Well, the 2012 edition of le Tour de France is over now and will soon fade into history. Personally, I am going to miss checking out the latest action, the incredible scenery, the crazy spectators (as they try to run alongside the cyclists on the steep mountain climbs), the wild 60 to 70mph rides down from the mountain peaks and even the sportscasters. It is becoming a summer tradition for me to record the TDF each night, whenever possible (throughout most of July), and watch my recordings later in the day or evening. It’s like the kickoff to summer.
as le 2012 Tour de France fades...
As for the results of le Tour, I’m sure those of you who have been into it this year, already know the results (since the final stage in Paris was on Sunday) but for those who may have had some interest in the TDF but were not totally into it (that’s hard to imagine) and/or may have missed the ending here is a brief summary of the Results of le Tour de France 2012:
It was a great year for Great Britain and for the Sky Procycling team. The overall winner of le Tour de France ~ the winner of the Yellow Jersey ~ was Bradley Wiggins of GBR and the Sky Procycling team. This was not much of a surprise for anyone who watched the final stages of the TDF since Wiggins wore the yellow jersey for most of the final stages and had a good lead on everyone else. This was, however, the first time (in 99 TDFs) that a cyclist from GBR won le Tour de France!
Second place in the overall standings (second best overall time) was Christopher Froome also of GBR and Sky Procycling. A number of people thought that Froome might have had a chance to win the TDF himself but stuck to his team role and was a great help for Wiggins.
We (the good ol USA) had Tejay Van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team come in 5th place overall. Tejay also won the White Jersey for the best young rider.
Thomas Voeckler of France and Team Europcar won the Polka-dot Jersey for the King of the Mountain, or best climber. Voeckler wore the Yellow Jersey for quite a few stages in last year’s TDF. Voeckler also seems like a very likeable person and this was nice to see.
Peter Sagan of SVK and the Liquigas-Cannondale team won the Green Jersey (for the most points) along with 3 stage wins. Sagan was the cyclist with the Funky-Chicken, Forrest Gump and Hulk victory moves at the finish line of the stages that he won. He was also close to winning a few other stages and I was kind of hoping that he would so I could see what he had in mind for his next victory celebration.
Even the final stage, in Paris, was pretty exciting this year. The overall standings were pretty much decided by then but Team Sky had one more challenge (which they succeeded at) which was to help Mark Cavendish also of GBR, to win the final stage, for which he has been undefeated in the last 4 years. Cavendish had 3 stage wins, altogether, in this year’s TDF.
Here’s the TDF Summary in an easier to read list (without my additional comments):
- Yellow Jersey ~ General classification ~ Best Time Overall
Bradley Wiggins Country: GBR – Team: SKY PROCYCLING - Top 10 Best Overall Times:
- WIGGINS, Bradley Country, Team: GBR, SKY PROCYCLING
- FROOME, Christopher Country, Team: GBR, SKY PROCYCLING
- NIBALI, Vincenzo Country, Team: ITA, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE
- VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen Country, Team: BEL, LOTTO-BELISOL
- VAN GARDEREN, Tejay Country, Team: USA, BMC RACING
- ZUBELDIA, Haimar Country, Team: ESP, RADIOSHACK-NISSAN
- EVANS, Cadel Country, AUS, Team: BMC RACING
- ROLLAND, Pierre Country, Team: FRA, TEAM EUROPCAR
- BRAJKOVIC, Janez Country, Team: SLO, ASTANA PRO
- PINOT, Thibaut Country, Team: FRA , FDJ-BIGMAT
- Green Jersey ~ Most Points
Peter Sagan Country: SVK LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE - Polka-Dot Jersey ~ King of the Mountains
Thomas Voeckler Country: FRA TEAM EUROPCAR - White Jersey ~ Best Young Rider (under 26 years old)
Tejay Van Garderen Country: USA BMC RACING TEAM - Team Classification Winner
RADIOSHACK-NISSAN - Super-Combative Winner
Chris Anker Sorensen Country:DEN Team: SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK
This information is, of course, available in more detail on plenty of other websites but I found it hard to find a basic text-style summary of the key Tour de France results all in one place so hopefully this will be helpful in some way.
On to the Olympics
So after racing for a little over 2,100 miles in about 3 weeks, many of the TDF riders get to go to the Summer Olympics to compete! I have heard that Wiggins is expected to come away with some kind of metal to add to his collection this year.
This article got quite a bit longer and more detailed than I expected when I sat down to write it but I am glad that I spent some time on the TDF wrap-up. As for myself, I’ll be out riding more bike trails in our area to help with my Tour de France Withdrawal. I am actually working on adding some additional pages to the Des Plaines River Trail article (again) since I just rode and photographed another 15 miles of this trail last week.
And for one final, slightly related note, a short time ago I had heard that Proform is supposed to be coming out with a brand new version of the popular, high tech, Proform TDF Indoor Cycle very soon. I will, of course, stay up to date on this and post an update as soon as I have any additional information. See our Proform TDF Indoor Cycle page for the latest update on this.