Who are the sponsor? Argos is a Dutch Oil company that operates in the North Sea, and has bases in the lowland European countries. Shimano are the Japanese cycle componentry powerhouse who make Dura-Ace, Ultegra 105 and the like.

Nationality: Dutch

2012 Ranking: 1st, UCI ProContinental Ranking.

Past Stars: Kenny Van Hummel, Jonathan Hivert.

Selected Team Palmares:  Stages, Vuelta a Espana (John Deglenkob x 5, 2012, Marcel Kittel x1, 2011) UCI Europe Tour 2012 (John Deglenkob), Scheldeprijis 2012 (Marcel Kittel)

Brief Team History: Born in 2005, they inherited the Skil sponsor, but are not to be confused with the team Skil had sponsored in the eighties. As Skil-Shimano, they toiled in the Proconti ranks, until they got an invite to the Tour in 2009, where they didn’t really do an awful lot to be honest, except that Kenny Van Hummel was called the ‘worst climber in the history of the race’ by L’Equipe. They got invited back the next year and were rubbish as well, so didn’t get in for 2011. Luckily, Marcel Kittel spent 2011 winning races for fun, becoming the most successful neo-pro in history.

Last year: The year started with the team wearing ’1t4i’ jerseys as it was revealed that Skil were leaving, but a new sponsor would be coming in. A glorious white kit was brought in, and they got themselves a Tour invitation. Unfortunately, star Marcel Kittel got ill, and they hadn’t brought John Deglenkob, who won all but one sprint stage of the Vuelta as the team enjoyed a late surge – Deglenkob had become the star, from 4th in Milan San Remo to 4th in Paris-Tours after he rode away from the peloton when he realised he had a better chance of catching them himself. Kittel did get into a bit of a spat about doping when it emerged he had had a blood treatment done when he was ill a few years back, but it was before it was illegal, so it quickly blew over.

About as good as it got for Kittel at the Tour, although he was game enough to tweet about his ahem, explosive bowel movements.

Transfer dealings: Argos have decided to stick with what they have, with no major losses or signings. Thomas Peterson, previously of Garmin, is their foray into the GC market.

Who are the star riders? There’s basically two men the squad is based around, their terrible teutonic twins in Marcel Kittel and John Deglenkob. Both claim, as all sprinters do, not to be ‘pure sprinters’, and indeed, neither are – Kittel was a TT rider until he began dropping the men he was meant to lead out, and Deglenkob is a burly classics machine. Both have explosive finishes however, and can win from a group of any size. Thomas Peterson is the team’s excersise in a GC rider, although he still needs to develop, then they have an assortment of attacking riders such as Simon Geschke, Patrick Gretsch, Koen De Koert and Tom Stamsnijder.

The mighty power of Deglenkob and Kittel

Fashion police: An updated kit removes the light green 1t4i regalia, which is a great shame, and emphasises the Shimano logo alot more. The majority of the kit is still white though, so they get excellent marks from me anyway.

The 1t4i and the green is still there, but relegated to a faded patch in the corner.

What are their targets? Wins, and lots of them, utilizing Kittel and Deglenkob to the best of their abilities. Milan San-Remo will be a big target, especially after Deglenkob did so well, and I’d allready have money on him if I was a betting man. Then, with a ProTeam license, they will now want Grand Tour stage wins given they’re automatically invited. Deglenkob and Kittel will have to coexist at the Tour, but will want a win each as well as some of the flatter classics.

What are they likely to achieve? Still seen as underdogs, Argos could spring surprises if Kittel is back up to steam after an injury and illness hit year. They should get one stage in the Tour between the Germans, and Deglenkob may turn out to be Sagan’s best challenger for green, before they go wrap up some of the flatter classics such as Scheldprijs and Paris-Tours. Hopefully the rest of the team will make use of the time they spend not leading out the sprinters to get on the attack and win some races.

This should be a common sight in 2013

Components: Argos ride Felt bikes, and, as the secondary sponsor is Shimano, everything else is provided by the Japanese brand. Pearl Izumi make the lovely white kit.

The Big Question(s): Can Kittel return to winning ways? Can he and Deglenkob share leadership at the Tour?

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)

Image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step

Age: 27.

Nationality: British.

Role: Sprinter.

2012 WorldTour ranking: 40th, 128 pts.

2012 highlights:

• Three stage wins at the Giro d’Italia.
• Three stage wins at the Tour de France.
• 1st overall at Ster ZLM Toer – his first career stage race victory.
• Won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
• Stage wins at the Tour of Britain (three), Tour of Qatar (two), Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of Denmark.
• Birth of daughter Delilah Grace in April.

Why I’m following him:

2012 was a relatively quiet year – a mere 19 wins! – for the man who spent the season proudly wearing the rainbow stripes of the reigning world champion. And yet he won three stages at both of the Grand Tours he contested – including a fourth consecutive victory on the Champs-Élysées – and came within a whisker of completing a full set of Grand Tour points jerseys at the Giro. His one major disappointment was missing out on the opportunity to win gold in front of a home crowd in the Olympics road race.

Regular readers will know I am an unabashed Cav fan, simply because he is the best finisher in the world on a flat stage – and would be at least in most people’s top three all-time. I love the way his competitive fire burns so brightly, I love how much he obviously cares about the sport and I love his ability – with or without a lead-out train – to almost always put himself in exactly the right position in the closing metres of a race from which to launch his final burst. He’s not just blazingly fast in his legs, but in his racer’s brain too. He was stymied somewhat by the focus on Bradley Wiggins at Sky last year, but I expect him to have no such issues at OPQS this time around. The Manx Missile is ready to fire once again – he will win and win often, especially when it counts in the biggest races.

Mark Renshaw (Blanco)

Image courtesy of Rabobank

Age: 30.

Nationality: Australian.

Role: Sprinter.

2012 WorldTour ranking: 103rd, 32 pts.

2012 highlights:

• One stage win at Tour of Turkey.
• 4th overall at Delta Tour Zeeland.

Why I’m following him:

2013 is likely to be a make-or-break season for the Aussie sprinter. Not just because 2012 – his first as a lead sprinter after building a reputation as the best lead-out man in the world – was a dismal year, with just one victory at the Tour of Turkey and a miserable set of performances at both the Giro and the Tour. But with Rabobank pulling out of team sponsorship, the entire roster of the rechristened Blanco squad are as good as in the shop window for 2014.

Renshaw faces a battle to establish himself as a protected sprinter – teammate Theo Bos had seven wins in 2012 – on a team which also boasts the all-round talents of Robert Gesink, Luis Leon Sanchez, Bauke Mollema, Laurens ten Dam and Sep Vanmarcke, and yet often falls short of the sum of their parts at major stage races. If he doesn’t establish himself in the season’s opening months, his career prospects will nose-dive and he could easily find himself back as a designated lead-out man next year. As such, we can be sure he will give everything from the moment the first pedal is turned in anger at the Tour Down Under to prove he can still be a top sprinter. I wouldn’t count against him this year – if Renshaw is anything, he is tough.

John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano)

Image courtesy of Argos-Shimano

Age: 24.

Nationality: German.

Role: Sprinter.

2012 WorldTour ranking: N/A. 1st in UCI Europe Tour rankings, 596 pts.

2012 highlights:

• Five stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana.
• 1st overall at Tour de Picardie, two stage wins.
• Stage wins at Four Days of Dunkirk (two) and Tour of Poland.
• 4th at World Championships road race.
• One-day Classics: 4th at Paris-Tours, 5th at Milan-San Remo, 6th at E3 Harelbeke.

Why I’m following him:

Fast enough to win five sprints at the Vuelta and strong enough to notch up three top six placings in the Classics, Degenkolb learned his trade with HTC-Highroad and now forms half of a formidable German sprint double at Argos-Shimano alongside Marcel Kittel, who I followed last year. He may not be quite as powerful as compatriot Andre Greipel – yet – but he’s a better climber. Although last year’s Vuelta was missing the very top sprinters, his domination of the flat stages was mighty impressive. He also showed he can peak at just the right times of the season too, hitting a rich seam for the flatter spring Classics and then holding his outstanding autumn form post-Vuelta to achieve fourth place at both the Worlds and Paris-Tours.

Argos-Shimano lack a serious GC rider and are a team very much focussed on the sprints. As a wild-card entrant at both the Tour and Vuelta last year, they had one of the best lead-out trains in the peloton. Now with the added bonus of guaranteed entry to all WorldTour events, Degenkolb (and Kittel) should have more opportunities to rub shoulders with the big boys at major races. With the experienced and highly capable Koen de Kort and Tom Veelers to guide them through the closing kilometres of races, watch them fly in the pre-Ardennes Classics and on the roads of Italy, France and Spain. If he continues the trajectory of the past couple of years, Degenkolb will rack up a serious number of victories in 2013. I’ll be looking for him to lead the younger generation of sprinters into the top echelon and hasten the retirement of veterans such as Alessandro Petacchi.

Websites: Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw, John Degenkolb

Twitter: @MarkCavendish, @Mark_Renshaw, @johndegenkolb

You’ve read the five of us discussing our thoughts on the 2012 season throughout the year. Now it’s time to make your voices heard as we open the voting for the inaugural VeloVoices Awards. Over ten days in ten categories – some serious, others less so – we’re asking you to select your choices of 2012. We’ll publish the final results in the run-up to Christmas. (Hopefully next year we’ll have a grand gala dinner in central London …)

Yesterday we revealed our shortlist for the Most Ridiculous Thing Said/Seen Award. Today it’s the turn of our nominations for our final category, Kit of the Year:

Jack: Having enjoyed wearing a gold-trimmed helmet since winning Olympic gold in 2008, Samuel Sanchez thought he’d go the whole hog in 2012, in what was the last year in which he could describe himself as reigning Olympic champion. In commemoration, therefore, Euskaltel created a rather dashing jersey specifically for the Asturian, which interspersed shiny gold lines with the usual Basque orange. He’d worn a similar affair last year, though the rather mesmerising golden glow was a new – and welcome – introduction.

Panache: The Belgian national team kit – for the 2012 version, this was a plain, light blue jersey with the black, yellow and red bands of the Belgian flag emblazoned across the front - should be kit of the year every year. It is the nirvana of kits, the crème de la crème, simple but beautiful. Nothing even comes close.

Sheree: Swiss national team. There’s nothing easier to spot at any World Championships than the Swiss national team kit. Provided by Assos, the jersey mimics the Swiss flag with a big white cross on a red background and it’s paired with black shorts. It’s simple, elegant, stylish and immediately identifiable. What more do you want? I wish trade teams would bear these points in mind when designing team kit.

Swiss national jersey in BMC guise, as sported by national champion Martin Kohler (image courtesy of BMC)

Tim: There was nothing fancy about Argos-Shimano‘s kit (in either its Argos or 1t4i guises), but it did everything you would want a kit to do without looking excessively like a mobile billboard. White with tasteful lime green bands, their riders were easy to identify in the sea of corporate black in the peloton, the sponsors’ logos were prominent without being jarring, and it was just a good, classic kit with clean lines and colourways.

Kitty: It has to be the flourescent fiesta that was Farnese Vini. With so many teams going for black, blue and white in some combination, it was refreshing to be able to immediately pick out the Farnese Glows! You couldn’t miss them in the sunshine, they offered a welcome eye-searing pop of colour in rainy conditions – and they were over-the-top fun at its best. Go with the Glow!

All ten polls will remain open until 9pm (UK time) on Sunday. Results will be published next week.

VeloVoices Awards 2012

Rider of the Year

Team of the Year

Breakthrough Rider of the Year

Most Thrilling Moment of the Year

Flop of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Award

Sartorial Elegance Award

Least Likely to Happen in 2013

Most Ridiculous Thing Said/Seen

You’ve read the five of us discussing our thoughts on the 2012 season throughout the year. Now it’s time to make your voices heard as we open the voting for the inaugural VeloVoices Awards. Over ten days in ten categories – some serious, others less so – we’re asking you to select your choices of 2012. We’ll publish the final results in the run-up to Christmas. (Hopefully next year we’ll have a grand gala dinner in central London …)

Yesterday we revealed our shortlist for Rider of the Year. Today it’s the turn of our nominations for Team of the Year:

Sheree: I’ve loved the fact that Euskaltel-Euskadi has nurtured Basque (or Basque-trained) riders from cradle to grave and has given the sport’s most passionate fans something to rally behind. What would the Pyrenees be like without the hordes of Basque fans? Cycling fans around the world affectionately call them ‘The Carrots’ and should any of them fall [which happens rather a lot – Ed] the cry of “Carrot down!” goes out on Twitter. Surely, there’s not a more loved team than the boys in orange? That’s why they’re my team of the year. Sadly, they’re abandoning their all-Basque stance in 2013 for riders who can score points in a wider range of races than the all-Basque mountain goats.

Tim: They’re not the most popular choice, I know, but Sky finished 2012 as the WorldTour’s top-ranked team by a margin. Of course, there was Wiggo and Chris Froome. But Mark Cavendish’s ‘unsuccessful’ season saw him win three stages at both the Giro and Tour. Edvald Boasson Hagen took a clutch of victories including the GP Ouest France and a silver at the Worlds. Richie Porte won the Volta ao Algarve. Colombians Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao were seventh and ninth at the Giro, and Uran won silver in the Olympic road race. There’s no denying either the results or the depth of talent here. In this case, the stats don’t lie.

Kitty: It should be Argos-Shimano. They were a notable presence in the majority of races this year, working hard to get that train on the tracks for both Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb and even when they misfired, they misfired with all their hearts. They worked seamlessly as a team and had a joie de vivre that many of the bigger teams lacked. Their snowy white Argonaut suits were brilliant shafts of light cutting through the peloton, particularly in the Vuelta, where Degenkolb really came into his own as a sprinting force to be reckoned with. Great attitude, great guys, amazing results.

