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Tour de France week 1 review: The good, the bad and the ugly

July 12, 2010 11 Comments

It may be the first rest day at the Tour de France, but as the saying goes there is no rest for the wicked blogger. After all, if the riders’ idea of a ‘rest’ day is to only go out for a two or three-hour ride, who am I to ease off? So, here are my (mostly serious) thoughts looking back on an eventful opening week of the 2010 Tour, and a couple of quick predictions for the coming days. Let me know if you agree or disagree!

Current yellow jersey Cadel Evans (image courtesy of Graham Watson)

Biggest winner: Cadel Evans. Despite his BMC team apparently suffering from a distinct fear of heights every time the road starts pointing skywards, Evans finds himself in the yellow jersey after yesterday’s thrilling stage to Morzine-Avoriaz. He will struggle not to lose time on the big summit finishes in the Pyrenees but will fancy his chances if he is still within touching distance of the race lead going into stage 19′s individual time trial. His immediate challenge is to find a way to give up the yellow jersey to a minor name without conceding chunks of time to his biggest rivals, but he is looking a strong bet to make the Paris podium. The question is: which step?

Lance Armstrong (image courtesy of Velocia)

Biggest loser: Lance Armstrong. Now over 13 minutes down on the race lead, Armstrong’s challenge died yesterday after he was caught up in three separate accidents – a decade’s worth of bad luck all in one day. What he does next will be one of the most interesting sub-plots of the next two weeks. Will he support friend and RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer in the Pyrenees to make a challenge for the yellow jersey? Or will he seek one final, glorious stage win for himself? Whatever happens, don’t expect him to just soft-pedal in the anonymity of the peloton: this is Lance Armstrong we’re talking about here, and Lance does not do anonymous.

Walked under a ladder while walking on the cracks in the pavements, breaking a mirror and other bad stuff: Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Transitions. Stage two: crashed, fractured two ribs. May 2010: crashed and broke his clavicle at the Giro d’Italia. May 2009: crashed and fractured two ribs at the Giro. Need I say more? If there’s an accident, odds are Vande Velde is not too far away. He is surely the unluckiest man in the peloton.

Runner-up: Lance Armstrong. I wonder if Vande Velde somehow transferred his bad karma to Lance – who has said some less than complimentary things about him in the past – before departing the Tour? I’m just saying.

Jurgen van den Broeck

Biggest surprise: Jurgen van den Broeck. Fourth overall (1:03 down on Evans), the Omega Pharma-Lotto team leader has flown in under many people’s radar (mine included) to establish himself as a genuine contender. Yesterday, he finished comfortably in the Contador/Evans/Leipheimer group. A dark horse, albeit one who may not stay the distance.

Garmin-Transitions’ Ryder Hesjedal (6th, 1:11 down on Evans) has also done brilliantly, stepping into the team leader’s role vacated by the injured Vande Velde.

Making quiet progress: Denis Menchov (5th), Roman Kreuziger (7th), Levi Leipheimer (8th). Almost invisibly, these three extremely capable riders are right on the coat-tails of the leaders. Leipheimer is now RadioShack’s de facto number one after Armstrong’s bad day. Kreuziger may soon take precedence over Ivan Basso in Liquigas‘s priorities. And Menchov has already crashed 916 fewer times than he had at the same point in last year’s Tour. (Okay, I’m exaggerating: it’s actually 816 fewer.) Menchov and Leipheimer may be difficult to spot as they ride in the wheels of others; you can’t miss Kreuziger because of Liquigas’s bright green kit.

Roman Kreuziger

Stuck in the shadows: Robert Gesink and Roman Kreuziger. Gesink is 11th, 1:27 behind Rabobank teammate Menchov and 2:37 behind Evans, and is likely to remain stuck in the shadows unless Menchov blows up. Kreuizger is just 56 seconds ahead of Giro winner Ivan Basso, and it is hard to see Liquigas throwing their lot behind him unless Basso drops off the pace, by which time Kreuziger’s chances of a podium finish may be terminally compromised. Decisions, decisions.

