BBC SPORT | Other Sport… | Cycling | Valverde crashes out of Le Tour
I’ve been away camping and hiking for most of the holiday weekend, but have been doing my best to get tour updates via satellite radio while away. I finally came back into town yesterday and have been watching the tour non-stop ever since. I’m happy with the position of the Americans thus far, but non-American contenders seem to be cursed.
Today saw Alejandro Valverde crash out with a broken collar bone. He was not one of my picks, but Phil Liggett, the long time Tour commentator, had picked him for the podium and he’s more knowledgeable on the subject than I. Add Valverde to the list of others like Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and Alexander Vinokourov that have been removed from contention.
I will say I was pleased to hear that Big George Hincapie did so well in the prologue. I think that bodes well for the individual time trials that are to come. If the Discovery Channel team rides for him in the mountains, I think he stands a strong chance of winning or at least securing a place on the podium in Paris.
I’m also impressed with Floyd Landis’ standing, especially in light of the fact he gave up 8 seconds in the Prologue due to tire troubles. We’ll see if David Zabriskie can keep his standing through the mountains.
I don’t even know who the non-American contenders might be at this point. Australian Cadel Evans is getting a lot of press, but I’m not sold on him. Ole over at Critical Section likes Michael Rasmussen. Rasmussen finished seventh last year. The only rider left in this year’s tour that finished better last year is American Levi Leipheimer.
T-Mobile’s Matthias Kessler has been very aggressive over the last two stages and could be shooting for a strong overall finish, but he finished in the 101st position in the Prologue which doesn’t suggest strong time-trialing. I’ll mention Russian Vladimir Karpets, Frenchman Christophe Moreau and Spaniard Carlos Sastre as other non-American contenders. I should mention Andreas Kloden from T-Mobile too.
I guess you could include Paolo Salvoldelli and Yaroslav Popvych in that list too, even though they ride for Discovery. My guess is that they’ll burn their chances to support Hincapie’s efforts, but they might finish in the top 10.
You can probably tell that the race is wide open at this point. The top 20 riders are separated by just twenty-six seconds and it’s unlikely there will be huge changes before the seventh-stage individual time-trial. That will probably provide some separation and at least give some indication who the real contenders might be. Of course, that doesn’t rule out a strong mountain climber from attacking the leaders, but I suspect the top 10 will shake out in the time-trial. The strongest teams should be able to protect their leaders in the mountains.
I am disappointed that so many strong riders are out, but I think that lends even more drama and suspense to this year’s Tour. You just don’t know who is going to win and that will probably lead to more attacking throughout the race. In the last few years, once Lance had the yellow jersey, competitors seemed to roll over and ride for second. Basso provided a few good moments of suspense, but that’s about it. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the Tour has to offer. Until then…go George!