Jack: For me it’s the Belgian World Championships road race team. Over the past few years all of the pressure has been on Belgium’s team to deliver race favourite Philippe Gilbert to the rainbow jersey. Unfortunately it had never quite come together – until this year, that is. On the familiar Classics roads around Valkenburg they knew that this year would be as good a chance as they would get. And they certainly did not disappoint. As soon as Jurgen Roelandts, Bjorn Leukemans and company hit the front on the final ramp up to the finish line, there was only one winner. World Championships are notoriously difficult to control, but the Belgians did an outstanding job of dominating the race and sealing the victory.

Panache: The men of Omega Pharma-Quick Step had 54 road victories in 2012 by a variety of riders. What impresses me most is the number and variety of races they won, including the Tours of Qatar, Oman, Belgium and Beijing, Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships team time trial. They also seemed to spread the victories throughout the team. They won with Boonen, Terpsta, Chavanel, Leipheimer, Velits, Chicchi, Martin – it just goes on and on. The only thing OPQS didn’t win was a three-week Grand Tour.

Tomorrow we’ll unveil our shortlist for Breakthrough Rider of the Year.

VeloVoices Awards 2012

Rider of the Year

UCI Ranking: 4 (ProCont)
Major Results: Giro d’Italia stages x 2 (Ferrari, Rubiano), Memorial Marco Pantani (Felline), Italian national champs (Pellizotti), Tour de Langwaki (Serpa Perez)

Victories: 18

Report card: The team with the patchwork quilt of a team kit thanks to the insistence on using lots of small sponsors had a good year, with their primary objective, the Giro, proving fruitful with two stage wins in the hills and on the flat. Sure, Roberto Ferrari would have been thrown off the race had he not been Italian (well, probably) for causing a ridiculous crash, but he won a few days later anyway. Elsewhere, the Venezuelans (whom are now state paid effectively given Venezuela funds the team) and the Colombians reeled off the tours of Langwaki and Venezuela to give them pretty much the best results they could help for for a team this size.

Head Boy: Aside from his little side swipe on Mark Cavendish, Roberto Ferrari won the team a Giro stage as well as 3 other victories.

Class dunce: Jose Rujano has been dining off his 3rd place in the 2005 Giro for some time now, and still more managers are willing to be they can help him rediscover that form. For another year, he didn’t.

Scandalometer: Quite how Ferrari wasn’t kicked off for his ridiculous move in the Giro that knocked off Cavendish is beyond me, especially when you see that particularly anal UCI commissionaire disqualifying people from the Olympics for deviating from a barely-there painted line. Sadly, no one used the headline ‘Cavendish taken out by a Ferrari’ in the papers the next day.

Acqua & Sapone

UCI Ranking: 3 (ProCont)
Major Results: Tour of Austria stages x2 (Taborre, Di Luca),  Tour de Wallonie stages x 3 (Napolitano)

Victories: 12

Report card: The team of Garzelli, Di Luca, Napolitano, Betancur et all was supposed to go and rip up the Giro, given they’d come up with a brilliant new white kit to replace the red one they’d had for so long (but neatly accented with Red helmets), but despite having two former winners in Garzelli and Di Luca, as well as the defending King of the Mountains (again Garzelli), it was NetApp who got the final spot, seemingly for marketing reasons, which as very un-italian. To their credit, the team plugged away at the rest of they year, winning and placing well enough to place themselves 3rd in the ProConti rankings at the end of the year. Unfortunately, the threw a huff at Giro non-selection and ended the team despite some good quality wins – it looks like the teams built around securing invites to the Major Tours live and die by those invites.

Head Boy: Danilo Di Luca has never been as good as when he was CERA fuelled, but was still the teams best rider, leading the Tour of Austria for a couple of days having won on the famed Kutzbohler horn and getting 20th in Lombardy. He was even 13th in Tirreno Adriatico.

Class dunce: Given most of their claim to a Giro place was based on the credentials of Stefano Garzelli, its maybe a good job they didn’t get to ride, as Garzelli was pretty rubbish for the rest of the year, with 101st in the Tour of Austria, 27th in Tirreno, and 11th in Vuelta Burgos his best results.

Scandalometer: With no Giro invites, the team will end on December 31st, and we will never see their beautiful kit again…

Argos-Shimano

UCI Ranking: 2 (ProCont)
Major Results: Vuelta a Espana stages x 5, Tour of Poland stage, Tour de Picardie and 2 stages, 4 days of Dunkirk stages x 2 (Deglenkob), Tour of Oman stages x 2, Scheldeprijs,Eneco Tour stages x 2, Ster ZLM Tour stages x 2 (Kittel)

Victories: 30

Report card: The Dutch team built around German powerhouses Marcel Kittel and John Deglenkob started the year with Kittel as it’s key asset and with excitement over their invite to the Tour de France. Their German pair traded wins through the Spring and when the Tour arrived, they were set to take on Cavendish and Greipel, only for the team built around Kittel to fall apart when he got what by the sounds of it was intensely explosive diarrhea…Tom Veelers managed to salvage a podium place on one stage, but otherwise, it was a bit of a disaster aside from Kittel’s team presentation malarky. Sure, they’d got Argos on board as a sponsor, which was better then calling them ‘Project 1T4i’, but the results is what they wanted. Luckily, not sending Deglenkob turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as he went and destroyed the field at the Vuelta with relative ease to take five stages before almost winning Paris Tours with a single handed late jump to catch the break that was Cancellara-esque in its power. With their application for a ProTeam license in, the team now has two bankable stars and a bright future ahead, especially in the classics – Deglenkob was very close at San Remo…

Head Boy: John Deglenkob isn’t a new name after showing his strengh at Paris Tours last year with HTC, but he took things to a whole new level this year, The Vuelta was impressive, but it was the way he lost at Paris Tours that was most admirable, dropping the peloton and coming within seconds of catching the leaders.

Class dunce: It’s tricky to pick one out, as all scored well across the year, with no rider obviously performing below their talent.

Scandalometer: Marcel Kittel was briefly in trouble for using a now banned UV light blood treatment, but it wasn’t illegal at the time and was for an illness supposedly. A strong anti-doping crusader, Kittel’s statements are now always seemingly followed by a reference to ‘getting his own house in order’.

Cofidis

UCI Ranking: 7 (ProCont)
Major Results: Paris-Correze (Garcia),

Victories: 6

Report card: How Cofidis must miss their older days, with World Champions in the team and success. Of course, that success was somewhat produced by unnatural means, but the current team had a bit of disaster this year. Just 6 victories was their return, and everyone has already forgotten their Tour ride, where Rein Taarame briefly looked to have broken through into the big leagues but turned out to simply be having 15 minutes of fame. David Moncoutie sadly crashed out, ending his career in the wrong way, and being a fairly good analogy for Cofidis’ season – unfulfilled.

Head Boy: Samuel Dumoulin was probably their best rider, winning one race (his first of the year) then nothing but top 10s. He’s off to AG2R next year though.

Class dunce: A few could be listed, but Remy di Gregorio is the obvious one, having being caught with doping products.

Scandalometer: Di Gregorio was pulled from the team after being caught with drugs, and the team insisted it was his personal doing.

Colnago-CSF

UCI Ranking: 11 (ProCont)
Major Results: Giro d’Italia stage, Giro de Trentino (Pozzovivo),  Tour of Austria stages x 2 (Modolo)

Victories: 12

Report card: The team with great bikes achieved the best they could do, namely winning a Giro stage, and then used their young sprinter Modolo to wrap up some win volume. The wins at the Tour of Turkey, Trentino and Austria were all against World Tour opposition, which made Pozzovivo’s win at the Giro and his 8th place even better. Brambilla also showed his class throughout the year.

Head Boy: 8th at the Giro, a stage win, and numerous top 10s in the late season classics makes Domencio Pozzovivo a shoe in for the prize.

Class dunce: Again, it would be harsh to pick out anyone.

Scandalometer: Nothing to report.

Europcar

UCI Ranking: 8 (ProConti)
Major Results: Tour de France stages x 3 (Voeckler x 2, Rolland), Tour de France KOM (Voeckler), Brabantse Pijl (Voeckler)

Victories: 21

Report card: Their season is essentially defined by the Tour de France, and boy did they have a good one. Needing a way to match his 2011 heroics, and on the back foot following a lengthy injury drama that at one point looked to have ruled him out of the Tour, Voeckler somehow managed to do it, winning two stages and the King of the Mountains competition whilst team mate Rolland won to La Touisuire thanks to some excellent team work as they team time trialled across the Alps and took 8th overall. The rest of the season saw Voeckler do well in the classics, even winning one, although the team didn’t really win that much else of stature. Sebastian Turgot did get into Roubiax second before it turned out he missed three drugs tests.

Head Boy: Obviously its Thomas Voeckler, the patriarch of French Cycling, and the man we all dream had won the 2011 Tour, who’s Tour performance showed why Europcar are the best French team at the moment.

Class dunce: Remember when Anthony Charteau was KOM? It was so odd the Tour changed the rules. Charteau hasn’t looked like doing much since, although his work for Rolland’s stage win was impeccable.

Scandalometer: Sebastian Turgot has issues with his three missed drugs tests, although little has come of it.

Farnese-Vini

UCI Ranking: 14 (ProConti)
Major Results: Giro d Italia stages x 2 (Rabottini, Guardini), Tour de Langwaki stages x 6 (Guardini), 2nd Tour of Flanders (Pozzato)

Victories: 17

Report card: A technically British team given where their license is held, the team of Pozzato had much of its success due to Guardini, who beat Cavendish in a straight on drag race at the Giro, whilst Rabbotini beat Rodriguez in a thrilling finale, and most of its publicity to the drama that is Filippo Pozzato, as well as their Fluro Kit. Pozzato’s injuries dominated the spring, before he looked capable of beating Boonen when he briefly dropped him at Flanders after *shock* attacking, before falling off at Roubaix and then admitting working with Ferrari. Guardini ratttled off some more wins to end the year on a high though.

Head Boy: The new man of Italian speed, Andrea Guardini, won whenever he could, beating World Champion Cavendish and establishing himself as the possible new rival to the Manxman. Now if only he could climb as well as he can bunnyhop over stricken world champs.

Class dunce: Its perhaps unfair to pick on Fillipo Pozzato after the year he had but you still get the feeling he should have won Flanders, and certainly needs to win another monument to make his career stand out for more then fashion and excess.

Scandalometer: Pozzato (of course) received a ban for working with Ferrari.

Saur-Sojasun

UCI Ranking: 1 (ProCont)
Major Results: 4 Days of Dunkirk and stage (Engoulvert), Gp de Wallonie,Tour of Cataluyna stages x 2 (Simon), Tour of Romandie stage (Hivert), Etoile de Besseges and stage (Coppel)

Victories: 17

Report card: Winners of the ProContinental Tour, Saur have probably found their niche after a couple of years getting wild cards to the Tour that were pretty abject. They win the French races they want to though, and have  a good selection of Frenchmen who just arent quite at the top to choose from.

Head Boy: Julien Simon shares my name and so is obviously the best (…), but in all seriousness he did the best of the riders, with strong rides in Cataluyna as well as the Ardenne classics, where he sneaked into the top 20 at Liege and Fleche Wallone.

Class dunce: 21st in the Tour isnt bad, but Jerome Coppel used to be the next big French thing – but this looks increasingly unlikely.

Scandalometer: Nothing to report.

This coming year, the licenses arguably have more credibility than other years – they after all get you an automatic invitation to the Tour de France, and the centenary edition will be excellent for garnering publicity for your brand. There are 18 licenses avaliable, of which twelve have been taken up, which leaves a total of eight teams fighting for the remaining five. Only one of these is a ‘new entry’ – Argos-Shimano, who have decided to try to step up to the big time. So here we have a look at the seven applicants, and weigh up who should be ‘promoted’ to the WorldTour.

As I write, the UCI have literally just announced that a further two teams have been added to the top tier, leaving just five teams left after three places.

The following teams are already in possession of a license for 2013, thanks to the UCI policy of handing out long term contracts to aid stability. Cannondale, for those not in the loop, are the new incarnation of Liquigas, whom have sadly left the sport, but the team was technically called Liquigas-Cannondale anyway so continuity is maintained even if the team has changed in terms of its squad, with stalwart Nibali leaving, though Sagan and basso remain.

AG2R La Mondiale
Astana Pro Team
BMC Racing Team
Cannondale
Euskaltel – Euskadi
Former Rabobank
Garmin Sharp
Katusha
Lampre – Merida
Movistar Team
Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
Orica GreenEdge
RadioShack Nissan
Sky Procycling
Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team

We then get onto the five teams applying for the three remaining licenses, ranked on their sporting merit.

Team Argos – Shimano

Stars: Marcel Kittel, John Deglenkob

Big Buys: Thomas Peterson,Will Clarke

Losses: Alexandre Geniez, Dominic Klemme

Should they get the license? Argos have a strong team, with Kittell and Deglenkib the go too men in sprints, and Deglenkob looking increasingly dangerous as a man for the classics whilst Kittel uses his purer speed to win stages. They’ve minimised any losses in the transfer market, and Thomas Peterson, the decent American GC rider, could help them make an impact in that department. They also have an excellent kit, which always helps. They should and probably will take the 1st of the three licenses.

