Crashes, surprise splits, teamwork, sprint winners and losers, and a decent little climb all came together today to launch the Tour de France with a bit of everything, like an appetizer sampler at El Torito. Stage 1 included a taste of the many races within the big race and whet our palates for the next three weeks of competition.
While the stage was too hilly for the sprinters, the new set-up of the points competition prompted a heated race in the middle of the course. As usual, points are awarded to the stage winners, and a descending number of points are awarded to the top group of finishers. However this year, race organizers have reduced the number of opportunities to earn points over the course route to one spot. This is the intermediate sprint and is now marked on the course with a prominent green flag. The leader of the points competition wears the green jersey, one of the four jerseys awarded at the finale in Paris. (The others include the yellow jersey for the overall win, the polka dot jersey for the king of the mountains, and the white jersey for the best young rider.)
The change makes each intermediate sprint more important, and while three breakaway riders were the first to make it, an exciting sprint played out among the hottest sprinters in the world for the remaining points. HTC’s Mark Cavendish shot forward and appeared untouchable, until he missed Garmin’s Tyler Farrar coming up the side. Once Cavendish realized what was happening, it was clear he would be beaten and gave up the fight. Farrar hit the sprint point first among the bunch, earning 13 points toward the green jersey and a certain boost to his confidence. Neither Farrar nor his team has won a single stage at the Tour de France, and the points indicate they are not fooling around this year. Andre Greipel was just behind Farrar. Greipel of Omega Pharma-Lotto is Cavendish’s former teammate and long-time rival. We can expect this to make Cavendish—the Manx Missile—quite annoyed, and when he is annoyed, he can produce amazing results. Watch out for Monday’s flat stage for a rematch.
An epic crash occurred 8 kilometers to the finish line. It was epic thankfully not for any significant damage to the riders, but for splitting the peloton in half. The entire second half of the pack was stopped cold following a crash caused by a spectator standing too close to the course. Cadel Evans of BMC raced on with the front group, as he had spent the day riding at the front with his teammates around him. Their extra effort paid off when Evans finished second on the day and built a nice cushion against general classification favorite Alberto Contador. The three-time winner was caught in the first crash, then another crash less than 2 kilometers to the finish. Contador finished 1 minute 20 seconds behind the stage winner, giving Evans a 1 minute 17 second advantage over Contador. The other pre-race favorite Andy Schleck finished with the first group, securing a 1 minute 14 second advantage over the Spaniard. Remember that last year, Schleck lost the Tour to Contador by a total of 39 seconds overall, so while we have a long way to go, Evans is grinning in his sleep tonight.
So who won the stage? Phillipe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto. He was one of the favorites going in because of his good performances on the rolling type of route as seen today. Gilbert was sporting a yellow, red, and black jersey as the new champion of Belgium, though it would also blend in well at McDonald’s. With today’s victory, he will wear the leader’s yellow jersey at tomorrow’s stage.
Looking forward to tomorrow, Stage 2 will be a completely different competition. The team time trial is a gorgeous demonstration of the concept of drafting. Each team rolls out together, racing against the clock. Riders take turns at the front, while the rest of the team follows in a line behind. The front rider suffers the most, breaking the wind for the others who are resting. They are drafting behind the front man. Next, the front rider pulls off to the side, falling to the back of the line, and a fresh man takes his turn at the front. They rotate through with the strong individual time trialers and general classification riders taking the longest pulls at the front, a display of individual sacrifice for the benefit of the team.
When performed at its highest levels, team time trials are beauty in motion. The cyclists are decked out in their aerodynamic kits with long sleeves and pointy helmets. Much of their individuality is gone, and the team is one, with one rider pulling at the front, then a smooth transition to the next rider, then another. Lance Armstrong’s teams were always great at the team time trial, and they were often called Stormtroopers. The men became disciplined machines, working seamlessly together, weaving amongst each other. Lance’s teams were so good that race organizers took this discipline out of the Tour de France, and we are thrilled that it is back this year.
The favorites for Stage 2 are HTC-Highroad and Garmin-Cervelo. Garmin will certainly be looking for that first Tour stage win, and if they win, Thor Hushovd would don the yellow jersey as the race leader. HTC has group of speed demons with a record of success in this discipline, and if they take the stage, Tony Martin would get yellow. Leopard-Trek will also push hard, led by time trial phenomenon Fabian Cancellara and the motivation of Andy Schleck to capture every second possible. RadioShack is another team to watch, with Levi Leipheimer’s time trialing ability and the same culture that created Lance’s wins. Finally, Contador’s Saxo Bank and Evans’ BMC will be fighting not to lose significant time to their rivals.
Watch the whole of Stage 2, as each team that rolls out could provide a great ride. Also, watching the poorer-performing teams illuminates how beautifully the winning teams work together. Coverage continues on Versus, online, and on NBC from 12pm to 1:30pm Pacific time.
View complete Stage 1 results: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/100/classement/index.html
View Stage 2 map and profile: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/200/etape_par_etape.html
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