BMC Racing

After having the equivalent of a rolling rest day on Stage 13, the pressure was back on today for the Stage 14 ride from Saint-Gaudens to the Plateau de Beille.

Whether it was the relatively relaxed previous stage, the beautiful weather or maybe they had an extra glass of red cordial with breakfast, but whatever it was, it resulted in a hectic days racing.

An early breakaway that peaked at 24 riders was established early, following the tradition of the year’s Tour, however it was not the cooperative, coherent breakaway that we’ve come to expect. It was a slightly mad, every man for themselves, headlong charge towards the end of the stage.

Despite that, they managed to establish a gap of over nine minutes as the peloton climbed the Col d’Agnes, 50 kilometres from the end of the stage.

The group was reduced by one as Laurens Ten Dam continued the theme of shedding blood on this year’s Tour with a spectacular an horrifying crash and face plant into a roadside sign.

Then, in a scenario eerily familiar to those who watched Stage 12, Team Leopard-Trek materialised at the head of the bunch and drove the peloton at a murderous pace that reeled in the individual elements of the now shattered breakaway group.

But this stage was never going to be won until the riders hit the slopes of the final climb up to the Palteau de Beille.

As the peloton started the final climb the pressure immediately took its toll on the bunch and one-by-one, they started dropping off the back.

But so, too, did the Leopard-Trek support crew, including Jens Voigt, who was part of the original breakaway and twice crashed on the descent of the Col d’Agnes—including a spectacular off-road excursion into the roadside bushes—but recovered to join the pacing at the head of the peloton.

At 10 kilometres to go, the games began.

Andy Schleck started a series of surging attacks, hoping to dislodge riders of the remaining group, which consisted largely of the top 10 general classification riders.

For each attack, the group responded, led by Cadel Evans, who doesn’t have the fierce acceleration of the Schlecks, but builds up a mighty head of steam when he gets going.

Alberto Contador, who cracked in the last 500 metres of the ride into Luz Ardiden on Stage 12, and dogged yellow jersey holder Thomas Voeckler, whose form has come as something of a surprise to experienced Tour watchers.

Also in the bunch was Ivan Basso, Samuel Sanchez and Belgian Jelle Vanendert, who took off in a charge for the finish at around six kilometres to go, which he held all the way to the end of the stage.

Apart from a single, short attack by Cadel Evans, and a final, almost petulant burst from Andy Schleck in the last 300 metres, there was little other aggression on the ride into the finish.

Sammy Snachez managed to open a small gap on the field and Andy Schleck picked up two seconds for his little temper tantrum at the end, but otherwise the group remained as one over the line.

This race will now be decided in the Alps next week, where there will be a showdown between the Schlecks, Evans and Contador.

But the big question hangs over the head of Thomas Voeckler.

No one expected him to retain the yellow jersey through the Pyrenees, but he has matched every attack and has not looked in difficulty at any stage.

Whether he can keep it up when the attacks come in the Alps next week—particularly on Stage 18 with its three unclassified climbs or Stage 19 that climbs Col du Galibier and the fabled Alpe d’Huez—is the really big question.

The Schlecks and Evans are still the riders most likely to fill the podium in Paris, but they haven’t lost Contador yet, and maybe he’ll import some special meat like last year.

Time will tell....

Jersey holders after Stage 14

		181	VOECKLER Thomas	TEAM EUROPCAR	61h 04' 10"
		171	CAVENDISH Mark	HTC - HIGHROAD	264 pts
		38	VANENDERT Jelle	OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO	74 pts
		118	URAN Rigoberto	SKY PROCYCLING	61h 12' 05"
			TEAM LEOPARD-TREK		182h 46' 31"

General Classification standings after Stage 14

1.	VOECKLER Thomas	TEAM EUROPCAR	61h 04' 10"
2.	SCHLECK Frank	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	+ 01' 49"
3.	EVANS Cadel	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 02' 06"
4.	SCHLECK Andy	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	+ 02' 15"
5.	BASSO Ivan	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	+ 03' 16"
6.	SANCHEZ Samuel	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 03' 44"
7.	CONTADOR Alberto	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	+ 04' 00"
8.	CUNEGO Damiano	LAMPRE - ISD	+ 04' 01"
9.	DANIELSON Tom	TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO	+ 05' 46"
10.	DE WEERT Kevin	QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM	+ 06' 18"

As the combatants in the 2011 Tour de France enjoy a day’s rest before the circus moves into the seriously lumpy terrain later this week.

