Tour de France - wrap

What an exciting Tour! Sure it wasn't the closest one that's ever been but it was close.
Props to Andy Shleck for taking it to Alberto Contador on the time trial, i think he got as close as 2 seconds which is impressive.
Taking back said props is Andy Shleck's comments about always being able to rely on Cadel Evans to fall off, not cool Andy, pull your head in and remember that you fell off as well. I'd like to see you ride for 2 weeks seriously hampered by an injury of that magnitude.
Farewell to Lance Armstrong, finally. I applaude him for what he's done for the sport of road cycling and in his cancer research but i just don't like the guy...
Farewell also to Aussie Mick Rodgers who won't be riding the tour anymore preferring to focus on week long stage races. Other cyclists would ride the tour just because it's the tour but you have realised your limitations and are bowing to those so congrats for admitting you're different to a lot of the other riders.
A big wow on Mark Cavendish. We saw him last year and he swept the sprints then but i don't think until this year we truly saw how incredibly fast he is.
I think a lot of people may have questioned him without Mark Renshaw, and let's face it HTC were a little at sea without him but Cavendish showed he can win without them and is the first guy in the history of the Tour to go back-to-back with wins on the Champs Elysees.
There was talk he could go on to win 40 stages throughout his career and seeing him through this tour I have no doubt that he could and maybe more, I'm sure there are many green jerseys in his future.
Overall it was a great tour, very competitive, very even and with a great number of riders finishing, up to 30 or 40 more than in the last 5 or 6 years which is incredible, and only a handful of those were eliminated because they finished outside the allowed time.
Can't wait for next year!!

Tour de France - battle for yellow

Just a quick word on last night's stage and some commentators calls that Alberto Contador should have sat up and not attacked whilst Andy Shleck was in difficulty.
I can understand why on the stage into Spa, stage 3 or something like that, that the race was neutralised as a protest against the slippery conditions on the road which resulted in quite a few riders hitting the tarmac, among them Andy Shleck. It was a man made disaster that one, something that was out of the riders control.
But what happened to Andy Shleck last night, his chain coming off his bike, wasn't something that could have been prevented. It's just something that happens and I'm sure it's happened to everyone at one stage or another.
Yes it was a shame because it looked as if he had Alberto Contador on the ropes and if he had opened up a gap it would have made the race more interesting, but I don't think that's a reason to neutralise a race.
And I think if you watch it closely, Contador never really actively took advantage, he stayed with the group and followed them and took his turn at the front, as he should. It's not his fault he was with Sammy Sanchez who happens to be a fantastic desender.
You could also see that at the finish he didn't sprint for the line, and at that stage the time gaps were close even if he were getting information on that.

Tour de France - Mark Renshaw

Now, in the hope fo not sounding too much like a conspiracy freak, which i definately am not, that's another blog, haha jokes, it's really not... i think the tour organisers have got something against either him, or Mark Cavendish or HTC Columbia or they just wanted to have some fun by kicking someone out who just happens to be an Aussie, actually that may be a happy coincidence.

But seriously, i think the tour has something major to answer for. I don't understand how two guys can go at it, throwing punches and wheeling tyres to about to the other guy's head and get a 300 Euro fine, and that's it.

But Mark Renshaw, in the course of a fairly typical sprint head butted a guy, well a Kiwi anyway, a few times to avoid a massive crash and copped an elbow as well and gets expelled!
What damages cycling more, fisticuffs off the bike with nothing to do with the sport, or a normal sprint?
Yes granted Mark Renshaw shouldn't have done that to Julian Dean, and he shouldn't have blocked Tyler Farrah but get expelled? No I don't think so.

I also think it's a croc that the team couldn't appeal. Yes I know this is Europe and old habits die hard but seriously dictatorship is so 1940's...

The tour organisers should put Mark Renshaw back in, but give him the last time...