2011 Tour de France: Crashes Cut Down Two American Teams, Two Keep On

The story of the first week of the 2011 Tour de France can be told in one word: Crash.
2011 Tour de France: Crashes Cut Down Two American Teams, Two Keep On
U.S. TEAM LEADER: Cadel Evans, here holding off Alberto Contador to win Stage Four, is the best hope to lead an American team to victory in the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)
7/11/2011
Updated:
8/26/2011
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/EvansVert118224071_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/EvansVert118224071_medium.jpg" alt="U.S. TEAM LEADER: Cadel Evans, here holding off Alberto Contador to win Stage Four, is the best hope to lead an American team to victory in the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)" title="U.S. TEAM LEADER: Cadel Evans, here holding off Alberto Contador to win Stage Four, is the best hope to lead an American team to victory in the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129001"/></a>
U.S. TEAM LEADER: Cadel Evans, here holding off Alberto Contador to win Stage Four, is the best hope to lead an American team to victory in the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)
As the 2011 Tour de France is about to head into the Pyrenees to start its second week, the story of its first week can be told in a single word: Crash.

Stages One, Five, Six, and Seven and Nine saw riders with strong GC possibilities crash; many retired. Many of these crashes involved a dozen or more riders.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/GoBabred118722821_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/GoBabred118722821_medium.jpg" alt="Johnny Hoogerland lies trapped in a barbed-wire fence after being forced off the road by a TV crew car. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Johnny Hoogerland lies trapped in a barbed-wire fence after being forced off the road by a TV crew car. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129002"/></a>
Johnny Hoogerland lies trapped in a barbed-wire fence after being forced off the road by a TV crew car. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)
Three crashes delayed three-time winner Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank; he is 1:42 behind the leaders. This may be enough to cost him the Tour.

A crash claimed Bradley Wiggins , Sky’s General Classification hopeful, one of the few men with a real chance to challenge Contador in the mountains.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ThorYekllow118609160_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ThorYekllow118609160_medium.jpg" alt="Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo retained his yellow jersey after Stage Eight of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)" title="Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo retained his yellow jersey after Stage Eight of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129003"/></a>
Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo retained his yellow jersey after Stage Eight of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
A crash sidelined Astana veteran Alexandre Vinokourov, another strong GC contender who was in good form for his final Tour de France.

Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Jurgen Van Den Broeck, another rider who seemed poised for a podium finish, got caught in a crash and had to retire.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TourdeFrance118148599WEB_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TourdeFrance118148599WEB_medium.jpg" alt="FOR WOUTER: Tyler Farrar holds up the 'W' sign in memory of his fallen friend and fellow rider Wouter Weylandts as he wins Stage Three of the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)" title="FOR WOUTER: Tyler Farrar holds up the 'W' sign in memory of his fallen friend and fellow rider Wouter Weylandts as he wins Stage Three of the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129004"/></a>
FOR WOUTER: Tyler Farrar holds up the 'W' sign in memory of his fallen friend and fellow rider Wouter Weylandts as he wins Stage Three of the 2011 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)
On two occasions, motor vehicles hit riders, and one rider hit an ambulance and crashed.

More riders have hit the pavement in the first nine stages of this year’s Tour than on the whole of some other Tours de France.

Leopard Trek, the new team of Frank and Andy Schleck, escaped the carnage. This pair of brothers, looking for the top two steps of the podium in Paris, still has a full squad teammates. Fourth and fifth in the standings, the brothers could not be in better shape for the big mountains stages which start Thursday.

American Teams Lead the Way


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Janez118409431_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Janez118409431_medium.jpg" alt="RadioShack's Janez Brakjovic receives medical assistance after crashing during Stage Five of the 2011 Tour de France. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" title="RadioShack's Janez Brakjovic receives medical assistance after crashing during Stage Five of the 2011 Tour de France. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129005"/></a>
RadioShack's Janez Brakjovic receives medical assistance after crashing during Stage Five of the 2011 Tour de France. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)
One of the big stories of the first few days of the 2011 Tour was the ascension of American teams to the top of the General Classification.

Four powerful U.S.-based teams—BMC, Garmin-Cervelo, HTC-Highroad, and RadioShack—were dominating the race, winning five of the first seven stages.

Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo took the yellow jersey by winning in the Stage Two Team Time Trial. No one expected the big Norwegian to keep the jersey; a sprinter, he had no legs for climbing, the common wisdom said.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/yaroslav118294594WEB_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/yaroslav118294594WEB_medium.jpg" alt="RadioShack's Yaroslav Popovych crashed after hitting an ambulance. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" title="RadioShack's Yaroslav Popovych crashed after hitting an ambulance. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129006"/></a>
RadioShack's Yaroslav Popovych crashed after hitting an ambulance. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)
Hushovd, cycling’s current World Champion, showed everyone how wrong they were, matching the pace of the pure climbers up all the hills to hold the jersey until he voluntarily surrendered it in Stage Nine. Hushovd gave up the race lead when he slowed the peloton to wait for a large group of riders which had been held up by a big crash.

Garmin’s Tyler Farrar, a U.S.-born sprinter, won his first stage of the Tour, giving another boost to the American teams. And Cadel Evans of the U.S.-based BMC team, went head-to-head with climbing legend Alberto Contador in Stage Four—and won. Evans is currently third in GC.

HTC-Highroad’s Mark Cavendish won a pair of stages, adding to the total for the American teams.

American Assault Blunted


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CavWin118491382WEB_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CavWin118491382WEB_medium.jpg" alt="Mark Cavendish celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win Stage Seven of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)" title="Mark Cavendish celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win Stage Seven of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129007"/></a>
Mark Cavendish celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win Stage Seven of the 2011 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Unfortunately, the American teams were not immune to the accidents which claimed so many riders. Garmin’s top GC contenders lost time in the Stage One crash which cost Contador so heavily.

Crashes in Stage Seven injured Farrar and Christian Vande Velde. Dave Zabriskie crashed in Stage Nine and had to retire. From a team sure it would win stages and possible put a rider on the podium, Garmin became a team hoping it would see no more retirements.

RadioShack came to the Tour with four strong GC contenders: Janez Brajkovic, Andreas Klöden, Chris Horner, and Levi Leipheimer, plus strong support riders Yaroslav Popovych, Heimar Zubelda, Dmitriy Muravyev, Markel Irrizar and Sergio Paulinho.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/candle118220988Gi_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/candle118220988Gi_medium.jpg" alt="Cadel Evans of BMC is America's best hope to have a U.S. team win the Tour this year. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Cadel Evans of BMC is America's best hope to have a U.S. team win the Tour this year. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-129008"/></a>
Cadel Evans of BMC is America's best hope to have a U.S. team win the Tour this year. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)
By the end of the week, Horner and Brajkovic had withdrawn with injuries and all the rest had crashed hard and were hurting. Not one rider on the team escaped injury.

BMC, HTC Still Strong


HTC lost Christophe Kern retired in Stage Five with tendonitis. At least he didn’t crash.

HTC is still healthy otherwise, and has two riders, Peter Velits and Tony Martin, in the top ten. None of HTC‘s riders are really podium contenders, and as the stages get steeper, it is likely they will lose ground.

Of the four American teams, only BMC, led by Cadel Evans, has a chance at the overall win.

Evans is in excellent form this year, and after crashing out of last year’s Tour while in yellow (he rode one stage with a broken elbow before withdrawing) he is certainly eager to finish well this time.

Evans has his whole team around him, and they are mostly healthy. If he can keep ride as well in the next two weeks as he did in the first week, an American team might again win the Tour.