Surprisingly, after a relatively flat—terrain wise, at least—first week, the number of remaining riders who have a realistic chance of figuring in the battle for the General Classification has been whittled down to just four.

BMC’s team leader Cadel Evans is having his best Tour to date and looks fit and hungry. He’s covering moves easily and has even tried a couple of testing short attacks. His riding style always looks like he’s in a world of pain, but could well surprise everyone heading into the Pyrenees later this week.

The Leopard Trek’s Schleck brothers remain the biggest threats on this year’s Tour. The combination working as a team through the mountains is powerful enough to put away any of the contenders with the possible exception of Alberto Contador, who rides for their old team Saxo Bank.

Contador came into the Tour as favourite, but crashes and the legacy of a hard Giro d’Italia look to have taken the gloss off the Spaniard. The pressure of his impending appeal defence for his positive test to Clenbutarol may also be weighing heavily on him.

It has been a fascinating Tour so far, but the carnage that has been visited upon the peloton is unprecedented.

To date, we have lost 14 riders to injury as a result of some horrific accidents.

Crashes are not uncommon in road cycling, but in the early stages of the Tour, the crashes are usually confined to sprinters going down when a bunch sprint gets a bit too willing.

This year, the crashes are on the open road and the riders getting injured are general classification contenders. After just one week, the only general classification contenders who have avoided crashes are the Schleck's and Evans.

Of course, there's still 12 stages left.

Of the team leaders to be gone from this year’s race we have Radio Shack’s Janez Brajkovic with a broken collarbone on Stage 5, Sky’s Bradley Wiggins with the same injury on Stage 7, Omega Pharma-Lotto fractured collarbone on Stage 9 and Alexandre Vinokourov, Astana’s leader, who fractured his femur in that chilling crash on stage 9.

There are also a number of other team leaders who have crashed but are struggling through. Most notable is three time winner of the Tour, Alberto Contador who has hit the deck four times this week and is carrying an injured knee.

Joining him is David Millar who was involved in the same crash as Vinokourov, but managed to rejoin the race but now languishes four minutes behind Evans and Schleck.

The riders have used the rest day to express concern over the unusually high number of accidents. Certainly, the incident with Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland and the one where Nicki Sorensen’s bike was dragged along by a camera motorcycle were both absolutely avoidable.

But Leopard-Trek’s one-day classic whizz-kid Fabian Cancellara went further, accusing the organizers of deliberately choosing the most dangerous roads.

All riders have expressed their concern that officials have not learned from the tragic death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro.

It’s certainly a difficult balancing act for the organisers. The Tour de France is the pinnacle of profession cycling, it should be hard and it should push riders to their physical and mental limits. It should be a test of strength, skill, resilience, and courage.

It should also be a race that the riders can walk away from in one piece.

Crashes are inevitable, and when they happen in large bunches and at high speeds there are going to be injuries, some of them serious. Previous Tours have seen horrific crashes with severe injuries and two riders—Francisco Cepeda in 1935 and Fabio Casartelli in 1995—have paid the ultimate price, losing their lives in crashes.

Crashes involving support vehicles, however, are inexcusable despite the demands of fans to get even closed to the action have led to greater risks being taken.

The coverage on TV and in print (and now Internet) is phenomenal and delivers unprecedented insight into life inside the peloton. There can be few other sports that are able to deliver such up-close access to the participants.

To deliver that outstanding product, risks need to be taken. The difficult decision now needs to made as to whether those risks are too great.

Cars that are carting around fat, wealthy VIPs, on the other hand, have no place getting that close to the riders and that is a very easy problem for Tour director Christian Prudhomme to solve. Push them right to the back of the peloton or send them five minutes ahead.

