There are three American teams in the Tour de France this year: BMC, RadioShack-Nissan, and Garmin-Sharp. This is one less than last year; like last year, one team is contesting the podium, one is performing well and likely to take the team classification, and one has been decimated by crashes.
BMC, the team of 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans, is riding about as well as it did in 2011. The difference is that in 2012 Bradley Wiggins and half of RadioShack hasn’t crashed out, and a lot of the talent which was scattered throughout the peloton last year is concentrated at Sky this year.
Cadel Evans won the Tour through sheer determination in 2011. His team helped, but he did most of the work himself. This year, the competition is too good. An individual effort won’t get him back to the top step of the podium. Still BMC is acquitting itself admirably. Second or third in the Tour de France is a monumental achievement for any cycling team.
In 2011 Radio Shack was shattered by a series of terrible accidents which left every possible General Classification contender in bandages or in the hospital. This year the team is doing much better, with Fabian Cancellara leading the race for the first seven stages and the team leading the team classification after the first nine stages.
