2003 TdF Team Review
Now that the race is done, let’s evaluate how each team did. We’ve got a clever 5-star system to divide the teams, Tete de la course, Pursuivants, Peloton, Autobus, and Abandon.

Team name (best rider, place, time back)

Tete de la course

US Postal (Armstrong, 1)
16 days in yellow, 2 stage wins. All 9 finished in the top102.
Another year, another win for Lance. This was the best team performance yet. They won the team time trial. Their pace work in the mountains was superb, their defense of Lance was excellent. Key moments–Beltran’s pace that dropped Ullrich on Alpe d’Huez, and Rubiera was johnny-on-the-spot when Lance crashed in stage 15. They finished all 9 riders and all but one were in the top 100.

Baker: Agreed. You just can’t say enough good things about the Posties. Pena got to spend some time in yellow. And Armstrong really relied heavily on his team this year, and they came through big-time. This one, more than any other, belongs to the team.

CSC (Hamilton, 4, +6:17)
3 stage wins.
Best team time, three different stage winners. Two riders in the top 10 and three in the top 15. They put on a show.

Baker: And they just missed out on the podium. They had the best Tour possible for a team without ever wearing any jersey.

Banesto (Mancebo, 10, +19:15)
18 days in white, 2 stage wins

Two different riders won stages. Two riders wore the white jersey, and Menchov won it by 40 minutes. They were second in team time, and they had two riders in the top 11. This is their “B” team. Excellent young riders.

Baker: Banesto hasn’t had a Tour like this since Indurain was still riding. Just an unbelievable job.



Pursuivants

FDJeux (Fritsch, 78, +2:26:58)
13 days in green, 5 in dots, 3 in yellow, 2 in white, 2 stage wins

OK, they suck bad in GC and in team time (21st, almost 7 hours back). But they won the green jersey, a stage, and the prologue. They held each jersey for at least one day. Great teamwork from McGee & DaCruz.

Baker: Put them in tete le course. They had every single jersey, won the green, and go home with a remarkable 25 daily awards, the best of any team. Yes, they got crushed in the GC, but they dominated the first week before fading, and still won the green.

Euskaltel (Zubeldia, 5, +6:51)
1 stage win

This year they went all out. Only one stage win, but three riders in the top 20, including 2 in the top 6. They were third in team time. All they do is climb, but they’re as good as anyone else.

Baker: How did they not win the King of the Mountains? It’s a personal crusade now to change the scoring on that award, as Virenque was not the most feared man in the mountains, Mayo was.

QuickStep (Virenque, 16, +25:31)
14 days in dots, 1 in yellow, 2 stage wins

Two stage wins and the King of the Mountains. Plus they had great work from Paolo Bettini.

Baker: And kept the yellow jersey warm for Lance for a day. They did what they set out to do, which was win Virenque the dots.

Telekom (Vinokourov, 3, +4:14)
1 stage win

Vinokourov was simply brilliant in this race. He was on the offensive early & often & he even led out Zabel in sprints. Despite Zabel’s waning skills, he was still third in the race for the green jersey. Nardello and Aldag put themselves in breakaways. A solid team effort and some hardware too.

Baker: Without real heavy hitters, they were in competition for almost every award. They controlled the peleton, and Vinokourov walks away named the race’s most aggressive rider. A good call. They need a new star, but the team is still awesome. Oh, and to toot my own horn, who predicted a podium finish for Vino?

Bianchi (Ullrich, 2, +1:01)
1 stage win

Ullrich is back, and is still the strongest man in the race, save one. The team was fifth in time, which is amazing considering this team didn’t exist one month before the Tour started. They put 3 finishers in the top 25.

Baker: They were short one super-domestique. With Beltran on the Bianchi, it’s a completely different Tour. Maybe even one with Ullrich in yellow. Ullrich lost, but confirmed his stature as one of the greats.

Peloton

Cofidis (Lelli, 15, +24:00)
1 stage win

They got one stage win and only one rider in the top 15. Yep, they are born to be the peloton.

Baker: Just missed out on two stages because of Millar’s chain pop. Hey, at least he finished this year.

