Contador wins Tour de France, Schleck 2nd, Menchov 3rd (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images)
Alberto Contador has won the Tour de France for the third time; Andy Schleck is in 2nd place and Denis Menchov in 3rd. Mark Cavendish sprinted to win the final stage in Paris, making it his 5th stage win in this Tour.
Cavendish wins last stage of Tour de France 2010 (PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)
Cavendish sprints to finish line (PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)
Green jersey: Alessandro Petacchi
Red peas jersey: Anthony Charteau
White jersey: Andy Schleck
Team: Radio Shack
Most significant moments in this year’s Tour:
- Cobblestones stage in Belgium causing many riders to crash including Frank Schleck, Andy’s brother, who broke his collarbone and had to leave the Tour.
- Disqualification of Mark Renshaw who was caught on camera headbutting Julian Dean at the finish of stage 11 (Mark is Cavendish’s teammate and the one who had been protecting him at the end of each sprint). However, it did not matter in the end. Cav won just about every sprint after that including the final in Paris.
- The chain that caused Andy Schleck to lose the Tour: Andy’s chain fell off in stage 15 as he was attacking up the mountain. Contador saw Schleck in trouble and counterattacked and that was more or less the end of Andy Schleck’s chance to win the Tour.
- End of Lance Armstrong’s TdF adventures: Armstrong announced this is his last Tour. After crashing several times and finishing in the middle of the peloton, it’s time to hang up the bike.
Disappointments of this year’s Tour:
- Why is it Cav wins the sprints and he does not get the green jersey?
- How can a guy like Contador not win a single stage and still win the Tour?
- Why, after a very exciting start, did the Tour become boring in the middle and final stages, except for the Andy-Alberto battle? There weren’t enough attacks, the riders seemed to be kicking back too much.
Andy Schleck congratulates Alberto Contador (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Tour de France peloton rides into Paris (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
The peloton rides towards the Arc de Triomphe (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
See great Tour de France 2010 last stage photos:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/gallery
I’m sure at least part of the decision to disqualify Renshaw was the hope it would level the playing field and stop Cav winning everything. Instead, it made him more determined and allowed him to demonstrate his great instincts in winning stages 18 & 20 without a proper lead-out – which is something many people forget he was doing in 2007. before Columbia developed their dominant sprint train. He reminds me of a younger Robbie McEwen in terms of his ability to sense the right wheel to jump on to at the right moment.
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