Monaco seems a long time ago now. And not just because 12 days have passed since the Tour’s Grand Départ.
A strange torpor has fallen on the 2009 Tour de France. The racing for stage wins has mostly been entertaining, and thanks to Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins, there’s been plenty to talk about. But the general classification, save for a brief flurry here and there, has been more the nip and tuck of a Test match than the fireworks of a Twenty/20 game.
But this is exactly what the organisers wanted. It was clear from the innovative route unveiled by Tour boss Christian Prudhomme last year that the plan was for the race to go right down to the wire, to Mont Ventoux on the penultimate stage. Prudhomme built in three strategically tame Pyrenean stages, reduced the time trialling kilometres, and even took some of the bite out of the Alps, all so that as many riders as possible could still be in with a shout of victory going into the final week.
Perhaps Prudhomme saw the dramatic conclusion to last year’s race, when five riders started the climb to L’Alpe d’Huez within 75 seconds of the yellow jersey, after a tense battle through the Pyrenees and Alps, and liked what he saw enough to actually design the race around a repeat.
Now, with the race on the cusp of the Alps, Prudhomme has got what he wanted. The 2009 Tour is actually the closest in modern history.
We've looked back at all the Tours since 1984, and compared how far behind the rider in 10th place was after the first set of mountains had been completed. And 2009, by this measure, is the tightest.
Vincenzo Nibali is currently occupying 10th place overall, 1-54 behind Rinaldo Nocentini. There’s only been one other Tour in the last quarter century where the 10th-placed rider was within three minutes of yellow after the first mountain range, and that was last year’s, when Vladimir Efimkin left the Pyrenees 2-32 behind Cadel Evans. Otherwise, 10th place is typically already at least four minutes back. Often more.
The only exception can be found in the 1992 Tour, when the start in San Sebastian meant that the Pyrenees were even more neutered than this year’s. Although 10th place was 5-06 behind the yellow, that was thanks to a four-minute lead gained by Richard Virenque in a long break. The spread of the favourites, from second to 10th, was only 32 seconds. It would possibly have been a historically close Tour, except that Miguel Indurain proceeded to knock three minutes into everybody in the Luxembourg time trial.
The bad news is that by engineering a backloaded Tour this year, ASO have accidentally caused the general classification battle to be a little too negative. The sum total of intrigue includes a decent short time trial, a 40-second split in the peloton, the team time trial, and a couple of attacks by the favourites in the Pyrenees.
The good news is that tomorrow, with three dangerous cols en route, the battle for the yellow jersey should at least stir, even if nothing decisive happens. And then, the Alps.
CLOSE TOURS
The five closest Tours of the modern era, following the first mountain range
Year Time of 10th place after first mountain range
2009 1-54
2008 2-32
2003 3-45
2005 4-16
2006 4-17
1996 5-03
TOUGH TOURS
The five biggest gaps to 10th place, following the first mountain range
Year Time of 10th place after first mountain range
2001 21-48 (Thanks to long break by François Simon)
1993 21-32
1986 15-19
1984 14-37
1990 13-58
1995 13-43
TOUR DE FRANCE 2009 LINKS
Tour de France 2009 - the hub: Index to reports, photos, previews and more.
