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TdF '08 Wrap: A Tour for the old guys
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by kferaday | July 27, 2008 at 08:12 pm
295 views | 17 Recommendations | 5 comments
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Well another Tour is in the books and by most accounts it was one of the most exciting in recent memory. The race came down to the Saturday's TT and trying to figure out the the final outcome among the six contenders kept us on the edge of our seats and probably gave the bookmakers fits.
It was also a Tour for the geriatrics in the peloton. Four of the top five on GC were 30 or older (Sastre, Evans, Menchov and Vande Velde). Other geriatrics (like me) loved this but with a new generation knocking at the door it's going to be tough for these guys to repeat their performance next year.
It also means that next years Tour will have a completely different dynamic, and it will be tougher for one team (CSC-Saxo Bank) to dominate the way they did this year. For starters 2007 winner Alberto Contador and Astana will be back at the Tour. Then there's Liquigas who have two up and comers in Roman Kreuziger and Vincenzo Nibali and with Pozzato gone they can build a team completely focused on the GC.
CSC will still be a force to be reckoned with the Schleck brothers and Sastre (although at 34 he will likely me moved to a supporting role). The big question is whether either of the brothers can improve their timetrialling enough to be a real contender. Andy seems the most likely bet at this stage but you never know. Riis has a talent for creating contenders.
Last but not least there's Garmin-Chipotle. They had a solid result with Christian Vande Velde and at 33 he may have one or two more good years in him. Plus next year the team should be stronger. Young riders like Ryder Hesjedal, Danny Pate and Martijn Maaskant should be much stronger now that they've survived their first Tour. And Garmin could see the return of a couple of strong veterans in David Zabriskie and Tom Danielson who will make the team much stronger than this year's and provide better support for Vande Velde in the mountains.
The bottom line: TdF 2009 will be even better than this year. Can't hardly wait.
As he crossed the line on the Champs-Elysees, Carlos Sastre turned and embraced his nearest team-mate, Stuart O'Grady, as the third consecutive Spanish Tour de France champion. He followed Alberto Contador, missing from this year's edition due to his Astana team's past doping problems, and Oscar Pereiro, who inherited the title after Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping.
Sastre, a devoted family man, proudly brought his two children onto the podium with both clad in yellow shirts to match his own. At 33, he is the oldest first-time winner of the Tour, and the eighth Spaniard to stand on the highest step in Paris.
"It was beautiful to have my children with me on the podium," he stated, underlining their importance. "It's great to win the Tour de France but my kids represent the biggest victory in my life. They are so important to me and I want to share that moment with them and have them close to me.
"Today was a really nice day," Sastre said. "The team has done everything to make this Tour as easy as possible for me and even as we came to Paris for the final stage, they continued to work for me. It's a great atmosphere now; relief has set in and now everyone is happy."
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 20:59 on July 27th, 2008
kferaday, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 03:24 on July 28th, 2008
great story i really like it.
at 04:44 on July 28th, 2008
kferaday, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 08:37 on July 28th, 2008
Both the near future and more distant future were on display - and the hope is that they come from a different culture in cycling. For my part I'll add two to the list. For the near future category I nominate Gerolsteiner's Bernhard "Jay-Z" Kohl, who surprised everyone with his time-trialing abilities. For the longer term future John Lee Augustyn looks like a rider in the mold of last year's winner Alberto Contador - with some decending and time trial skills needed - but his form in the high mountains showed potential.
There may still be a couple of geriatrics in the mix next year: I think Menchov's tour was undone by race management and luck rather than form... so he may be back in the fold. The bigger question is whether Cadel Evans and Silence-Lotto will have the stomach for another go. If so, they have some serious decisions to make if they want to improve on their consecutive second place finishes. While they still have hopes that Popovich will regain some of his super domestique form (which seemed to return somewhat by week 3) they will obviously need some more funds to lure extra help for the mountain stages.
at 08:45 on July 28th, 2008
kferaday, I like this story. It's good stuff.