Lotto Belisol

Stars: Andre Greipel, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Jelle Vanendert, Lars Bak, Jurgen Roelandts

Big Buys: n/a

Losses: n/a

Should they get the license? Lotto were originally down as one of the main teams, and supposedly had just filed paper work late, but somehow they’re now on the list of teams competing for final places after Euskatel, Garmin and Ag2r beat them to the first batch. With their team, which is essentially unchanged from last year, they should easily secure a license, given the talents of Greipel and Van den Broeck, which makes you worry if the financials are in order or not.

FDJ

Stars: Sandy Casar, Pierrick Fedrigo, Nacer Bouhanni, Thibaut Pinot

Big Buys: Murilo Fischer, Alexandre Geniez

Losses: Gabriel Rasch, Yauheni Hutarovich

Should they get the license? In the end, it’s probably going to come down to a toss up between FDJ and Saxo-Tinkoff for the final place, with the Danish team more likely to sneak it. FDJ have oddly sold off their youthful talent, especialy Rasch and Hutarovich, and whilst they retain Bouhanni and Pinot, as well as Jeanasson, they might struggle next year. Whether they even want the license is another thing – they and Europcar aren’t overly keen on the idea of global racing. Still, they have glorious kit, and everyone loves them, so they have a chance – their anti-doping credentials are flawless after all.

Team Europcar

Stars: Thomas Voeckler, Pierre Rolland

Big Buys: N/a

Losses:  n/a

Should they get the license? No, because they don’t actually want it. Their team is based only around two men anyway, with occasional cameos from others (see Sebastian Turgot at Roubaix last year) and they are better at the national French races before being invited to the Tour (which they will be, without fail) and winning the nation’s hearts there. So they don’t want or need it – simple.
Team Saxo – Tinkoff

Stars: Alberto Contador

Mark Cavendish (Sky)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won Ninove criterium, Lac Audejos criterium, Profonde van Surhuisterveen and Oslo GP. Won one stage of Post Danmark Rundt. Won three stages of Tour of Britain. Did not finish World Championships road race.

WorldTour ranking: 40th, 128 points.

Following the disappointment of the Olympic road race and with his impending departure from Sky an open secret, the outgoing world champion could have rested on his laurels and allowed the season to peter out. But Mark Cavendish is nothing if not a proud and fierce competitor, and instead made proverbial hay, racking up four wins on the criterium circuit and a stage at the Post Danmark Rundt before lighting up the Tour of Britain with three dominating sprint victories and one day in the leader’s jersey.

One year on from his historic day in Copenhagen on a hilly Valkenburg road race course ill-suited to the pure sprinters, Cavendish did everything he could in support of Britain’s protected rider, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke. He set the tempo on the front of the peloton in pursuit of the breakaway and even completed four ascents of the Cauberg before finally climbing off, with the cheers of an appreciative crowd still ringing in his ears. He finished the season with 15 out of Sky’s total of 50 ‘official’ wins (19 in total), including three each at the Giro and Tour, as well as the spring semi-Classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Not bad for a season in which his ambitions had largely played second fiddle to teammate Bradley Wiggins.

As expected, the confirmation of his departure for Omega Pharma-Quick Step followed at season’s end. The Belgian squad will feel like a home away from home, as he will be reunited with former HTC-Highroad teammates Tony Martin, Bert Grabsch and the Velits brothers. Cavendish will share team captaincy with Martin and Tom Boonen, with a clear delineation in focus between the three across Grand Tours, time trials/stage races and the Classics respectively.

Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano)

Image courtesy of Argos-Shimano

Results: Won Omloop van het Houtland. Won two stages of Circuit Franco-Belge. Won Munsterland Giro.

WorldTour ranking: N/A. 6th in UCI Europe Tour rankings, 399 points.

Despite a relatively light late-season racing schedule, the young German sprinter showed that he had recovered from the stomach problems which scuppered his Tour de France campaign by adding four wins – including two of the four stages of the Circuit Franco-Belge – to take his 2012 win total to a more than respectable 13. While this fell short of his blistering 2011 season, where he set a new record mark for wins by a first-year pro of 18, he has proven this year that he can mix it with the big names. In addition to winning in the wet at the semi-Classic Scheldeprijs in the spring, he also beat strong fields in sprints at the Tour of Oman and the Enceo Tour.

The next milestone in his development will be targeting a stage at either the Giro or Tour (he won once at the 2011 Vuelta). Meanwhile the challenge for his Argos-Shimano management for 2013 will be how they juggle the ambitions of both Kittel and his compatriot, multi-Vuelta stage winner John Degenkolb. Expect great things from both Kittel and the team next year.

Kittel, a sporadic but always amusing presence on Twitter, has clearly found ways to occupy himself during his late-season taper-down. He’s been brushing up on his reading, commenting on USADA’s ‘reasoned decision’:

Just read some of these USADA files. It felt like reading a script of an action thriller. Can’t see the happy end there!! It’s a shame…

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) October 11, 2012

And he’s also found new ways of blowing off steam when he’s not on his bike:

Oh, I don’t know why I bought Fifa 13. I hate it so much right now!!! #frustrated #notalent

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) October 18, 2012

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won Lommel criteriumand Bavikhove criterium. 2nd in Profonde van Surhuisterveen, Oslo GP and Veenendaal-Veenendaal. 26th in GP de Quebec. 12th in GP de Montreal. 14th in World Championships road race.

WorldTour ranking: 8th, 351 points.

Like Cavendish, Peter Sagan put his Olympic disappointment behind him with a busy criterium schedule ahead of the Worlds. He finished behind the Manxman in Ninove, Surhuisterveen and at the Oslo GP, but exacted a measure of revenge by beating the outgoing rainbow jersey in Bavikhove. He also took a further victory at Lommel.

His final preparation for Valkenburg came at the Canadian WorldTour double-header. A late attempt to bridge across to the winning attack in Quebec was unsuccessful, and he was never really in the running in the finale in Montreal. In the Worlds road race he was always there or thereabouts, but missed Philippe Gilbert’s winning move and finished in the middle of the 26-man chase group five seconds behind the new world champion.

It was a subdued end to a brilliant season in which he more than fulfilled his promise by taking 21 victories, second only to Andre Greipel. This included a perfectly timed mid-season purple patch which saw him claim five stages at the Tour of California and a further four at the Tour de Suisse, before nabbing three stages and dominating the green jersey competition at the Tour de France, while amusing us all with his off-beat victory celebrations.

Still only 22, 2012 was the year in which the Slovak Fastvak truly came of age and established himself as a major player for years to come. Having registered a second, third, fourth and fifth place in this year’s spring Classics (at Gent-Wevelgem, Amstel Gold, Milan-San Remo and Flanders respectively), expect him to make a victory in one (or more) of these a priority for 2013.

Previous updates: August 8th, June 20th, April 9th, February 20th

Rider profiles: Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan

Websites: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan

Twitter: @MarkCavendish, @marcelkittel

The film was based on the novel I Am Legend by the American writer Richard Matheson. There was an earlier 1964 film adaptation called The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price, and a more recent 2007 adaptation called I Am Legend with Will Smith. I’ve not had the courage to see either. For it is the 1971 version starring Charlton Heston that I have a great fondness for.

The plot of the film is admittedly simplistic. Biological warfare between China and the Soviet Union results in a plague being released that kills most of humankind.  The army colonel and doctor, Robert Neville, played by Heston, injects himself with an experimental vaccine and as a result is immune to the deadly disease. Los Angeles is devoid of people. Heston could be the last man on earth but at night a group of albino mutants called “The Family” roam the streets and seek to kill the omega man.

The film featured one of the first interracial kisses by the characters played by Charlton Heston and Rosalind Cash.

Watching the inaugural 2011 Tour of Beijing last year, I was reminded of the eerie scenes of Heston driving alone through the deserted Los Angeles city streets. Beijing is a city with a population in excess of 20 million, but where were all the people, where were the spectators?

Since the first Tour of Beijing was successfully held last year, the event has been gradually familiar to the Beijing people, and has become a new platform to promote national fitness and low-carbon lifestyle.

Wang Anshun - Acting Mayor of Beijing Honorary President of the Organizing Committee of Tour of Beijing

The Tour of Beijing is a real gem among the treasures of cycling. The event showed itself to be a spectacular success in 2011 and it is with real joy that the champions, journalists and other partners join us for this second edition, while millions of fans, along with the simply curious, will discover a spectacle in all its beauty on their television screens.

A Chinese proverb teaches us that the Tour of Beijing is without a doubt a wonderful investment for all of us: “All the flowers of the future are in the seeds of today”.

Pat McQuaid - UCI President

I fear that Pat McQuaid’s proverb may have been taken from a fortune cookie.

In the short history of the Tour Of Beijing there has been a reluctance of both teams and riders to participate. There have been concerns over politics, human rights, pollution and the Tour’s place at the end of a long riding calendar.

This year, Argos-Shimano, a team with a Japanese co-sponsor and rider, withdrew from the Tour of Beijing. Citing current political tensions between China and Japan and the earlier removal of the Japanese team Aisan from the Tour of China as reasons. Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank also decided to not include their Japanese rider Takashi Miyazawa.

Without a time trial stage in the 2012 edition, Tony Martin, the 2011 GC winner, will struggle to defend his title. This year the GC winner will be a more traditional stage rider, a rider that can climb. Ryder Hesjedal, who won the Giro, is a favourite as are the in-form riders Samuel Sanchez and Igor Anton.

I’ll be hoping that Simon Clarke, who won the mountain classification at the Vuelta, can secure bookend victories for the Orica-GreenEdge team. Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEdge won the first World Tour event of this year, the Tour Down Under, in January.

Andy Schleck who has had an annus horribilis with injury is confident of starting in the event.

Alberto Contador has said that it was “pointless” for him to participate, referring to the UCI rule that a rider returning from a doping ban cannot accumulate World Tour points. I won’t mention clenbuterol and meat in China … oh no I just did.

Sky’s Michael Barry will ride his last professional race at this year’s Tour of Beijing.

The Tour of Beijing is the final World Tour of the year. It is a five stage race which starts Tuesday 9th October in Tian An Men Square and concludes Saturday 13th October in Pinggu Century Square. The route features many iconic sights including the Bird’s Nest Piazza and the Bedaling Great Wall. Yet it is spectators and history that make a race unique and special, something the UCI and the Tour of Beijing organisers need to focus on and amend. I hope they do so in 2012.

On your marks, get ready and race!!!

Images and quotes were sourced from the 2012 Tour of Beijing Roadbook.

PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Argos-Shimano, a team with a Japanese co-sponsor and rider, withdrew from cycling’s Tour of Beijing on Wednesday amid tensions between Japan and China over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

“Global Cycling Promotion and the local organizing committee of the Tour of Beijing discussed with Team Argos-Shimano the option of not participating in the Tour of Beijing,” the event’s organizers said in a statement.

“Due to the current circumstances, the team accepted to withdraw from the race.”

The Tour of Beijing would be held as scheduled from Oct. 9-13, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said.

“At this time, the current situation is not affecting the participation of any of the 18 World Tour teams and all are expected to be on the start line in Beijing on the 9th of October,” UCI’s Global Cycling Promotion director Alain Rumpf said.

“Of course the local organizing committee and Global Cycling Promotion are closely following the evolution of the situation.”

Earlier this month, Japanese cycling team Aisan were kicked out of the Tour of China.

Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply this month after Japan bought the isolated East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner, sparking protests across China.

Giro d’Italia

Top Row: Taylor Phinney, Mark Cavendish, Matt Goss, Garmin-Barracuda, Mark Cavendish, Miguel Rubiano, Paolo Tiralongo.

Middle Row: Dominico Pozzovivo, Francisco Ventoso, Joaquim Rodriguez, Roberto Ferrari, Lars Bak, Mark Cavendish, Andrey Amador.

Bottom Row: Matteo Rabottini, Jon Izagirre, Joaquim Rodriguez, Andrea Guardini, Romain Kreuziger, Thomas de Gendt, Marco Pinnoti.

Tour de France

Top Row: Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan. Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Andre Greipel, Andre Greipel, Peter Sagan.

Middle Row: Chris Froome, Thibaut Pinot, Bradley Wiggins, Thomas Voeckler, Pierre Rolland, David Millar.

Bottom Row: Andre Greipel, Luis Leon Sanchez, Piedro Fedrigo, Thomas Voeckler, Alejandro Valverde, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish

Vuelta a Espana

Top Row: Movistar, John Deglenkob, Alejandro Valverde, Simon Clarke, John Deglenkob, Joaquim Rodriguez, John Deglenkob.

Middle Row: Alejandro Valverde, Phillipe Gilbert, John Deglenkob, Frederik Kessiakoff, Joaquim Rodriguez, Steve Cummings, Joaquim Rodriguez.

Bottom Row: Antonio Piedra, Dario Cataldo, Alberto Contador, Daniele Bennati, Phillipe Gilbert, Denis Menchov, John Deglenkob.

