2008 Tour de France is Over
Jul 30th, 2008
The 2008 Tour de France is over. It has been over for a couple of days, but I haven’t had time to write about it. My prediction of Cadel Evans winning was wrong. He lead the race for awhile, but couldn’t hold onto the yellow jersey. He lost it to Frank Schleck of CSC, but he was not the final GC winner. The winner was Carlos Sastre of Team CSC. Photo by Graham Watson.
One of Cadel’s problems was that his team Silence-Lotto was too weak to help defend the jersey. Cadel was isolated from his team on every important mountain stage. Team CSC was way too strong! CSC had at least 3-4 guys together on every mountain stage. This included Frank Schleck, who held the yellow jersey for a few stages before his team mate Carlos Sastre won it from him on L’Alpe-d’Huez. What can you say about Jens Voight? The guy is amazing. Jens sets a tempo up the mountain that blows the peloton to pieces, sacrificing himself for his team leader. Team CSC’s relentless attacks up the mountains was too much for Cadel. He couldn’t follow every attack those guys threw at him. His final time deficit going into the final time trail was too much to overcome. I am happy to see Carlos Sastre win the Tour. He has always been a top contender.
Overall, the race was very exciting all the way to the end. The 7 different yellow jersey holders almost breaks a record in one of the closest tours in history. Hopefully, the race is as exciting next year, but with Cadel Evans winning.
It’s July and you know what that means. It is time for the Tour de France. The 95th edition has started. I have mixed feelings about this year’s tour. I always look forward to watching it, but I am disappointed that team Astana was not allowed to race in this year’s tour. Team Astana has Alberto Contador (last years winner) and Levi Leipheimer (3rd place last year). It sucks that they can’t come back and defend the yellow jersey.
