TDF Stage 7: Smooth...and time for some trivia
Category: Sports (Pro/College/HS)...
Posted Saturday, July 10, 2004 at 06:30 PM [GMT-6]

Today's leg of the Tour de France was a nice contrast to previous stages, as there were no major crashes (well, try telling that to Swen Montgomery, a Swiss rider who hit the pavement hard enough to apparently break a collarbone, forcing him to withdraw), and no threats to any of the top riders.

Tomorrow's stage has a category 3 climb and three cat 4 climbs (the lower the number, the harder the climb; there are a few - like l'Alpe d'Huez, stage 16's route for the individual time trial - which are beyond classification), and we could see some shuffling at the top. There could be a little more willingness to expend more energy than usual, since Monday is a rest day.

Without a lot of excitement on the road today, my accountant's gene kicked in and I did a quick 'n dirty analysis of some team-specific details*. The following isn't likely to be of much interest to anyone but a hardcore cycling fan (if even then), but I found some of this stuff pretty intriguing:

• Of the 21 teams in the Tour, 11 are riding bikes equipped with Campagnolo components, and the other 10 are using Shimano components. I don't know the breakdown for previous years, but I suspect that 10 years ago, the split was probably 90/10 or higher in favor of Campy.


• 13 teams are using bikes which are built in their home countries. The 21 teams are using bikes from 18 different manufacturers, with only Decathlon, Look and Time being used by more than one team. Interestingly, each of those brands are French.


• Three teams are using US-made bikes: USPS-Berry Floor is using Trek, of course. Two Italian teams, Saeco and Domina Vacanze are riding Cannondales and Specialized, respectively.


• French-made bikes are used by 7 teams, Italian bikes by 5, and Spanish bikes by 3 teams. Bikes from Swiss (BMC), Taiwanese (Giant) and Belgian (Eddy Merckx) companies are being ridden by one team each.


• There's a wide range of financial backing for the teams in the Tour, ranging from an annual budget of $3.6M for the Italian team of Alessio-Bianchi to $14.4M for the German T-Mobile team. The Posties have the 7th-highest budget, at 9.0M.


• However, much to the chagrin of the sponsors, I'm sure, the amount of money doesn't necessarily correspond to team success. For example, Alessio-Bianchi is in 2nd place after Stage 7, despite having the lowest budget. Team CSC is at #1, yet they have a lower budget than 16 other teams. On the other end of the spectrum, the third highest budget ($9.6M) belongs to Gerolsteiner, and the German team is sitting in 15th position. Granted, these standings will probably change significantly by the end of the race, and it will be interesting to see if the final standings reflect the finances.

All data were taken from the VeloNews website.