How good BMC/Evans. The perfect Tour?

[Red Caboose]

How good was Team BMC and Evans this year. Most of us questioned the reasons when Evans and Hincapie went to a smaller team. But they have made it work this year. The closeness of the team as they embrace Evans at the end of the stage last night was great to see.

They road just about the perfect race, had Evans at the front of the race in the first weeks, avoiding the crashes that took out others. Road a solid TTT, in the past Evans undoing. And helped in the mountains when they could. In a team short of big names they have done a remarkable job.

But as for Evans himself, could it have gone much better? Won a stage that suited him with a great finish against a strong bunch. Road aggressively in the mountains. As for not attacking, well the climb of the Galibier was one of the best rides of the Tour. He pulled for ten kilometres at a pace that destroyed the group that would offer no help. It a was here in pulling back two minutes to Andy Schleck that the Tour was won.

Not just a great win, a Grand win for Evans and his BMC team mates.

 

[ManInFull]

It was clear early on that Cadel was extremely strong. He didn't give up much of anything in the Pyrenees. I would say that his only tactical mistake in the entire tour was ASSUMING that he and the other GC contenders, along with the remaining domestiques, would be able to catch Schleck in the valley to Galibier. That's it. It would have been a fatal mistake had he not produced a herculean effort that pulled back 2 minutes on Schleck during the climb up Galibier.

 

[movingtarget]

It was clear early on that Cadel was extremely strong. He didn't give up much of anything in the Pyrenees. I would say that his only tactical mistake in the entire tour was ASSUMING that he and the other GC contenders, along with the remaining domestiques, would be able to catch Schleck in the valley to Galibier. That's it. It would have been a fatal mistake had he not produced a herculean effort that pulled back 2 minutes on Schleck during the climb up Galibier.

I agree. BMC were the best team in the race at getting their team leader to the end of the stage in good shape. They were smart enough to concentrate on not worrying too much about supporting him in the mountains as they knew they never really had another climber that could stick with him on the critical parts of the mountains. Instead they put everything into delivering him in the best position before the attacks started. I think Evans was genuinely suprised how litle time they were making up on Andy on the Galibier stage. Lots of riders in the chase group were cooked before they even got to the Galibier including Basso's and Sanchez's teammates. Cadel reacted at the right time as he must have known Andy had to slow down on the climb after such a long break. That was where Cadel won the Tour plus the descent into Gap.

 

[ProfTournesol]

Well the result answers the question, but let's look at the challenges the team faced:
Both Cadel and BMC had each had major disappointment's in their experience with the Tour, Cadel had finished 2nd twice, BMC had twice been involved in major Tour related doping controversies - Landis and Vino. Together they worked to create a team environment that worked for everyone. The team group hug at the finish line is an example of how well this worked.

They correctly identified the key stages and Cadel made sure that he rode the Dauphine to prepare for the ITT. They provided a strong TTT team, another area that cost him time at Lotto.

They had to identify (correctly I think) why they had failed in the past, and created a calm team that gave Cadel the emotional space that he needed to perform at his best. In past Tours, Cadel had lost the race away from the mountains - the team environment and the energy he expended on the flat stages. This is why they put so much effort into supporting him on those stages with 'the bulldozers' who kept him safe and out of trouble. This is the first Tour where he hasn't come off his bike before the climbing stages and it isn't a coincidence.

Some of his win was the result of good luck - the ridiculous tactics of the Schlecks and Contador that whilst looked good on TV, allowed Cadel to climb at a steady tempo in a style that really allowed him to play to his strengths, and cost him a lot less energy that if he'd had to respond to repeated accelerations.

There really isn't much that can be faulted

 

[CPAvelo]

Hats off to Cadel Evans and BMC. A very intelligently raced TdF IMO. Actually, what we, as Americans, wished were true of Armstrong and Landis.

How I hope CE is clean. It would go a long way to restoring credibility to the race if true. I wanna believe it even though I was cheering for Andy Schleck. Glad to see Cavendish win a third time in a row in Paris today, and the green jersey. Great race overall.