Team wins

Team Sky:  9 (Mark Cavendish x6, Bradley Wiggins x 2, Chris Froome)

Movistar: 6 (TTT, Alejandro Valverde x 3, Francisco Ventoso, Andrey Amador)

Katusha:  6 (Joaquim Rodriguez x 5, Denis Menchov)

BMC: 5  (Phillipe Gilbert x 2, Steve Cummings, Taylor Phinney, Marco Pinnoti)

Argos-Shimano: 5 (John Deglenkob x 5)

Lotto-Belisol: 4 (Andre Greipel x 3, Lars Bak)

Astana: 3 (Frederik Kessiakoff, Romain Kreuiziger, Paolo Tiralongo)

Europcar: 3 (Thomas Voeckler x 2, Pierre Rolland)

Liquigas: 3 (Peter Sagan x 3)

Orica-GreenEdge: 2 (Matt Goss, Simon Clarke)

RadioShack-Nissan: 2 (Fabian Cancellara, Daniele Bennati)

FDJ: 2 (Thibaut Pinot, Piedro Fedrig0)

Farnese-Vini: 2 (Matteo Rabottini, Andrea Guardini)

Androni-Venezuela: 2 (Miguel Rubiano, Roberto Ferrari)

Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda: 2 (TTT, David Millar)

Colnago: 1 (Dominico Pozzovivo)

Euskatel-Euskadi: 1 (Jon Izzagire)

Rabobank: 1 (Luis Leon Sanchez)

OmegaPharma-QuickStep: 1(Dario Cataldo)

Vaconsoleil: 1 (Thomas de Gendt)

Saxo-Bank/TinkoffBank: 1 (Alberto Contador)

Caja Rujal: 1 (Antonio Piedra)

Top 10 Individuals

1. Mark Cavendish (Sky, GBR) – 6

2= Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha, SPA) – 5

2=John Deglenkob (Argos-Shimano, GER) – 5

4= Alejandro Valverde (Movistar, SPA) – 3

4=Peter Sagan (Liquigas, SVK) – 3

4= Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol, GER) – 3

7= Bradley Wiggins (Sky, GBR) – 2

7= Phillipe Gilbert (BMC, BEL) – 2

7=Thomas Voeckler (Europcar, FRA) – 2

10. 29 riders on 1 win.

Wins per country

1. Spain: 13 (Joaquim Rodriguez x 5, Alejandro Valverde x 3, Francisco Ventoso, Jon Izzagire, Luis Leon Sanchez, Antonio Piedra, Alberto Contador)

2. Great Britain: 11 ((Mark Cavendish x6, Bradley Wiggins x 2, Chris Froome, David Millar, Steve Cummings)

3. Germany: 8 (John Deglenkob x 5, Andre Greipel x 3)

4. Italy: 7 (Paolo Tiralongo, Roberto Ferrari, Domenico Pozzovivo, Andrea Guardini, Marco Pinotti, Dario Cataldo, Daniele Bennati)

5. France: 5 (Thomas Voeckler x 2, Pierre Rolland, Thibaut Pinot, Piedro Fedrigo)

6. Slovakia: 3 (Peter Sagan x 3)

7. Belgium: 3 (Thomas De Gendt, Phillipe Gilbert x 2)

8. Australia: 2 (Simon Clarke, Matt Goss)

9. Colombia, Denmark, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia all on 1.

Key race facts

3,360 - In kilometres, this year’s total race distance.

175 – Number of finishers, out of 198 starters.

84:59:49 - Total race time for overall winner Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), equivalent to an average speed of 39.5kph. (Although in reality it’s slightly slower in ‘real’ time if you discount time bonuses.)

Contador celebrates winning stage 17, which set up his overall victory (image courtesy of Roz Jones)

3 – Spanish riders occupied all three steps on the final podium – Contador, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) – the first time this has happened since 2004 (Roberto Heras, Santi Perez and Francisco Mancebo).

7 – Number of Spanish riders in the final top 11 on GC.

4 – Only four riders wore the leader’s red jersey during the race: Movistar’s Jonathan Castroviejo and Valverde, Rodriguez and Contador.

0 – Number of days on which the race was led by a non-Spanish rider.

4 – Only four riders led the green jersey points competition during the race: John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano), Valverde, Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Rodriguez.

4 – Number of riders who led the polka dot jersey King of the Mountains competition: Javier Chacon (Andalucia), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM), Clarke and Valverde. Clarke regained the jersey on stage 14 and never relinquished it. He held the jersey for a total of 12 days.

0 – Having at one stage held three of the four individual jerseys simultaneously, as well as lying a close second in the mountains classification, Joaquim Rodriguez ended with none. He lost the points and all-round jerseys on the final stage.

It was looking so good for so long for Rodriguez … (image courtesy of Katusha)

29 - Number of riders who finished within an hour of Contador’s total time. Only two riders finished within ten minutes (Valverde and Rodriguez).

4:32:35 – Cheng Li (Argos-Shimano) was the last classified finisher, four hours and 32 minutes slower than Contador. Only eight stages took longer to complete than this.

1 – Cheng Li was the first Chinese rider ever to finish any of the three Grand Tours.

4 – Caja Rural’s Francisco Aramendia won the daily combativity prize for the most aggressive rider four times.

The champion

Image courtesy of Roz Jones

29 – Age of Alberto Contador.

1:16 – Contador’s winning margin over Valverde, representing just 0.025% of his total time.

2 – This was only the second time Contador has ridden the Vuelta – and his second overall victory.

5 – It is his fifth Grand Tour victory (excluding the 2010 Tour and the 2011 Giro, which he relinquished as a consequence of his back-dated two-year doping ban.

5 – He is only the fifth rider ever to win five Grand Tours before the age of 30.

1 – Stages won by Contador during the race (stage 17).

5 – Days in the red jersey for Contador, compared to 13 for Rodriguez.

0 - WorldTour points Contador earned for his team with his overall victory, due to his ban.

The stage winners

12 – Number of different stage winners.

4 - Number of riders with multiple stage victories: John Degenkolb (five), Joaquim Rodriguez (three), BMC’s Philippe Gilbert and Alejandro Valverde (two each).

Degenkolb (right, in green) dominated the sprints (image courtesy of Susi Goetze)

8 – Different nationalities who won stages: Spain led the way with seven, followed by Germany (five), Belgium and Italy (two each), Australia, Sweden, Britain and Russia (one each).

10 – Only ten of the 22 teams won stages during the race, with Argos-Shimano leading the way with five, all courtesy of Degenkolb.

1 – Simon Clarke‘s win on stage four was his first professional race victory, in his fourth pro season. His last race win of any kind was in June 2008.

1 – Clarke’s victory in the King of the Mountains competition was the first Grand Tour jersey win for Orica-GreenEDGE in their debut season.

0 – Philippe Gilbert‘s victory total in 2012 before his two wins here.

And a few other random stats …

1 – Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) became the only rider in 2012 to finish all three Grand Tours.

38 – Age of Matteo Tossato (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), the oldest rider in the race.

21 – Age of Tom Dumloulin (Argos-Shinano), the youngest rider in the race. 

48 - Number of Spanish riders who started the race, the most of any nation.

Some information courtesy of infostradalive.com.

Link: Vuelta a Espana official website

Many fans will be familiar with the main riders in the peloton, but have you ever wondered about the mysterious sponsors whose names are plastered all over every available square inch of the riders and their equipment? If so, here’s the first of a two-part overview of the 22 teams, their title sponsors and main protagonists. While many of the peloton’s high-ranking riders have secured contracts for next season, there will also be large numbers counting on a good Vuelta performance to increase their chances of full-time employment next season.

All team line-ups are, of course, subject to change in the final few days before the race starts, but are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Part two follows tomorrow.

AG2R La Mondiale

Sponsor: A French life insurance and pension provider.

Overview:  AG2R go into the tour with their usual multi-pronged attack comprising Nicolas Roche and John Gadret, both probably hoping for a top ten finish. They will be supported by Christophe Riblon and former maillot jaune wearer Rinaldo Nocentini. Given that Roche is off to pastures new (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) next season, it’ll be interesting to see whether he or Gadret gets better supported. They also have riders such as Maxime Bouet and Blel Kadri to grab valuable airtime in breakaways plus Lloyd Mondory and Sylvain Georges to mix it up in the sprints.

Andalucia

Sponsor: The Spanish region of the same name.

Overview:  As a wild-card selection, this team knows it’ll be expected to animate the race even though it’s not going anywhere near Andalucia. Regular Vuelta watchers will be familiar with the names of Adrian Palomares, Jesus Rosendo and Juan Jose Lobato, who tend to ply their trade on the more mountainous stages and may even make a bid for the King of the Mountains jersey in the early stages. They are unlikely to figure either in a stage win or the general classification.

Argos-Shimano

Sponsor: An independent Dutch oil company and a Japanese manufacturer of bike parts and accessories.

Overview: After a disappointing Tour where all their eggs were in one basket, the team is hedging its bets in the Vuelta. They have sprinter John Degenkolb for the six flat stages, Simon Geschke for the 40km individual time trial and want-away Frenchman Alexandre Geniez for the general classification, solidly supported by the experienced Koen de Koert. Again, as a wild-card entry they’ll be looking to provide ample justification to the organisers for their selection and, with a nod to their Far Eastern sponsors, they’ve selected Ji Cheng and, possibly, Yukihiro Doi.

Astana

Sponsor: A Kazakh business consortium.

Overview: Astana will be looking to add to their promising 2012 and perhaps erase their poor performance in last year’s Vuelta where their highlight was a second place on the penultimate stage [allegedly fuelled by Sheree's home-made banana and chocolate cakes - Ed]. To be fair Fredrik Kessiakoff had been lying fifth on GC before tummy troubles laid him low. After his joust for the King of the Mountains jersey in this year’s Tour, expect him to again challenge for the general classification. In support he’ll have Tour of Turkey runner-up Alexandr Dyachenko, Andrey Kashechkin, who was third in the 2006 Vuelta, and Amstel Gold winner Enrico Gasparotto.

BMC

Sponsor: A Swiss bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: Looking at the squad composition, I’d say BMC will be looking for stage wins and fine-tuning ahead of the World Championships in Valkenburg, to be held on essentially the Amstel Gold course. In particular, they’ll be hoping that Philippe Gilbert can rediscover his mojo. The team includes Brent Bookwalter, Alessandro Ballan and Amael Moinard, a top 20 finisher in the Vuelta. We could be wrong, but we’re saying just don’t expect too much from this team.

Caja Rural

Sponsor: A northern Spanish savings bank.

Overview: As another of the wild-card entries, Caja Rural appreciate that their role is to animate the race by getting into breaks and grabbing plenty of on-air exposure for their sponsor. However, they do have some experienced riders who’ll be looking to maybe win a stage or feature in the chase for KoM points. Look out for David de la Fuente, national Bulgarian champion Danail Petrov - third in the Tour of Turkey- ex-RadioShacker Manuel Cardoso, the Portuguese national champion and no relation to the other Cardoso on the team, Andre. [So, no cycling families story there, then - Ed.]

Cofidis – Le Credit en ligne

Sponsor: A French credit company.

Overview:The team will be mounting a stout defence of David Moncoutie‘s King of the Mountains jersey, which he’s won four times in succession. He’s hoping to win it for a record-breaking fifth time in what is highly likely to be his last year as a professional rider. Cofidis do business in Spain so expect Moncoutie’s teammates, such as job-hunting Mickael Buffaz and Luis Angel Mate, to be figuring in escapes and looking for opportunities to grab airtime for their sponsor. Leonardo Duque will be hoping to score points in the sprints.

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Sponsors: A Basque telecoms provider and regional development agency.

Overview: They may have secured funding for the next three years but the team need to bag more UCI points to keep their place in the WorldTour. Euskaltel-Euskadi’s leader for the Vuelta will once again be Igor Anton who, with few time-trialling kilometres and plenty of mountain-top finishes, must surely believe that this time he’ll climb atop the podium, particularly given all the stages in his stomping grounds. He’ll be looking to replicate his 2010 form but, this time, avoid crashing out. He’ll start slightly on the back-foot after the team time trial, not one of the team’s competencies, but he’s got solid support around him including experienced hand Amets Txurruka and climbing sensation Mikel Landa. Typically we can expect to see those orange jerseys to the fore every time the road heads skywards and particularly where they’ll have their usual fanatical support.

FDJ-BigMat

Sponsors: The French national lottery and a chain of independent builders’ merchants.

Overview: Having missed the Tour due to health issues, Arnold Jeannesson, riding in his first Vuelta, will be looking to at least replicate his 2011 Tour position (14th) or top perhaps the recent Tour success of teammate Thibaut Pinot -  a stage win and top ten on GC. The team also includes the French national road race champion and one of their key sprinters, Nacer Bouhanni, who has a number of wins to his name this season. Plus there’s strong, experienced  support in the form of Remi Pauriol and William Bonnet.

Garmin-Sharp (formerly Garmin-Barracuda)

Sponsors: A US-based multinational manufacturer of GPS systems and a Japanese technology provider.

Overview: Christophe Le Mevel will be looking to secure his future with an improvement on his 2010 15th place but he may well have to play second fiddle to recent Tour de l’Ain winner Andrew Talansky. We can expect the team to perform well as usual in the opening team time trial. They’ve got sprinters Koldo Fernandez and Murilo Fischer while most of their other riders such as Johan Van Summeren are better suited to the Classics than the high mountains. It looks as if the team leader will have his work cut out.

Katusha

Sponsor: A Russian business conglomerate.

Overview: Giro runner-up  Joaquim Rodriguez will be hoping he can make the step up on a course better suited to his capabilities: more steep inclines, less time-trialling. He’ll have his Vuelta a Burgos winning wingman Dani Moreno to support him along with double Vuelta winner Denis Menchov, Alberto Losado and Xavier Florencio. Expect to see a number of their Russians heading up the road in breakaways and then, in the dying kilometres, time-trialling away from their companions only to be recaptured by the peloton before the finish line.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the remaining eleven teams, from Lampre-ISD to Vacansoleil-DCM.

Link: Vuelta a Espana official website

Mark Cavendish (Sky)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won three stages at the Tour de France, fourth in points classification. 29th in Olympics road race.

WorldTour ranking: 27th, 128 points.

By his high standards, July proved to be a disappointing month for the world champion. An early sprint victory on stage two at the Tour de France demonstrated his ability to win without a dedicated train, but also underlined the fact that for the first time in his career he was not his team’s top priority, as Sky focussed on delivering Bradley Wiggins to overall victory. There then followed a 15-stage drought – the longest of Cavendish’s Tour career – before a bravura will-he-won’t-he chase-down of a disintegrating break saw him taste victory again in Brive on stage 18.

