Tour de France 2009- Stage #20

Today’s penultimate stage, finishing up the barren slopes of the Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux, promised to be exciting.  This mountain has always been dramatic, and has proven significant in the Tour de France in past editions.  With 34 seconds separating 3rd-6th places on general classification, I expected a big battle on this climb.

This is generally seen as one of hardest climbs in cycling, and coming at the end of a very hard week, or even an exhausting 3 weeks, there was the potential for the possibility of significant time gaps.  In the end, though, the battle was actually fairly defensive in nature.  Neither Contador nor Andy Schleck challenged each other, choosing to accept that nothing would change their 1st and 2nd places in the standings.  The attention was given to who would earn the final podium position.  Armstrong was in the drivers seat, with a small lead over Wiggins, Kloden and most importantly, Frank Schleck.  There was the potential for relentless attacks going up the last climb of the Tour, with the third podium spot the prize for the one who would ultimately be the strongest at the end.

Schleck was the obvious choice to do the most damage on the climbs, based upon the earlier Alpine stages.  Amstrong and Wiggins have proved resilient, and Kloden was most likely one to support his teammates.  With a 34 second lead, Armstrong adopted a defensive position on this climb, and glued himself to Schleck’s wheel.  Andy Schleck repeatedly animated the group with relentless attacks, hoping to open something up for his brother, but Contador shadowed his wheel, never allowing a gap, and never taking an offensive position.  Wiggins was obviously the most vunerable, without real team support in the final kilometers, and he had to dig in deep to maintain a three second hold on his fourth place overall, the highest a British rider has ever finished in the race.  In the end, Frank Schleck never really showed the ability to attack, and while it was unclear if he stopped trying, or was unable, it was clear up on the top of the mountain that the podium was set.

I found it interesting that the top 7 riders in the race were able to separate themselves from the rest of the race.  This allowed lower placed riders, starting with the 8th placed Christian Vande Velde, to watch each other, in order to preserve their own positions. It is clear to me that the top 7 riders, including 7th placed Vincenzo Nibali, were the elite class of this race.  In the last chance to make  a statement this year, Carlos Sastre and Cadel Evans were silent.  It will be interesting to see how the recover, or if their days of contending for Tour de France glory is past.  It has not gone unnoticed, at least by me, that Sastre’s 17th place finish overall is the worst title defense since Miguel Indurain finished 11th after winning his 5th title.  After finishing 2nd the last two years, I would be interested in knowing what, if anything, Cadel Evans will do in this race, or if he can realistically be considered a contender again.

I applaud Armstrong’s resiliency today, as even if it wasn’t as dramatic as mountain stages he has ridden in the past, he was smart, and unflappable.  It is conceivable that he might have been able to attack Schleck and Wiggins, but that might have opened himself up for a counterattack to which he could not respond.  It was clear that he knew that 3rd place was the realistic best he could expect today, and he rode with a strength and confidence which demonstrated to his closest rivals that he could not be shaken.  I will also give kudos to both Christian Vande Velde and George Hincapie for their rides today, and indeed for the results they have produced for three weeks.  Vande Velde has ridden gamely, despite a lack of fitness and form in recent months, to finish 8th, and become a domestique deluxe for Bradley Wiggins, who earned the leader’s title.  George Hincapie will finish with a 19th place finish, his second highest placing, in his 14th and possibly final ride in this race.  Despite having an injured shoulder, and needing to work for Mark Cavendish tomorrow, he rode a solid race to finish with Cadel Evans at 5:45 back.

Tomorrow, the race goes back to Paris, for the end of another edition of this great race.  I will be interested in seeing the end of the green jersey race, and if Cavendish will win another stage.  I am interested to see if he and Hushovd will go after the intermediate sprints to gain points, or if he will concede the green jersey race, in exchange for only concentrating on the stage win.

I thought today’s stage was interesting, although perhaps not as explosive and destructive as I might have thought.  Astana, Saxobank, and Garmin were agressive leading up to it, but overall, I think that the organizers failed to place it properly, in hopes of a final reshuffling of the classification.  This last week of the Tour was perhaps too loaded, in that much of the field ended up too dead to race by Tuesday, and with the time trial and this climb being a bit flat even for the leaders. I respect their creativity in designing the route, but I would like to see a change, with them going back to more time trial kilometers, preferably with one in the middle of the race, and then one on the penultimate day.

One day to go…..