Handbags at dawn: After the concluding sprint on stage six, Quick Step‘s Carlos Barredo and Caisse d’Epargne‘s Rui Costa had an, er, difference of opinion when the latter caused a touch of handlebars on the final run-in. After crossing the finishing line, Barredo attempted to club him with his own front wheel, initiating something that vaguely represented a fist-fight. Neither is likely to be called upon to fight in Vegas for the delectation of a pay-per-view audience any time soon.

Sylvain Chavanel

Heart-warming story: Sylvain Chavanel. In April, he fractured his skull when he ran into the back of a team car during Liège-Bastogne-Liège. On stage two into Spa, on a course which covered some of the same roads used in that race, Chavanel claimed a solo breakaway win and the yellow jersey, aided in no small part by the peloton staging a go-slow protest after several crashes. He then lost the lead in heart-breaking fashion the following day after a series of mechanical problems on cobbled roads. But, in true Hollywood style, he then reclaimed the yellow jersey with a gutsy solo ride to Station des Rousses on stage seven, a win which required no external assistance.

France has a new hero which, in the absence of a genuine yellow jersey contender, means that no one is going to steal Chavanel’s thunder, and he will be able to dine out on his 2010 Tour experiences for years to come. Good on him.

Rafael Valls Ferri, sporting Footon-Servetto's funky gold kit

Best new team: Footon-Servetto. I was going to say Sky in my partisan British way, who for much of the first week had their own fairy-tale story in Geraint Thomas, second overall at one stage was second overall and in the white jersey as best young rider. But the fledgling Footon-Servetto team, comprising nine Tour first-timers and sponsored by the unlikely combination of a US bike manufacturer and an Italian wardrobe company, have won me over. Rafael Valls Ferri has given the sponsors valuable camera time on the climbing stages so far, and their funky gold-with-black-footprint racing kit adds an eye-catching splash of colour to a peloton which could hardly be called monochrome already.

Mark Cavendish

Going up?: Mark Cavendish. 65 points behind a rampant Thor Hushovd in the points competition and in helmet-throwing mood after a crushing defeat by Alessandro Petacchi on stage four, he had closed the gap to 33 within 48 hours after two dominant wins. It’s still a big deficit to make up given the limited number of remaining sprints, but Cavendish has momentum now – and there is no one in the peloton better at using momentum than the Manx Missile.

Going down?: Thor Hushovd. He appeared to be turning the green jersey contest into a one-bike race at one point, but two subdued finishes on stages five (fifth place) and six (tenth) have left me wondering if the collarbone injury he sustained in May is starting to hinder him. If so, it is only going to get worse over the course of a three-week race, which will leave him vulnerable to the now fully-recovered Cavendish and the rapidly-recovering Tyler Farrar.

Jens Voigt

The old man’s award: Jens Voigt. I could easily have given this either of two veteran sprinters, Petacchi and Robbie McEwen, who are (surprisingly) featuring very strongly in the points competition, but I have to go with my sentimental favourite. The German veteran (he turns 39 in two months’ time) with the massive engine (the legal, two-legged variety, not the illegal, motorised one) can often be found setting a furious tempo on the front of the pack, driving himself into the ground for Andy Schleck – and then he comes back for punishment more the next day. He is a joy to watch and an example to younger riders.

Excessive caution award: Fabian Cancellara, who used his position as the yellow jersey to organise a go-slow, neutralising the dangerous final descent on stage two – and, entirely coincidentally, of course, allowing his teammates Andy and Frank Schleck to catch up with the peloton after an earlier crash. I can live with that decision. But why did he then have to neutralise the sprint finish as well, much to the chagrin of Thor Hushovd, most of the sprinters and the thousands gathered at the finish in Spa? While safety concerns are to be generally applauded, this is still a bike race. On this occasion Cancellara didn’t live up to his nickname: less Spartacus, more Toys R Us.

