2011 Tour de France Crash Thread

[Hungary Jack]

Jens Voigt, age 39, crashes twice on a descent to lose track of his team, including flying deep into some bushes on the downhill sleep. But the tough SOB rejoins his team on the final climb and gets some good work in to help the Schleck brothers in their bid for a podium finish.

That dude is one tough SoB. He's a [expletive] cyborg on a road bike.

[Hungary Jack]

It really has been an exciting Tour this year, and now comes down to the final stage, the individual time trial around Grenoble (the last stage in Paris is a formality and last chance for the sprinters to get their jollies).

Andy Shleck made a huge surge yesterday in the Alps to trim his deficit from 2:15 to 0:15. Today he took the overall lead from Voeckler, and fought off significant damage from Contador, who gave one last punch today after cracking yesterday in pursuit of Schleck up the Col de Galibier.

Cadell Evans has been steady throughout the climbs, and now stands a good chance of winning the Tour with an excellent time trial, of which he is quite capable. Schleck has not proven to be a good time trial rider, so we'll see if his 0:57 lead over Evans can hold over the 26 mile course. That's not a lot of time to make up in a time trial, and I expect a dramatic finish.

[lukethedrifter]

Amazing finish.

[Hungary Jack]

Congrats to Cadell. He certainly earned it. Rock solid throughout Tour. Good all-around rider. Condolences to the Schlecks. They really wanted the top spot.

[maddash]

One of the best Tours since the days of Lance and Jan Ullrich battling it out. I'm bummed for the Schlecks. I'm a big fan of Andy and it's tough to see him finish second once again, but Cadel earned the Maillot Jaune. Some great young French riders coming up into the scene, and with Voeckler's run this year that should provide some inspiration for a resurgence in French cycling.

[Hungary Jack]

One of the best Tours since the days of Lance and Jan Ullrich battling it out. I'm bummed for the Schlecks. I'm a big fan of Andy and it's tough to see him finish second once again, but Cadel earned the Maillot Jaune. Some great young French riders coming up into the scene, and with Voeckler's run this year that should provide some inspiration for a resurgence in French cycling.

I am not sure Schleck will ever win a Tour unless he improves his time trialing and descending skills. He is a fantastic climber, but his time trialing is pretty poor (though 17 in today's stage isn't terrible, but he still lost almost 3 minutes). The whole deal with the Tour is that you face the best riders on the planet, and you need to be pretty well rounded to win. Contador is proving to be a pretty good time trialer. Lance was great at it. And so on.

Could not agree more about the French. 5 riders in the top 15. Peraud, the former mountain biker, finishes 9th in his first Tour? That's amazing. Rolland wins convincingly on Alpe d'Huez and takes the white jersey. It's good to see the French coming back.