 

[JA.Tri]

Well the result answers the question, but let's look at the challenges the team faced:
Both Cadel and BMC had each had major disappointment's in their experience with the Tour, Cadel had finished 2nd twice, BMC had twice been involved in major Tour related doping controversies - Landis and Vino. Together they worked to create a team environment that worked for everyone. The team group hug at the finish line is an example of how well this worked.

They correctly identified the key stages and Cadel made sure that he rode the Dauphine to prepare for the ITT. They provided a strong TTT team, another area that cost him time at Lotto.

They had to identify (correctly I think) why they had failed in the past, and created a calm team that gave Cadel the emotional space that he needed to perform at his best. In past Tours, Cadel had lost the race away from the mountains - the team environment and the energy he expended on the flat stages. This is why they put so much effort into supporting him on those stages with 'the bulldozers' who kept him safe and out of trouble. This is the first Tour where he hasn't come off his bike before the climbing stages and it isn't a coincidence.

Some of his win was the result of good luck - the ridiculous tactics of the Schlecks and Contador that whilst looked good on TV, allowed Cadel to climb at a steady tempo in a style that really allowed him to play to his strengths, and cost him a lot less energy that if he'd had to respond to repeated accelerations.

There really isn't much that can be faulted

Great post!

Tactically Cadel (and team) were brilliant. With hindsight we may criticise, however I submit that is mere quibbling.

Cadel would always be at risk when faced with dramatic uphill accelerations BUT then he really wasn't subjected to them compared with years past. Andy and Frank made some pathetic "see me jump, see me slow, see how powerful I am", rather than following through (for the most part) with hard tempo.

 

[mastersracer]

BMC was not a strong team for Evans, sorry. He was frequently isolated, had to chase down breaks on his own, had to chase back mostly alone after a key mechanical on the Alpe D'huez stage, had zero mt support. The team also made questionable tactical mistakes, including chasing meaningless breaks during the middle stages. This is reflected in the fact that they were 14th in team GC - even below Katusha and Radioshack, who had terrible tours. This would have been a much easier Tour for Evans if he had the team support even Voeckler received from a small team that almost disappeared last year...

 

[the_kman]

Hats off to Cadel Evans and BMC. A very intelligently raced TdF IMO. Actually, what we, as Americans, wished were true of Armstrong and Landis.

How I hope CE is clean. It would go a long way to restoring credibility to the race if true. I wanna believe it even though I was cheering for Andy Schleck. Glad to see Cavendish win a third time in a row in Paris today, and the green jersey. Great race overall.

i rekon cadel would be the last person to be suspected for doping. he is way to honest for that.

BMC was not a strong team for Evans, sorry. He was frequently isolated, had to chase down breaks on his own, had to chase back mostly alone after a key mechanical on the Alpe D'huez stage, had zero mt support. The team also made questionable tactical mistakes, including chasing meaningless breaks during the middle stages. This is reflected in the fact that they were 14th in team GC - even below Katusha and Radioshack, who had terrible tours. This would have been a much easier Tour for Evans if he had the team support even Voeckler received from a small team that almost disappeared last year...

what bmc lacked in hillclimbing, they made up for in experience. cadel stayed safe the whole tour and they were safe in the wind.

 

[Marcuccio]

Big props to Burghadt and Bookwalter - did themselves proud!

I loved the moment when they (BMC) all crossed the line together, and gave Cadel the big group hug!

It's also unreal to see Big George still so happy and super hyped for his team, after so many years as a faithful domestique!

 

[Jol!en]

Best

Cadel descends & TT like a Formula 1 racer!

 

[CPAvelo]

i rekon cadel would be the last person to be suspected for doping. he is way to honest for that.

I want to believe. Truly. It would be great for CE, Australia, the TdF, and for American, and everywhere else, want to be's.