Jean Delatour (31, Goubert, +1:05:38)
1 day in yellow, 1 in dots, 1 stage win

They got the final stage win from Jean Patrick Nazon. He also wore yellow for a day. They even had a rider wearing dots, albeit before they hit the mountains. That’s more than we expected from this team.

Baker: A nice, solid Tour from a French B-team. They did everything you could possibly expect. And Nazon was competitive for the green for two weeks.

Credit Agricole (Moreau, 8, +12:28)
0 awards

A solid ride by Moreau, but he was their only rider in the top 50. No stage wins, but Stuart O’Grady won the Centenary competition (best aggregate place on the stages finishing at the original six finishes in the 1903 TdF). Thor Hushovd was fourth in the green jersey competition.

Baker: Simply solid, as they settled into their first decent Tour. They’ve had a horrible one and a great one. O’Grady was a surprising no-show and Moreau reall impressed both of us. We even said nice things about him.

Fassa Bortolo (Basso, 7, +10:12)
1 day in green, 4 stages

A hard team to peg. They won four stages, all by Petacchi. He ran home to mama as he saw mountains. By the time they got to stage 10, six of their riders had abandoned. Still, Basso gave another good effort. They had a mix of greatness and crappiness. That lands them in the middle of the rankings.

Baker: I’d put them in Non-partent. Petacchi’s quit was shameful, and then the team just followed suit. At least wait until you’re out of green to drop out. A bizarre mixture of highs and lows.

AG2r (Botcharov, 24, +49:47)
1 day in white

They didn’t win a thing, but Astroloza was second in the race for the white jersey, and Flickenger wore it on one day. Surprisingly, they had three riders in the top 30 and five in the top 40. That isn’t easy to do. So, while they have nothing great, they were sort-of respectable.

Baker: AG2r raced like a poor man’s Telekom. Brilliant domestique performance, only with no one to ride for. Maybe next year.


Autobus

ONCE (Jaksche, 17, +27:22)
0 awards

When you put all your eggs in one basket, you’re taking a risk of losing everything. And so they did when Beloki crashed out. Still, they had two riders in the top 26, and let’s give them credit for a great team time trial.

Baker: I’m still willing to give them a peleton spot. They raced well, only to have a horrible crash. If Fassa deserves the peleton, so does ONCE.

Lotto (Brandt, 52, +1:50:33)
7 days in green

McEwen is great. The rest of the team might as well not be there. His greatness catapults them up to the Autobus.

Baker: Imagine if he had a team. We said this before the Tour, the less Lotto does for McEwen, the better. They just stink, but he’s great. He should call Telekom to replace Zabel.

Gerolsteiner (Totschnig, 12, +21:32)
0 awards

Totschnig put in a really great ride considering he had zero help from his team–another team that only finished 3 riders. Their most memorable moments are crashes–like the guy who ripped his shorts off when he crashed in the finishing strait. Uwe Peschel had great time trials, but fell twice in stage 19 and had to abandon with a broken rib. Hey, at least they tried hard!

Baker: Easily, the most boring team in the Tour. They might as well have not shown up. Though seeing a guy have his pants ripped off due to friction is pretty fun.

Broiches (Rous, 20, 30:14)
0 awards

Only two riders in the top 50. They attacked a lot, proving they have a pulse, but their attacks never amounted to anything. It’s too early to judge Sylvain Chavanel, but he may be the next over-hyped French star.

Baker: I like Rous, he’s shown he’s a top 20 caliber rider, but he really should think about becoming a big gun’s domestique. Chavanel did look decent.

Saeco (Ludewig, 38, +1:25:13)
1 stage win

Simoni got a stage win. He also finished 84th, over two and a half hours out...and we expected him in the top 10. Well, at least they don’t go home empty-handed.

Baker: The stage win keeps them from the abandon section, but barely. They just laid a horrendous egg.


Abandon

Rabobank (Niermann, 28, +1:00:32)
0 awards

Usually they are movers & shakers in the Tour, but when Leipheimer crashed out, they seemed to give up. No hardware. Only two riders in the top 90 places.

Baker: An even worse Tour than Saeco. The light just went out when Leipheimer crashed. Suprisingly, Boogerd rode a pretty good Tour. I wasn’t aware he still had any gas left in the tank.