3 weeks of suffering physically, mentally & emotionally starts today. But the image of Champs Élysées is the most beautiful target in sport.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) June 30, 2012

Victory on the Champs-Élysées on the final stage for the fourth consecutive year was no surprise, but the manner of victory – a long solo sprint from 350 metres out – was. He now has 23 Tour stage wins, putting him fourth on the all-time list. [Okay, okay, you can stop drooling now - Ed.]

The real target for July, though, was a gold medal in the road race at his ‘home’ Olympics in London. However, GB’s five-man team could not control the race on their own and a large breakaway got away and stayed away, leaving a disappointed Cavendish to finish in the main field, a distant 29th.

Since then, he has taken out his disappointment on the road, winning three criterium races before joining the BBC TV team to provide analysis on their track cycling coverage. However, the big topic of conversation surrounding Cavendish at the moment is who he will ride for next season. Sky was a useful (and lucrative) marriage of convenience to help him prepare for the Olympics, but could he perhaps be sporting the colours of Omega Pharma-Quick Step next season? We shall see.

Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano)

Image courtesy of Argos-Shimano

Results: Withdrew on stage five of the Tour de France with stomach problems. Currently racing at the Eneco Tour – one stage win so far.

WorldTour ranking: N/A. 10th in UCI Europe Tour rankings, 267 points.

It has been a quiet couple of months for the young German sprinter, who entered the Tour de France with high hopes of securing a sprint victory which would announce himself on cycling’s biggest stage. However he never figured in the action after being laid low with stomach problems which - how shall we describe it? – left him wishing he was wearing AG2R’s brown shorts.

Or, as he put it:

@gemmadd belly is ok, but full with water from the bottles. There seems to be a problem with my drain. Hope the plumber can fix it.

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) July 3, 2012

He spent much of the first few days taking suppositories, downing as much water as his body could hold and constantly limping home off the back of the bunch before finally admitting defeat and climbing off early on stage five.

Kittel has returned to WorldTour action this week at the Eneco Tour where, fully recovered, he took victory at a canter in the bunch sprint at the end of Monday’s opening stage.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won three stages at the Tour de France, first in points classification. 34th in Olympics road race.

WorldTour ranking: 5th, 351 points.

Everybody’s favourite Slovak Fastvak successfully parlayed his blistering Tour of California and Tour de Suisse form into his debut Tour de France, where he justified his status as the favourite for the green jersey by winning three of the first six road stages, including the difficult uphill finishes of stages one and three.

A hat-trick of subsequent second places and some impressive climbing to secure intermediate points in the mountains were more than enough to deliver a commanding and richly deserved victory in the points competition.

Like Cavendish, Sagan was one of the big favourites for the Olympics road race, but never figured at the sharp end of the action and eventually finished 34th in the main bunch, not far behind Mark Cavendish and several other frustrated sprinters.

Previous updates: June 20th, April 9th, February 20th

Rider profiles: Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan

Websites: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan

Twitter: @MarkCavendish, @marcelkittel

For years, the sport’s biggest stage has played host to the sport’s largest artificial creations — the expectations that a laundry list of stars would emerge in the Tour de France for only a tenth of the promise to come good.

Wiggins’ expectations explosion came in 2009 when the former track sprinter began his metamorphosis, shedding a couple dozen kilograms and suddenly finding climbing legs no one imagined he had by finishing fourth in the Tour, tying Robert Millar for the highest ever finish for a Briton.

It started, though, to look like those few grand days were a flash in the pan. The inaugural Sky team he jumped to after spending 2009 with Garmin faltered in the mountains, leading to a 24th-place finish in 2010. A year later, he was among the many riders caught up in the early-stage carnage and withdrew.

It appeared as though Wiggins might never put things together. Three weeks later, it’s hard to believe that was ever the thought.

Wiggins dominated the Tour, physically and logistically, en route to winning the race’s 99th edition today in Paris, a result that left little question.

With 20 races and over 200 riders, it’s hardly the only highlight. So as has become tradition (can you call it tradition in year three?) here are my 21 points for 21 stages.

Wiggo the magnificent. It was Bradley Wiggins’ race from start to finish. Billed as a time trialist’s Tour for the two lengthy races against the clock, Wiggins came through, winning both with ease, including the domination in the penultimate stage Saturday that provided the exclamation point. He wore the Yellow Jersey since Day 8, taking over from Fabian Cancellara, to whom Wiggins finished second in the prologue by seven seconds. It’s the first time since Jaan Kirsipuu and Lance Armstrong in 1999 that the Yellow Jersey had only two wearers. But more impressive was the way in which Wiggins carried himself up the mountains. His Sky team controlled the peloton in a manner we haven’t seen since Armstrong’s Discovery Channel and USPS teams. When there were attacks, the champion of Paris-Nice, the Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour de Romandie always seemed able to respond and never gave the impression he was about to crack. He finished three minutes ahead of teammate Chris Froome and over six minutes before third-place Vincenzo Nibali, absolutely massive time gaps. It was Wiggins who made sure that during Stage 14’s tack attack the group waited for Cadel Evans after repeated punctures. He also provided enough sound bites, from the clean “boring” Tour to the thank you for the media, to cut an entertaining figure. To say it was Wiggins’ Tour is no exaggeration. To say that Wiggins’ accomplishment is the greatest ever by a British athlete, well that’s for others to decide.

Froome, Froome, Froome. The only possible “but” offered to Wiggins’ dominance came from his countryman, teammate and runner-up Chris Froome. Froome wasn’t exactly a favorite, entering the Tour as a likely superdomestique, but his second-place finish in last year’s Vuelta a Espana (one spot ahead of Wiggins) signaled his ability to challenge in a grand tour. Froome undoubtedly had the best legs in the Alps, taking the win on Stage 7 into La Planche des Belles Filles on the day Wiggins took the Maillot Jaune. The native of Kenya was second to Wiggins in each of the time trials. The only person with the hope of unhitching Wiggins in the mountains was Froome, who as late as Stage 17 repeatedly sat up during attacks to wait for Wiggins to latch onto his wheel. Their inability to get their stories straight gave the media enough material to speculate a counterpoint to the fell-good story. to This tour was built for an elite time trialist; a climber like Froome will have his day eventually, possibly when he’s unleashed from domestique duty.

Sky’s the limit. The discussion of Wiggins’ dominance extends to what his Sky team was able to do. They won six stages (Mark Cavendish 3, Wiggins 2, Froome), the most of any team in the race. They did it with a ruthless ease that was a pleasure to watch, but most impressively, they controlled the race up, down and on the flat roads in a way that is rarely seen. Not bad for a team that was concerned as to where the allegiances would lie at the start. The team showed in the Criterium du Dauphine that it could pack the top 10: In that race, Wiggins and Michael Rogers were 1-2, Froome was fourth, Richie Porte was ninth. But as great of a sprinter as Cavendish is, the Manx Missile sometimes requires a bit of work to deliver him to the line, a tough order given the manpower dedicated to Wiggins’ yellow quest. The answer was an outstandingly selfless approach on all sides that was more than the likes of Porte and Rogers wasting themselves up the climbs or Christian Knees and Cav’s personal pilot fish Bernhard Eisel devoting themselves on the flats. Rumors of dysfunction were dispelled quickly when the likes of Edvald Boasson Hagen and even Cavendish were working for Wiggins on the low slopes of the Pyrenees. And Wiggins, resplendent in yellow, was a key facet of Cavendish’s leadout train, including the Stage 18 win that was among the most impressive sprints you’ll likely ever see.

British invasion. Despite the recent emergence of Cavendish, the world champion and 23-time Tour Stage winner (fourth all-time), it’s difficult not to frame Wiggins’ win as a watershed moment for British cycling. His Tour win is the first Grand Tour victory for a British cyclist. His Yellow Jersey joins Robert Millar’s King of the Mountains jersey in 1984 and Cavendish’s Green Jersey in 2011 as only the third British competition victory. Coupled with the win by Garmin’s David Millar, Brits have accounted for seven stage wins this year, surpassing the 2009 Tour (Cavendish 6) for the most ever. Wiggins’ 13 days in yellow is more than all previous British wearers combined (Chris Boardman 6 days in 1994, 1997, 1998; David Millar 3 days in 2000; Tom Simpson 1 day in 1962 and Sean Yates 1 day in 1994). Finally, British cyclists from World War II to 2007 won 24 total stages. Since 2008, Brits have won 27. Invaded, indeed.

A living Cadel. There’s an old adage in the peloton that if you ride well in the Alps, you’ll ride poorly in the Pyrenees, and vice versa. At age 34, Cadel Evans probably knows that better than ever this year. The defending Tour champion looked a worthy adversary of Wiggins in the Alps, attacking time and again knowing how much time Wiggins would gain in races against the clock. Evans was slowed by a trio of punctures on Stage 14 into Pau, but the damage was eliminated by the sporting decision of Wiggins to neutralize the peloton. Coming out of the rest day, though, there was no such respite. He lost almost five minutes in the queen stage, barely dragging himself up the Pyrenees’ famed climbs like the Col d’Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet. His lack of legs was evident when he was passed by teammate Tejay Van Garderen, who started three minutes behind him. Evans rolled down the Champs-Elysees in seventh, 15 minutes behind Wiggins. It’s his sixth top 10 finish in the Tour and ninth in a grand tour but certainly not up to the Aussie’s usual standards.

Tack-tical errors. Perhaps one of the lasting images of this Tour will be a handful of tacks pulled from the 30-some punctured bike tiers and handful of flattened car tires on Stage 14. Evans was the most notable victim with his three less-than-expertly executed tire changes, and Astana’s Robert Kiserlovski was forced to abandon with a broken collarbone. Even Wiggins had a bike change on the downslope of the Mur de Peguere. The attack (no pun intended) was blamed on sporting hooligans, surely one of the most pathetic groups ever assembled.

Sagan’s genesis. Peter Sagan wasn’t an unknown commodity entering his first Tour. It’s hard to fly under the radar when you win the points classification and nine combined stages in the Tour of California and Tour de Suisse, plus add four top-five finishes in major classics races leading up to the Tour. But hardly anyone expected the Liquigas-Cannondale rider to win three of his first six stages in the Tour and make everyone else declare “uncle” in the Green Jersey competition before the race had gotten to the Pyrenees. His celebrations became the news, but the impressive turn of speed he’s shown should be the headline. In Sagan, cycling has found more than just a stage poacher. His ability to summit the Port de Lers and Mur de Peguere with the breakaway on Stage 14, eventually taking second place and all but clinching the Green Jersey, was reminiscent of Thor Hushovd’s win a year ago. Hushovd, though, found his climbing legs in his mid-30s after learning he’d have to outwit, rather than outsprint, his opponents. Sagan’s early competence in the hills should make him a Green Jersey and spring classics threat for years to come.

The bunch sprinters. Cavendish finished the Tour with three wins, including his fourth straight win on the Champs-Elysees. Impressive though it sounds, it’s the Manx Missile’s lowest total in five Tours. Early wrecks aside, much of that is attributable to the likes of Andre Greipel and Sagan sharing the spoils. With Cav’s fellow HTC-Highroad diaspora mate Matt Goss being a frequent participant in the sprints (and earning the win that wasn’t in stage 12), J.J. Haedo a fastman from time to time, Tyler Farrar still among the elite despite a brutal week and Mark Renshaw in the mix despite the disastrous week his Rabobank team endured, it’s been many years since the peloton had so many young sprinters.

Another (three dozen) bite the dust. A year ago, names like Jurgen van den Broeck, Jani Brajkovic and Alexandre Vinokourov were among the contenders sent home early by crashes. This year, count Ryder Hesjedal, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Tom Danielson, Tony Martin and Olympic Champion Samuel Sanchez among those caught up in the decimation on the flat roads. In all, 43 riders abandoned this year’s Tour, the highest total in the last half-decade; only three teams (BMC, Liquigas-Cannondale and Lotto-Belisol) rolled into Paris with a full complement of nine riders. That number was bound to be high given the Olympics looming on the horizon, but it’s still an alarming and race-altering total. After two straight years of this, perhaps it’s time for the race organizers to consider a rethink.

French Renaissance (again). Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither it seems will be the first French winner of their home race since Bernard Hinault in 1985. But the French are continuing to chip away. This year’s star was Thibaut Pinot, the youngest man in the race and  runner-up in the White Jersey competition who notched a win into Porrentruy on Stage 8. Perhaps the best video of this Tour was FDJ-BigMat director sportif Marc Madiot exhorting Pinot to the line. Pinot finished 10th overall, two spots behind Team Europcar’s Pierre Rolland, a constant protagonist in the mountains who won Stage 11 up La Toussuire ahead of Pinot and proved his White Jersey win a year ago wasn’t just a fluke. Thomas Voeckler’s two stage wins and one from Pierrick Fedrigo brought the French haul to five; only the six stages won in 2010 (two from Sylvain Chavanel and one each from Sandy Casar, Christophe Riblon, Voeckler and Fedrigo) surpass that number over the last 15 years. Rolland and Pinot have shown themselves to be capable in the time trial; perhaps a more mountainous Tour in the next few years could be to their liking.

