Le Tour de France: My Overall Conclusions

Well, the Tour is over for another year and once again the cream rose to the top.  Chris Froome won the GC battle with room to spare, a winning margin of over 4mins between himself and his nearest rival who came in the somewhat unexpected shape of French rider, Roman Bardet (AG2R Mondiale).  If Froome had been widely tipped to win his 3rd Tour prior to it's onset, then Bardet would have been equally unfancied to have been standing next to him on the podium in Paris!  Bardet had been rumoured to have been on the verge of hitting the 'big-time' for a few years now, but few would have predicted (before the Tour started) that he would finish ahead of all the other big names in the field, men like Quintana, Valverde, Porte and Aru, who many (me included) thought would be pushing Froome to ever greater heights in his pursuit of his 3rd Tour victory.  In the end all of the expected challengers fell by the wayside, either unwilling or unable to take the battle to Froome and his relentless Team Sky teammates, leaving the way clear for newcomers like Bardet and Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange) to leave their stamp on the race.

Chris Froome & the unstoppable Team Sky train reach Paris

If Adam Yates was the new sensation of the Tour, then Bardet was surely the. man who came of age.  His amazing stage win in last years Tour had singled him out as (potentially) the next French Grand Tour challenger, but after so many years of waiting and so many disappointments and nearly men, perhaps we all expected that Bardet, like Rolland, Pinot, Jalabert and Virenque before him (the list goes on), would not fulfil his promise.  But we were wrong.  Unlike the many French nearly men of recent times, Bardet seems to have mastered the ability to ride consistently well.  His improvement has been gradual and regular (e.g. in the Criterium du Dauphine - the big pre-Tour event, won in each of his 3 Tour winning years by Froome - Bardet has finished 12th in 2013; 5th in 2014; 6th in 2015 and 2nd this year) exhibiting much more consistency than that of other French riders who can be brilliant on their day, but then lack the resilience to back it up with a consolidating ride the day after, and the day after that, as is needed if one is to make ones mark on a Grand Tour these days.  Even bad days have to be mastered and losses minimised (as Froome has shown so brilliantly in each of his wins) if one is to come out on top.  A bad day might mean digging deep and limiting ones losses to a couple of minutes, and no more, and Bardet seems to have got this straight in his head and does not leave so much of himself out on the course on one day so that on the next he cannot keep up his challenge.

So whilst not many would have expected Bardet to have finished the 2016 in 2nd place, it wasn't entirely a shock result either.  As to whether he can mount a more serious challenge to Froome next year we will have to wait and see.  With all due respect, I have to say that if it his his aim to win the Tour (and why wouldn't it be?) then remaining at AG2R is perhaps a no-no!

Froome and Team Sky have moved the sport on in the last few years, revolutionising the way things are done in terms of preparation, tactics, planning and professionalism, facts that are beginning to be acknowledged and taken note of within the peleton and team management of their rivals.  Sure Sky have the largest budget, but it's more than that; it's about getting things done in the correct way.  It's about eating right, warming down properly after a long day in the saddle, surveying routes (all of them) and riding them beforehand so there are no surprises en route, and it's about being single-minded in the pursuit of the team's goals (whatever they may be) and making sure everyone in the team (from dietitians, therapist, domestiques and team leaders) is on the same page, working towards the same ends with same dedication and drive as the man who will eventually gain most of the plaudits, and these things are not about money, they are about how much you want it and how much everyone about you wants it.  And perhaps AG2R are still stuck in the glory days of Hinault and all that heady French success to be able to push Bardet to surmount that final step.

I think to mount a serious challenge to Froome, Bardet will have to move to a bigger team, one that is also on an upward trend like himself, and who is looking to emulate Team Sky, but in their own way, by making their own mark.  The more established teams I think will struggle to make the necessary changes in a quick and efficient manner, just because they have been in the mire for longer, and so I believe Bardet should look to one of the newer teams (like Orica or even a Team DiData) who are perhaps a bit more open to shaking things up in order that he can take that next step and give the French what they have waited so long for, a French grand tour winner.

As for Adam Yates, he rode a truly remarkable Tour and, as a fellow Brit, I have to hope that it is not a flash in the pan and we have another British grand tour contender in the making.  I love his attitude; the way he took it all his stride with dignity, a smile and that steely determination that only a few possess.  I do believe that Adam, and perhaps his brother Simon too, will go onto win grand tours because, like Bardet, his rise has been steady, consistent and constantly on an up, and at the age of 23 one has to think there is much, much more to come since most tour winners don't start to reach their physical peaks until their mid- to late 20's.  If he can stay (relatively) injury free, keep progressing and maintain the positive outlook then I have every hope that he will go on to make his mark like Wiggins and Froome before him, as British tour winners.

