True grit

The thing about this year's Tour de France is, as we've said before, that no one showed up with a team fit for the job. The end result was a cutthroat race that depended solely on personal bravery. Lots of kudos to go around in this regard...

1). Cadel Evans - wheel sucker no more, he ground it out with the help of no one and won the race on a magnificent time trial;

2). Thomas Voeckler - defended the yellow jersey like no one;

3). Andy Schleck - saw that Contador was on the verge of bonking (which he did) and disappeared up the line - 60 kilometres out;

4). Alberto Contador - no horse in the race but his dignity following Thursday, he attacked 90 km from the finish. That lasted for 60. Then he did it again on the first ramp of the Alpe d'Huez. Topped it off with 3rd in the time trial.

The bad stuff - all strategy...

1). Leopard-Trek - for not trying to bust Contador and his swollen knee in the Pyrenees;

2). Saxo Bank - why didn't Riis send a couple of guys with Thursday's breakaway?;

3). Andy Schleck - should have held off when an out of contention Alberto broke away on Friday. Between his team, BGM and Europcar, they had the interest - and the legs - to run him down later. He didn't, and gave the race to Evans.*

The regret...

Again, Bradley Wiggins' withdrawal. The same stuff that had Evans win it would have seen him right there at the end.

Best quote...

1). Alberto Contador following Thursday's debacle - (from memory) ' I tried for the double (Giro/Tour) and, in the end, couldn't do it'.

*A reasonable guess would be that he thought they would open up an unbridgeable gap on the Australian. He could have done that on his own if he'd stayed with the peloton.

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