On The Road
by: Bill Oetinger 8/1/2009
Tour de France, 2009
Normally, there's nothing I like better than a round of Monday-morning quarterbacking after the Tour de France. I jump all over it while the workers are still knocking down the podium in Paris, eager to dissect and discuss all the finely nuanced tidbits of the greatest show on earth. But this year, I don't know...I'm having a little trouble working up a good head of steam over the whole extravaganza.
Many people have complained that the 2009 edition of the race was a bit boring. Mostly this has to do with the parcourse that the organizers put together. It was a little short on time trials and a little short on really significant mountaintop finishes. With a first stage that was longer than a prologue but way shorter than a full-fledged time trial, and with the always quirky team time trial back in the mix, that left only one authentic ITT to settle "the race of truth." There were only three true mountaintop finishes. The first two--Andorra Arcalis and Verbier--were not all that difficult and so didn't really do the job the big, HC climbs are supposed to do: thoroughly shatter the group and sort the sheep from the goats. (Okay, Verbier did, to a modest degree, but not in any really dramatic way.) That left just le Mont Ventoux on the penultimate stage as a true decider. I'm sure ASO thought they'd come up with something really special when they put the Giant of Provence on the last true stage, but because of all that had preceded it, it ended up being a rather dull, processional stage, with nothing hanging in the balance and nothing decided.
So a rather ho-hum tour in some respects. Nothing that left us teetering on the edges of our chairs, breathless with excitement and wondering what new amazement would unfold next. Nope. Pretty routine. But still, it was a good race, and it's not the fault of the riders that the organizers didn't give them the very best venues for plying their craft. They did what they could with what they were given. So, to honor the boys in the band, let's go back and see what little nuggets of post-race intelligence we can extract from the rubble.
Alberto
We'll start at the top, and the top belongs to Alberto Contador, beyond any shadow of a doubt. He finished a close second in the first ITT, his almighty Astana team whacked everyone else in the TTT, and he won the only full ITT, beating Cancellara--the greatest time trialer of this era--and pretty much clobbering all his GC rivals. He made the decisive moves on both Andorra Arcalis and Verbier, and none of his rivals had an answer. On the former, he pulled out a modest 21 seconds over all his serious adversaries. The fact that they--all the heads of state--finished in a bunch, :21 back, tells you this wasn't a real monster, hilltop finish. But he attacked and made it work when no one else could or would do so.On Verbier, he was again the first to launch a serious attack, and he made it stand up for a decisive, impressive victory. This time at least, his main rivals did not all cross the line in a bunch behind him. Contador said he had planned to attack a little later, but that the work of the Saxo-Bank team--mostly the Schleck brothers--had done such a good job of whittling away at the lead group that the process of attrition had been done for him, so what the heck...just go for it. He did so, and it worked. Only Andy Schleck even tried to stay with him, and he still lost :43.
By the time Ventoux loomed on the Provençal horizon, it was all over...signed, sealed, and delivered. All Contador had to do was cover any move, and he could have done that with one foot tied behind him.
His attacks on Andorra and Verbier were short, simple, and surgical. No one out there right now can stick with him when he decides to fly up a mountain. His uphill speed is just other-worldly. I give him high marks for having launched those attacks. They show a lot of panache and a lot of love for the sport and the art of bicycle racing. And I give him high marks because he really hardly needed to do so to assure the overall victory. He slaughtered all his competition in the time trials. No true GC contendors were even close to him there. So he could have just rested on those ITT laurels without making the extra effort in the hills. That he did so is much to his credit...a true champion.
And oh, how we have been yearning for a true champion. Recall that it has been four years since we last had a legitimate winner who could ascend the podium in Paris without a big, fat asterisk hovering over his head. Last year, Sastre won without the Astana team in the race (and was then beaten soundly by both Contador and Leipheimer in the Vuelta). The year before, a young, inexperienced Contador won only after Rasmussen was tossed for procedural violations (after The Chicken had beaten Contador on the road). In 2006, Pereiro backed into the title after Landis was tossed. We have to go all the way back to 2005 for a legit victor. Guess who that was? Lance.
Lance
I was not at all enthusiatic when Lance announced his plans to come out of retirement. I doubted anything good could come of it. I figured he had nothing to gain and tons to lose. I doubted whether he could do anything respectable on the bike...figured he'd embarrass himself.Well, I doubted him before, when he came back from the cancer with a fourth in the 1998 Vuelta, so I'm wrong again. I would never have predicted a podium step for him, in spite of the absurd media mania that swirled about him. (The mainstream media's panting, pop-eyed fascination with Armstrong is tedious in the extreme for this fan of bike racing. It can only be compared to their fetishistic devotion to Tiger Woods, who can miss a cut and still rate a headline and photo. But, as with Tiger-mania, I suppose Lance-mania is good if it sells the sport to a wider audience, whether that wider audience appreciates the subtleties of the sport or not.)
I think Lance's third place at 5:24 was every bit as impressive as any of his seven victories. He did it with good fitness--not great fitness--and with the savvy of a wily old veteran. He was never going to win, not with Contador on the same team. That was a non-starter, in spite of the breathless expectations of that wider, mainstream audience, stirred up each day with silly headlines and dopey speculation. He never had the legs, nor the team orders, to attack and make a big difference. His result is more of a case of being the last man standing from amidst the various other also-rans. He contributed to and benefited from the Astana TTT victory, but his own ITTs were only lackluster (by his former standards). He lost the same :21 on Andorra that all the top GC boys lost. He lost a hefty 1:35 on Verbier, where he said he really felt out of his element. He gained :11 with that cheeky, sneaky little move on Stage 3, slipping into the sprinters' bunch and catching all the GC guys napping. And he did a nice job of damage control on Stage 17, into le Grand-Bornard, losing a little time to Contador and the Schlecks, but gaining time on everyone else. Finally, on Ventoux, he was able to hang in there with Andy and Alberto...no mean feat.