Bravery award: Tour organisers ASO for producing a varied and challenging first week itinerary which has given us the (sadly unfulfilled) potential for disruptive crosswinds (stage one), the tricky hills of the Ardennes classics (stage two) and the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix (stage three), as well as the usual bunch sprints. You have to wonder how much the difficulty of the opening days contributed to the way the peloton shattered so easily on the last two mountain stages. Certainly it didn’t hurt. The riders complained about the various dangers and challenges and disruption to the smooth natural order of things, so ASO must have been doing something right.

Best stage: Stage three, taking in 13.2 km of the cobbled roads used in the Paris-Roubaix classic. ‘Hell of the North’, indeed. It made for compelling viewing, with something dramatic constantly happening somewhere on the course in the final hour or so. It was the finest flat stage I have ever seen, and one of the best ever, period. More, please!

Damiano Cunego

Two to watch out for in the mountains: 45 minutes down on the leaders, Damiano Cunego should now have carte blanche to slip away in any break he chooses. As a former winner of the Giro, he knows his way up a mountain. Coming down on the longest, fastest descents, look for Linus Gerdemann and his distinctive descending position, sitting down and forward over the frame of his bike to create a profile which is as aerodynamic as it is uncomfortable.

Who’s going to win?: Despite his little wobble yesterday, it’s still Alberto Contador for me, with Andy Schleck second and Cadel Evans third.

Who’s going to disappoint?: Bradley Wiggins, who looked alarmingly short of legs yesterday, and still has to face more tough climbs in the Pyrenees than he did in finishing fourth last year. Top ten, at best.

Menchov will probably fall off his bike on a descent somewhere. Van den Broeck will be blown out of the back of the elite group in the Pyrenees (but he won’t be alone in that). And Leipheimer will be good, but not quite good enough, which seems to be the story of his career (four top-five finishes in Grand Tours, but no wins).

Those are my guesses, anyway. If you want accurate prognostications, go consult Paul the Octopus.

Back to the racing tomorrow and the Col de la Madeleine. I’m smiling at the prospect already …

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World Cup final review: Spain deserving winners of a disappointing tournament

July 12, 2010 4 Comments

Of course, there is no reason that a World Cup final should be the best game of the tournament. Quite the opposite, in fact, with so much at stake. But all football fans hope for at least a good and fair match, one befitting of the showpiece game of the biggest event in world sport. For a variety of reasons history suggest we rarely get much of a spectacle. The right team – Spain – won on the night, but it was for long periods a grim match in keeping with a tournament which has disappointed far more often than it has thrilled.

Yellow is the colour, but Spain deserved to win

Goal-scorer Andrés Iniesta

In a game which featured as many bookings – Holland‘s John Heitinga sent off, twelve others cautioned – as it did genuine chances, Andrés Iniesta provided the decisive intervention four minutes from the end of extra time. Substitute Fernando Torres‘ cross was half-cleared to fellow sub Cesc Fabregas, who turned a neat ball directly into the path of Iniesta, who finished smartly with his right foot.

Although both sides had chances to clinch the game in the second half of normal time and in extra time, few neutrals would dispute that Spain were the more deserving winners. While never quite at their fluid, Euro 2008-winning best in this tournament, they have consistently sought to play good football combined with an obdurate defence and the ability to eke out wins in tight matches – they won all four knockout games 1-0.

The best tackle of the World Cup final?

This 2010 Holland side, on the other hand, is as workmanlike and physical as their 1974/1978 ‘Total Football’ forebears were skilful and elegant. Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel might on another night have seen red for challenges which scarred both the match itself and the recipient of the foul. And while I have nothing against a side looking to physically impose themselves within the rules of the game, what Holland sought to do to Spain last night did not make for an edifying spectacle, as they repeatedly tested both the laws of the game and referee Howard Webb‘s patience.

In fact, the best and cleanest tackle seen last night was probably the one made before kickoff, when a ‘fan’ ran onto the pitch towards the World Cup trophy itself, only to be collared at the last moment by a security guard. It was a great tackle: well-timed, controlled and he stayed on his feet …

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk heavily criticised Webb after the game, largely on the basis of missing what should clearly have been a Dutch corner in the build-up to the winning goal (although he did concede Spain had been the better side):

I don’t think the referee controlled the match well. Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. But the best team won the match.

