Tour de France - Week Two

One of these riders is France’s Thomas Voeckler, who to the disbelief and wonder of all has not only retained the leader’s yellow jersey in the Pyrenean stages, but managed to stay with and concede no significant ground to the overall contenders, who were expected to drop him on the summit finishes.

The 32-year-old has already this year shown career-best form, but his performances last week in the mountains eclipsed anything else he has achieved in his career. Voeckler has never been a recognised climber, and before the Tour you could get odds of over 200-1 for him winning the Tour, but has this year found strength that even he didn’t know he had. He has a reputation for being a plucky, courageous rider, but has this year displayed both class and intelligence.

The question everyone is asking now (or at least, every Frenchman) is whether or not he can win the Tour de France. Voeckler says himself that he has ‘0% chance’ of winning, but his agenda here may be to play down the hype of the French media. In reality his chances remain low, for the other contenders are likely to commit themselves more sincerely in the remaining two mountain-top finishes, and he is likely to lose more time in Saturday’s time-trial. But his lead of around 2 minutes is such that holding on to the yellow jersey is not impossible. Either way, whatever happens from here Voeckler is likely to be remembered as the hero of the 2011 Tour de France.

He has so far profited from the favourites cancelling each other out. Both Thursday’s stage to Luz-Ardiden and Saturday’s stage to Plateau De Beille were contested cautiously by the favourites and saw no significant time gaps between them, resulting in a delicately posed general classification.

Alberto Contador is not his usual self, whether it injury or tiredness from riding May’s Tour of Italy, but despite being 7th and four minuets down from Voeckler, remains a potential winner if his form improves in the alps. Both Frank and Andy Schleck have ridden aggressively and lie 2nd and 4th respectively (both around two minutes down), but have as yet failed in making a successful sustained attack on their rivals. Ivan Basso too looks good in 5th place, but it is Cadel Evans who currently looks in the best position to win, placed 3rd sandwiched between the Schleck brothers, but possessing a vastly superior time trial to them and the other contenders.

Victory in these stages went to Samuel Sanchez and Jelle Vanendart, who were both allowed freedom to attack as the favourites considered them less of a threat. This may be the case with Belgian Vanendart, who looks a huge talent but lost too much time earlier to challenge for the overall this year, but Sanchez has quietly risen to 6th overall, meaning he must now be acknowledged as a potential winner too.

These two are now 1st and 2nd in the King of the Mountains competition, with Vanendart leading by one point and likely to win it, as Sanchez has the yellow jersey to concentrate on. Regarding this competition, an honourable mention must go to former leader Jonny Hoogerland, who despite sustaining severe cuts from a horrific crash last week has decided to remain in the race, and has obtained a cult following as a result.

The start of the week saw sprinters and former teammates Mark Cavendish and André Griepel play out their longstanding rivalry. Griepel shocked everyone on Tuesday by out-sprinting Cavendish, but the Manxman struck back the day after, and then went on to win his fourth stage yesterday with another powerful sprint. Cavendish now has a healthy lead in the green jersey competition, but says it is too early to rule out 2nd place José Joaquín Rojas and the ever-aggressive and Tour’s most entertaining rider Phillpe Gilbert, who both have a chance close the gap in the hilly stages next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Performance of the week must however go to Thor Hushovd for his win on stage 13. The Norwegian could be forgiven for taking it easy for the remainder of the Tour having held the yellow jersey for seven days in the first week, but he had other ideas. Hushovd made the unorthodox move of breaking away on a mountain stage despite primarily being a sprinter, and then, having been substantially dropped by superior climbers on the Col D’Aubisque, bridged the huge gap to them with a superb descent of the mountain, before smoothly passing them at the finish. Hushovd, along with Voeckler, Gilbert and Cavendish, has undoubtedly been one of the stars of this year’s Tour.

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