It all added up to a very workmanlike job. Considering his age and his long lay-off--he weighed 188 last winter--and his short ramping up period; considering that he also rode the Giro quite respectably; considering all the hoopla and hype he had to handle every day, plus the fact of being Contador's teammate...considering all that, he did a wonderful job. I think, all in all, he did much to enhance his overall reputation, and I for one did not think that was remotely possible a few months ago.
The Astana Soap Opera
I don't really know what to make of this crazy bit of theatre. So much has been written and said about this already, from insiders to bloggers to mainstream hacks, I don't think I can add much.In the war of words between Contador and Armstrong, I have to come down ever so slightly on the side of the latter. Lance said all the right things, all the way through the first half of the year and through the Tour about Alberto being the team leader and the best rider, etc. He graciously complimented Contador on each of his victories. Others have found cause to fault Armstrong's behavior, but given the pressure cooker they've all been in, I am willing to cut him some slack. I'm not a great Armstrong fan. A great rider, for sure, but a complicated and prickly personality...not all that easy to like or admire. But in this case, he did okay.
Contador, on the other hand, has become more and more of a prima donna with every passing press conference. I don't doubt that it has been galling and distracting and nerve-wracking to have had the Armstrong media circus tromping all over his turf, day after day, week after week. I can understand his angst on that account and can accept a certain amount of hissy-fit fussing from him as a result. But by now he should know he reigns supreme, and he ought to be more gracious and diplomatic in victory. He doesn't need to be descending into these petty, pecking-order squabbles. He should know better by now. He should also know better than to tug on Armstrong's tail. Lance may be past it as far as an overall victory goes, but we've doubted him before, so who knows? One thing is certain: if he has it in him to rise to the top again, the one best motivator for getting him there will be all the snide and snotty shots el Pistolero has fired in his direction in the last few weeks.
How it's all going to play out in the coming off-season will be very interesting: Armstrong and Bruyneel to a new American team (who will be on that roster?); Contador going to a new team (but which one?) Astana reinvented around their native-son, the disgraced bad boy Vinokourov. And what of Levi and Klöden? Definitely a soap opera in the making. Stay tuned...
Poor Levi; Poor George
Levi's little crash didn't look too bad on replay, and he rode across the finish line looking only a bit the worse for wear. How shocking then to wake up the next morning to images of his arm in a big cast and x-rays looking like a nuts and bolts bin at a hardware store. How sad for him and for all of his fans, including all of his Santa Rosa homies.It's impossible and probably pointless to try to predict what might have happened, had he stayed in the race to the finish. An overall victory? Unlikely in any event, but doubly so being on Contador's team. Levi is too much the consumate team player to attack over his team leader, even assuming he could have done so. But a podium step? Very likely. A top five? Absolutely. Ah well...
George Hincapie's story is different. His virtual yellow jersey that evaporated by five seconds on Stage 14 will be a subject of debate for years to come. It would have been such a nice line to add to his palmares. I've heard and read any number of theories as to who chased hardest to bring the peloton back and rob him of his moment of glory. Some said Astana; some said Garmin; Nocentini, who retained the jersey by those five, painful seconds, seemed to think Hincapie's own team Columbia chased. That makes no sense at all, unless they got on the front as a fake: appearing to chase (for Cavendish) but actually dogging it a little and clogging up the front of chase. It's all just speculative blabber though. No one will ever know, and in the end, it won't matter. Just one of those tantalizing what-if moments that make sports so poignant at times.
Levi and George are both nearing the ends of their long and illustrious careers. Let's hope both of them find a few more opportunities to add some bling to their trophy cases. And while we're at it, let's add to that group Jens Voigt, whose own tour ended on a sad and painful note. All are classic road warriors and all have succeeded while remaining authentic nice guys.
Cadel, Carlos, Denis
What the heck happened to Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre, and Denis Menchov? These are all guys who had been touted as possible favorites prior to the tour. Menchov had won the Giro with a solid if unspectacular performance. Sastre showed snatches of brilliance in the Giro and was the defending TdF champ, albeit with that asterisk over his head. Cadel seems to have been sniffing around the maillot jaune forever, without quite latching on to it. But all of them were pathetic this year.I haven't seen interviews with any of them where they might have explained or excused their dismal performances. I don't have a clue why they tanked. I only mention them to illustrate how the reality of a hard race can make shambles out of pre-race predictions. Yes, the prohibitive pre-race favorite did win, but behind him, things did not run according to form.
Bradley who?
Speaking of not running according to form, who could possibly have predicted the great performance of Bradley Wiggins? Here we have a powerful track rider--traditionally a big lunker--who suddenly morphs into one of the best all-rounders in the race, finishing a close fourth behind Contador, Schleck, and Armstrong, and ahead of any number of GC studs who should have chewed him up and spit out the seeds. I am astonished.I haven't seen any interviews with Bradley either, where he might have explained this sudden transformation. I'll be looking for more back story on this one in the months ahead. But I find it a refreshing and intriguing development. Is it a one-off, or can we expect more from him in the years ahead? It is, for the record, the best finish ever by a Brit in the Tour de France. Better than Andy Murray at Wimbledon!
It's this human face of the sport that makes it all so much fun for us, the fans...those "who-would-have-thunk-it?" moments. Bradley's unexpected emergence; Cadel's and Carlos' sudden collapses; Lance's improbable resurrection... I'm glad I don't bet on these events. I'd lose my shirt every year.
Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net