A Week for the Brits

British cycling sure had a good week. Bradley Wiggins won the Criterium du Dauphine in France, and Mark Cavendish was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire, just the latest highlights in the story of UK cycling which is growing in number and reputation.

Despite last minute attacks, Wiggins beat out rivals Cadel Evans and Alexander Vinokourov with a steady defense of his lead through the final three mountain stages. The 31-year-old just missed the stage win at the individual time trial in Grenoble, coming in second, but won the general classification on Sunday with the lowest cumulative time over the 8-day race.

Wiggins’ victory was a double win for Britain, as his squad—Team Sky—is the country’s sole player on the Pro Tour. Wiggins helped launch the team last year, and the Dauphine demonstrated the strength of their roster. Teammates such as Edvald Boassen Hagen successfully shepherded their leader throughout the race, indicating that they may improve their Tour de France results this year.

Sprinter Cavendish was given the MBE as part of the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours List made public Friday. Known as the Manx Missile, Cavendish holds the most stage wins by a Britain at the Tour de France with 15 to date. The 26-year-old rides for the American team HTC-Highroad and is a lively tweeter. His daily messages typically include toilet humor (literally), fawning over his girlfriend, and non-PC cursing. Looks like the Queen focused on his professional accomplishments.

Cheers, boys! You make the Empire proud.

Waiting for Garmin

Garmin manager Jonathan Vaughters

What happened to Garmin-Cervelo? At Stage 4 of the Dauphine, the team was driving at the front to bring back two riders from an early breakaway. The squad of black and blue led the peloton to give American sprinter Tyler Farrar the final opportunity for a stage win at this race. Yet in the last 7 kilometers, Garmin all but disappeared. In the final kilometer, Garmin had a few riders out front, but they were quickly surrounded by a number of other teams including Team Sky. In the end, phenom John Degenkolb was on his own to edge out Sky’s Edvald Boassen Hagen for the win. “I had the punch today,” said HTC’s Degenkolb, landing his sixth win of the year. Farrar finished sixth.

We are depending on Farrar and his team to play the foil to Mark Cavendish and HTC in the sprint finishes at the Tour de France. Yet so far this season, Farrar has not proven he can fill the role. Sadly, his opportunities at the Giro d’Italia last month were cut short, when his friend Wouter Weylandt died and Farrar pulled out of the race. Hopefully the two missed sprint stages at the Criterium du Dauphine have served as a solid training ground for him and his lead-out train.

Tony Triumphs

Tony Martin taught us another life lesson today at the Criterium du Dauphine. Coming into the race as a general classification contender, the German was the great hope of Team HTC-Highroad until his poor performance on the first three days knocked him out of contention. Yet in cycling, as in life, each day brings new opportunities. Martin won the individual time trial in Grenoble at Stage 3, turning around his disappointing results, jumping about 40 places in the overall standings, and securing the second consecutive stage win for the California team. He is wearing that boyish, wide-eyed smile once again.

What will tomorrow bring? We'll see what who captures the next opportunity.

Dauphine: Tasty Appetizer

As the Criterium du Dauphine rolled into Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, Stage 2 of the 8-day race was in the books. The unexpected excitement today included several general classification contenders caught behind the break when the peloton split due to wind. Cadel Evans of BMC and Bradley Wiggins and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky spent precious energy catching up to the front, a reminder that cyclists can also have a bad day at the office. Race leader Alexander Vinokourov of Astana took advantage of his sleepy competitors, gaining several seconds of time on them. Perhaps this is another example of riders like Vino making their own luck by paying attention and riding hard all day.

The surprise stage win came from HTC-Highroad’s John Degenkolb, a 22-year-old in his first year in the pro circuit. This was his fifth win of the season, and the most significant thus far. Degenkolb snuck in through the final meters, besting veterans such as Thomas Voeckler of Europcar. He also had an unexpectedly good performance at the prologue individual time trial on Sunday, when he came in fourth, just six seconds behind stage winner Lars Boom of Rabobank.

While an inclined finish, today’s stage was considered one of two possibilities for the sprinters at the 2011 Dauphine. Garmin-Cervelo drove at the front to make the most of the split for a possible sprint win for Tyler Farrar, but he was nowhere to be seen at the line. Perhaps the next flat stage will be a better opportunity for Farrar, who is the most reliable competitor to Mark Cavendish. A win at the Dauphine, where Cavendish is not competing, would be a tasty appetizer for Farrar, proof of good form and a hint of vigorous competition at the Tour de France next month.