JJ's Jottings: TdF Commentary 7/25

Stage 20 Recap

Cavendish wins yet another bunch sprint, Petacchi wins green jersey

The 2010 Tour de France is now over. After three weeks of excitement and - dare I say - memories, the peloton has finally reached Paris, with Mark Cavendish leading the group across the finish at the Champs-Élysées. As usual, the stage began as a parade celebrating the end of a long journey, as well as the accomplishments of those like Alberto Contador, who earned his third yellow jersey, and riders such as Lance Armstrong, who after long careers will be retiring from professional cycling.

The official start of the stage was delayed for a while due to a publicity stunt from Lance Armstrong's Team RadioShack, which came out in entirely black jerseys with a big "28" on the back to represent the 28 million people in the world affected by cancer. The race organizers would let the team wear the black jerseys during the neutral zone, but made them change back to their regular jerseys before the official start. This incident would delay the official start for a while, and Armstrong would even stay behind to argue the officials' decision. At the beginning, Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck launched an attack in jest, getting themselves some camera time before shaking hands and dropping back to the pack. From then, as per tradition, the real race didn't start until the riders reached Paris, where an eight-lap criterium around the Champs-Élysées.

As expected, attacks were launched, but the peloton never gave them much room - as is typically the case on the Tour's final stages. The breakaway was large enough to sustain enough of a lead that the sprinters weren't able to bridge the gap to contest the two intermediate sprints. This was ideal for Alessandro Petacchi, who would look favorably on any opportunity to eliminate point opportunities for rivals as he defended his lead in the green jersey race. Meanwhile, it's no secret that Thor Hushovd would probably need these intermediate sprints to have a shot at green, while Mark Cavendish was likely to focus his efforts on the stage win rather than racking up points to win the jersey.

The breakaway was actually looking to be dangerous, holding its lead until the final lap. But not even an eleven-man breakaway could hold off the peloton, which was speeding up to prepare for a bunch sprint. The usual suspects were at the front of the peloton in the final straightaway, with Thor Hushovd this time being the one to instigate the sprint. His move, however, proved to be too little and too early, as Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish were able to zip by right away, and other sprinters were able to overtake Hushovd as he lost steam. Just as has been the case with the past several bunch sprints, Cavendish was able to win by multiple bike lengths even without too much help from his team. This victory is Cav's 5th this Tour and 15th overall in just three years on Tour. After finishing 2nd place in the green jersey competition (and this year not even trying to win it after his Stage 1 crash), I think next year it's time for him to start focusing on winning the jersey in addition to racking up stage wins. Petacchi was able to place in second, which was enough to defend the lead he initially built from his Stage 1 victory, and win the green jersey. Despite dominating the sprint world in years past, this is Petacchi's first green jersey, which comes at the age of 36. This victory makes him one of the select few to win the points classification in all three Grand Tours.

Sylvain Chavanel has won The Tour's overall 'super combative' prize - a much deserved honor after going solo to win two stages, as well as including himself in many escapes. Chavanel also won the prize two years ago, and such aggressiveness is what keeps many of the weaker teams on Tour relevant - like his Quick Step team that is missing its leader in sprinter Tom Boonen. The honor of the 'Lanterne rouge' for the rider who places last (and therefore spends the most time suffering on the saddle) goes to Adriano Malori of Lampre-Farnese, who rode the course in 96h25'51", which is 4h27'03" slower than Contador. Malori had been in second to last coming out of the Pyrenees, but time trial specialist Bert Grabsch, who was then in last place, rode a brilliant time trial, giving away the infamous honor.

I must say, this has probably been the single most exciting Tour I've followed. There was no shortage of drama, and the big three jersey races were all close until the end. This comes after an era dominated by one rider (Lance Armstrong), followed by several years very heavily marred by doping (or at least the Tour catching and expelling dopers). This year's edition did not see anyone expelled for doping (other than one rider who did not start the race after taking a medication that, unbeknownst to him, contained a banned substance). Of course, the lack of doping expulsions does not at all mean that there are no dopers on Tour, but for once it's nice to see a race where stage winners and yellow jersey wearers aren't getting kicked out every other day. Sometime in the next few days, I'll be wrapping up the Tour with some commentary on this year's race as a whole, as well as some insights into next year's race. In the meantime, here are the results from today, as well as a run-through of all the Tour's winners.

*****

Notable Stage Results

1	Mark Cavendish	Team HTC-Columbia	35 pts
2	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre-Farnese	30 pts
3	Julian Dean	Garmin-Transitions	26 pts
4	Jürgen Roelandts	Omega Pharma-Lotto	24 pts
5	Oscar Freire	Rabobank	22 pts
6	Gerald Ciolek	Team Milram	20 pts
7	Thor Hushovd	Cervélo TestTeam	19 pts
8	Matti Breschel	Team Saxo Bank	18 pts
9	Robbie McEwen	Katusha	17 pts
10	Daniel Oss	Liquigas-Doimo	16 pts

*****

Final Points Standings

1	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre-Farnese	243 pts
3	Mark Cavendish	Team HTC-Columbia	232 pts
2	Thor Hushovd	Cervélo TestTeam	222 pts
4	José Joaquin Rojas	Caisse D'Epargne	179 pts
5	Robbie McEwen	Katusha	179 pts
6	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team Sky	161 pts
7	Sébastien Turgot	BBox Bouygues-Telecom	135 pts
8	Gerald Ciolek	Team Milram	126 pts
9	Jürgen Roelandts	Omega Pharma-Lotto	124 pts
10	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	119 pts