Allez Thomas! At age 33, Voeckler may not be around to see the end of France’s quarter-century, Yellow-Jersey drought. But the native of the Bas-Rhin region has proven doubters wrong so many times before that any statement about Voeckler’s future is made at some peril. Two more stage wins this year bring his career total to four. Not bad for a guy who almost withdrew with a pesky knee injury. After the stage wins, you could almost hear something click in Voeckler’s mind to go after the KOM jersey, which he wore proudly to Paris after a mano-a-mano duel with Frederik Kessiakoff on Stage 17. Voeckler’s Polka Dot Jersey is just the third won by a Frenchman since Richard Virenque captured the last of his seven KOM Jerseys in 2004, but it’s the third straight year a classification has been won by a Frenchman (Rolland’s White in 2011, Anthony Charteau’s KOM in 2010). The Tour de France makes legends, and over the last two decades, Voeckler’s name surely sits next to Virenque’s and Laurent Jalabert’s (world champion, two-time winner of the Green and Polka Dot Jerseys) at the summit of French cycling.

Changing of the American guard. French ecstasy over the emergence of Pinot aside, the true show stealer was American van Garderen, who won the White Jersey and finished fifth overall. His title in the young rider classification puts him in illustrious company: Greg LeMond (1986, 1989 and 1990 Tours) and Andy Hampsten (1988 Giro d’Italia) are the only other Americans to be named the best young rider of a Grand Tour. He has the makings of a challenger. He was stellar in the mountains, shaking off one so-so day in the Alps and showing his full climbing arsenal after BMC teammate Evans fell off the pace and van Garderen was freed of mountain-goat duty. He wasn’t of Wiggins’ caliber in the time trials, but compared to many pure climbers, his time trialing is outstanding. Nowhere was that more evident than on Stage 19 when he easily crossed the three-minute gap to Evans, eventually leapfrogging him in the general classification. You could almost see the torch being passed right on the road to Chartres. Van Garderen’s emergence comes at a perfect time for American cycling, with the old generation of Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie appearing ready to bow out of the European peloton amidst a battle with the ghosts of the Armstrong era. In the soon-to-be 24-year-old van Garderen lies the next generation of hope.

Say it ain’t Schleck. There’s good news and bad news on the doping front. The good news is that for the second straight season, only one rider was expelled from the Tour for a positive test. The bad news is that the rider expelled had three career top-five finishes. Frank Schleck, already looking lost in the Alps without brother Andy to work for, tested positive for xipamide, a banned diuretic, during the second rest day and withdrew prior to Stage 16. His B sample later tested positive, putting the Luxembourger in a world of trouble. Schleck has been steadfast in defending his innocence, which should set up months of news cycle-clogging legal wrangling, allegations of poisoning, contamination and a bunch of other cloak-and-dagger stuff that borders on the ridiculous.

A wheel tough guy. The final individual award, often overlooked, goes to the most combative rider in the peloton. This year, it goes to hands down the gutsiest. That’s Saxo Bank-Tinkoff rider Chris Anker Sorensen, a longtime domestique who claimed a 14th-place finish in one of the crowning achievements of his career. The fact that he did it with a hand so badly bandaged that it will require surgery that he barely was able to postpone is more amazing. His hand caught in his front wheel trying to retrieve a wind-buffeting newspaper on a descent on Stage 17, Sorensen will require skin grafts over two fingers for the damage. It lacked the haunting gruesomeness of Johnny Hoogerland somersaulting into a barbed wire fence last year, but it was more impressive given Sorensen finished despite barely being able to grasp his handlebars.

American horror stories. For two of the teams with the most American roots, it wasn’t the best of Tours. Garmin-Sharp, in the umpteenth iteration of that secondary sponsor, had three riders out by Stage 7, David Millar’s stage win the lone consolation for a team whose top overall finisher was Daniel Martin in 35th. All that came in the face of unsteady and unassured future financing. Then there was the house of cards that is RadioShack-Nissan, which won the team competition by over five minutes over Sky, no matter how tenuous the term “team” read. Once again, RadioShack entered with no clear-cut leader, leaving Horner, Andreas Kloden, Haimar Zubeldia and Schleck to all believe themselves worthy. Whether it was Kloden rather vocally bashing the characterization of his riding on Twitter or Kloden and Horner unwilling to help Zubeldia with a puncture despite the Spaniard holding the only top-10 spot of the bunch, it wasn’t a team that showed a whole lot of continuity. Somehow, though, Zubeldia, Horner, Kloden and Maxime Monfort all managed top 16 finishes (with Schleck bowing out in 12th place). Astounding.

A Belgian star in the making. van den Broeck surprised some when in 2010 he finished fourth in the Tour. An injury last year made it look more like a fluke. But this year’s strong performance, complete with a propensity to attack in the high mountains, make van den Broeck look like a serious contender for a Grand Tour title some day. His pair of fourths represent the best finish for a Belgian since Lucian Van Impe was second in 1981; he’s the best chance the cycling-mad nation has of curtaining its podium drought early in its third decade.

Some tough Tours. There always seems to be a few teams that are just snake bitten, a feeling exacerbated by Sky’s dominance and the fact that four teams won at least three stages each. The rides of Luis Leon Sanchez and Alejandro Valverde to stage wins mitigated otherwise disappointing Tours for Rabobank and Movistar, respectively (especially for the former, which saw five of its nine members withdraw on course). Egoi Martinez’s 17th-place finish wasn’t enough to compensate for Euskaltel-Euskadi’s surprising absence in the breakaways, perhaps an artifact of a team morally beaten down by Samuel Sanchez’s exit. Despite the presence of Michele Scarponi in a couple of breaks, the elimination of Yuriy Krivtsov and Alessandro Petacchi on Stage 11 was the lone highlight, or rather lowlight, for Lampre. Stephen Roche finished 12th, but Ag2r-La Mondiale wasn’t ever able to find the right recipe in a breakaway. Rein Taaramae didn’t have it for Cofidis, who also couldn’t get the breakaway thing down. Vacansoliel (finishing with just four riders), Suar-Sojasun (outside of Jerome Coppel’s 21st-place overall) and Agros Shimano (whose highest rider placed 103rd and finished almost eight hours behind RadioShack-Nissan in the team competition), were alarming anonymous. Orica-GreenEDGE, with Goss’s relegation on Stage 12, was disappointing, as was Omega Pharma-Quick Step.

He’s back? Valverde was once one of the most promising young cyclist around, a Vuelta champion and seven-time top-10 Grand Tour finisher. After a two-year doping ban, his ride up the Peyragudes to the Stage 17 win signals the most popular rider in the Tour may be back. He may no longer have what it takes to challenge on GC. But expect a Valverde and his re-found legs to be a stage poacher extraordinaire.

An Olympic preview. Ah, the age old question of how to approach the Olympic road race and time trial. To rest or not to rest. To carry over from the Tour or not. Consider this: Beijing Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez finished seventh in the Tour just weeks before the games. Time trial gold medalist and road race silver medalist Cancellara finished 66th; this year, he elected not to finish the Tour. It might be a good omen for Evans, seventh in this year’s Tour. Then again, after this Tour, who’s going to argue against those guys with the home-country advantage.

Fond farewells. It’s that time to say goodbye to the past, a category George Hincapie finally finds himself in. He took the emotional ride to Paris Sunday to finish his 16th Tour, the 17th total he’s participated in, both records. A consummate professional and former Yellow Jersey wearer for one magical day, Hincapie was the ultimate teammate to the very end. Hincapie enjoyed leading the peloton onto the Champs-Elysees; judging by who joined him there, it might also have been the last ride for 40-year-old Horner, who seems to be getting better with age. Vinokourov has said it’s his final Tour, though we’ve heard that before, and at least he tried to go out with a bang thanks to his Stage 18 attacks. Then there’s Big Jens Voigt, who doesn’t look or sound anywhere near retirement, though he is quickly creeping up on 40. Here’s hoping the good-byes are few this year.

Two stages down, 19 to go. We’re now a little over 200km into this year’s Tour de France – with just under 3,300 still to go – and we’ve had some tantalising hints as to who is and isn’t in form, and to the tactical priorities of some of the riders and teams.

So here are ten little insights that we at VeloVoices have picked out from the first two days of racing.

1. Frank Schleck still can’t time trial. This is hardly news, but it’s worth repeating. On the one hand, he only lost 31 seconds to Bradley Wiggins – and 21 to Cadel Evans – which could be easily regained in the mountains. On the other hand, form in the prologue is usually faithfully repeated in the longer time trials. This suggests he can expect to lose five minutes or more over the two remaining races against the clock. 

So unless he has already conceded he cannot win this Tour, he will probably have to take at least this much out of both Evans and Wiggins (and probably Denis Menchov) in the mountains. Never going to happen – he might scupper one of his rivals, but not all of them. Barring withdrawals, he’s realistically racing for third – as we always suspected he might be – and personally I remain unconvinced he will even finish that high. If we don’t see a big attack from Frank on the initial mountain stages, it will confirm a lack of form/ambition.

Cancellara in the first yellow jersey of 2012. Quelle surprise. Not (image courtesy of RadioShack-Nissan)

2. There is no such thing as a sure bet – unless it’s a prologue. Whenever the Tour kicks off with a prologue or short time trial, bet the house on Fabian Cancellara to win. He has contested five such stages during his Tour career – and won them all – 2004, 2007 in London, 2009, 2010 and 2012 - to take the first yellow jersey of the race.

As if to underline that he is back to 100% after his Tour of Flanders collarbone injury, his burst off the front at the end of yesterday’s stage and his ability to hold off Edvald Boasson Hagen for second despite being forced to lead out looked very much like the Cancellara of old. Spartacus is back.

3. Peter Sagan is the most versatile sprinter in the peloton. The ‘Slovakian Cannibal’ was the pre-race odds-on favourite (10/11) for the green jersey, despite this being his Tour debut. His versatility is incredible. He has the speed to win flat stages outright, the strength to win hilly Classics-style finishes like yesterday’s and the coolness to make good tactical decisions. He knew Cancellara had to keep pushing yesterday, with the aim of adding time to his overall lead. Despite the Swiss’ gesticulations, there was never any need to overtake him.

He may not dominate the flat finishes in the way Mark Cavendish has done in recent years, but he will more than hold his own and he will pick up points where few other sprinters can – as he did yesterday – in the style of Erik Zabel. Despite this being the strongest sprint field of recent years, he will win at least one more stage during this race, possibly more. It’s easy to forget he’s still only 22 – indeed yesterday he became the first rider born in the 1990s to win a Tour stage.

4. Mark Cavendish has lost more than just weight. The ‘Manx Missile’ has lost 4kg (9lb) since the Giro. That is an impressive number and it really shows. A rider who has often been the butt of jokes for his physique is looking positively skinny at the Tour.

But he also looks to have lost some of his explosive jump. It wasn’t there at the recent Ster ZLM Toer. And it wasn’t there at yesterday’s intermediate sprint, where he lacked the acceleration to close down Matt Goss. We will probably get another indication of where he stands versus the other sprinters this afternoon in Tournai (although, given the narrowness of the finishing straight, we are just as likely to see a mass pile-up).

5. Marcel Kittel is not focussing on the green jersey. This should come as little surprise, but it was confirmed when Kittel did not bother to contest yesterday’s intermediate sprint. The young German is a prolific winner in the mould of compatriot Andre Greipel, a pure sprinter who goes backwards as soon as the road goes uphill. He cannot challenge on hilly finishes the way Sagan can, and his stated pre-Tour objective was to target stage wins.

Kittel is certainly fast enough to win at least one flat stage. Argos-Shimano are fully focussed behind him, and they will certainly target the clutch of sprint stages in the first week. Indeed it would not be a major surprise to see Kittel abandon by the first rest day, given the limited opportunities for a win between the Alps and Pyrenees.

The legs may be ageing, but the engine remains powerful (image courtesy of RadioShack-Nissan)

6. Life didn’t end at 40 for Jens Voigt. He may turn 41 in a couple of months’ time, but Jens Voigt is still capable of getting on the front of the peloton for kilometre after kilometre and putting everyone into a whole world of hurt. In the midst of the God-forsaken mess that is RadioShack-Nissan [RadioSlack? - Ed], he and Cancellara remain shining beacons of light.

7. The wild-card teams will continue to animate the breakaways. As is usual at the Tour, the wild-card teams were prominent in yesterday’s breakaway, providing three of the six riders. Only Argos-Shimano – whose effort is focussed behind Kittel – did not put a man in the escape.

However, Cofidis, Saur-Sojasun and Europcar have less restrictive race agendas – getting their sponsor’s names several hours in front of the TV cameras is top of  their priority list, at least for the first ten days or so. (The same goes for the Contador-less Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, who have little chance of either a high GC finish or a stage win, and will target breakaways and the polka dot jersey.) Argos-Shimano may join them in the breaks too once Kittel falls away from contention for sprint wins. We will get to know riders from these smaller Pro-Continental squads a lot better over these next few weeks.

8. Idiocy is universal. There will always be one idiot who thinks that standing three metres into the road to take a photo as the peloton bears down on him at close to full speed is a good idea. It never is. I have zero sympathy for any spectator who is hurt in this fashion – sadly, it is the riders who typically suffer the most as the innocent victims of such crass stupidity.

9. Watch out for the invisible man. He may revel in his anonymity, and he has been deafeningly quiet all season so far, but watch out for the invisible man: Denis Menchov. He’s been quiet all season, but he has won the Giro and Vuelta a combined three times, has three previous top-five finishes at the Tour and looks to be in excellent form. He’s a strong bet for a podium finish, at least. Just don’t expect him to attack with panache at any point in the race – it’s just not his style.

10. The riders – not the parcours – make the race. Yesterday’s stage looked fairly innocuous, with five fourth category climbs – even if the finish was at the summit of the last one. But a combination of nerves, tricky crosswinds and a furious pace in the last 30km meant that virtually all the key GC contenders were left to fend for themselves for the majority of the final climb. It shouldn’t happen on this sort of profile, but it did. This – and a subtle course design intended to promote attacking racing – bodes well for fans for the next three weeks. So far, so good.

