[bontempi]

Is it just me or did it seem like none of the main GC contenders, save Voeckler, had much support from their teams when the road started going uphill? Saxobank were supposed to be a team of climbers but they all got dropped very early on climbs and were basically of zero assistance to Contador from what I can make out. They would have been better bringing a team of rouleurs who could at least keep a fast pace on the flats to try and break the legs of the likes of Andy before the climbs. BMC were anonymous when the roads went uphill and even Leopard Trek were having to rely on Jens as their best climbing domestique. It seems like Europcar have taught the bigger teams a thing or two about how to support your supposedly protected riders.

[Strategy]

I think Chris Anker Sørensen did a pretty good Tour. He had a couple of less than superb stages, but he was there pretty much every time it counted. Thumbs up from me. Navarro was not as crazy-strong as last year, but I think he did OK. He also had the Giro in his legs, which no doubt affected him. The rest of the team were awfully anonymous, though. Overall, far from good enough. Riis needs to go out and find 1 new climber and at least 2 rouleurs for next year.

Leopard-Trek were a bit of a disappointment in the mountains, though mostly because Fuglsang once again failed to live up to the hype around him as the next big danish GT rider. Gerdemann was also extremely anonymous. I think the team otherwise did well - kept their captains out of trouble easily. Montfort's ride for Andy was sublime. Voigt, Cancellara, and O'Grady did very well.

BMC was pretty much useless in the mountains, but that did not exactly come as a surprise, did it?

[Jayhawk]

Gerdemann was there a lot and did his share of the work, at least in the Pyrenees & the lower parts of the Alps. I think you just didn't notice him (I always look for him, being a fan).

[Strategy]

Jayhawk, on 23 July 2011 - 10:37 PM, said:

Gerdemann was there a lot and did his share of the work, at least in the Pyrenees & the lower parts of the Alps. I think you just didn't notice him (I always look for him, being a fan).

I did notice him a bit, but I expected more from him (perhaps unfairly).

[Leafcake]

Agreed on Europcar, that they did an exceptional job. Especially as they had a lot of pressure on them. Also, that Voeckler had the presence of mind to tell Rolland to go for the white jersey just as he was having a really tough time on the slopes of the Galibier (st.19) not only speaks volumes in Voeckler's favour, but also shows how committed they were to getting results.

Would also like to mention Garmin. While Danielson was not a top contender, Hesjedal and Vande Velde were always there or there abouts helping him up the last mountain.

Szmyd was able to do some work for Basso on Luz Ardiden, on the Plateau de Beille he was not there, but in the Alps he appeared to be capable of nursing Basso for lengthy periods of time. Not sure whether he wasn't good enough to pull on the front on the day to the Galibier, or whether it had to do with the tactics Liquigas employed (there was a point on the lower slopes of the Galibier where he suddenly surged to the front). On the day to Alpe d'Huez, Basso was clearly bad.

Ag2r where also pretty strong in the mountains, but they were a bit split with regards to their leaders. Again, not top contenders, but had one of them per chance gotten the yellow jersey in a break, they could well have put up a good defense.

[Burkni]

Strategy, on 23 July 2011 - 10:04 PM, said:

Leopard-Trek were a bit of a disappointment in the mountains, though mostly because Fuglsang once again failed to live up to the hype around him as the next big danish GT rider. Gerdemann was also extremely anonymous. I think the team otherwise did well - kept their captains out of trouble easily. Montfort's ride for Andy was sublime. Voigt, Cancellara, and O'Grady did very well.

Fuglsang is the new Tobias Steinhauser. If he weren't personal best friends with ASchleck, he'd hardly make the team for the Tropicale Amissa Bongo.

Agree that this wasn't exactly the year of the mountain domestiques ... Both Navarro and Chris Anker were less strong than last year.

[Strategy]

Burkni, on 24 July 2011 - 01:24 PM, said:

Both Navarro and Chris Anker were less strong than last year.

I think Chris Anker was on the same level (or slightly better) than last year, but due to the circumstances, he almost never got called into service. He was often the last - or one of the last - Saxobank domestiques hanging on to the favorite group. He also launched a couple of the attacks that set up Contador (e.g., the initial attacks on the stage to Alpe d'Huez). Navarro was not superb. Szmyd had one brilliant stage but failed to feature in the other stages. Yeah - it's weird to consider that the best mountain domestiques this year were on Europcar.

Europcar and Garmin were the two best teams in the race this year - no question.

[vaunTrevi]

I agree it was an excellent tour, always a spectacle. This year it rates on hing being unpredictable with the jersey competitions for race lead, mountains, points and U25 coming down to the last few days. adding to the overall suspense.
I liked the mix of classics vs sprintrers stages.
A few tweaks to the green and climbers jersey might be good.
Seemed to me the SuperSprints had a huge influence on closing down the breaks; and also how quickly we saw a break form up if it came on the early side of the stage. Also in the early stages I think it stressed out an already 'nervous' peloton leading up to sprints... perhaps leading to some of the large crashes. Not sure if am ealy time trial or climbing stage would have separated the leaders earlier so there was less need to get the leaders separated to decrease the general nervousness in the peloton in the first week?
Also kind of think the number of mountain stages that end with a 8 to 14 km descent to the finish are best but they seemed to work out this year as were in the second week as riders settled out.
A few more point for some of the smaller climbs might be in order.
one last thought might be to have a minimum of two U25 riders per team?