Cadel Wins Tour de France 2011

July 24, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Cadel.jpgCadel Evans is set to become the first Australian to win the biggest cycling event on the planet when he rides into Paris later today. After being runner up twice in the past, Evans will be one step higher on the Tour de France podium and at the age of 34, he’ll be the oldest winner in 88 years.

The final day of racing is traditionally a procession into the capital of France to end three weeks of grueling racing.

Cadel ripped the Yellow Jersey off the shoulders of Andy Schleck in yesterday’s time trial with a blistering effort. He missed out on winning the stage by just a few seconds but his effort was more than enough to turn his 57 second deficit to Schleck into a 1 minute 34 second lead.

I had the honor of chatting with Cadel just a day or two after his switch to the BMC Team was announced in 2009. I asked him who would be runner up when he won the 2010 Tour de France. Unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan last year but it will be an emphatic win a year later. Cadel is a quietly spoken athlete who was a pleasure to interview. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people but my chat with Cadel will always be a highlight of my time in radio.

You can listen to my radio interview with Cadel by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Lance Armstrong’s success in the world’s most watched annual sporting event helped to increase participation in the sport in the US. I’m sure that Cadel’s success will get more Aussies cycling in the coming years.



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Tour de France 2011

July 2, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

jerseys.jpgIt’s the most wonderful time of the year. The 2011 Tour de France begins later today at the Passage du Gois and I’m looking forward to watching another fascinating battle for yellow. Running from Saturday the  2rd to Sunday the 24th of July, the 98th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres. Even finishing the three week event requires a big effort from each of the 198 athletes who will be at the starting line later today.

Controversial three time winner Alberto Contador is looking to take his fourth Tour de France. The Shleck brothers will be there to shake things up with Andy a big hope for the podium. Ivan Basso returns and will be giving it all he’s got. Even Bradley Wiggins has been named as a possible winner and Alexander Vinokourov is sure to throw everything at the race. Personally, I’d love to see Australia’s Cadel Evans finally step onto the podium in Paris wearing yellow. He’s in great form and has a supportive team. I’m really hoping it’s Cadel’s turn.

What do the coloured jerseys mean?

If you have only started following the Tour de France recently and you’ve heard the commentators talking about different coloured jerseys, you might be wondering what all the different colours represent and why it’s so important to be wearing a jersey other than your team jersey.

Each team wears their own uniform but there are a number of special shirts or jerseys awarded each day. While it’s considered very prestigious to wear any of these jerseys throughout the race, it’s obviously even more so to be wearing one of these jerseys after the final sprint down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on the last day of the tour.

Many people know that the Yellow Jersey or Maillot Jaune is the most coveted of all the jerseys but here’s a quick rundown of what it’s all about.

Yellow Jersey

The Yellow Jersey is worn by the leader in the general classification. That means that whoever has the lowest overall time at the end of each stage of the event will be awarded with the Yellow Jersey. It was first awarded in 1919 and its colour was chosen to match the yellow paper of l’Auto magazine, founder of the Tour de France in 1903.

Green Jersey

The Green Jersey is given to the leader in the points classification, rewarding the best sprinter. It’s sometimes called the points jersey or sprinters’ jersey. During each stage, points are allocated for several intermediary sprints and for the finish. The jersey was introduced in 1953.

Polka Dot Jersey

The Polka Dot or King of the Mountains Jersey is awarded to the rider who earns most of the points at each summit. The winner is known as the King of the Mountains. Although the award was introduced in 1933, the red and white spotted jersey was not introduced until 1975.

White Jersey

The White Jersey is given to the best rider in the general classification under 25. The jersey was abandoned in 1989 but reintroduced in 1999.

So now you know a little more than you did a short while ago. I hope this brief explanation helps in your enjoyment of this year’s tour.

 



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Can Cadel still win the Tour de France?

July 24, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
7 Comments

James from Disciple of the Way left a comment on my previous Tour de France post, Tour de France Jerseys.

Hey Rodney

Just curious on how well placed you feel Cadel is after last nights ripper of a stage? The commentators seemed to jump back and forth from Sastre having enough time to Cadel staying just close enough.