Other 2016 Tour successes are undoubtedly Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, Tom Dumoulin, Greg van Avermaet, Jarlinson Pantano and Thomas de Gendt, whilst my big Tour disappointments are Nairo Quintana, Fabio Aru and Thibaut Pinot.

Sagan was unstoppable in so many ways; 3 stage wins, his 5th green jersey, his 1st yellow jersey, countless breakaways and relentless domestique on occasions, he is arguably the most complete cyclist of his (and perhaps any) generation and deserves all the plaudits he receives.  Cav came storming back to take a truly amazing 4 stage wins taking him to 2nd on the all time list of Tour stage winners, confirming himself as the top sprinter in this years race and letting everyone, me included, know that he is far from finished.

Tom Dumoulin, with 2 stage wins including the first long TT, once again singled himself out as the man to beat in any TT (now that Tony Martin and Fabian have had their days) as well as in any one off races, be they a classic or otherwise.  As to whether he can convert himself into a grand tour contender we still don't know, but nevertheless he is an exciting and unpredictable rider who adds a great deal to any race.

van Avermaet (BMC) I have included not only because of his stage victory (S5) but because of the fight and panache he showed to keep the yellow jersey once he'd got hold of it!  Jarlinson Pantano and Thomas de Gendt were both unbelievably aggressive riders throughout, both winning stages and, like Sagan, appearing in countless breakaways demonstrating breathtaking resilience and fight whenever challenged.  In this regard Julien Alaphilippe also deserves an honourable mention but didn't quite manage to get himself that all important stage win.

And finally there was Quintana, Aru and Pinot, all of whom had specifically targeted this years Tour as the race for them, and all of whom, for whatever reason, were found wanting.  In the end there are no excuses and none of them performed to their best on any single occasion and as such, left the door open for others to lead the challenge to Froome's dominance.  Maybe next year guys.....!

Overall, it was a great Tour de France, if not in terms of the yellow jersey race, which to be honest Froome never looked losing once he got hold of it, but in the quality and excitement of each of the days racing which seems to become of a higher quality each passing year!  In 2017 can Froome come back to do it again?  Well, you wouldn't bet your house on him not doing it!  He now heads off to Rio and then to the Vuelta (where incidentally he'll be racing quite close by to me for a couple of days....can't wait!) at the end of August and one wouldn't get long odds on him winning both of those either!  But it's already been a long season for Froomey and the Vuelta, like before, might prove to be a step too far!

But here's hoping.....!  Come on Froomey!!

Le Tour de France; Week 2 Review

Do you know how sometimes you commit to something and then almost immediately wish you hadn't? Well, this weekly review is one of those things! Whilst the tour is on it's 3 weeks of afternoons that are blocked out 100% as I absorb every twist, turn, crash and sprint of the world's best bike race. So when the rest days come along I just find I've got loads of stuff to catch up on, none of which I generally manage to get done completely, and then I add to the load by deciding to do a review the tour which inevitably ends up being a rush job at best! Nevertheless, the tour is, as always, totally absorbing and so it's no great chore to think about it that bit more!

So here we go!

Don't know about you, but I've found this year's race to be a bit short on drama thus far when it comes to the pursuit of the various jersey's. The polka dot (KOM) is all but Rafa Majka's; the green (points) jersey has been tied since the first days by the irrepressible Peter Sagan; the white (young rider) jersey looks to be tied up by Britain's Adam Yates despite the attentions of Louis Meintjes and the yellow (GC) jersey by Team Sky's Chris Froome who looks all but impregnable.

That's not to say that any, if not all of these jersey's aren't going to be fought over in the final week, because they will be; here's how I see them panning out.

The fight for the King of the Mountains will be, I predict, between Rafa Majka (Tinkoff), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto) and Danny Navarro (Cofidis) but, barring any unforeseen disasters or accidents, I think Majka is too strong for the others and will win out with Navarro second.

The points jersey is the one that is now beyond doubt since the departure of Mark Cavendish yesterday to prepare for the Olympic Madison event with young Bradley Wiggins!

