Tour De France Final Thoughts
The winners of each of the competitions were:
Yellow Jersey-Alberto Contador. Andy Schleck gave him a run for the money going down the stretch. I would expect Andy to be even stronger next year, especially with his brother, Frank, by his side again. I’m just hoping someone kicks Contador’s ass.
Green Jersey(Best Sprinter)-Alessandro Petacchi. Thor Hushovd started out very well, but hadn’t had much sprint training leading up to the Tour, due to a broken collarbone. I would expect Alessandro, Thor and Mark Cavendish to make this an amazing competition next year.
Polka-Dot Jersey(Best Mountain Climber)-Anthony Charteau. He wasn’t the favorite to win it, but after amassing some points early on, he held on in the big climbs. As a side bit of trivia, the jersey for best climber features the polka dots due to a French chocolatier (candy maker) named Menier, as it was a pattern they used on one of their popular chocolate bars.
White Jersey (Best Young Rider)-Andy Schleck. He’ll be too old next year to compete for white. That shouldn’t matter, since he only wants yellow.
Red Jersey(Most Aggressive Rider)-Sylvain Chavanel. This is a fairly new edition to the Tour. Chavanel is a talented GC rider, although not at the top of the sport. He dashed ahead early on to win an early yellow jersey.
Team Competition-Team Radio Shack won the award for best overall team time, giving Lance one last podium in his Tour career. Many call this the least significant of the competitions. Tell that to Caisse D’Epargne, the team that hunted down Radio Shack the entire Tour, trying to wrest away the team lead.
In closing, it was an interesting tour throughout, even if Lance wasn’t competitive. It would have been great to see him win a stage in the mountains, but it wasn’t meant to be. Cycling was less interesting for me in the years that Lance retired, and I’m sure next year will be as well. But, I’ll still watch and enjoy.
I hope my diversion into what many refer to as a fringe sport didn’t bore too many people.