Week two of the Tour now sees the riders getting into the nasty mountains after two relatively flat stages to ease them into it. Thursday sees a trip up the unclassified Col du Tourmalet before the also unclassified climb to the finish at Luz-Ardiden.

We’ll have a better idea then who will win this race.

There’s nothing like a bit of an incline to thin out the peloton a little bit.

Stage 8 of the Tour today took the riders from Aigurande to Super-Besse Sancy. On the way, the riders took on two category four climbs and finished on the category three climb into their destination.

The climb that made all the difference today, however, was the category two climb but not in the way that everyone expected.

Like every other day of the race, an attack formed early with nine riders, but foremost amongst them was Rui Costa of the Movistar team who led the stage from start to finish and had 12 seconds on Philippe Gilbert.

Costa gives Movistar their first win and completes his personal redemption after serving a one-year suspension for consuming a banned substance.

Despite the fact that he proved the substance was in a food supplement, he took the ban with good grace and has come back to dominate this stage.

Perhaps there’s a lesson in there for Alberto Contador.

Alexandre Vinokourov surprised everyone by bolting out to an almost one minute, putting himself into a virtual yellow jersey and got to within about 15 seconds of Costa before blowing up and being swallowed by the peloton and finishing in 22nd place.

The interesting battles were in the peloton with the key contenders throwing a few feints at each other but without anyone getting a decisive break.

Most interest was Alberto Contador’s attempts to skip away to gain back some time. Each more was countered immediately by Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans.

Encouragingly (for we Aussies) Evan’s acceleration looked much sharper and more powerful than in previous years. Admittedly, the hills weren’t that steep, but we live on hope.

Astoundingly and against all predictions, Thor Hushovd managed to retain the yellow jersey for yet another day. Tomorrow’s hills might prove more of a challenge.

Unsurprisingly, nothing really changed today amongst the leaders. The Tour is never won in the first week and there really isn’t much incentive to go out hard on a stage like this.

Tomorrow’s stage has three Category two climbs and three Category three. Not enough to upset the serious climbers, but it’ll be challenging enough for the second tier riders.

		51	HUSHOVD Thor	TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO	33h 06' 28"
		32	GILBERT Philippe	OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO	187 pts
		178	VAN GARDEREN Tejay	HTC - HIGHROAD	5 pts
		41	GESINK Robert	RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM	33h 07' 56"
			TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO		98h 30' 04"

Standings after Stage 8
1. HUSHOVD Thor                TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      33h 06' 28"  
2. EVANS Cadel                   BMC RACING TEAM                    + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank               TEAM LEOPARD-TREK                + 00' 04"
4. KLÖDEN Andréas             TEAM RADIOSHACK                    + 00' 10"
5. FUGLSANG Jakob            TEAM LEOPARD-TREK                + 00' 12"
6.  SCHLECK Andy               TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"
7. MARTIN Tony                    HTC - HIGHROAD                        + 00' 13"
8. VELITS Peter                    HTC - HIGHROAD                        + 00' 13"
9. MILLAR David                   TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO          + 00' 19"
10. GILBERT Philippe           OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO           + 00' 30"

Although it’s officially categorized as a flat stage, Stage 4 of the 2011 Tour de France was not likely to be quite the sprinter’s paradise expected of these early stages.

Today’s stage took the riders on a 172-km jaunt from Lorient to Mur-de-Bretagne through the beautiful country side of Brittany. The stage has two climbs, the first a Category 4 climb over the Cote de Laz, and the second is the Category 3 climb into the finish.

The final climb looked to be tailor-made for Philippe Gilbert to repeat his effort from the opening stage and claim his second victory of the Tour.

The stage started in cold, wet conditions, a sharp contrast from the balmy conditions of the first three days.

As is customary, the breakaway formed almost immediately, again comprised of five rides and including Jeremy Roy, who was a part of the breakaway on stage one. The gap to the peloton yo-yoed, but stayed within striking distance and settled between two and three minutes.

The break was composed of: Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskatel), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Blel Kadri (AG2R).

