TdF Withdrawls Start... Now.

Tour de France 2013 is in the books.  Chris Froome is declared the winner* with Nairo Quintana 2nd.

In terms of our pool, Marc is the surprise winner with an amazing surge by Joaquim Rodriguez in the Alps.  The finals standing are as follows:

1. Marc - Joaquim Rodriguez (3rd - 5:40 WINNER)

2. Derek - Alberto Contador (4th - 6:27)

3. Arnold - Alejandro Valverde (8th - 15:26)

4. Dan -  Richie Porte (19th - 39:41)

5. Manny - Dan Martin (33rd - 1:13:08)

6. Dave - Cadel Evans (39th - 1:30:14)

7. Tom - Tejay Van Garderen (45th - 1:38:57)

8. Blaine - Rein Tarrame (102nd - 2:59:09)

9. Craig - Chris Froome (1st place = last place)

10. Kevin - Thibault Pinot (DNS Stage 16)

11. Toby - Jurgen Van Den Broeck (DNS Stage 6)

So congrats to Marc.  I'll be in touch to get you your gift card.

I was glad to see Quintana take the last mountain stage and the Polka Dot jersey.  He seemed to me to be the best choice to win that jersey.  It renews my hope that the polka dot jersey will be fought for again by pure climbers and not opportunists.

Speaking of the last mountain stage,  While Froome may not have cracked it was nice to see that he could be beaten.  Quintana and Rodriguez rode a smart race and just waited.  Think of how many stages Quintana could have won if he waited to attack.

It was funny to see Quintana on the final podium on the Champs-Elysees receiving the final polka dot jersey.  Standing on the top step, he was still shorter than the two podium girls!  He is a slight man, which makes him a top climber.  And hopefully will be for years to come.

The green jersey competition sort of sputtered out at the end for me.  Sagan built an unassailable points lead and it was impossible for anyone to challenge. 

It was nice to see Kittel win on the Champs-Elysees.  I like it when lesser teams have great success in the Tour.  It just goes to show that sometimes having a lot of money and a lot of top talent is not always the recipe for success.  Are you listening BMC, the New York Yankee's and the New York Rangers?

I can't say it was a "Changing of the guards" and Cavendish is on the way out.  I just think he's had trouble getting the train together that he had on High Road and Columbia when he was unbeatable.  Perhaps the puncture on the boulevard sapped to much energy from him.  In any case, I hope there's a better challenge for the green jersey next year, and if anything, 4 people who could win the sprints should continue to make flat stages interesting.

What the flip happened to Lieuwe Westra?  Less than 40k until the end of the race and he ABANDONS?  What happened?

In the search for the answer to this question I did find this AWESOME VIDEO of a guy getting tripped while chasing Van Garderen up the l'Alpe d'Huez.  While I feel bad for the guy who face plants into the pavement,  he shouldn't be running after the riders.  It's just dangerous.

Just read that the Directeur Sportif, John Lelangue has left BMC for personal reasons.  We'll probably never know the true reasons, but they were definitely a team without a rudder this tour.  I don't think it was his fault, but it sure seems he's taking the fall for it.  The highlight was Tejay's second place on l'Alpe d'Huez.  I'm betting there will be a big shuffle on that team in the off season.

Time to start counting the days until the start in England next year.

Happy riding!

*While Froome my not have doped, he did cheat on l'Alpe d'Huez.  I'm not going to let that go.