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?