The best young rider jersey should remain firmly on the shoulders of Adam Yates (Orica Bike Exchange) who has shown himself well capable of staying with the best climbers in the world the past 2 weeks.  Whilst he might not be in shape (this year) to attack his wallflower approach of hanging onto the coattails of the best climbers may well see him reach Paris in a podium position.

And the most prestigious overall winners yellow jersey will I think stay on the shoulders of Froomey who has shown himself to be the man most likely the past 2 weeks.  Team Sky are so strong, with Wout Poels and Sergio Henao in particular, showing great fortitude in the climbs, that they have literally rode the sting out of the other GC contenders.  The only main GC rider to have shown any force of will to attack so far is the man already in yellow.  Everyone talks of Froome's struggles in the final week of his two previous tour victories, but in both of those wins he had attacked on mountain stages in the first two weeks in order to open a big enough gap to cushion any losses in the final weeks climbs.  This year however, his major strength has been his racing brain and the courage to put himself on the line in order to seize opportunities as they presented themselves and to take the race to his rivals in a completely novel way to that seen before.  Froome's armoury now appears to be replete, whereas previously people had questioned his ability to descend, for one, and his reticence to leave the security of his team-mates shelter for one more, both of which he has ably demonstrated to be no longer the case, and all of this without having put in his customary mountain attack, as yet.  Thus I confidently predict that Froome's usual 3rd week difficulties will be minimised, if not totally distanced, this year.

His main rivals, Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo), Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Adam Yates and Richie Porte (BMC) have all shown an inability to shake Froome when they have attacked, either due to the relentless pace set by Sky or because they are intimidated by Froome's new found racing strengths this year.  Either way, if anyone is going to shift Froome from yellow they need to put themselves on the line and show the same desire to win that Froome, himself, has already demonstrated.  However, I think Wednesday will see Froome attacking and putting yet more time into his rivals.

Now I'm out of time because it's already Wednesday and the stage is underway!

Enjoy!

Le Tour de France: My fun look at the first week!

Ok, so the first week of Le Tour is done and dusted, and what have we discovered, if anything?  As always, at this relatively early stage there are more questions than answers, but I'm going to have a go at trying to answer a few of the more pertinent ones that have jumped out at me!  As well as that I'm going to dish out my 1st week awards - good and bad - and try to make a few precarious predictions as to where this years race might be headed!

So where do we start?  Of course, we start with the main man and that man this week has been Britain's Chris Froome.

Well, Chris is well placed, in yellow where he likes to be, but does he look as strong as he has done at this stage in 2013 & 2015 when he won his first two overall victories?

That's a hard one.  On the face of it one might be tempted to suggest that his position is precarious by comparison to 2013 & 15.  At this stage in 2013 he had a lead of 2m2s and in 2015 1m59s over Colombian ace Nairo Quintana, the man most people expect to be his main rival once again.  So by pure numbers it's easy to suggest that Froomey is struggling and is set for a big fall come the high Alps in the final week of the race.  In both of his Tour wins Froomey has hit the first week hard, and in particular the Pyrenees, where he has typically opened significant time gaps over Quintana and his other main rivals.  This year however, although he did win Saturdays mountain stage it was only by a matter of seconds and not the minutes that perhaps we are used to seeing.  Does this mean that he is on the back foot already and has only way to go as the Tour rages on - backwards?

I don't think so!  If you listen to Chris speak, as well as how Dave 'the Maestro' Brailsford talks about him, I think it's fair to say that the 2016 version of Chris Froome is a much more relaxed, chilled and realistic animal.  If it's possible at 31 years of age, I think Chris has finally grown into his role as a (budding) cycling legend and seems to be able to handle the stresses, strains and demands of being the Tour favourite in a much better manner than perhaps we've seen previously.  He himself has pointed to his normally dominant first week and must be fully aware of the relative disparity in the comparative time gaps this year and the potential consequences as the race develops.  But Team Sky are also a very different animal this year compared with their previous winning years with both Froomey and initially Wiggins (in 2012) when the Sky train was all dominant and, despite all the success, gained only scorn amongst sections of the press (particularly in France) for the manner of their victories.  However, this year Team Sky have also grown into their role as (arguably) the top team at this years tour.  The Sky train is still there, but it is no longer the rigid (and boring?) locomotive that we've seen before.  The development of Brailsford's Team Sky and by proxy, Chris Froome, has come about as a result of their experiences over the past few years.  Their learning curve has been steep indeed, and one would be hard pressed to suggest that they haven't taken on board any of the lessons learned since the team's inception in 2010.