Actually, Bert, from what I saw one team set out with a deliberate policy of roughing up the opposition to disrupt their rhythm, and the other team simply reacted in kind almost out of self-defence.

In reality, Webb did not make any bookings which weren’t thoroughly warranted, and on another day the game could easily have finished ten versus eight, with van Bommel, de Jong and Iniesta all somewhat fortunate not to see red. Arguably, an early sending off might have quelled a game which started out niggly and deteriorated further as it progressed, but this was one of those situations where a referee is damned if does (ruining the game by sending a player off) and damned if he doesn’t (too lenient, losing control).

But, as BBC commentator Jacqui Oatley so succinctly tweeted:

Holland slating Howard Webb is like having a go at a policeman who books you for speeding when he could’ve done you for drink driving.

And BBC pundit Lee Dixon added that,one way or another, justice had been done:

In the cold light of day we might find that Howard Webb has made a mistake in allowing the winning goal. But let’s be honest, the right team won and the best player on the pitch scored it. That’s got to be justice, hasn’t it?

Holland were unarguably the technically inferior side, and the brand of football they played throughout this tournament has been predominantly negative. Last night, Robin van Persie cut a lonely, frustrated figure up front, while Dirk Kuyt and top scorer Wesley Sneijder were peripheral figures. Only Arjen Robben made an impression, but he wasted Holland’s best chances of the game, and continued to frustrate with his histrionics.

Spain, despite benching Arsenal captain Fabregas and the clearly-injured Torres, were the better, deeper squad. It was somehow fitting that both these players, frustrated by their limited playing time at this World Cup, should combine to set up Iniesta’s winner. It was the one moment in the entire match where class was truly brought to bear.

A disappointing tournament

And so a largely disappointing World Cup has come to an end. South Africa have been good hosts, adding a splash of welcome colour – and a lot of less welcome noise! – to proceedings. Ticketing arrangements have been shambolic – and that’s before we even consider the Robbie Earle fiasco – with many games no more than two-thirds full. And while there was something to cheer in the triumph of new faces (Ghana, Slovakia) succeeding at the expense of some of the game’s traditional powers (Italy, France), it was a tournament where, as a rule, the bigger the game – and the higher the expectation – the worse it was, with Brazil versus Portugal being the most glaring and abject example.

Oh, and England were every bit as bad as we feared they might be. But that’s nothing new.

It has been a poor tournament for many of the mega-stars of the global game – Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Kaká, even Lionel Messi to a degree – and for attacking players in general, with just 31% of all shots being on target. Goalkeepers too will wake up screaming with nightmares after having had to face the unpredictable wobbling, dipping and swerving of the Jabulani ball. And we have had too many clear-cut incidents where the application of simple technology would have prevented miscarriages of justice (or, in the case of Frank Lampard‘s ghost goal, merely prolonged the agony).

The World Cup remains an amazing global gathering and a celebration of the most popular sport on the planet, and I still have high hopes for Brazil 2014. But to me the last month feels a little like FIFA organised the world’s biggest party, then forgot to bring any presents. A shame. A real shame.

The final in numbers:

0-0 – This was only the second World Cup final to finish goalless after 90 minutes (1994: Brazil beat Italy on penalties).

35.5% – Only 11 of 31 shots in the final were on target, reflecting the difficulties attacking players have faced from the combination of high altitude and the controversial Jabulani ball.

13 – Thirteen players were cautioned during the game – eight Dutchmen (including John Heitinga, who was sent off for a second yellow card) and five Spaniards.

4 – Holland have committed the most fouls in four of the last seven World Cups in which they have played, including 2010.

23 – Holland earned 23 yellow cards during the tournament, the joint-highest ever at a World Cup (Argentina, 1990).

1-0 – Spain won all four of their games in the knockout phase of the tournament with the only goal of the game. None of these four goals came in the first half of matches.

3 – Spain have become the third side to be champions of both Europe and the world (after West Germany and France).

8 – Number of goals scored by Spain, the lowest total ever by a World Cup winner.