The first hint of excitement for the day came with the single King of the Mountains point now on offer for Category 4 climbs, an interesting innovation and one which stops riders who aren’t really climbers and helps them accumulate cheap points on relatively flat stages.

Hoogerland broke free of the breakaway to claim the point on offer.

Not long after the  climb came the intermediate sprint where Hoogerland completed the quinella by claiming the 20 points on offer, with Roy (17 points), Kadri (15 points), Izagirre (13 points) and Erviti (11 points).

As the peleton approached the sprint around 2 minutes and 30 seconds later, HTC seemed to move Mark Cavendish into perfect position to help him claim the maximum remaining points. But they never seemed to get the acceleration right and were swamped by Tyler Farrar (10 points) and green jersey-holder José Joaquín Rojas (9 points).

Cavendish crossed in ninth place, securing himself seven points, but things aren’t going well for the Manx Missile.

As the peloton headed for home, it fractured into two. Crucially, Cadel Evans was caught in the second bunch and had to expend some serious energy getting back into the main pack—only to find himself with bike problems, ultimately requiring him to change bikes.

Evans seems to be one of those rider for whom problems seem to multiply when he’s having a rough day.

Also having a bad day was Omega-Pharma Lotto’s Jurgen Van de Walle, who became the first rider to abandon this tour due to after effects of a nasty crash on Stage 1, and Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil, whose gears packed up on him, leading him to throw his bike in a ditch and scream for the team car to give him a new one.

Feillu may have also attracted some attention from the race referees after using his own team car to pace him back into the pack to recover. Very naughty indeed.

Inside the last 8km, two of the breakaway riders—Hoogerland and Izagirre—decided to have a go at retaining their lead all the way through to the end and broke away from the breakaway, although it didn’t last.

The breakaway was finally reeled in just inside 4km to go.

Alberto Contador tried to gain some time back on the leaders with a cheeky attempt at a break, but he couldn’t keep it going. He finished with a bunch of ten riders and was finally eclipsed by Evans by about one second.

While Evans won his first Tour stage—despite wearing the yellow jersey many times, a stage victory has eluded him—the ride of the day must go to Thor Hushovd, who retained his yellow jersey by finishing with Evans and company.

Evans won’t be upset about not gaining the Tour lead. The yellow jersey sits heavy on his shoulders, and he’s a different rider without it.

Another great day’s racing. Tomorrow is back to the true sprinters but, for today, Aussies will be rejoicing.

Standings after Stage 4

1. HUSHOVD Thor                 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO     13h 58' 25"  
2. EVANS Cadel                    BMC RACING TEAM                   + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK              + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR David                    TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO        + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas              TEAM RADIOSHACK                  + 00' 10"
6. WIGGINS Bradley              SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 10"
7. THOMAS Geraint                SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
8. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
9. SCHLECK Andy                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"
10. FUGLSANG Jakob           TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"

Although it’s officially categorized as a flat stage, Stage 4 of the 2011 Tour de France was not likely to be quite the sprinter’s paradise expected of these early stages.

Today’s stage took the riders on a 172-km jaunt from Lorient to Mur-de-Bretagne through the beautiful country side of Brittany. The stage has two climbs, the first a Category 4 climb over the Cote de Laz, and the second is the Category 3 climb into the finish.

The final climb looked to be tailor-made for Philippe Gilbert to repeat his effort from the opening stage and claim his second victory of the Tour.

The stage started in cold, wet conditions, a sharp contrast from the balmy conditions of the first three days.

As is customary, the breakaway formed almost immediately, again comprised of five rides and including Jeremy Roy, who was a part of the breakaway on stage one. The gap to the peloton yo-yoed, but stayed within striking distance and settled between two and three minutes.

The break was composed of: Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskatel), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Blel Kadri (AG2R).

The first hint of excitement for the day came with the single King of the Mountains point now on offer for Category 4 climbs, an interesting innovation and one which stops riders who aren’t really climbers and helps them accumulate cheap points on relatively flat stages.

Hoogerland broke free of the breakaway to claim the point on offer.