We saw the first indications that the 2016 version of Team Sky was perhaps somewhat different from previous versions in the Dauphine where the riders seemed to have much freedom to explore their own races whilst still maintaining the basic remit of protecting their team leader, Froomey, and winning the day, which they duly did.  The evolution of the team and it's riders has continued this week with riders appearing in breakaways as well as adopting different tactics in the early mountain stages where Sergio Henao, for example, has certainly been given his head to try and ride his own race, in stark contrast to 2011 when Froome was held back under team orders to guide eventual winner, Bradley Wiggins, over the high Alps.

Criticisms of Froomey being a boring, robotic rider in previous years have surely been laid to rest this year after his extravagant downhill attack and eventual stage win in Saturday's stage, if not by his elbowing of a Colombian fan who got too close on the ascent!  I think Chris is riding well within himself and has preserved his legs (relatively) and energies for what is still to come.

The first week has seen the peleton cover just over half the distance of this years Tour, some 1769kms.  The coming week features 2 more mountain stages, including on Thursday a mountain top finish of the legendary Mont Ventoux and on Friday the first of this years TT's, which is a longish, relatively hilly day with an uphill gradient to finish, all of which should suit Froomey well.  Whilst Quintana has undoubtedly improved his time-trialling the 37.5km TT should see Froome putting a bit more time into Quintana.  The big test though will surely come on the ascent of Mont Ventoux where we can reasonably expect Quintana and the other GC contenders to all have a bash at taking Froomey's crown!  However, Ventoux is a climb Froomey knows well having won there in 2013 on the way to his first overall victory.  If he does make the first move on Thursday I can see him running the show again and stretching his lead further over a somewhat reticent 2016 Quintana.

One would think that if Quintana truly has designs on this years Tour he would need to attack early on on Mont Ventoux to try and test Froome's endurance to it's max.  But I've sensed a certain reluctance in Quintana so far to really put himself on the line, for example on Saturday when he failed to chase Froome down, despite being on his wheel, as they topped the mountain and instead he sat up and waited for Valverde to arrive before he began his chase.  Does that indicate a lack of confidence in his own ability?  Or maybe he's not sure of his own physical capabilities coming into this years Tour having not raced for some time, despite successes earlier in the year when he beat Froome (e.g. Tour of Romandie).  Maybe that lack of racing the past few months will be telling in the final wash?  Or maybe I'm reading too much into it all and he's really is just biding his time.  By the end of this week we shall all know a lot more.

But what of the rest of the peleton?

Froome aside, the other big stories this week are perhaps also British.  The return to form, after a seemingly long absence, of Mark Cavendish with 3 fantastic wins this week.  Cav's post race interviews are always a mix of emotion, angst, muttered phrases and either beaming smiles or black scowls, but they are always entertaining!  If I, for one, had been doubting Cav's ability to get back to his best after a long performance hiatus, then it must be said that Cav himself never shared in those doubts and is now perhaps as good as he's ever been and has, this week, overtaken Bernard Hinault's total Tour victories with a staggering 29 wins!  He has more chances this week, though with the Olympics just round the corner one has to question whether we will see Cav racing all the way to the Champs Elysees this year.

Britain's other big successes this week have been Fridays amazing mountain stage win by 35 year old youngster Steve Cummings of Team Dimension Data (Cav's team) and the second placing overall (some 16secs behind Froomey) and white jersey holder (best young rider) of Adam Yates (Orica Bike Exchange)!  Cummings win was arguably the best and biggest win of his career and comes at a time when most are digging out their pipe and slippers but Cummings, bucking the trend, just seems to be getting better and better!  Has he found the secret of eternal youth I ask?  And so for Cummings this week I give the Never Say Die Award which is also known as the Cher 'I can turn back time' Award!

At 23 years old and being well into the final year of his contract at Orica Adam Yates is probably this years hot young thing and must have new offers of employment filling his inbox every morning!  His form so far this Tour has been quite staggering given that his chin is a mass of stitches after the inflatable flamme rouge collapsed on top of him during Friday's stage!  He has managed to stick with all the big guns in the mountains so far, however, it must be said without setting the peleton on fire.  Nevertheless, he could well be Britain's next grand tour winner (after Froome) in the making and for this reason I award him the Week One Hottie Award, an honour he is sure to live up to in the coming fortnight!

