Best Tour de France (in a long, long time)?

Yepper, at least in my opinion.  Not because there were no Schleck / Contador/ broken chain moments and because the little doping news was created by insignificant cyclists who will always remain insignificant.  There were tacks, at least 38 of them, and Team Sky demonstrated true sportsmanship.  I somehow suspect that if Cadel Evans had been leading by the same time as Wiggins BMC Cycling might not have been as sportsman-like (my opinion based on not being an Evans fan).  An American cyclist, Tejay Van Garderen, finished 5th, and whether he understands it or not, he's still a kid.  There was also a young Slovakian, Peter Sagan, who simply glows with potential, and it isn't just the Luiqigas    kit.  The French won stages, Thomas Voeckler was King of the Mountain!  This was a year in which there really was no controversy to steal away the spotlight, no Armstrong, no Contador.  This was a year in which the race truly was about the cyclist, a celebration of man and machine.

Wiggins, Tejay, and Evans parasite...

Tomorrow is the final stage of the the 2012 Tour de France and Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky will be the first Brit to win in 99 years.  I like things like this.  Multiple winners are nice but I like to see the fame get spread around.  Winning too many times makes people suspect and too often their suspicion is like that old adage "where there's smoke there's fire."  I have to also say I like Team Sky, except for Canvendish, but then I have this distaste for sprinters; they can't climb, just tag along through out the stage and rush in for the win.

Wiggins' Time Trial

Today was the last Time Trial and Wiggins kicked ass, but then it is his specialty.  He wanted to crush the competition and he did.

There was an interesting interview with Tejay Van Garderen in which he was asked what it felt like to pass Cadel Evans on the road (when that happens during a TT the passer is riding superbly and the passee is usually choking on his bad legs).  Very astutely his said he did not feel as though Evans was passing the torch to him, rather, Evans had been dealing with some health issues.  I then recalled someone saying he'd dropped so far behind because he had a parasite.  Maybe he has a tapeworm or, and this is more likely, he's full of horse shit.  Instead of saying he had a bad leg day he's going to blame it on what ever he can, even a parasite.  Still, Tejay comes home wearing the White Jersey for best young ride, and he's only 23.

Tejay in white

That's right, he's a red, white and blue American!

Tacky stage 14 of the Tour de France

As anybody who's been watching the tour today knows, they had a bit of a problem with tacks with at least 30 riders receiving punctures over a 1 kilometer stretch of the route.  Basically what  happened was some asshole drop a lot of tacks on the road, apparently after the Sky Team had passed by.

Tack in the tire

Crowd control is difficult on these stretches narrow road, thousands of fans mull all over sometimes opening what looks like only the barest of gaps for the cyclists to pass through.  Cadel Evans suffered three punctures and had to wait for his team to arrive to get a new tire, maybe he should consider not abandoning them as he often does in the mountains.  Hincapie is on his team for a reason, not to be left behind.  Wiggins proved how truly civil the Brits are by slowing down the race until Evans could catch up.  One can only wonder if Evans would have done the same thing if their positions had been reversed.  I am not a big fan of Cadel Evans, in case anybody was wondering.

Congratulations to Luis Leon Sanchez for winning the stage!  Rabbobank deserved the win.

Luis Leon