2011 Vuelta: Men of the Hour

Vincenzo Nibali: The defending Vuelta a Espana champion has finished on the podium of the last three Grand Tours he’s raced, with two third places in the Giro and his win in Spain last year. He’ll need another good showing this year if he wants to live up to expectations and build confidence for a run at Giro victory or a good Tour performance in 2012, but is his team strong enough? Nibali may miss the exceptional domestique work of Roman Kreuziger; however, Peter Sagan may be good for a stage win early on, which would take some initial pressure...Continue Reading

Discuss: Renshaw to Rabo – an end to Cav’s dominance?

Yesterday, Cyclingnews reported that Rabobank has signed Mark Renshaw, and will support him as their number one sprinter. This comes as something of a surprise this transfer season, as it was widely speculated that HTC’s Mark Cavendish was looking to bring his leadout train with him to his new destination – likely to be Team Sky.

It raises several questions about the futures of Renshaw, Cavendish, and the Grand Tour terrain:

• Are Renshaw’s career prospects better as a leadout man than as a sprinter? Can he alone ever get the glory and recognition he got as Cav’s Main Man?
• Is this the end...Continue Reading

Monday Musette – HTC-HighRoad Edition

Like everyone, I’ve had a lot going through my mind as the dust settles on the dissolution of HTC-HighRoad. Here’s my best attempt at putting them to words:

1. Bob Stapleton was brought in to rescue T-Mobile, who was being suffocated by drug allegations, lack of identity, and a withdrawing sponsor. The 2007 positive of Patrick Sinkewitz was especially painful, coming just as new management took over. With the money that T-Mobile paid up-front, the following year they were self-sponsored so to speak, as T-Mobile didn’t want their image on the team anymore. Further development saw the team shed their German identity and become a US-based team. The team decided to take the High Road, perhaps in...Continue Reading

2011 Tour de France – Sprinter Check-up

Pavé would like to thank Handspun, Clément, and Laekhouse for supporting our coverage of the 2011 Tour de France

Prior to the 2011 Tour de France, we were asking ourselves some questions about what we could expect from the fast finishers in this year’s edition.

Would Mark Cavendish continue his reign of terror? Could perennial podium men like Tyler Farrar and Andre Greipel steal stage wins? Would would be the surprise sprint winner of this year’s Tour? Who would be the surprise sprint contenders of this year’s Tour? How would sprinting rolleurs fare?

Mark Cavendish – Perhaps unsurprisingly, Cavendish had another banner Tour de France,...Continue Reading

2011 Tour de France – Winners

1. For obvious reasons, BMC’s Cadel Evans is the big winner of the Tour de France, winning his first grand tour and most important race since switching from mountain to road over a decade ago. Consistency and tenacity are two words that come to mind when attempting to describe the Aussie’s win—he also remained cool under pressure, a characteristic often lacking during his previous grand tour assaults. Some interesting facts about Evans’ victory:

1. At 34 years of age, Evans is one of the oldest riders ever to win the Tour de France. While 34 isn’t “old” by and normal standard, it is...Continue Reading