It happened as expected: Cadel Evans has become the first Australian winner of the Tour de France. He has been close before but that’s all history now for the celebrations can begin for him and his nation that has been swept up in Tour fever while watching the live broadcast into the early hours of [...]
Cadel Evans has had numerous setbacks over the years, but he is the finest cyclist in the world. He was born with a broken nose, three weeks past his due date but at 34 years of age, he is going to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France. At the age of [...]
It took only 16 kilometres before the true attacking action in a short but beautiful mountain stage began. And it was no less than Alberto Contador who turned on the turbo. He danced into the lead and prompted every GC rider into action. Thomas Voeckler tried with all his might to hold the wheel of [...]
It was the highest stage finish in the long history of the Tour de France and before the Col du Galibier came two high mountains – the col Agnel and the Col d’Izoard. It promised to bring the crème to the top and that’s just what happened in stage 18 of the 2011 Tour de [...]
He finished second to the world champion in the rain of stage 16, but when the Tour de France returned to Italy, it was Edvald Boasson Hagen who achieved another coup for Norway. The young rider attacked the final ascent and used it as his launch pad for a winning surge that allowed him to [...]
Was there ever any doubt? If there’s a sprint, Mark Cavendish delivers a victory in the Tour de France more often than not. And on a day when there was just one little climb and a strong wind that blew the bunch from Limoux to Montpellier, the HTC Express again delivered their captain to the [...]
There were a dozen more favoured riders in an elite group that raced together up the final ascent of the 14th stage, but none showed the panache that Jelle Vanendert did at Plateau de Beille. The Belgian gave his Omega Pharma-Lotto team its third stage win of the 2011 Tour de France by hanging with [...]
At 102km a crash that will have ramifications on the battle for overall honours in 2011 occurred. Alexandre Vinokourov went off the right side the road on a sweeping left bend and into the forest. He was helped back to the road by two Astana team-mates but his Tour was over. He was one of [...]
This was meant to be a day to shake up the top order of the general classification and allow the favourites for the Tour to demonstrate how well they’re climbing. The finish at Super-Besse is not on a mountain but a hill but the conditions were such that it was perfect for gains in the [...]
He may have missed on two days ago when a stage finished in a bunch sprint, but Mark Cavendish was not going to let that distract him from his mission: winning stages. In Cap Fréhel he proved – yet again – that he is “the fastest man in the world” when he came from 10 [...]