And finally, one thing we didn’t learn:

We still have no idea who’s going to win the race. But it is already shaping up to be the exciting affair we all hoped for.

VeloVoices will bring you previews of each day’s stage every morning, live coverage of every stage on Twitter, reviews in the evening and in-depth analysis after selected stages.

Link: Tour de France official website

Many fans will be familiar with the main riders in the peloton, but have you ever wondered about the mysterious sponsors whose names are plastered all over every available square inch of the riders and their equipment? If so, here’s the first of a two-part overview of the 22 teams, their title sponsors and main protagonists.

All team line-ups are, of course, subject to change in the final few days before the race starts, but are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Part two follows tomorrow.

AG2R La Mondiale

Sponsor: A French life insurance and pension provider.

Overview:  AG2R go into the tour with a multi-pronged attack comprising Nico Roche and Jean-Christophe Peraud, both hoping for a top ten finish, Hubert Dupont  – probably the team’s most consistent rider this season – eyeing a stage win and Tour debutatant Mikael Cherel hoping to break his duck and, along with a number of other riders, to land the polka dot jersey. Whatever happens, expect them to grab plenty of airtime for their sponsor in breakaways with riders such as Maxime Bouet, Christophe Riblon and Blel Kadri, while Lloyd Mondory will be in the mix in the sprints. As in 2011, they’ll also be aiming for a podium placing in the team classification, with a squad the manager claims has 8.5 Frenchmen riding, since Roche is half-French.

Argos-Shimano

Sponsor: An independent Dutch oil company and a Japanese manufacturer of bike parts and accessories.

Overview: The Tour team is going to mount a formidable opposition for the green points jersey with young Marcel Kittel who demonstrated his winning form, and the beating of overall winner Mark Cavendish – in the recent Ster ZLM Toer. He’ll be supported by a mix of experienced riders and another young German Patrick Gretsch, also making his Tour debut. The team will be led by the experienced Koen de Kort but the emphasis on winning sprint stages has prompted one of their promising  – and non-selected – French riders Alexandre Geniez to bolt for the exit.

Astana

Sponsor: A Kazakh business consortium.

Overview: After a slowish start, Astana have had a creditable and successful past couple of months with honours being shared around the team. Their leader for the Tour, the waif-like Janez Braijkovic turned in a good performance at the Dauphiné before winning his home Tour of Slovenia. This will be team leader Alexandre Vinokourov‘s last Tour and we can expect him to launch one of his trademark attacks in search of a final stage win. Both are looking to make amends after they crashed out of last year’s race. Brajkovic – then riding for RadioShack – came down on stage six, injuring his knee and head. Vinokourov fractured his femur after falling on a slippery corner on the descent of the Col du Pas de Peyrol on stage nine. They’re bringing an experienced squad, a number of whom enjoyed success in their recent national chmapionships and only one of whom is a sprinter, Borut Bozic.

BMC

Sponsor: A Swiss bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: BMC will be mounting a stout defence of Cadel Evans‘ yellow jersey, fielding an even stronger team than last year, bolstered by the signings of Tejay Van Garderen, Philippe Gilbert and Steve Cummings. The defending champion has readily admitted that leading rival Bradley Wiggins (Sky) has had the better run of form this season but remains confident of retaining his top spot on the podium. It’s long been ackowledged that the 2012 parcours with its generous mileage in time trials should suit him down to the ground. George Hincapie – another one making a final Tour appearance – will be the team leader, hoping to complete a record-breaking 16th Tour. It’s likely Gilbert will be given the opportunity to win on the early stages suited to his capabilities but with Thor Hushovd riding in Poland, the team don’t have to support the ambitions of a sprinter though, as in last year’s Tour, Gilbert may well pursue the points jersey.

Cofidis – Le Credit en ligne

Sponsor: A French credit company.

Overview: The team’s main man, the baby-faced Estonian Rein Taaramae, has had a chequered start to the season with both injury and illness putting a spoke in his Tour preparation but, having defended his national champion’s jersey in the individual time trial, he would appear to have found his form at just the right time and, if so, could legitimately aim for a place in the top ten. He’ll be ably supported in the medium and high mountains by Remy di Gregorio and David Moncoutie. After the team’s sponsor has publicly expressed dismay at the team’s paucity of results in 2012, expect the team to be active in breakaways with Luis Angel Mate, and the diminutive Samuel Domoulin in the sprint finishes, hoping to secure that all important airtime and maybe even a stage win to placate the man holding the purse-strings.

Europcar

Sponsor: Paris-based hire car company.

Overview: The team are not expecting a repeat performance from Thomas Voeckler in this year’s Tour, largely on account of his recent knee injury which almost precluded him taking part. So pressure will shift to co-leader Pierre Rolland, winner of last year’s epic stage finishing atop Alpe d’Huez. These two will be ably supported like last year by Cyril Gautier, former French time-trial champion Christophe Kern, Yohann Gene and Vincent Jerome. Also selected are Japanese Yukiya Arashiro and the general manager’s neo-pro son, making his rookie appearance, Giovanni Bernaudeau. However, like the other French teams, expect to see their dark green shirts animating the race daily in breakaways.

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Sponsors: A Basque telecoms provider and regional development agency.

Overview: Euskaltel-Euskadi’s leader will be Sammy Sanchez who won a stage in last year’s race at Luz Ardiden and the King of the Mountains jersey which he’ll be looking to defend. He’ll be surrounded by an experienced, strong, all Spanish-Basque team including riders such as Mikel Astarloza, Egoi Martinez and Amets Txurruka - a former Tour de France most aggressive rider. Typically we can expect to see those orange jerseys in the mix every time the road heads skywards and particularly in the Pyrenees where they’ll have their usual fanatical support.

FDJ-BigMat

Sponsors: The French national lottery and a chain of independent builders’ merchants.

Overview: The team have enjoyed their return to the premier division and a very successful start to the season with 11 wins, garnered largely in sprints. They’ll be looking for at least a stage win, probably from their vastly experienced Tour riders Sandy Casar and Pierrick Fedrigo, or maybe from last year’s most aggressive rider Jeremy ‘it’s not a break if I’m not in it’ Roy. Promising climber Thibaut Pinot will be making his debut but there’s no place for Arnold Jeannesson, 14th last year, who will miss the 2012 edition due to health issues. Essentially we can expect to see the team mixing it both in the sprints and the medium mountains stages. As is to be expected with all the French squads, they’ll be active in breakaways, looking to grab airtime for their sponsors.

Garmin-Sharp (formerly Garmin-Barracuda)

Sponsors: A US-based multinational manufacturer of GPS systems and a Japanese technology provider.

Overview: Heading back to the race where it shone last year with four stage victories plus a win in the team classification, the team will be led by Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal, attempting the Giro-Tour double last achieved in 1998 by Marco Pantani. He’ll have strong support from the experienced duo of Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson, who will step up to the plate should he falter. Brummie Dan Martin will be making his Tour debut and he’s another one looking to secure the mountains jersey. Tyler Farrar and Robbie Hunter will be mixing it in the sprints while those time-trialling colossi, Dave Zabriskie and David Millar, will be chasing a result in the individual time trials. The team will be debuting its new jersey at the Tour.

Katusha

Sponsor: A Russian business conglomerate.

Overview: Keen not to repeat last year’s disastrous experiment with an all-Russian squad, the team’s main man Denis Menchov – suspiciously quiet so far this year apart from winning his national time trial championship – will be supported by some Spanish and Italian firepower in the hope of at least gaining a stage win or two. While the team has had a successful start to the year their victories have largely been earned by two men who will be riding the Vuelta rather than the Tour, namely Joaquim Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno. Menchov generally performs well in the Grand Tours and we don’t expect this one to be an exception. Equally we should expect to see a number of their Russians heading up the road in breakaways and then, in the dying kilometres, time-trialling away from their companions only to be recaptured by the peloton before the finish line.

Lampre-ISD

Sponsors: An Italian sheet steel manufacturer and a Ukrainian steel producer.

Overview: Michele Scarponi, who finished fourth in the recent Giro d’Italia, will lead the team with veteran and in-form Alessandro Petacchi - who recorded three Sagan-esque wins in the recent Bayern-Rundfahrt – hunting for stage wins in what is rumoured to be his last year riding in the professional peloton. Petacchi will have his loyal wing-man Danilo Hondo in attendance as well as Grega Bole. The team, which is aiming for stage wins, has committed to donating part of its Tour prize money – to be matched by an equal donation from the team’s owners -  to charities helping those afflicted in the recent Italian earthquakes. This will no doubt give the boys in red hot pink and blue further motivation to perform.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the remaining eleven teams, from Liquigas-Cannondale to Vacansoleil-DCM.

VeloVoices Tour de France previews

Are you ready?

You know you’re obsessed with Le Tour when …

Link: Tour de France official website

Mark Cavendish (Sky)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won three stages at the Giro d’Italia, second in points classification. Won general classification at Ster ZLM Toer.

WorldTour ranking: 43rd, 66 points.

After taking a short paternity break from racing to celebrate the birth of daughter Delilah, Cavendish was back in action at last month’s Giro d’Italia. While many sprinters climbed off their bikes ahead of the big mountain stages at the back end of the race, the world champion honoured the rainbow stripes by riding all the way to the finish in Milan, missing out on the full set of Grand Tour points jerseys by the narrowest of margins as Joaquim Rodriguez won the points competition by a single point. Crashes on stages three and nine hampered his challenge, but ultimately it was his failure to hold off Andrea Guardini on stage 18 which cost him the jersey. Nonetheless he took a hat-trick of victories on stages two, five and 13 to become the only three-time winner in this year’s race, taking his career total of Giro sprint wins to ten in just four participations. It was clear from several of his tweets just how much he enjoys racing in Italy and the passion of the fans:

The best thing about racing in Italy….? The fans!! I absolutely love them! The respect they have for the rainbow jersey is incredible.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) May 13, 2012

Cavendish opted out of the traditional pre-Tour Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse to compete in last week’s Ster ZLM Toer, a four-day race featuring rolling profiles simulating the challenge of the upcoming Olympic road race course. Although he failed to win a stage, consistent finishing – two seconds and a third – saw him take the first general classification win of his career. (Fact fans: this is as many as Andy Schleck.) He has subsequently admitted that he has sacrificed some top-end speed for strength with the Olympics in mind, and his new-found climbing legs on the famed Liège-Bastogne-Liège hill of La Redoute on stage three caught the attention of no less a rider than Jens Voigt, a man who is not easily impressed:

I see the worldchampion Marc Cavendish in his yellow jersey shifting 2gears bigger and just jumping to the counterattack, totally easy!!!

— Jens Voigt (@thejensie) June 17, 2012

I could see how Cav thought” i know i am supposed to be a sprinter, but i dont care!!” And he crossed the Hilltop in first place.

— Jens Voigt (@thejensie) June 17, 2012

Cav totally made this climb his bi..atch, i was sooo totally impressed to eyewitness that!! He is a champ, and watch out for him at olymics!

— Jens Voigt (@thejensie) June 17, 2012

Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano)

Image courtesy of Argos-Shimano

Results: Second on stage seven of the Tour of Turkey. Won two stages and the points classification at the Ster ZLM Toer.

WorldTour ranking: N/A. 5th in UCI Europe Tour rankings, 225 points.

The young German sprint sensation had a quiet few weeks after his victory in the semi-Classic Scheldeprijs in early April, managing just a single second place in the sprinter-friendly Tour of Turkey and pulling out of the Tour of California as a precaution after picking up a slight calf problem.

However, he showed himself to have good form as he built up for his Tour de France debut with two stage victories at last week’s Ster ZLM Toer. He beat Mark Renshaw, Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel on the opening day, before clinching the points jersey by a single point with his win on the final stage. Ever the polite young man, he was even quick to thank his Dutch teammates for delivering him to his initial win despite their adverse result against his own national side at Euro 2012 the previous evening:

I’m happy that I still got support from my (dutch) teammates after all of my jokes about the result of “The Game” yesterday… #NedGer

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) June 14, 2012

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Third at Amstel Gold. Won five stages and the sprint competition at the Tour of California. Won four stages and the points classification at the Tour de Suisse.

WorldTour ranking: 5th, 253 points.

When I first profiled the Slovakian strong-man sprinter – or SuperSagan, as Kitty has taken to calling him – back in January, I said the following:

With Box Hill to be climbed nine times, the [Olympic road race] course arguably favours Sagan more than it does home favourite Cavendish. You heard it here first: put your money on Sagan for the gold.

Sagan’s performances over the past few months have only reinforced my initial opinion, notwithstanding Jens Voigt’s endorsement of Cav’s performance on La Redoute last weekend. While the world champion was bagging a hat-trick of wins at the Giro, Sagan claimed five stages – including the first four in a row – at the Tour of California on a succession of not-exactly-flat stages. His victory on stage one was particularly impressive given that he had to chase back to a charging peloton after flatting just 8km from the finish. Unsurprisingly, his dominance of the bunch finishes won him the sprint competition.

Arguably even more impressive was his four-win performance at last week’s Tour de Suisse, where he won the short, hilly opening time trial before adding three sprint victories, each on rolling stages with a combination of sheer speed, strength and bravery. He walked away with the points jersey, amassing more than three times as many points as runner-up Matteo Montaguti.

No one has better form than Sagan right now, and he will be a major threat in the green jersey competition at the Tour. However, it is not green but gold which he truly desires. He will attack – and attack hard – in the Olympic road race, and it will probably take the combined might of several national teams to contain him. Right now, he’s that good.

