Tour de France: Contador is King again

CEBU, Philippines – The 2010 Tour de France is over and Alberto Contador was able to defend his title although not in the way he would want it to be. His supposedly weak team was actually the strongest team in the peloton but his strategy of waiting for a last minute surge to beat Andy Schleck and of course "Chaingate", didn't do the Castillian any favors. But in the end, only the winning margin counts.

Andy Schleck was clearly stronger this year but it wasn't the crash or the mechanical that lost him the race. It was bad racing tactics. May if brother Frank hadn't broken a collarbone early in the race, he could have helped him. Another discipline to improve on is his TT skills.

The 2010 race was clearly between Contador and Schleck at the early going but the tier of riders remain highly optimistic that they can stand on the top spot next year. They include Russian Denis Menchov, made a break through this year, the Belgian hope Jurgen van Broeck, Spaniard Samuel Sanchez and the one tough Canuck, Ryder Hesjedal.

The busts in the peloton include Lance Armstrong, who entertained an 8th Tour but was put in his place by crashes, bad luck and age. Carlos Sastre, the 2008 Tour champ whom I considered as a one Tour wonder, Bradley Wiggins, the British hope who rode to 4th overall last year and was hyped to win it all but never showed anything close to winning. I also expected a lot from Cadel Evans, the current World Champion but failed again, miserably. Levi Leipheimer was good at the early going but he never got his momentum going. Ivan Basso, the pseudo-heir of LA, was never in the race, done by a bum stomach.

Astana should be rightly proud of its team, especially Daniel Navarro, who shepherded Contador on the steep slopes of the Alps and the Pyrenees. But another teammate, Alexander Vinokourov, in spite of a stage win, was the fly in Contador's ointment. With Vino, it's hard to decipher if he's riding for Contador, as he said he would, or for his selfish self.

One of the more exciting competitions this year was for the sprint jersey won by Alessandro Petacchi. At 36yo, Ale-Jet wasn't expected to do anything spectacular but ended up winning two stages and the sprinter's jersey despite a threat of another doping investigation hanging over his head.

I hope you enjoyed The Freeman's coverage of the Tour de France. Vive Le Tour! (THE FREEMAN)