In the Pantheon of recent winners...

[Dermie]

I'd go with "a tour win is a tour win" they are all long & hard & like many of us old racers the longer ago it was the tougher & harder it seemed, well that how I tell the stories anyhow.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Yeah agree with that.

In truth Schleck and AC attacked last year a lot.
But the race was less exciting, but it shouldn't take away from their performance either. Just a number of variables made this close.

I actually think it was a real shame so many GC men crashed out / got injured.
It did however create a chaotic feeling all race, and in a way led to much more disorganization and limited control (a reason why giro is often more entertaining).

 

[dlwssonic]

So you're saying it's questionable that someone just put in a minute on Contador in a time trial after doing crappy in every long time trial since 2007? No way! Cuddles is totally the cleanest ever.

cuddles did great in the last TT in a GT in vuelta 2009 and giro 2010. It was just much better this time around.

 

[Carl0880]

A great Tour Winner, I dont know if I would say that, he won a great tour would be appropiate.

I will say Cadel rode one of the smartest tours a rider had in a few years.. HE stayed up front on all stages, avoiding all the crashes. He followed the attacks that he thought he needed, and when A. Schleck made his 2 attacks in the Alps, he rode smartly, even after the mechanical yesterday. When it was time, he did the appropiate amount of work to hold gain back time lost on the road.

 

[movingtarget]

No one could say this was a dull race and to have the top three riders 57 seconds apart going into the TT after the drama of the Alps even though I was more confident Evans was going to win this one than I was in 2008 going into the TT.