"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." – Theodore Roosevelt
The Tour de France could ride through the Alps for another 100 years, and never see a better stage. In what must be close to the greatest Tour stage of all time, Andy Schleck came back from the dead and turned the 2011 edition abruptly on its head. But the story of this year’s Queen stage, a 200km journey from Pinerolo to the Col-du-Galibier, can only be truly appreciated by looking at the riders who suffered for over 6 hours in the most brutish of all mountain stages.
1st – Andy Schleck – 6hr 7min 56 seconds. A win for the ages. Andy Schleck turned back the clock to the days of Mercx, Coppi, and Bartoli with an outrageous attack over 60km from the finish, on the day’s penultimate climb, the Col d’Izoard. In a move last seen of Floyd Landis on ‘that day’ in 2006, Andy rode the entire peleton off his wheel. He had a two minute gap at the top of the climb – and kept going! Leotard had played the cards perfectly, and with a couple of their riders up ahead having been part of the days break, Andy was able to extend along the valley floor to the Galibier, and by the foot of the climb had built a 4 minute lead on the peleton – and had one foot on the top podium in Paris. Andy managed to maintain his lead for 2/3 of the climb but, unlike Landis’ drug assisted effort in 2006, his immortal performance started to take its toll in the final 10km. Schleck began to tire, and his lead slowly diminished, first to 3:30 then 3 minutes. In the final kilometre Schleck was all over the road like a drunk, and barely had enough energy to cross the finish line. He did however, and pumped his fists above his head in celebration. He had not only won the stage, but in all likelihood won the tour as well. From a rider that had showed the tactial nuances of a 5 year old for most of this year’s today’s win was an act of sheer genius. But Schleck also needed the form to pull of the move. He had looked down and out over the last couple of days but on this day, the day of days, produced the climbing performance of his career, and arguably the last 30 years, to blow away the peleton and write his name forever in the folklore of Tour history.
2nd – Frank Schleck @ 2:07. Probably the Tour’s (worlds?) greatest c**ksucker. Obviously with Andy in front he did absolutely no work in the main bunch, and then had the temerity to kick clear in the final 100m to take time from the day’s true heroes in Evans and Voeckler (more on this later). Prick of a move from a prick of a bloke. Face it Frank – if you rode for Andy like you always should you would never win a race. Next.
3rd – Cadel Evans @ 2:15. A famous John Cleese quote goes as follows:
“It’s not the despair…I can take despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”
Surely there has been no better description of Cadel Evans. The beauty of sport is its ability to combine pure joy with tragic despair in virtually the same moment, and the heartbreak that Cadel must have felt in the last 90 minutes in the saddle was the despair that perfectly offset the ecstasy of Andy up the road. While Andy took the massive gamble, and rode to glory, there is no doubt in my mind that the true hero on the day was Cadel Evans. 169 riders started Stage 18, and while 167 of them sat back in disbelief as Andy tried to steal the Tour from their very eyes, only one man put up a fight. And that man was Cadel. There was no more tragic sight than Cadel looking around the other ‘pretenders’ in the main field on the top half of the Izoard and the valley rode to Briancon. Evans mast have been stunned that none of the other title contenders seemed interested in pulling back Schleck. Andy’s time advantage grew and grew, and STILL no one would help Evans. By the start of the Galibier, Cadel had had enough. He attacked – and while his acceleration was not enough to break the field, his monstrous power was too much for any other rider to come around him. What followed was one of the most dominant displays over power mountain riding ever seen. For the next 15km Evans single handedly dragged a group of about 20 riders up the Galibier. Schleck’s advantage of the Tour elite was reduced from 4 minutes to two and a half minutes – soley because of Evans. He got no help from anyone, and didn’t ask for any. This was one man trying to save his Tour de France against all odds. While 167 other riders were being left strewn across the Alps, Evans and Andy Schleck where in a 2 man purgatory to decide the who would wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris. By the finish, Evans had reduced his deficit to Schleck to 2:15 seconds. It was probably the bravest defence of a podium position seen since Stephen Roche in 1987. Roche would go on to win the Tour that year. We can only hope we can say the same for Evans on Sunday in Paris.
5th – Thomas Voeckler @ 2:21 – Voeckler threw out his suitcase of courage last night and replaced it with an oil tanker of heroism. He was the day’s second biggest hero, and his performance was only slightly less than that of Evans. While the likes of Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez were faffing about at the back of the main group. Voeckler was up at the front of the peleton with Evans for pretty much every single one of the final 50km of the stage. While he simply did not have the energy to help Evans on the Galibier, he managed to stick with him the whole way. As Schleck collapsed over the final kilometre, and Evans continued to display his brute strength, it become apparent that Voeckler was on the verge of retaining his golden fleece. The crowds on the top of the climb went ballistic as Voeckler used what little energy he had lift to get out of the saddle and drag himself towards the line. He made it with 15 seconds to spare, in what was probably the best French sporting performance since Zinadine Zidane’s brace in the 1998 World Cup final. Voeckler’s bravery over these last 10 days deserves a podium place in Paris – but like Evans, tragically, he may finish just one place short of his ultimate goal.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rein Taarame
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