Previous updates: April 9th, February 20th

Rider profiles: Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan

Websites: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan

Twitter: @MarkCavendish, @marcelkittel

As I’m not the type to do in-depth analysis on sprinters (I leave that to Tim), I’ve gone down the more visual route. Celebrate the day with a snack while watching our Argonaut film festival!

Fresher than a fresh thing from Fresh Town

Shimano TV made this little film of our hero:

Beware: Argonaut at full speed

Marcel takes the win on stage two of 2012′s Three Days of De Panne:

“Does my butt look muddy in these?”

It’s wet, it’s cold, there was a crash … must have been this year’s Scheldeprijs. I am seriously concerned about those white shorts in the rain:

How do I get her job?

Our intrepid adventurer thrilled with his win on stage seven of the 2011 Vuelta:

Talking Turkey

The snowy white Argonaut outfit looks much better in the sunshine at the Tour of Turkey this year:

The End.

Links: Marcel Kittel profile, 20th February update, 9th April update

Mark Cavendish (Sky)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Won one stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.

WorldTour ranking: 70th, 6 points.

It’s been an up-and-down couple of months – literally – for the world champion since we last checked in with him in late February. He won the Belgian semi-Classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne at the end of the month, applying the finishing touch in characteristic fashion, ducking out of Chris Sutton’s slipstream in the final after his Sky team had controlled the race perfectly.

From there, he went on to Tirreno-Adriatico in early March, where he won stage two after another textbook lead-out, this time by Edvald Boasson Hagen. He would have also contended the sprint the following day, but felt unwell and left it to Boasson Hagen to complete a Sky double.

Since then, however, things have deviated from plan. His victory at Tirreno-Adriatico should have been a good omen – the only previous time he took a stage there, in 2009, he also went on to win his major spring objective, the sprinters’ Classic Milan-San Remo. However, this year he was dropped with surprising ease on the tricky Le Manie climb at two-thirds distance and never recovered.

At the Flandrian one-day Dwars door Vlaanderen Cavendish missed the crucial break and then was felled by a stray bidon 15km from the finish, an incident which left him less than amused:

200km on Belgiums worst roads. All ok. 15km from finish, peloton’s riding easy & a dickhead throws a bottle in my front wheel. Crashed hard.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) March 21, 2012

And again at Gent-Wevelgem four days later, he found himself following the wrong wheel at the wrong time, as the crucial split which launched Tom Boonen to victory disappeared into the distance.

Cavendish has not raced since, skipping the defence of his 2011 win at the Scheldeprijs to receive an altogether more important prize: the birth of his daughter Delilah, who arrived on the eve of the race:

Delilah Grace Cavendish was born a couple of hours ago. She & @petatodd are doing very well. So proud of my girls! Happiest day of my life.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) April 3, 2012

Father and daughter seem to be doing rather well:

I couldn’t be prouder… @MarkCavendish and little Miss C. #theyaresoinlove twitter.com/petatodd/statu…

— Peta Todd (@petatodd) April 6, 2012

What price an Olympic gold medal or a sprint win in the Grande Boucle Feminine in 2032 for young Delilah?

Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano, formerly Project 1t4i)

Image courtesy of Project 1t4i

Results: Won Scheldeprijs. Won one stage at Three Days of De Panne. Second at the Handzame Classic.

WorldTour ranking: N/A. 10th in UCI Europe Tour rankings, 91 points.

Kittel has continued the impressive early season form which saw him take wins at L’Etoile de Besseges and a brace at the Tour of Oman. He recorded a second place (behind Francesco Chicchi) at the Belgian one-day Handzame Classic in mid-March, but since then has added two notable wins to his palmares to take his 2012 tally to five.

Fellow German Andre Greipel was among the scalps he claimed as he took victory in stage two of the Three Days of De Panne. And then last Wednesday he took advantage of Mark Cavendish’s absence to win the Scheldeprijs, proving to be both the fastest and the bravest as he held off Tyler Farrar on a treacherously wet finish in Schoten. It was a fine way to celebrate his team’s new identity, as the team formerly known as Project 1t4i became Argos-Shimano.

Best of all, it was confirmed last week that Argos-Shimano are one of the four teams granted a wild-card place at July’s Tour de France. It will be the perfect opportunity for the 23-year old to rub shoulders – possibly literally – with the likes of Cavendish, Greipel and Farrar on the biggest stage of all. I’m backing him for at least a couple of podium finishes and possibly a stage win somewhere along the line. From his reaction to the news on Twitter, I think it’s fair to say he’s quite excited at the prospect:

Our invitation is awesome and makes me so excited!! I would like to start already 2mrw…but still 85 days! -.- TIME! Y U NO ELAPSE FASTER?!

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) April 6, 2012

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Results: Won one stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. Won one stage at Three Days of De Panne. Second at Gent-Wevelgem. Fourth at Milan-San Remo. Fifth at Ronde van Vlaanderen.

WorldTour ranking: 5th, 179 points.

It’s been a hectic couple of months for the 22-year old Slovakian power-house. He started March with a modest 26th place at Strade Bianche before staying in Italy to tackle Tirreno-Adriatico. After fourth and third-place finishes in the bunch sprints of stages two and three, he showed his power by claiming victory the following day, powering home at the top of the concluding 2.2km, 12.2% climb in Chieti.

Sagan has also been prominent at the finishes of several of the big Classics season one-day races. He was fourth at Milan-San Remo, winning the sprint in the pursuing group which narrowly failed to catch the three-man break headed by winner Simon Gerrans. After finishing 14th at E3 Harelbeke, he was the closest man to the unstoppable Tom Boonen at Gent-Wevelgem, taking a highly creditable second spot. And although he missed the critical move at the Ronde van Vlaanderen – again won by Boonen – his eventual fifth place propelled him to fifth in the latest WorldTour standings.

In between, he also won the opening stage of Three Days of De Panne, meaning he has three victories to date in 2012.

Previous update: February 20th

Rider profiles: Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan

Websites: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan

Twitter: @MarkCavendish, @marcelkittel

Elles s’étaient faites attendre. Les wild-cards offertes pour le prochain Tour de France ont été dévoilées en milieu d’après-midi par Amaury Sport Organisation. Ce sont finalement Europcar, Saur-Sojasun, Cofidis et Argos-Shimano qui héritent des derniers tickets. En ballottage, la formation Bretagne-Schuller ne sera donc pas présente sur les routes françaises en juillet. Une annonce logique et sans vraiment de surprise, tant ces quatre équipes ont les moyens de briller.

Europcar : 2011 a joué

Le Tour de France de l’an dernier a évidemment grandement joué dans la nouvelle invitation de la formation Europcar. Avec Thomas Voeckler quatrième, et longtemps maillot jaune, et Pierre Rolland, maillot blanc et vainqueur à l’Alpe-d’Huez, il était impensable de ne pas revoir la formation de Jean-René Bernaudeau au mois de juillet.

Cofidis : la force de l’habitude

La formation nordiste fait partie du paysage du Tour de France depuis de nombreuses années. Avec des coureurs du niveau de David Moncoutié et Rein Taaramae, et de nombreux baroudeurs capables de dynamiter la course, ASO ne pouvait décemment laisser Cofidis de côté.

Saur-Sojasun : tout sur Coppel

La présence de cette formation ne tient qu’à un homme : Jérôme Coppel. Quatorzième du Tour l’an dernier, il est le Français qui apparaît le plus capable de figurer régulièrement dans le haut du classement général en juillet. S’ils sont présent, il sera également intéresser d’observer les performances de Julien Simon et Fabrice Jeandesboz.

Argos-Shimano : merci aux Allemands

Les Néerlandais seront présents pour la première fois sur le Tour, et ils le doivent à leur duo d’allemands : Marcel Kittel et John Degenkolb. Les deux jeunes sprinteurs risquent d’apporter un peu de folie lors des arrivées massives, ce qui n’est visiblement pas pour déplaire à ASO. Ce sera aussi l’occasion de voir à l’œuvre Alexandre Geniez pour la première fois sur le Tour, lui qui demeure l’un des plus grands espoirs tricolore.

Olivier Navarranne

Often overlooked due to its midweek slot between the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, the Scheldeprijs is a rare opportunity for the pure sprinters to hold sway over the hard-men of the peloton during Classics season. As such, the start-list is something of a who’s-who of sprinting, boasting former winners Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), as well as top names such as Kittel, Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Mark Renshaw and Theo Bos (Rabobank), Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Serre Italia), winner of six stages of this year’s Tour de Langkawi.

Defending champion and three-time winner Mark Cavendish (Sky) was not present to pursue a record fourth victory, opting to stay in the UK for the birth of his first child, who duly arrived last night:

Delilah Grace Cavendish was born a couple of hours ago. She & @petatodd are doing very well. So proud of my girls! Happiest day of my life.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) April 3, 2012

[Congratulations to Mark, Peta and Delilah Grace from the entire VeloVoices team - Ed.]

Starting in the marketplace in Antwerp and finishing in nearby Schoten after completing a clockwise loop of 202km, the race is run over a pan-flat course – albeit one with seven cobbled sections and a twisty, technical finish – which traditionally results in a chaotic bunch sprint.

Scheldeprijs race profile

Five riders – three of them Kevins! – initiated the day’s main breakaway: Kevin Van Melsen (Accent.jobs-Willems Veranda’s), Kevin Hulsmans (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Kevin Claeys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat) and Simon Lambert-Lemay (Spidertech-C10). They were joined by Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Kin San Wu (Champion System) to form a seven-man group which led by 8:15 after just 38km.

With long, flat roads ahead of them, the peloton were in no hurry to reel them in, and with Garmin-Barracuda and Lotto-Belisol happy to sit on the front and control the deficit, the gap hovered between 4½ and six minutes for a long stretch. Indeed, not until around 53km to go did Tom Boonen - who had stated beforehand that he would only be using the race as a tune-up for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix – suddenly come forward over one of the cobbled sections. He stretched both his legs and those of the pack, whose shape changed from a compact bunch to a long line as the Ronde van Vlaanderen champion put in a decent workout to animate an otherwise featureless middle portion of the race.

Kittel judged his finish to perfection on treacherous roads (image courtesy of Argos-Shimano)

By the time the peloton started the second of two finishing circuits around Schoten with 33km to go, they trailed the breakaway by just 1:40 – effectively sounding the death knell for the escapees. Straight after the finish line, a crash brought down several riders and initiated a split, with a front group of about 60 driven on by Boonen. Their increased pace rapidly hauled in the leaders, with Hulsman the last to succumb just past the 10km banner.

Race result

1. Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) 4:30:53

2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) same time

3. Theo Bos (Rabobank) s/t

4. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) s/t

5. Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale) s/t

6. Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) s/t

7. Alexander Porsev (Katusha) s/t

8. Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) s/t

9. Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack-Nissan) s/t

10. Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech-C10) s/t

Link: Official website

Da do Ronde Ronde Ronde da do Ronde Ronde

Is this how many Rondes this little fan thinks Tommeke can win?

Iljo Keisse caught his teammate on TV, mesmerising a tiny fan … I know, honey, sometimes I want to lick the screen when he’s on too …

But it’s not all cute kids who love the Ronde. Superheroes and fairy-tale characters do too, by the look of it. (Apparently these guys support BMC. In front of a Liquigas bus. How could you tell?) Is that purple thing in the background supposed to be a Teletubby?

Yes, it was all Flanders, all the time last week. And we even have a picture of the King of Belgium opening the race.

Hang on, who is that? The King of Belgium? That’s not the King of Belgium. THIS is the King of Belgium …

But my favourite Flanders tweet was from Ted King. Simple. Charming. To the point.

Head-banging and car-pulling … Jensie is BACK!

And he’s been gone too long! What I love about the way Jens Voigt tweets is he tells a story in about 30 tweets right in a row. And then another story … So it’s like a little play, right there in your twitterstream. This week, he tells us his dark rock secret …

Looks like he had a touch of the Fabianese in that last tweet but that’s okay … I’m sure Fab doesn’t mind sharing. Then Jens tells us about his car blowing up.

He put his daughters in a taxi and called a tow truck.

And he waited … and he waited … and he waited. While tweeting about the fact that only two people stopped but couldn’t help. Time was a tickin’, Jens had places to be … where the hell was the tow truck? And then he had an idea …

Love it - ”I mean I am Jens Voigt” … That you are, sir, and we’re happy to have you back, singing like a little songbird on Twitter.

Sartorial statements

Or should I say Fashion Questions … okay, what the hell is Ivan Basso wearing? It’s like Spiderman but not, he is on some sort of stealth mission or … or what? Hey, did he get separated from those fans we saw earlier in front of the Liquigas bus?! Mystery solved …

If Basso was some sort of parallel-universe Spiderman, then here are the Argonauts …

“Shield your eyes, Mother, these boys are showing out!” Yes, um, leaves little to the imagination, these shorts. I must say, however, the kit looked good during Ronde. What it’ll look like when it’s raining, well, that would bring a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘riding immodestly’. (Doing the rain dance now …)

Is the truce over? Is the Hansen/Henderson Twitter war about to resume?

Fingers crossed! We’ve been missing Adam Hansen – as have a few others, including Mr Henderson.

UCI Overlord was concerned as well, and got this intriguing reply from Mr Hansen:

I think that’s the Twitter equivalent of “I’ve been out stocking up on supplies for my homemade bunker because I’ll need them when all hell breaks loose.” I reckon his little bunker would be full of power bars and energy gels … and maybe some cookies. I reckon he can be sneaky when he puts his mind to it …

But I must end on some Henderson words of wisdom – possibly for Hansen! My vow to ask myself “What would Greg Henderson do?” when something pisses me off is turning out quite nicely. I still haven’t been punched yet! But these are words that will live on, long after my experiment is over …

Yes sir! Until next week …