Kelme (Llorente, 27, +57:00)
0 awards

How the mighty have fallen. They were a complete non-factor, except when they caused the crash in stage 1. Thanks!

Baker: What we’re saying is, the Tour would have been better without Kelme. Not a different team, no team whatsoever. Without Kelme, Hamilton rides healthy and Leipheimer makes the finish. They screwed up the race on the very first day. I’d rank them lower if I could.

Alessio (Dufaux, 21, +33:17)
0 awards

Was Alessio even in the race?

Baker: Do you realize DuFaux’s raced in 10 Tours? He even has 3 Top Ten finishes, twice finishing fourth. What I’m saying is, they don’t even have hope for the future.

Vini Caldirola (Zampieri, 87, +2:40:28)
0 awards

They only had one rider finish in the top 100. They were dead last on team time, over 8 hours behind CSC. Is this worse than Big Mat Auber?

Baker: The official site listed them as “CAL” instead of “VIN”. I only bring this up because I didn’t notice that until the last week of the Tour because they were such a non-factor.

The best ever

There are five men who have won five Tours de France. In order, they are Jacques Anquetil. Eddy Merckx, Benard Hinault, Miguel Indurain, and Lance Armstrong. We’re dealing with the greats of the sports here, so trying to rank them one to five, we’re going to pick some nits. I want to state first off that these guys are as good as it gets. Any criticisms I aim at these guys is just in comparison to the other four. They tower over the sport of cycling.

Before we get into the five with five, let’s give a quick nod to the three who won three: LeMond, Thys, and Bobet. Thys won his Tours in 1913,1914, and then 1920. He was robbed of five by World War I. Bobet won from 1953-55. He didn’t win five because of Anquetil. And LeMond won in 1986,1989, and 1990. The gap in wins was due to a hunting accident. So he missed out on the elite club because his brother mistook him for a deer.

So two of our three-time winners could have won five had it not been for non-cycling related factors. I don’t want to include Thys in the analysis because he rode in the early stages of the sport when it was still developing. And LeMond I’m going to add to the comparison just so you can see that the other five were really awesome.

My rankings:
1. Merckx
2. Armstrong
3. Anquetil
4. Hinault
5. Indurain

Gioia's rankings
1. Merckx
2. Hinault
3. Armstrong
4. Indurain
5. Anquetil

First, let’s look at their Tour results. The numbers are: Tours/ Top Tens/ Podiums/ Wins/ Stage Wins (Most in 1 Year)

Anquetil 8/6/6/5/16(4)
Merckx 7/7/6/5/33(8)
Hinault 8/7/7/5/28(7)
Indurain 12/6/5/5/12(3)
Armstrong 9/5/5/5/17(4)
LeMond 8/6/5/3/5(3)

GIOIA: First of all, let me say, I’m only going to evaluate what these guys did in the Tour de France. Whatever these guys did in the Giro, Vuelta, World Championships, One-Day Classics or anything else is great, but we’re
talking Tour here.

BAKER: I want to include doubles and trebles just to gain some perspective. It can help your case, but not hurt it.

Now, let’s go through them one-by-one

ANQUETIL (1957, 1961-64)
Why not more? The 1960’s saw the rise of sponsored teams, almost a complete reaction to the French teams disunity in 1958-1960. Anquetil was never the most admired rider: he drank heavily, womanized, and generally took lousy care of himself. But he could ride and he repeatedly beat his rival, the well-respected Raymond Poulidor. However, during the years of French infighting, neither of the two would win the Tour. He then didn’t even ride in 1965, and rode in 1966 to support another rider to beat Poulidor.

The nitty-gritty. He was the best time trailer until Greg LeMond. He won 12 time trials and just hung on in the mountains. Though he did once win in the Alps just to prove he could. Why ride harder than you have to? He won all three Grand Tours, and twice pulled the double (1963 and 1964). He gets serious points for having a real rival that he utterly dominated, but you still get the feeling he could have been better.

