It has taken a few years, but Jonathan Vaughters’ team is finally living up the expectation heaped upon it. First, Garmin wins the team time trial, putting world champ Thor Hushovd in the yellow jersey, then Thor turns around and delivers Tyler Farrar to his first TdF stage win the next day. There was some concern about a single team having two green jersey contenders, but, thus far, it has been smooth sailing (unlike the “failed” Classics campaign). This softens the blow of having the team’s two GC contenders, Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde, a bit back in the overall table after getting caught behind a crash on stage 1.
Speaking of the crash, many critics have been clicking their tongues at Alberto Contador for getting caught behind the crash as well. Why was he riding in the back, they wonder. Truthfully, Contador wasn’t that far back, but, this isn’t the first time he’s been caught out. Bike racing 101 hammers home “ride near the front to stay out of trouble.” Contador may have missed that lesson. To add insult to injury, this SaxoBank team had a forgettable team time trial, further losing time to his rivals. One minute, forty-two seconds is not an impossible deficit, but heading into the mountains, it allows his main rivals to simply sit on his wheel.
Lost in the Garmin’s thrill of victory and Contador’s agony of defeat is the good fortunes of another U.S.-based team: BMC. Cadel Evans rode a fantastic race on Saturday, finishing second behind Phillipe Gilbert. Evans was boxed in a bit when Gilbert made his move–it is entirely possible he could have challenged the Belgian if he had a clear shot (not to take anything away from Gilbert’s win–the man has been stellar all season). BMC followed this up by taking a surprise second place in the team time trial, always considered a bit of liability for the team. This has given Evans a small buffer over the other contenders, with several other bumpy stages this week giving Evans the opportunity to force his opponents to work a bit harder than usual. Since his world championship win, Evans has been a joy to watch (after many years of being a bit of boring racer). I still contend he could (and should) focus on the one day, Ardennes-style races, but if he can hang in the mountains (and maintain a bit of good luck), this could be his year.
Posted on 4 July 2011