Not long after the  climb came the intermediate sprint where Hoogerland completed the quinella by claiming the 20 points on offer, with Roy (17 points), Kadri (15 points), Izagirre (13 points) and Erviti (11 points).

As the peleton approached the sprint around 2 minutes and 30 seconds later, HTC seemed to move Mark Cavendish into perfect position to help him claim the maximum remaining points. But they never seemed to get the acceleration right and were swamped by Tyler Farrar (10 points) and green jersey-holder José Joaquín Rojas (9 points).

Cavendish crossed in ninth place, securing himself seven points, but things aren’t going well for the Manx Missile.

As the peloton headed for home, it fractured into two. Crucially, Cadel Evans was caught in the second bunch and had to expend some serious energy getting back into the main pack—only to find himself with bike problems, ultimately requiring him to change bikes.

Evans seems to be one of those rider for whom problems seem to multiply when he’s having a rough day.

Also having a bad day was Omega-Pharma Lotto’s Jurgen Van de Walle, who became the first rider to abandon this tour due to after effects of a nasty crash on Stage 1, and Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil, whose gears packed up on him, leading him to throw his bike in a ditch and scream for the team car to give him a new one.

Feillu may have also attracted some attention from the race referees after using his own team car to pace him back into the pack to recover. Very naughty indeed.

Inside the last 8km, two of the breakaway riders—Hoogerland and Izagirre—decided to have a go at retaining their lead all the way through to the end and broke away from the breakaway, although it didn’t last.

The breakaway was finally reeled in just inside 4km to go.

Alberto Contador tried to gain some time back on the leaders with a cheeky attempt at a break, but he couldn’t keep it going. He finished with a bunch of ten riders and was finally eclipsed by Evans by about one second.

While Evans won his first Tour stage—despite wearing the yellow jersey many times, a stage victory has eluded him—the ride of the day must go to Thor Hushovd, who retained his yellow jersey by finishing with Evans and company.

Evans won’t be upset about not gaining the Tour lead. The yellow jersey sits heavy on his shoulders, and he’s a different rider without it.

Another great day’s racing. Tomorrow is back to the true sprinters but, for today, Aussies will be rejoicing.

Standings after Stage 4

1. HUSHOVD Thor                 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO     13h 58' 25"  
2. EVANS Cadel                    BMC RACING TEAM                   + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK              + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR David                    TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO        + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas              TEAM RADIOSHACK                  + 00' 10"
6. WIGGINS Bradley              SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 10"
7. THOMAS Geraint                SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
8. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
9. SCHLECK Andy                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"
10. FUGLSANG Jakob           TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"

Stage 3 of the 2011 sees the peleton ride north from Olonne-sur Mer across the Loire River to Redon in Brittany.

It is a stage that is depressingly flat with the course rising only 66 metres (200 feet) between its lowest and highest points and is obviously custom made for sprinters.

As an indication of how flat the stage is, the King of the Mountains point was awarded on the bridge over the Loire—the stage’s highest point.

The changed points allocation for the intermediate sprints has made the intermediate sprints a lot more interesting. Instead of a 6-4-2 allocation for the first three riders only, points are awarded down to 15th place, with 20 points available for the first rider to cross the intermediate sprint line.

The almost obligatory breakaway formed immediately with Mickael Delage (FDJ), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar), Niki Terpstra (Quickstep), Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Maxime Bouet (Ag2r) stretching their lead out to over eight minutes before taking the intermediate sprint in that order.

As the peleton started to catch the breakaway, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) showed why he is considered the world’s best sprinter bouncing away from the pack to comfortably cross the line to pick up 10 of the remaining intermediate points.

Shortly after the sprint we were treated to one of the Tour’s many quirks, as Europcar’s Anthony Charteau jumped ahead of the peleton so that he could greet his family as they rode through his home town.

It was a touching moment as he embraced his wife and children but just a little bit odd to see in the world of professional sport.

With the gap down to around two minutes, Mickael Delage sprinted to claim the single KoM point on offer today on the man-made mountain in the shadow of the Atlantic shipyards.

The breakaway was controlled with 35 km to go, but the leaders were left just off the front to discourage a late breakaway.