As I do only watch the Tour de France I don’t really know how good a time trialist Cadel is, having to trust the commentators saying ‘he’s good’.

Do you think he has done enough? It def looks like it will be pretty tight!

For those who missed yesterday’s stage which finished on the punishing L’Alpe-d’Huez, Spain’s Carlos Sastre attacked on the climb and finished over two minutes ahead of the other tour leaders. His amazing effort meant that he took the Yellow Jersey from the shoulders of CSC team mate, Frank Schleck.

Cadel Evans, who started the race as favourite, is now in fourth place, 1:34 behind the leader, Sastre.

So can Evans come back from such a big loss of time? I think so.

Cadel is well and truly still in it.

On the first time trial of this year’s race Sastre lost 1:16 to Cadel. That ride was over a distance of 29.5 km.

Saturday’s time trial is much tougher and longer with a distance of 53 km. I’ve heard that Cadel rode the second time trial course four times before the tour to make sure that he knows every turn and every piece of road.

In normal circumstances I reckon he’d be able to pull back the 1:35 he needs over that distance but when Sastre has the yellow jersey on his back he’s likely to ride the time trial of his life.

Cadel Evans has always said that he sees Denis Menchov as his main rival for the Yellow Jersey in Paris.

Menchov was 7 seconds behind Evans in the first time trial so he would be a danger if he wasn’t just already over a minute behind Cadel in the overall standings. Of course anything can happen and if Menchov rides a brilliant time trial he could be a danger.

It’s quite amazing to see a Tour de France still so wide open at this point of the event. If Cadel manages to take the race it’ll be a stunning recomendation of his abilities considering his team has been missing in action most of the time when it’s counted. They say that it takes a team to win the Tour de France, and his team has supported him as well as their abilities have allowed, but if Cadel wins it will be a remarkable solo effort.



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It was all yellow

July 15, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

tour_de_france_logo.jpgCadel Evans has gone into the first rest day of the 2008 Tour de France wearing yellow … by just one second.

The Australian rode an amazing stage in the mountains on a day when both the previous yellow jersey, Kim Kirchen, and the second favourite for the tour, Alejandro Valverde, cracked in the mountains and lost time to the Australian. Valverde has now slipped back to 14th place.

Of course the race is a long way from over and with eleven stages still to come, Cadel will have a big job ahead of him defending the yellow jersey.

One of the biggest stories to come out of the tenth stage was the strength of Team CSC who controlled the mountains and put many riders into trouble with their pace. CSC rider Frank Shleck was only a second away from wearing yellow with a tremendous ride up Hautacam.

Out of the eleven remaining stages there are five flat stages, five mountain stages and an individual time trial.

The race is a long way from over but it’s great to see Cadel in yellow.

Below are the top ten places overall from the official Tour De France website.

1. EVANS Cadel 1 SILENCE – LOTTO 42h 29′ 09″
2. SCHLECK Frank 17 TEAM CSC SAXO BANK 42h 29′ 10″ + 00′ 01″
3. VANDEVELDE Christian 191 GARMIN CHIPOTLE 42h 29′ 47″ + 00′ 38″
4. KOHL Bernhard 115 GEROLSTEINER 42h 29′ 55″ + 00′ 46″
5. MENCHOV Denis 131 RABOBANK 42h 30′ 06″ + 00′ 57″
6. SASTRE Carlos 11 TEAM CSC SAXO BANK 42h 30′ 37″ + 01′ 28″
7. KIRCHEN Kim 41 TEAM COLUMBIA 42h 31′ 05″ + 01′ 56″
8. COBO ACEBO Juan Jose 173 SAUNIER DUVAL – SCOTT 42h 31′ 19″ + 02′ 10″
9. RICCO Riccardo 171 SAUNIER DUVAL – SCOTT 42h 31′ 38″ + 02′ 29″
10. EFIMKIN Vladimir 104 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 42h 31′ 41″ + 02′ 32″

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cadel lose the winner’s jersey for a few days at some stage but if that hapopens, his time trialling skills should see him return to the number one position on the day before Paris in the 53 km time trial.



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