2011 TDF what was BMC doing?

CEBU, Philippines - I was perplexed why team BMC was working so hard today.

While the profile of the final 2km was tailored for Cadel Evans, it wasn’t worth the energy of the team who might need it the rest of the Tour. Evans doesn’t need to waste his team for another stage win while rival teams are conserving its strength, since BMC’s ambition are bigger than that.

Nor do the team need to work hard just to get the yellow jersey at this point. If they are really serious about getting the yellow jersey, they should do it on the days that count. If they get it now, the team will spend more useless energy. And when the time comes when Cadel will need his teammates, that day would be Thursday, the first real mountain stage to Luz Ardiden, they’d have burned all their matches.

The Tour’s format needs to be revisited

Since 1993, the first week of the 3-week Tour was designed for the sprinters and the riders who have no chance in the overall classification. The real competition for the overall starts in earnest during the first mountain stage which usually starts after a week so.

But this year, the first mountain stage occurs 13 days after the start, which is longer than usual. When this happens, smaller teams and those riders not in the hunt for the overall will be going for stage wins on a daily basis. Once the mountains appear, it’ll be game over for them and just ride to survive.

The problem is when everyone thinks that they can win, crashes occur! Just the first week, and the chances of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimmer, Janez Brajkovic and Robert Gesink are out of the window and the first mountain stage is 5 stages away.

In the Girod’Italia and in the Vuelta A Espnana, the climbs generally come earlier. The last time a climb was scheduled early in the Tour was in 1992, where stages 1 and 2 were classified as mountainous.

When the climbs come out early, the favorites also come out early, therefore, a natural order of the overall classification will be determined and the teams of the overall riders will be controlling the peloton, making for a less nervous race and lesser crashes. (FREEMAN)