Gioia's response. He had 16 stage wins and wore the yellow jersey 52 days, the fewest of the five-time winners despite wearing it every day of the 1961 Tour. Much like Indurain, he was a superb time trialist with no one
nearly as good among his competition. He held his own in the mountains, but he wasn’t dominant there by a long shot. He cheated in his only mountain stage win, faking a mechanical problem to swap bikes, which wasn’t allowed back
then. Admittedly, he probably suffers from lack of recognition being that he was racing 40 years ago, but in an era in which there was little specialization, one wonders why he couldn’t win a green or polka dot jersey. Just think of it this way, can you imagine him beating any of the other four?

Baker's counter. Actually, yes. I can see him beating any of the others save Merckx. It's hard to compare across eras, and unlike the other guys on the list, his team actively worked against him. He had a brilliant rival that Indurain and maybe Hinault lacked. I might rate him too highly given his lack of classification awards, but he was a dominant rider.

MERCKX (1969-72, 1974)
Why not more? He didn’t ride in 1973, and lost in 1975 because he was attacked by a French fan. He tried again in 1977, but finished sixth. But for six years, the Cannibal was unbeatable.

The nitty-gritty. Jesus, where to start? He’s the only guy to ever win all three of the major classifications, and he did it in one year. He’d win two classifications three times more. The double? Pulled that off three times. Won all three Grand Tours? Puh-leeze. He won the points title in all three Tours as well. He won 250 major races in his career. That’s just insane. He won 33 stages, an almost untouchable record. He is the greatest cyclist ever, and as good as these other guys are, they pale in comparison to Merckx.

Gioia's response. No debate here. He won 5 of 7 Tours he started. One loss was when he was over the hill and another was after being attacked by a fan during the race. He also skipped one Tour because of injury. While he was there, he really was a “cannibal.” His 34 stage wins and 111 days in yellow dwarf the records of everyone else. He won the King of the Mountains Twice and the green jersey thrice. He won stages on the flats, in the mountains, and on time trials. In 1969, with the yellow jersey on his back, he attacked in the Pyrenees, going solo for 130 kilometers and the stage win because he was mad at his teammates. In his 5 wins there were only three men within 10 minutes of
him. The closest anyone got was 8 minutes. Best rider ever!

Baker's counter. We can't say enough how good Merckx really was. Think about how good Lance is and then think, there is another guy who makes him look like a piker. He's the Babe Ruth of cycling.

HINAULT (1978-79, 1981-82, 1985)
Why not more? He sat out from 1983 and 1984 due to injury, or more accurately, holding out for more cash. The Badger was about as unlikable a guy as you could imagine, but his tenacity on the roads was matched by his tenacity in negotiations, and most riders can thank him for now-generous salaries.

The nitty-gritty. He won his first Tour, like Merckx and Anquetil. Then he followed it up by winning again and adding a points title. But that’s when we found out how universally despised he was. When he punctured, the entire field attacked. He vowed revenge, winning the 1979 Tour anyway, and then adding two more after sitting out 1980 due to tendonitis. When he returned for his fifth, we reach the controversy. LeMond blew him off the road, but since he was on the same team, they called him back to let Hinault win. So his fifth will always be tainted. He vowed to support LeMond in 1986, and if you call constantly attacking your teammate at every opportunity support, then he did. If you call it a transparent attempt to win his sixth by reneging on a deal, you could say that too.

Gioia's response. 28 stage wins and 79 days in the yellow jersey! He didn't win much in mountains, but he attacked often on the climbs; he won time trial after time trial, and he won on the flats. He even won on the
Champs-Elysees twice! His 5 wins spanned 8 years, and even when he “helped” LeMond to his first win in 1986, he finished 8 minutes ahead of the third place man. In 1985 he won despite a crash that broke his nose. He might have even won in 1980 had he not abandoned the yellow jersey because of an injury. The other riders hated him with good reason–he was greedy for wins, and he took them.

Baker's counter. I probably rated Hinault too low because he is such an incredible ass. He was an absolutely terrific ass though, so I'll concede I'm ranking him too low, but I won't slide him into the #2 slot, it's just too painful a concept.

INDURAIN (1991-1995)
Why not more? Bjarne Riis blew him off the road with the help of Ullrich. Actually, of all of the riders, he’s the only one not to at least come close to a sixth. When it ended for Big Mig, it ended quick.

