Tour de France Wrapup
The 2007 edition of the Tour de France ended today in fine fashion.
Wait a gosh-darned minute, you may be thinking, they still have another day of racing. How can you say it's ended?
OK, details, schmetails. You've obviously forgotten about the longstanding tradition that the overall race leader after the final time trial will not be overtly challenged in the final run-in to Paris the next day. I know, it's kind of weird to American sports fans; it's almost like baseball teams agreeing to play the ninth inning just for fun, with the actual game winner being decided in the eighth. But that's the way it is. And this means that Alberto Contador's 23-second lead over Cadell Evans will stand up (barring a catastrophe or an inconvenient drug test), and Cadell's eight second lead will hold up over American Levi Leipheimer's third place finish.
Leipheimer rode the race of his life in winning today's individual time trial, his first TDF stage win and the fourth fastest ITT in the Tour's history. Asked after the race if he would try to grab those eight seconds tomorrow, he responded in true gentlemanly fashion that Cadell shouldn't worry about it; he's quite content to be on the podium in third place, and especially with his teammate standing on the top of the podium. By the way, the 31 seconds separating the top three riders is apparently the tightest finish in TDF history. The fourth place rider is more than seven minutes back.
Today's results also cement the team win for the Discovery Channel (making Lance Armstrong quite proud, I'm sure), and also ensures that Contador will claim the white jersey as the best young rider (he's got an almost 17-minute lead over the second place rider).
Now, just because the overall race leaders have been decided doesn't mean that there won't be some serious racing tomorrow. The points leader's green jersey is still up for grabs, although Tom Boonen has a strong lead (24 points) after today's stage. With the points bonuses available at various intermediate sprints and at the finish, it's still possible that Robbie Hunter could catch Boonen – although I predict that not only will he not do so, but that Boonen will actually increase his lead.
One can "what if" this year's race until the cows come home, but in the end, it still provided a great deal of excitement and suspense.
Now, if we only knew who won the 2006 Tour de France.
Jeff, Armstrong is a co-owner in the Discovery Channel team, hence his close attention.
As far as the top three are concerned, I can't imagine any scenario in which they'd get combative. Unless the guys in fourth or fifth place try to make a run at the podium via an early breakaway, none of the top three will respond to any attacks, nor will they initiate anything. They'll be content to let the sprinters battle for the green jersey while enjoying the ride into Paris. You'll see each of them closely surrounded by their teammates, riding at the front of the peloton, until they get into Paris proper, then they'll let the sprinters take over.
Posted by: Eric at July 28, 2007 04:10 PM"Now, if we only knew who won the 2006 Tour de France."
Aaah, one of the great mysteries of life. That and who won the 2000 Presidential election.
...those cursed drug tests and pregnant chads...
Posted by: Tricia at July 28, 2007 07:01 PMEric, turns out you called it on tradition ..... there was a race, but it was among the sprinters for the stage win ..... I did enjoy Lance's commentary during this final stage.
Posted by: Jeff at July 29, 2007 09:03 PMJeff, wish I'd gotten to see it. We were on the road by 9:00 a.m.
Posted by: Eric at July 29, 2007 09:28 PMAbout the publisher
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Eric, wasn't sure if I would, but I HAVE ended up watching the remainder of the race ..... I understand Armstrong was in one of Team Discovery's cars ..... traditions notwithstanding, I wonder what Contador-Evans-Leipheimer will end up doing on the last leg.
Posted by: Jeff at July 28, 2007 03:54 PM