attacks in the mountain stages to come.

All bodes for an exciting next two weeks, in which yes, Chris Froome should be worried right up until he is standing on that podium in Paris!