1 – Spain are the first team to win the World Cup having lost their opening game …

1 – … And also the first European team to win the World Cup outside Europe.

44 – Spain became the first country to win the World Cup final while wearing their change strip since England in 1966.

54 – Although Spain’s Carlos Marchena did not play in the final, he has set a new world record during the tournament by going undefeated in his last 54 international appearances.

1 – Howard Webb is the first referee ever to take charge of a Champions League final and a World Cup final in the same year.

(Some statistics courtesy of @optajean, @optajoao, @optajoe and @castrolfootball.)

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Defining moments 4: Armstrong’s last stand (repost)

July 12, 2010 7 Comments

(This is a repost of an article originally published in December 2009.)

An occasional series looking at the defining moments which explain why sport captivates us so much …

In sport, you often hear competitors talk about “110 per cent effort” or similar to emphasise that they’ve given absolutely everything. While one might quibble over the mathematics of such a statement, it’s nonetheless a valid reminder that sportsmen and women do push their bodies to the very limit of their capabilities, and sometimes beyond.

Nowhere is such single-minded effort more necessary – or indeed more obvious – than it is every July at the Tour de France.

There’s something about the Tour that sets it apart. It provides the most strenuous examination possible of speed, stamina, strength and sheer obstinacy, with its long flat stages, savage mountain climbs, and against-the-clock time trials stretched over a gruelling three-week schedule.

To put this challenge into context, here are some basic facts and figures about the 2003 edition, which provides the setting for this post. That year’s race comprised 21 stages over 23 days, covering a total of 3,428km, roughly the same distance as Paris to Moscow. The furthest covered in one day was 231km (London to Cardiff), and the longest stage took over six hours to complete. En route, there were fifteen climbs higher than the peak of Ben Nevis, Britain’s tallest mountain. And at the end of it all, the race was won at an average speed of 41kph. At this pace, you would run the hundred metres nearly a second faster than Usain Bolt.

Three weeks. Two wheels. One living hell. Welcome to Le Tour. This is not an event you choose to participate in unless you are the hardest of masochistic hard men (or doped up to the eyeballs, but that’s an entirely different topic).

I can’t stress enough just how tough the Tour is to even complete, let alone win. It may share the same means of propulsion as a Sunday afternoon bike ride, but it has about as much in common with it as the marathon does with my walk home from the corner shop.

Over the years, the Tour has provided a plethora of memorable images and defining moments, many of them involving Lance Armstrong, the most successful Tour rider of all time. This is my favourite.

Tour de France, July 2003

No matter how good a climber you are, this is the kind of day you know is going to hurt in a way that no amount of training can truly prepare you for. Covering 160km and culminating in three major climbs – the Col d’Aspin (the warm-up act at a mere 1,489m above sea level), the Col du Tourmalet (2,114m) and finally the finish at the top of Luz-Ardiden (1,715m) – this is four-and-a-half hours of intense suffering for the very best; an extra thirty minutes or more for many others.

The American Lance Armstrong is seeking a fifth consecutive Tour victory, but he has not dominated this race in the manner of his previous wins, looking vulnerable in the Alps and conceding a massive 96 seconds to Jan Ullrich in the individual time trial three days earlier. His advantage over the German is now a wafer-thin 15 seconds, with Alexandre Vinokourov just three seconds further behind. Armstrong’s objective today is simple, at least on paper: build his slim cushion over Ullrich and Vinokourov, ideally to a minute or more, ahead of the potentially decisive second time trial.

The slopes of Luz-Ardiden are to be the battleground for Lance Armstrong’s last stand.

Four hours into the stage, the leading riders are bunched together at the foot of the final climb. They are watching each other, waiting for the attack they know must come soon.

Sure enough, the yellow jersey eases into position at the head of the group, the orange-shirted Spaniard Iban Mayo and Ullrich at his shoulder, the others a few metres further back. And then suddenly, inexplicably, Armstrong’s bike twitches violently and he crashes to the ground, taking Mayo with him. (TV replays will later show his handlebars had caught the straps of a spectator’s bag.)