 

[The Exorcist]

BMC mightn't have been the strongest team, but they've been the tightest & strongest that Evans has ever had. They came second in the TT and protected him on the flats, and he genuinely seemed to get on well with them.

Evans was pretty much on his own during the toughest hill climbs, but it was only the exceptional teams that had support (Leopard, Europcar) in the mountains.

You'd reckon BMC will have more confidence to invest in a couple of mountain climbers to give Evans an easier ride next year, like the Schleks.

He's got a reputation as a clean skin, great to see he was more relaxed this year. He's hoping he pulls it off again next year

When in Aus, he lives in Barwon Heads and rides with the locals there. I'm not that far away from there and know people who have riden with him, say he's pretty quiet and a nice bloke. He trains along the picturesque Great Ocean Rd which has some hills, but it ain't anything remotely like the alps / pyrennes and is at sea level, hence he spends most of his time in europe like other australian cyclists

 

[CPAvelo]

BMC mightn't have been the strongest team, but they've been the tightest & strongest that Evans has ever had. They came second in the TT and protected him on the flats, and he genuinely seemed to get on well with them.

Evans was pretty much on his own during the toughest hill climbs, but it was only the exceptional teams that had support (Leopard, Europcar) in the mountains.

You'd reckon BMC will have more confidence to invest in a couple of mountain climbers to give Evans an easier ride next year, like the Schleks.

He's got a reputation as a clean skin, great to see he was more relaxed this year. He's hoping he pulls it off again next year

When in Aus, he lives in Barwon Heads and rides with the locals there. I'm not that far away from there and know people who have riden with him, say he's pretty quiet and a nice bloke. He trains along the picturesque Great Ocean Rd which has some hills, but it ain't anything remotely like the alps / pyrennes and is at sea level, hence he spends most of his time in europe like other australian cyclists

Great anecdote. Thanks. Cadel seems the most worthy TdF champion in many years.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The perfect tour? For the team...yes. Cadel won so I guess it was the perfect tour for him.

They are possibly going to name the Bridge that the worlds went over in Melbourne after Cadel.

12 pages of Cadel in the paper. front page in all papers. Cycling fever has hit Australia.

 

[Tuarts]

Chiara and Molly were the Page 3 girl in the daily rag here.

3 pages in sport. Most of it all groan-worthing. Wish I could get a SMH somehow.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Chiara and Molly were the Page 3 girl in the daily rag here.

3 pages in sport. Most of it all groan-worthing. Wish I could get a SMH somehow.

what was groan worthing about it?

 

[FreeRange]

Cadel joins the REAL Team Leopard

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/cadeljoinsleopard01.jpg

[url=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/cadeljoinsleopard01.jpg/#]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/cadeljoinsleopard01.jpg/#[/url]

 

[Roninho]

Cadel was obviously very strong, and his team did a nice job as well. However, let's not forget that Europcar, Liguigas and Saxo had an incentive to do a lot of work as well and did that.

Just imagine if the Schlecks had (or could have?) really attacked in the pyrenees dropping voeckler, basso and contador. To be honest i don't think Cadel's team was strong enough to take command in that situation (a bit comparable to when andy attacked and nobody wanted to help cadel).

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Evans did a perfect tour. BMC however, did not. Evans could have won this tour so much easier if he would have had just some support in the mountains. If you look at which teams had 2 or more people in the front group, you get a huge list. BMC more often than not was not among that group. BMC really has to thank Hushovd and Voeckler after this tour, because without them they would have been in some serious problems.

 

[Tuarts]

what was groan worthing about it?

The reporting was. Everything was dumbed down, over simplified or inaccurate. The articles that were informative, were ones ripped from other agencies.

As someone who follows cycling and has an above-average insight compared to John Doe on the street into the sport, it means reflecting on all this publicity is going to be different, I realise this. Its great that its getting talked about and certainly seems the media over in the East are getting really enthused about it, Freedman excluded.