As expected, the stage came down to a straight sprint, with Garmin’s Tyler Farrar being successful for his first Tour stage win, ahead of Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil and Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar.

As he crossed the line, Farrar made a “W” with his fingers in memory of Wouter Weyland, who tragically died on Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year.

Mark Cavendish came home in fifth place, his team being caught out by yellow jersey holder Thor Hushovd acting as a lead out man for Farrar in an extraordinary move.

On the leaderboard, little has changed for the leading contenders, and Hushovd retains his yellow jersey, along with his slender lead over teammate David Millar and BMC’s Cadel Evans.

Tomorrow—more of the same, but with a hilltop finish at Mur de Bretagne. Look out for Philippe Gilbert to attempt to repeat his effort from stage one.

Standings after Stage 3

1. HUSHOVD Thor                  TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      9h 46' 46"  
2. MILLAR David                     TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO        + 00' 00"
3. EVANS Cadel                     BMC RACING TEAM                   + 00' 01"
4. THOMAS Geraint                SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"
5. GERDEMANN Linus           TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
6. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"
7. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
8. SCHLECK Andy                 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
9. FUGLSANG Jakob              TEAM LEOPARD-TREK              + 00' 04"
10. WIGGINS Bradley             SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"

69.

CONTADOR Alberto

SAXO BANK SUNGARD

+ 01' 42"

25 July - Going into the second rest day at this years fantastic Tour, we will take a look at the early predictions and which if any have played out. Is Schleck destined to be this generations Poulidor?

While everyone wants to talk about the Schleck vs. Contador rivalry and "Chaingate," this year's tour has so much more to offer. Here are 11 predictions of what could and likely will make this a memorable race.

Johan Bruyneel will yet again be a difference maker in the final outcome of the Tour. With Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Andreas Kloden, he has three legitimate podium finishers, and only Horner has yet to make that result. At the very least, Radio Shack wins the team competition. Don't expect to see any unauthorized kits this time around.

With all the crashes and bad luck encountered by this years squad, it is likely the Shack brings a far different team to the 2012 Tour. Bruyneel is still a Master, but when you are without a healthy GC rider, there is not a lot that can be done from that seat.. 

Now we see just how good Bruyneel really is as a director. Yet, this could all blow up a la Bianchi and the era of Vino, Klodi and Jan Ullrich. This one is a trifecta or epic failure.

See Above...

Van Garderen wins the white jersey going away. This could be the first real third generation Grand Tour contender to show his talent on the big stage. Yes, we have Tyler Farrar and to a lesser extent Taylor Phinney showing their talent, but neither of these riders are ever going to win a Grand Tour. Taylor may have the most success as a Classics rider with two wins in the U23 Paris-Roubaix to his credit already, and multiple rainbow jerseys on the track show him to be a talent that can take what George Hincapie has accomplished and leap into Fabian Cancellara territory. For now, it is Tejay Van Garderen's time to become the next great American Grand Tour rider.

Pierre Rolland has finally shown waht he promised over hte past few years. Is he the next Hinault...well, no. But who is? Tejay, is still a year or two away...

French riders have the best tour since the late Laurent Fignon lost to Greg LeMond by eight seconds in 1989. Several French riders are capable of standing on the podium but probably won't. However, unlike most of the last quarter century, we won't see the French as only breakaway artists looking for a stage victory or the mountains jersey. There are legitimate French contenders for the first time in over a decade. Sylvain Chavanel, Thomas Voeckler and Samuel Dumoulin can all play roles in the outcome this year.

With Thomas Voeckler's incredible ride this year to a top 5 the tide may be turning for the French. I have felt like Voeckller was the best French hope and a top 5 was definitely within his ability...but could he finish on the podium. Well, not quite, but if he prepares for a Podium next year it is in his ability to be there. And Pierre Polland, could be the next French Hope for the future.

Lance who? For the first time in over a decade, the Texan will not only be a sidebar, but even Americans will go out of their way to avoid mentioning him. Of course, many a casual Tour fan came to the sport because of his story but even those are now looking to the other stars of the sport. Even Phil and Paul will keep the Lance worship to a minimum.

