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ALLEZ, GO GO GO!: THE BUILD UP
Chris Henry
July 16, 2009
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Destiny awaits in the final week of the Tour de France and everyone's talking
(Photo: Chris Henry)
Ever since the route for this year's Tour de France was announced last October in Paris, all expectations have been for the final week of racing to provide more than its share of drama. With tough, transitional stages from the flats of central France to the hills of the Vosges and Jura mountains in the east, the 'real racing' is about to begin.
Even here at the race, most people working on the Tour are thinking ahead several days to the Alps. Mark Cavendish has had a lock on the sprint stages with four victories thus far, and the yellow jersey of Rinaldo Nocentini is just a place-holder for the race to come, even if he is a worthy place-holder.
A colleague conducted an informal poll of journalists in the press room, asking whether Astana's Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador would emerge victorious in Paris. No other options were given. The results? Seventy-one voted for Contador while 21 felt the American could pull off an unprecedented eighth title.
There's no doubt that Astana is the strongest team for the final yellow jersey, with four riders solidly in the top ten, all within a minute of Nocentini and all either former winners or podium placers. This isn't to say the likes of the brothers Schleck on Saxo Bank or the Garmin duo of Vande Velde and Wiggins can't do some damage. Nonetheless, all signs thus far are pointing to another Johan Bruyneel-led victory.
Armstrong and Contador have swapped places in the general classification twice already, each with his own opportunistic move. First it was Armstrong who simply showed his Tour savvy by remaining vigilant at the head of the field when Columbia-HTC blew the race apart in the crosswinds of the Camargue down south.
Contador lost 40 seconds along with every other overall contendor, but the Spaniard fired his own shot on the first day in the mountains to Arcalis, where he launched a solo attack in the closing kilometers to take some time of his own and show that he had the most pep for the only summit finish in the Pyrénées.
Now the talk of the press room is that it will be the most clever rider who wins, not the strongest. By that logic, this could indeed be Armstrong's Tour to win. The seven-time winner has his game face on and has made no secret of his desire to assert himself as Astana's main man.
Contador is likely suffering under the mental strain of Armstrong's dominance within the team, but given that the two are almost assured of going their separate ways for 2010, he won't feel much obligation to succumb to the American's influence if it means foregoing the Tour he has planned to win since his first victory in 2007.
So as the hills get bigger and the sprint finishes become less likely, the build up truly begins. A grueling final week through the Alps, culminating the Giant of Provence, the Mont Ventoux, and the Tour's first ever mountaintop finish on the race's penultimate day, is destined to provide plenty of drama... Even if that drama takes place within one team.
Everyone is talking, and everyone is anxious. Allez, go go go!
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