The nitty-gritty. He was almost an alien, with a resting heartbeat below 30 beats per minute. He was able to translate that into just awesome time trials and he rode just good enough in the mountains. Was it boring? Yup. But it was effective. I’m going to speak blasphemy, but it was a low point in the level of cycling talent. His biggest threats were Roche, Delgado, Olano, and of course, Chiappucci. All of those riders are seriously flawed. As soon as a great rival appeared, Ullrich, Indurain was gone.

Gioia's response. Another man with 5 straight. He won 12 stages and wore yellow 60 days. But most of those stage wins were from time trials. He was utterly dominant there, and he managed not to get dropped in the mountains. He never attacked in the mountains like the three ahead of him, but he didn’t need to. Ultimately, he was a boring champion. Only one of his competitors, Abraham Olano, was an elite time trialer, and he was weak in the
mountains. For all the talk about his great time trialing ability, though, why does he only have the 5th best time trial in Tour history? Lemond, Armstrong, Ullrich, and David Millar have all gone faster, and Ullrich and Armstrong would have done it once again each had Ullrich not crashed last Saturday. Bottom line–Indurain was too strong for his competitors to drop, but he wasn’t as aggressive or as complete a rider as the men ahead of him.

Baker's counter. I'm in agreement. Inudrain was great, but he's not as great as we are lead to believe. His competition was very thin, and he wasn't that great of a climber. He's renowned as a time trialist, but I'd rank him below LeMond and Armstrong for sure, and probably Ullrich, Merckx, and Anquetil in that skill all-time. And maybe even Hinault was a better trialist. That's the only one I'd probably give Indurain the nod over.

ARMSTRONG (1999-2003)
Why not more? We have to wait a year.

The nitty-gritty. Just a dominant rider. A great climber and time trialist, a real rarity. He didn’t just win five straight, he absolutely crushed the field in the first four. It wasn’t even competitive. His primary rival, Ullrich, is easily the best foil any of these others had, even Anquetil.

Gioia's response. Five in a row. In those wins competitors have finished within 6 minutes only twice. 16 stage wins and 59 days in yellow. Jan Ullrich’s only been beaten 5 times, and Lance did three of them. Unlike
Hinault and Merckx, he cares not for the sprints, but he is beast in the mountains and time trials. He attacks and wins in both, and on consecutive days. His competition has been great as well. Ullrich is one of the best ever. Indurain had retired by 1999, but they shared some competitors. Richard Virenque, Abraham Olano, Fernando Escartin, Alex Zulle, and Marco Pantani all lost to Armstrong as they did to Indurain, so the people who argue that Indurain faced tougher competition are loony. The great thing is that he’s not yet done writing his legacy. He even won when he had a bad Tour.

Baker's counter. Put it like this, Indurain lost to Ullrich before he was in his prime. He got crushed by a 24-year old rookie. If the Ullrich of today rode against the 24-year old Ullrich, it wouldn't even be close. And Armstrong beat the better version, usually by convincing margins not seen since the days of Merckx.

LeMOND (1986,1989-90)
Why not more? Because, as discussed above, Hinault was a bastard. Then there’s the hunting accident.

The nitty-gritty. One of the most innovative riders, he was the first to use aero-bars and extreme light-weight bikes. How much of his greatness was tied into just being the first guy to try out the new innovations? Definitely 1989, when he won by 8 seconds. So, yes, he lost a Tour he shouldn’t have, but he won one he probably shouldn’t have, either. And look at the stage wins, he has five. That’s 7 behind Indurain, the worst on the list above.

REVISED RANKINGS
1. Merckx
2. Armstrong
3. Hinault
4. Anquetil
5. Indurain

Our real disagreement is what to do with Anquetil, he's just so hard to compare to the others, but I think this is as close to consensus that we'll come.

Lance vs. the mortals

Just in case you’re not impressed by Lance Armstrong’s five consecutive Tour de France victories, consider how difficult the race itself is. Here is a list of every single man who has FINISHED the each of the last five Tours de France.