Thankfully, Lance wa a sidebar at best this year. Not slathering over his every movement, and the race was exciting enough day after day to keep Liggett away from his mancrush.

Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck will win the climbers jersey and challenge for a podium position in Paris. Not since Lucien Van Impe won the last of his six polka dot jerseys in 1983 has a Belgian won the competition, but that run ends this year.

Sammy Sanchez proved to be the man, and won a well deserved Polka Dot Jersey, but Jelle may be the mountains rider for the future...

Tyler Farrar wins his first Tour Stage. That one is not really a bold prediction, but with Big Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish looking for the green jersey, Tyler could learn a lot from Thor this year and in helping the big Norwegian win another green jersey take important points from the other all-around sprinters.

Thor and Tyler had victories for Garmin, but it is truly the Cav show for Green. Cavendish making it to Paris and winning his 20th stage could be a telling sign for the future. Not only is the Stage wins record in jeopardy, but so to is the Green Jersey string by Eric Zabel.

Christian Vande Velde has not shown anything like his 2008 results the past two Tours de France, but he is also coming into the tour in top form, not recovering from yet another crash resulting in broken bones. Vande Velde is one of my dark horses for the podium this year. The Contador/Schleck² could result in a surprise or two in the top five. Christian Vande Velde is one of those, along with opportunistic Radio Shack rider Chris Horner, who proved in California he can be among the best if given the support.

Epic Fail here...VDV finally came around towards the end of the Alps, but his GC days may be over for Garmin, however with a Team Classification win for the Argyle Army, he is still a major piece of their puzzle.

Someone will be excluded from the start and that could be Contador. If it is, the Spanish reign at the tour will end at least for 2011.

That one was wrong, and I can say being wrong here is a good thing

Contador, despite his record in Grand Tour's, has unlike Armstrong and Indurain not been dominant, and the races have turned on small events, or at least small time bonuses. He is very beatable and if Schleck can improve his time trialing by one minute over the entire Tour, he can beat Contador and remove the myth of his invincibility. Don't think for a second that "Chaingate" will not play a role in Leopard Trek's tactics. There will be no quarter given for any mechanical or hiccup by Alberto this time around.

Contador never looked like Contador, and his attack on Alpe d'Huez while impressive early, faded and saw him lose yet again. A Giro, and crashes may have robbed him of another Tour victory, and with the way his rivals rode this year, he may end on 3.

My final prediction for the podium and jerseys: 

Not a bad selection, my biggest miss was Frank not being there. I think if he works for Andy the entire race, and if Andy doesn't wait on Frank, Andy wins this tour, but Cadel deserved it and is a deserving champion. 

 GC top 5

Predicted                          

5th: Alberto Contador           

4th: Samuel Sanchez           

3rd: Thomas Voeckler        

2nd: Andy Schleck

1st: Cadel Evans 

Climbers 

Andy Schleck

 Points

Mark Cavendish 

Young Rider

Rigoberto Uran

Monday was the first rest day of the 2010 Tour de France, and looking ahead to Tuesday's Stage 9 ... well, they'll hope they've taken advantage of that rest.

Tuesday's main Alpine stage will take the riders 204.5 km from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, a route that will cover the Col de la Colombière pass via Le Reposoir, the Col des Aravis pass, Les Saisies, and the Col de la Madeleine pass.

If ever there was a day for reigning champ Alberto Contador to make his move in the mountains, this would be it.

Meanwhile, Aussie Cadel Evans (pictured) is hoping to hold onto his narrow 20-second lead over Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, while American legend Lance Armstrong sits in 39th place.

You can catch all the action on Versus, available on channel 603 on DirecTV and channel 151 on Dish Network. Check your local cable listings for channel lineups.

Stage 9 airs Tuesday, July 13, from 7 to 11:30 a.m. ET.

Replays of each day's action run on Versus from 8 to 11 p.m. ET.

You can also watch the live stream online on Versus.com. This isn't free though; Versus is charging a $29.99 fee for its live tracker. Check it out here.