 

[movingtarget]

BMC was not a strong team for Evans, sorry. He was frequently isolated, had to chase down breaks on his own, had to chase back mostly alone after a key mechanical on the Alpe D'huez stage, had zero mt support. The team also made questionable tactical mistakes, including chasing meaningless breaks during the middle stages. This is reflected in the fact that they were 14th in team GC - even below Katusha and Radioshack, who had terrible tours. This would have been a much easier Tour for Evans if he had the team support even Voeckler received from a small team that almost disappeared last year...

They were 14th on the Team GC because of their support for Evans. As for Voeckler's team, on the Galibier stage and the Alpe because their chasing was so ineffective, Evans had to go to the front and do it on his own because they were not gaining time but losing time. Voeckler's team had had to work hard to keep him in the yellow jersey but when they got to the last three stages in the Alps, Voeckler and his team were cooked. Everyone knew it was a matter of time, that's why Rolland was let off the leash to go for the stage win which he deserved. TV rode a great race all the same. BMC knew they could not compete in the mountains and were smart enough to cover all bases on the flat and intermediate stages and letting Evans do the rest.

 

[mastersracer]

They were 14th on the Team GC because of their support for Evans. As for Voeckler's team, on the Galibier stage and the Alpe because their chasing was so ineffective, Evans had to go to the front and do it on his own because they were not gaining time but losing time. Voeckler's team had had to work hard to keep him in the yellow jersey but when they got to the last three stages in the Alps, Voeckler and his team were cooked. Everyone knew it was a matter of time, that's why Rolland was let off the leash to go for the stage win which he deserved. TV rode a great race all the same. BMC knew they could not compete in the mountains and were smart enough to cover all bases on the flat and intermediate stages and letting Evans do the rest.

That's ridiculous. I don't recall a GC winner team placing 14th ever before in a Tour. Here's a few years of results for how the GC winner's team did in the team classification:

2010: Astana 6th
2009: Astana 1st
2008: CSC 1st
2007: Discovery 1st

 

[lostincosmos]

It's difficult for me to see the arguments that BMC and Cuddles were so brilliant. To me that's completely hindsight and had Cuddles not won, we would not be saying the same thing.

Let's be honest here - the Schlecks raced so poorly that BMC never had to chase anything down, aside from one stage where they miscalculated entirely. What if Leopard actually had the sense to race with tactics? Then Cuddles all alone on the mountains would be a huge problem.

And a bigger problem still were Samu and AC not down after a crash on the first stage.

Nah, I give kudos to Cuddles for not falling over, but frankly, this couldn't have been wrapped up for him any nicer.

 

[ProfTournesol]

BMC was not a strong team for Evans, sorry. He was frequently isolated, had to chase down breaks on his own, had to chase back mostly alone after a key mechanical on the Alpe D'huez stage, had zero mt support. The team also made questionable tactical mistakes, including chasing meaningless breaks during the middle stages. This is reflected in the fact that they were 14th in team GC - even below Katusha and Radioshack, who had terrible tours. This would have been a much easier Tour for Evans if he had the team support even Voeckler received from a small team that almost disappeared last year...

Remember this was the team that was second in the ttt. I think that this wasn't a team selected to be the traditional strong Tour team that weare used to seeing. It was very strong on the flat where Cadel had been vulnerable. As the peleton has become cleaner, no team has been able to ride tempo in the mountains for long, they are more even, so comparing this performance to Armstrong era teams is somewhat misleading.

 

[lbennie]

Nah, I give kudos to Cuddles for not falling over, but frankly, this couldn't have been wrapped up for him any nicer.

BS. He had a mechanical on 19, where andy and alberto didn't wait, and he still clawed them back. Andy went on an attack for the ages on 18 and cadel still made it worth almost nothing in the end by pulling solo (and dropping the likes of contador, basso etc) up the galibier.

Leopard threw absolutely everything at him in the alps, and nothing hurt him. He had so much gas in the tank afterwards he almost one the ITT ffs.

This tour was designed for a climber. Only 1 ITT and a TTT, and cadel still won it by 1:30 taking a stage win in the process.

yes it was given to him