A second passes, then two, then three. Is his bike broken? How badly is he hurt? Is it all over for Lance Armstrong – just like that?

The wait is excruciating, like watching a jelly-legged boxer struggling to beat the referee’s count. Ullrich and the other leading riders cycle past. Armstrong is clearly dazed and shaken as he picks himself up and rights his bike, pausing to refit his chain before setting off in pursuit. A TV camera zooms in on his bleeding elbow, then pans up to his face. His wide-eyed, adrenaline-fuelled fury tells you everything you need to know: I will not let it end like this!

Armstrong strains every sinew to regain the lost ground, but not without one further flirtation with disaster. Charging up the mountain in pursuit – out of the saddle, standing on the pedals, maximum effort – his right foot slips out of the pedal, and he lurches forward precariously, his balance utterly compromised. For a moment it looks as if he’s either going to lose his manhood on the bike frame or else come off his machine altogether. Fortunately he does neither. He instinctively catches himself, regains his balance, and quickly slots his foot back into the pedal. A hiccup, no more.

At this point, any ordinary human would probably be content to thank their lucky stars and follow the pack to the finish. But professional cyclists are not ordinary humans, and Lance Armstrong is no ordinary cyclist. He has been in this situation – hunted, disrespected, written off as lacking a winner’s quality – before, and he knows what to do.

The leading group is now back together again, and almost immediately Mayo launches an attack, his tired legs developing an instant burst of speed in an attempt to put a decisive gap between him and the others. Armstrong’s response is immediate, surging forward to catch the Spaniard’s breakaway, and then without pause for breath he does what he has always done best – launch an attack himself. A devastating burst of acceleration, a quick look over the shoulder to see if anyone can respond – they can’t – and he’s away, a yawning gap opening up rapidly behind him: five seconds, fifteen, thirty …

Literally and figuratively, Lance Armstrong never looked back again. He finished 40 seconds ahead of the rest that day, but it might as well have been 40 minutes. The war was not yet won, but the key battle had been.

Put firmly on the back foot, Ullrich would go on to crash in a torrential downpour during the final time trial in a desperate attempt to make up time, confirming Armstrong’s fifth Tour de France victory. The American would go on to win the next two Tours; Ullrich would never get as close again.

Armstrong’s stirring fight-back on Luz-Ardiden was potentially the difference between him losing his stranglehold on the world’s greatest bike race and becoming its most successful ever participant. On such critical, defining moments are sporting legends made.

———-

‘Defining moments’ is a series of blogs looking at the defining moments which explain why sport captivates us so much. For more entries in this series, click here.

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The week in numbers: w/e 11/7/10

July 12, 2010 Leave a comment

792 – Test wickets taken by Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who announced his intention to retire from Test cricket after the first Test against India (which starts next Sunday). He needs eight more to reach 800 – expect him to bowl a lot.

Usan Bolt (image courtesy of José Goulão)

9.82 – The time clocked by Usain Bolt in the 100 metres in Lausanne on Thursday. It equals the fastest time in the world this year and only three other men (Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Maurice Greene) have ever run faster. For Bolt, though, it represented only his eighth-best time.

9.98 – The time clocked by Christophe Lemaître in winning the 100 metres at the French national championships. It is the first legal sub 10-second time recorded by a white athlete.

6 – Fabian Cancellara wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France for six of the first seven days of the race. He has now worn the maillot jaune for a total of 21 days in his career, but has never come close to winning the overall race.

Mark Cavendish

12 – Sprinter Mark Cavendish won his 11th and 12th Tour de France stages. Of all the riders in this year’s race, only seven-time winner Lance Armstrong has more individual stage wins (22).

1 – Bangladesh‘s cricket team completed a five-run win in Saturday’s one-day international against England. It as their first win against England in 21 matches in all forms of the game.

1 - There was only one unbeaten teams at the 2010 World Cup – New Zealand.

2 – Having never previously won a major tournament, Spain have now been champions in the last two they have participated in: Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.

3 – Holland have lost all three World Cup finals in which they have played (1974, 1978, 2010).

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