2011 Tour de France- Stage 20- Evans Conquers Schleck
Posted by Matt Gilchrist on July 24, 2011
With 24 hours left before the finish in Paris, the Tour de France has found itself a new champion. After twenty stages, and a week in the punishing Alps, the most complete rider, this year, will be crowned the winner tomorrow on the Champs Elysees. For the first time in four years, Albert Contador has been beaten in a Grand Tour (he will finish fifth). For the third time in succession, Luxembourger Andy Schleck will be the runner, joined for the first time with his brother Frank, who slipped to third today. Tomorrow, we will see the first Australian champion crowned: Cadel Evans.
Now, I will say that I have never been the biggest Cadel Evans fan, but I will say unequivocally that he has deserved this win. After a couple of near-misses in 2007 and 2008, he has demonstrated that he was the most complete rider this year. He rode strongly and smartly on the flat stages, consistently amongst the leaders on the hardest climbs, a fearless descender, and the best (contender) in the time trial today. His team, BMC, showed new-found strength, and 25 years after bringing the first US team to the Tour (7-Eleven), team president Jim Ochowicz finally is coaching a Tour de France champion. They are only the second US team to have the race winner, after the US Postal/Discovery Channel had eight wins in nine years from 1999-2008.
Today’s time trial held a certain level of suspense coming into the stage, with three riders separated by only 57 seconds. Andy Schleck might be the most talented climber this year, and his 60 km stage winning break away this past Thursday might have been the most aggressive move of the race, but Evans’ ride in the time trial was the most important performance, netting him a title that has eluded him since he broke onto the scene nearly a decade ago. As he is 33 years old, realistically this might be one of the last chances for Evans to win the Tour, and he definitely made the most of it. I will say that he is unequivocally a worthy champion, as his ride today totally took the suspense out of the race fairly quickly. Evans started quickly, and by mid-stage, he had made up the 57 seconds he trailed Schleck, and he continued to pile on the pressure, putting on a performance that was worthy of the title he was about to win. Of the contenders, he was one of the few to truly excel today.
Alberto Contador is destined to finish fifth this year, and did not win a stage, but he did remind us, even today, that he is a fighter. He also attacked the time trial, and gained time on both the Schlecks and on Thomas Voeckler, but not enough to ultimately put him on the podium. I still can’t help but think of the first stage losses, which ultimately cost him a shot at the podium. I will concede that at no point this year did he appear to be on Evans’ level, and I believe that this was clearly due to the fatigue of the Giro d’Italia win last month. It was the first time in years that he has appeared human, but certainly this is not the last we will see of him as a Tour contender. Assuming that he is not suspended due to his appealed drug test, we could see another exciting Tour where we have Evans, Schleck and Contador doing battle again on equal terms. I don’t know if this dents Contador’s legacy; I still think he has an opportunity to win more Tours, and at least equal the five wins of Merckx, Hinault, Anquetil and Indurain, but it is hard to say if he will win the eight that will be needed to beat Armstrong’s record. He is still the dominant stage racer of his era, but this result does indicate that there are certainly other champions of this era, a situation we did not see during the reigns of Indurain or Armstrong.
I should feel bad for both of the Schlecks, especially Andy, for losing so much time in only 42 km. After three weeks of posturing and attacking in the mountains, and surviving the dangerous sprints and transition stages, it is a shame to see them lose so much time in this manner. Perhaps down the road, they (or I) will revisit the race as a whole and strive to see where they might have gained time on Evans but didn’t. On the other hand, it is conceivable that they lost because Evans was both better rested than Schleck, who literally killed himself to gain time in the Alps, or because Evans was the most well-rounded.
The race doesn’t win until the peloton crosses the line on the Champs Elysees tomorrow, but the general classification was finalized today. It has been a good race, and in the coming days/weeks, I will seeks to consider how this race stacks up to others in history, and indeed the proper perspective that I will have on Evans as a winner, Schleck as a three-time runner up (will he ever win it?), Contador as an also-ran, and other riders who made reputations, or so their hopes go up in flames. Tonight, though, I will rest knowing that the race has been decided, in solid fashion.