[name, (best place, average place)]
Lance Armstrong (1, 1)
Francisco Mancebo (7, 13.4)
Tyler Hamilton (4, 30.2)
Massimiliano Lelli (14, 31.4)
Giuseppe Guerini (22, 40.4)
Mario Aerts (21, 43)
George Hincapie (47, 64)
Eric Zabel (61, 87)
Christophe Mengin (70, 92.6)
Sebastien Hinault (123, 134.2)

That’s right. Only 10 men have managed to finish each of the last 5 Tours. Injury and fitness often keep riders out. Illness, fatigue, and crashes make them quit. It’s a war of attrition, and it’s amazing for someone to start and finish five in a row. Notice only three of these men have ever finished in the top 10. Imagine what it’s like to win 5 in a row!

Lance Armstrong took a lot of criticism this year for not blowing his competition away. People acted like he was losing because he wasn’t up by 5 minutes. He was on the defensive every day but one, but he never cracked. He was dogged by crashes and nearly taken down in Beloki’s crash. He lost 12 pounds in the first time trial and got severely dehydrated. Lance Armstrong had a BAD TOUR and he still won.

So, where does he fit among the other 5-time winners?

It’s historical perspective time!
While we hash out our 2003 Tour in Review, let’s go straight to the question on everyone’s lips: Is Lance the best ever?

Short answer: no. Eddie Merckx is.

Before we get into the long answer, I do want to put in perspective how good Jan Ullrich is. Armstrong has completely destroyed his place in cycling history, and I’m convinced had there been no Lance, Ullrich would have won five Tours by now. So, quick trivia question: what’s Ullrich’s worst finish in the Tour? Take your time. Want a hint? Armstrong’s worst is 36th, not counting the three times he failed to finish. Give up?

Second. Ullrich has never finished worse than 2nd place. Six Tours, one title and five runners-up. That’s simply amazing. He at least has a yellow jersey to console himself with, but he is the modern version of Raymond Poulidor. Poulidor had the misfortune of coming of age during Jacques Anquetil’s reign, but he kept racing throughout Eddie Merckx’s dominance. Poulidor’s frustration was probably greater since he never even wore the yellow jersey, but he raced in the Tour 14 times, finished in the top ten 11 times, and stood on the final podium 8 times. But even the ultimate runner-up only actually finished 2nd three times. Ullrich has got that beat. And look at the frustrations:

1996- 2nd to Riis by 1:41, 2:54 ahead of 3rd (Virenque)
1998- 2nd to Pantani by 3:21, 0:47 ahead of 3rd (Julich)
2000- 2nd to Armstrong by 6:02, 4:02 ahead of 3rd (Beloki)
2002- 2nd to Armstrong by 6:44, 2:21 ahead of 3rd (Beloki)
2003- 2nd to Armstrong by 1:01, 3:13 ahead of 3rd (Vinokourov)

The first two losses weren’t without controversy. Riis’ win is tainted by the suspicions that he used performance enhancing drugs, which he probably did. Ullrich was his domestique and rode for his captain. And 1998 was the ultimate year of the doping scandal, as several stages went uncontested and the riders almost refused to finish out the Tour due to their treatment at the hands of French police. Then came Lance. So Ullrich has lost five potential Tours: two to the doping scandals, three to Lance. He would pretty clearly have won four with no Armstrong, and maybe a fifth if there was no doping scandal as well. That just sucks.

And yes, Ullrich was suspended for drug use, but that was for using Ecstacy, not for taking performance enhancing drugs. If cycling didn’t have such a big problem with drugs, I doubt Ullrich would have faced such a stiff penalty for taking a recreational drug. But that’s more of his own fault, so we won’t count that in his potential wins.

As for that long answer on Lance, stay tuned. We’re working on it.

Gioia’s 2003 TdF All-Star team

GC men: Lance Armstrong & Tyler Hamilton
Time Trialist: Jan Ullrich
Climber: Iban Mayo & Richard Virenque
Sprinter: Baden Cooke & Robbie McEwen
Domestique: Manuel Beltran & Paolo Bettini

Comments...
Yes, Ullrich is a better GC man than Hamilton, but I can justify this. Ullrich was much better than his peers in the time trial. After the big win in stage 12, he was on pace to set a new TdF record in average speed in the stage 19 time trial until he fell. This is his forte, and it makes room for Hamilton, who deserved to be on the all-star team because he is the best team player in the race. Remember, after breaking his collar bone, he stayed in the race to help Carlos Sastre.