Other winners and losers this week include the Evergreen Peter Sagan (evergreen because he is destined to spend the rest of the Tour in green) who can surely gain worthwhile employment, once his cycling career is over, as a cartoon voice-over character; Alberto Contador, who followed up a very heavy fall on the opening day by trying to outdo himself the next day by tumbling over again, and in the end abandoned the race during Sunday's stage.  Contador's days of challenging the best during the grand tours are now probably behind him and if he decides to continue next year (perhaps with the new Bahrain team) then it may well be in more of a support role!  BMC's Richie Porte also had his share of bad luck losing time on his GC rivals with a mechanical failure some 5kms out during Monday's (I think!) stage and his chances of pushing for overall victory seemed to have dissipated in the process!  Marcel Kittel, who looked so great earlier in the year, looks a bit below par but still managed to win Tuesday's stage ahead of Sagan, but does look to be second best this year to a rejuvenated Cav!  Andre Griepel has been way off the pace despite having had good lead out trains for most of the sprint stages and is languishing in the sprinters wilderness right now!  Best Newcomer Award goes to British sprinter Dan McClay riding in his first Tour and who has managed to finish in the top 10 of every sprint stage thus far!  Keep it up Dan!  And talking of Dan's, it wouldn't be right to finish without giving a mention to Ireland's Dan Martin who is showing that maybe he does have the makings of a GC contender after all.  The Etix man is running hotter than ever after finishing to second in last month's Dauphine and finally seems to demonstrating that he has the confidence to stick with and even attack the top GC guys in the high mountains.  But for both him and Adam Yates, the final's weeks high Alps tests will be the true test of their mettle and will show whether they really can compete with the very best over a 3 week grand tour!

Ok, I'll be back next week with another round up of Tour news!  In the meantime, enjoy this weeks racing and get on your bike!

Super Sunday! What a great day's sport!

Wow!  I'm an old bugger now and can only reminisce about my own sporting prowess, such as it was, so these days I'm a fully fledged and totally committed armchair sports fan and yesterday was truly a day and a half!  The World T20 Final, Leicester edging ever closer to the Premiership, Lewis Hamilton blowing yet another pole position, Peter Sagan doing a wheelie across the line in the RVV Tour of Flanders, Lizzie Armistead winning the women's race.......wow and double wow!  I can tell you my ass was numb by the end of the day, but it was worth every little tingle!

Starting off with football, I'd been to the local bar on the Saturday evening for El Clasico (Barca - Real) which we all know was won by Real 2-1 with Ronaldo scoring the winner, but to be honest it wasn't a clasico this time.   The end result was great for Zidane's new look Madrid and, of course, finally ended Barca's amazing 39 match unbeaten run (a club record  - no surprise) on a day that was dedicated to one of the all time greats, the late Johaan Cruyff who sadly passed away last week.  But sitting in a Valencia bar, after they'd just lost, again, against Las Palmas probably had something to do with the rather muted atmosphere for the match.  Well, that, and the fact that Madrid won (if you're not a Madridista in Spain then you're an anti-Madridista) all contributed to a rather lack-lustre match for me.

In the PL wins for Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal would normally have pissed me off no end, but this year not so much, simply because they're all so far behind a scintillating Leicester side (who I think have the backing of most of the UK now) and so just don't stand a chance of winning the league, which is a huge bonus!!  Come on the Foxes!!  You can do it!!

But for real drama yesterday, one needed to look no further than the World T20 Final in Kolkata where poor old Ben Stokes got walloped all over the ground by a pumped up Carlos Braithwaite for an amazing climax to what has been an amazing tournament.  And I must complement BBC radio for their excellent coverage on radio 5L which brought the atmosphere into my living room like never before.

And then onto Bahrain for the second Grand Prix of the season where once again Nico Rosberg dominated the whole weekend, his only blip being the loss of pole to Lewis Hamilton, but on a track made for overtaking the end result was hardly in doubt, and made all the more probable within 5 seconds of the start when Hamilton's second poor start in a row put paid to his chances before they'd reached turn 1, lap 1.  Too much partying Lewis!  Time to get your head out the bottle and back in the game I think!

And finally onto cycling where the awesomely talented Peter Sagan raced clear of the peleton in the final kilometres to win (I think) his first Ronde Van Vlaanderen in the Tour of Flanders and to continue what has already been a great season for the current World Road Race Champion.  The women's race too was won by Britain's World Champ Lizzie Armistead who seems to be having an even better start to the season than Sagan.  With all the big Tours yet to come this years cycling is shaping up to be yet another corker and I, for one, cannot wait for it all to kick off.