STAGE REPORTS
Stage 12: Sorensen wins in Vittel as Cavendish goes for green
Stage 11: Cavendish takes fourth win to equal Hoban's record
Stage 10: Cavendish spoils Bastille Day party to take third stage win
Stage nine: Third French win as contenders content with ceasefire
stage eight: Sanchez wins from break as Tour favourites cancel each other out
Stage seven: Feillu wins at Arcalis, Nocentini takes yellow, Contador leap-frogs Lance
Stage six: Millar's brave bid denied on Barcelona hill as Hushovd triumphs
Stage five: Voeckler survives chase to win his first Tour stage
Stage four: Astana on top but Armstrong misses yellow by hundredths of a second
Live Tour de France stage four TTT coverage
Stage three: Cavendish wins second stage as Armstrong distances Contador
Stage two: Cavendish takes first sprint
Stage one: Cancellara wins opening time trial
LATEST TOUR NEWS
Tour de France 2009 News Index>>
Cavendish reveals he is going for green
Tour comment: The suspense is killing us
Analysis: Why Cavendish is one of the modern greats
Radio ban over-turned for Friday's Tour stage
Arvesen out of Tour with fractured collarbone
Tour analysis: Why the go slow did cycling no favours on Bastille Day
Cavendish's odd stage 10 finish celebration explained
No radios today, but experiment could be a one-off
Tour audio: Mark Cavendish after stage 10
Contador brushes aside talk of Armstrong conflict
Cavendish odds-on favourite for Bastille Day victory
The Tour de France Comment: Monday, July 13
How the favourites are doing (first rest day)
Wiggins stays with leaders at Tour
Armstrong: 'If Contador wins, I'll be second'
Wiggins 'on cloud nine' at Tour de France
Armstrong says Contador attack wasn't in the plan
Cavendish survives the first Tour mountain stage with ease
Wiggins, the Tour de France overall contender, has arrived
EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS
Garmin-Slipstream's HQ before the Tour
David Zabriskie's time trial bike
Mark Cavendish on the Tour's team time trial
David Brailsford interview
Mark Cavendish on the Tour
Jonathan Vaughters on Bradley Wiggins' chances
TOUR DE FRANCE 2009 PHOTOS
Stage 12 photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage 11 photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage 10 photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage nine photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage eight photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage seven photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage six photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage five photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage four TTT photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage three photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage two photo gallery by Graham Watson
Stage one photo gallery by Andy Jones
Stage one photo gallery by Graham Watson
Team presentation by Andy Jones
Team presentation by Graham Watson
TOUR GUIDE
Tour de France 2009 - the hub
Tour de France 2009: Who's riding
Tour de France 2009: Team guide
About the Tour de France
FEATURES
Tour de France 2009: Who will win?
Tour de France 2009 on TV: Eurosport and ITV4 schedules
Big names missing from 2009 Tour de France
Tour de France anti-doping measures explained
Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Cavendish
Cycling Weekly's rider profiles
TWITTER
Follow the Tour on Cycling Weekly's Twitter feed
Reader comments
Add your comments
Dan Blackburn
July 16 21:46
Aside from Cav's imperious sprinting and Brad Wiggins' quietly determined attempt to become Lance Armstrong's shadow, this edition of Le Tour's been like drinking flat Champagne so far. Surely you need something more than a couple of time trials to sort the men from the boys in the first 10 days! Why the hell didn't they have a summit finish on the Tourmalet before returning to the flatland? That would have at least given the real contenders the chance flex their muscles without fear of blowing too soon. If it's all going to be settled on one day why mince around France in lycra for three weeks beforehand?
Norman Hill
July 16 22:18
Change of name: The Tour of France or, better still, The Tour de Bore. The TdF was built by the likes of Pelissier, Bottechia, Magne, Bartali, Coppi, K & K of Switzerland, Bobet, Gaul, Bahamontes, Anquetil, Janssen, Merckx, Hinault, Le Mond, Indurain, Popof Graczyk, Darrigade, Rik 1 & Rik 2 of Belgium and many many others. Now, we have a gruppo. Gruppo every day except for the few 'allowed' off the front each day to tease the innocent general public. It has become a bore. What's the matter with the a dozen or so teams (120 - 150 riders) who are content to let the month of July go by and all they do is sit on a wheel. There is a week to go to redeem themselves. I hope for the longevity of the pro sport in Europe along with all the sponsors getting their value for money, there is a wake up call in the peloton for the last week so we can forget the first two weeks of boredom. Cav is great. What we want to see though, is Cav to get in break and win from the break without his leadout train that Boonen claims he is missing as his big excuse. Go for it Cav, show everyone who is the boss of green, keep that green flag flying. Yellow? It's now the 'mellow yellow' jersey unless those so called super stars start pulling their socks up and showing their sponsors why they are being paid such big salaries by performing the way those names noted above did in the past. Norman Hill - Vancouver.
Dave
July 17 12:55
As far as the battle for GC in the first couple of weeks are concerned, I think there's close and then there's too close..... Close = exciting, too close = boring. Its a difficult thing to get right but Prudhomme should have built in a bit more potential for action in the Pyrenees. If the intention was to mirror last years Tour then a summit finish on the Toumalet would have been the thing to do. Placing the mountain70km before the finish line was always going to make it a non event. I would have thought that bringing the finish line to within 20 or 30km of the summit would have been better, since it would at least give the first over the top some chance of holding a time gap over the other GC contenders and so inspire some of the climbers to really go for it on the mountain.