I’ve got two sprinters here, and both deserve it. They were separated by a couple centimeters. They exchanged the green jersey thrice on the final day. I was tempted to include Alessandro Petacchi for his 4 stage wins, but I’d rather honor the two guys who fought hard to the end.

Beltran is the most pivotal domestique in years. Put him on Team Bianchi, and Ullrich probably wears yellow into the final time trial. It may seem odd to call Paolo Bettini, the world’s #1 ranked rider, a domestique, but he did everything his team needed. He paced Virenque in the mountains. He led out Luca Paolini (5th in green jersey) in sprints. He was in breakaways on both flat and mountain stages, finishing 10th in mountain points and 17th in sprinter points. For a guy who didn’t win anything, he was always in the action.

Biggest Dud
It’s Santiago Botero. Gilberto Simoni was a huge flop in this race, but at least he goes home with a stage win. Botero didn’t even finish the race. He wasn’t on the map for either the GC or the King of the Mountains. His greatest moment was pacing Vinokourov for about 25 minutes on stage 15.

Biggest Disappointment
Individual: Eric Zabel didn’t even try to win the green jersey. He even said so.
Team: Rabobank’s TdF ended when Levi Leipheimer crashed in stage 1. Oscar Freire didn’t do diddly squat in the sprints, and Michael Boogerd was dropped early and often in the mountains.

Biggest Surprise
Ok, I’ve got to explain to our readers that Mr. Baker frequently sniffs glue. That’s why he’s surprised that Francisco Mancebo finished 10th. Look, in the previous four TdFs, these are Mancebo’s finishing places: 7, 13, 9, 28. Mancebo is consistently very good. The biggest surprise was that Tyler Hamilton rode 19 stages with a fractured collar bone. Since we’ve talked enough about that, I’ll give another example–FDJeux. They wore each jersey at least once. They won the green jersey, one stage, and the prologue. Even the domestiques Brad McGee and Carlos DaCruz were strong in supporting Cooke to the green jersey. They’ve earned their bid.

Most Improved
Euskaltel. Last year they stunk up the joint. This year they got the win at Alp d’Huez, finished three men in the top 20 (including two in the top 6), and were third in the team competition. Haimar Zubeldia led the way for them, improving from 39th to 5th in one year.

Most Dominant
Alessandro Petacchi won all four of the bunch sprints he contested. He won four stages in the first week–utterly dominant.
Most Cowardly
Alessandro Petacchi quit the race as soon as he saw a mountain. Wearing the green jersey couldn’t even inspire him to try.

Most Aggressive Move
Ullrich’s attack on the Tourmalet before the final climb on Luz-Ardiden.

Funniest Moment
Carlos Sastre won stage 13 with a baby pacifier in his mouth.

Oddest Stat
The top five green jersey finishers had only one stage win among them.

Stage 20

Armstrong won the yellow on Saturday, and the Aussies squared off for the Green today. It didn't just come down to the final day, it came down to the final sprint, as Cooke won the Points title by several centimeters.



You just don't get much closer than that. So FDJeaux comes out of the Tour with an absolutely huge award, the biggest title aside from the yellow. Baden Cooke is your 2003 Sprinting champ of the Tour de France. It's tough to analyze a sprint, so let's just say it was an absolutely terrific climax to a terrific Tour.

We're going to do a rundown of each of the teams as well as a comparison of the five guys who have won five Tours, so stay tuned for that. But first, we'll hand out some coveted BartCopSport's TdF awards. First, my top nine team:

GC: Lance Armstrong (US Postal). Well, duh. Five straight wins puts him among the very best ever.
GC: Tyler Hamilton (CSC). An absolutely inspiring Tour. Fourth overall with a broken collarbone. I think he would have had a podium finish if he was entirely healthy, and had an outside shot of winning the yellow.
Climber: Iban Mayo (Euskatel). Everyday he was on the attack in the mountains. He simply dominated the mountain stages, setting the pace. Even on Stage 15, it was Mayo who attacked, not Armstrong.
Climber: Richard Virenque (Quick Step). He won the King of the Mountains by 157 points. Only three riders accumulated that many points total.
Time Trialist: Jan Ullrich (Bianchi). He beat Armstrong. By a lot. His time trial victory completely obliterated the entire field and served notice that Jan is back.
Time Trialist: David Millar (Cofidis). I don't like Millar. I think he's the biggest whiner in the sport, but the man can time trial. Bad luck kept him from winning the Prologue, though he shouldn't have publicly taken it out on his team, but he did win the final time trial. And in Stage 12, he finished 7th overall, keeping up with Ullrich's insane pace.
Sprinter: Baden Cooke (FDJ). He not only won the Green, he deserved it. He was the guy people were marking and trying to contain. He dominated the sprints and is a worthy champ.
Domestique: Manuel Beltran (US Postal). If Beltran signs with Binachi, Ullrich might have won the yellow. He was unbelievable in this Tour, picking up the slack for the infirm Heras. He set the pace for Lance at every stage of the game.
Domestique: Daniele Nardello (Telekom). No team had a better rank and file than Telekom. Unfortunately, Vinokourov wasn't quite on the same level as the big two, and Zabel has just lost a little bit in his sprinter's legs. that doesn't diminish the amazing job the domestqiues of Telekom did. I chose Nardello as the top domestique from the team, but this is really an award for the entire Telekom team. They didn't win, but they rode an outstanding race.

Some other awards....
BEST GUY NOT LISTED ABOVE
Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom)
He had an unbelievable Tour, finally stepping out of the shadow of all of the great Telekom riders in the past and making it to the final podium. He attacked like mad, and though he is not as strong of a rider as Lance or Jan, he pressed his advantage far more and almost stole the yellow jersey.

NEXT GUY TEAM BIANCHI AND US POSTAL WILL FIGHT OVER
Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R)
24th overall, within an hour of the leaders, but riding for a lousy team. This guy was in on almost every huge climb, but he just doesn't have the legs to finish it off. He's begging to be a domestique for someone who can win.

BEST DOMESTIQUE WITH NO ONE TO RIDE FOR
Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour)
It's not like Jean Delatour is going to add a big name, but come on, Halgand's never going to win this thing, but he's always hanging around on climbs. He burns out, but he picks up huge chunks of time in the mountains. Give him someone to ride for.

BIGGEST DUD
Gilberto Simoni (Saeco)
Yes, he won a stage. Big whoop. He talked a big game and then proceeeded to get his ass kicked all over the course.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank)
It's not his fault, but his crash on Stage 1 robbed us of a chance to see three Americans duke it out for the podium slots. I just feel awful for him.

FLUKY HIGH CLASSIFICATION
Laurent DuFaux (Alessio)
He finished 2nd in the climbers category. I can't for the life of me remember him on any big climb. Something seriously needs to be done to revamp the scoring for the pola dots.

WORST CRASH
Joseba Beloki (ONCE)
Worst yey, it might be a career-ending crash. The Stage One crash was pretty awful as well, but Beloki's skid will never be forgotten.

BIGGEST SUPRISE
Francisco Mancebo and Denis Menchov (Banesto)
I didn't think they had a snowball's chance in hell of doing as well as they did, both finishing within 20 minutes of Armstrong at 10th and 11th overall. And Menchov won the white jersey by 42 minutes, abd it wasn't really that close. That was supposed to go to Rogers, but he was a complete non-factor.

BEST LAST TOUR
Erik Zabel (Telekom)
OK, we don't know that's it, but I can't imagine him coming back to merely be an average sprinter. He's lost some of his explosiveness, but he still showed glimpses of the talent that made him possibly the greatest sprinter in Tour history. He lost on the last day in 2002, so it made sense to come back and try for his 7th Green Jersey, but he was just not enough to keep up with the top two guys. Still, he was clearly better than every other sprinter in a very talented field.

BEST MOMENT
Tyler Hamilton (CSC)
Hamilton's win in Stage 16 was simply unbelievable, and the most stirring moment of the Tour. It takes a lot to steal the spotlight from one of the closest Tours ever, but Hamilton did just that.