Every year, I run down the countries represented by Tour racers, with special attention to the English-speaking countries.
Australia
Cadel Evans, BMC
Jonathan Cantwell, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff
Baden Cooke, Orica-Greenedge
Simon Gerrans, Orica-Greenedge
Matthew Goss, Orica-Greenedge
Adam Hansen, Lotto-Belisol
Brett Lancaster, Orica-Greenedge
Matthew Lloyd, Lampre-ISD
Stuart O'Grady, Orica-Greenedge
Richie Porte, Team Sky
Mark Renshaw, Rabobank
Michael Rogers, Team Sky
With the advent of Orica-Greenedge, Australia jumps from six to 12 riders; there were 11 in 2010. All six of last year's riders are back, plus Rogers, Lloyd, Lancaster, Cantwell, Hansen, and Cooke.
Canada
Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Sharp
Just one again, but that one just happens to have won the Giro d'Italia in May.
Great Britain
Mark Cavendish, Team Sky
Stephen Cummings, BMC
Chris Froome, Team Sky
David Millar, Garmin-Sharp
Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky
No Ben Swift or Geraint Thomas this year, but Cummings and Froome keep the overall count steady at five.
Ireland
Nicolas Roche, AG2R La Mondiale
Dan Martin, Garmin-Sharp
Roche finally gets company from Garmin's Dan Martin.
New Zealand
Greg Henderson, Lotto-Belisol
Henderson in, Julian Dean out, so still one from New Zealand.
South Africa
Robbie Hunter, Garmin-Sharp
Daryl Impey, Orica-Greenedge
South Africa jumps from zero to two.
USA
Tom Danielson, Garmin-Sharp
Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Sharp
George Hincapie, BMC
Chris Horner, Radio Shack-Nissan
Levi Leipheimer, Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Sharp
Tejay Van Garderen, BMC
David Zabriskie, Garmin-Sharp
After 10 riders in the 2011 Tour, the US drops back to 8 with Brent Bookwalter and Danny Pate at home this year. Every other US rider that started last year's Tour is on hand for this year, as well.
An interesting sideline to "where are they from?" this year is "when are they from?" as we see the aging of the English-speaking riders continue, with a few youngsters, including Van Garderen, Farrar, and Porte overbalanced by a lot of riders nearing retirement, like Hincapie, Rogers, Horner, Hunter, Leipheimer, and Vande Velde.
My count is off by one somewhere (my country totals only come to 197), so corrections welcome, but here's the rundown for other countries, with 2011 in parentheses:
44: France (40)
21: Spain (26)
18: Netherlands (12)
16: Italy (17)
14: Belgium (15)
12: Germany (12)
5: Denmark (5), Russia (9)
4: Belarus (1), Kazhakstan (5), Slovenia (4)
3: Slovakia, Switzerland (4), Ukraine (3)
2: Portugal (2), Sweden (0)
1: Croatia (0), Estonia (1), Japan (0), Poland (3), Luxembourg (2), Argentina (0), Norway (2), Austria (1)
Today the focus shifts from sprints to a marathon, as the Tour de France comes to the Pyrenees. Stage 12 is 211 kilometers/131 miles, with 3 climbs ranked at least 1st Category.
The majority of today's stage is comparatively flat, with the first real climb more than 130 kilometers from the start. First up is the 1st Category Col de Horquette d'Ancizan, making its Tour de France debut, followed by the HC Col du Tourmalet, then the HC Luz Ardiden for the finish.
Johnny Hoogerland's time in the King of the Mountains jersey is almost certainly over today as the points on offer dwarf those awarded so far.Thomas Voeckler has said he thinks he's likely to lose the leader's yellow jersey today, as well, but has promised to battle to keep it. Luis-Leon Sanchez, sitting 1:49 down on Voeckler but :37 ahead of Evans, could inherit yellow.
Mark Cavendish rides today in the green jersey. The intermediate sprint line comes at 119km, before the stage hits the Pyrenees, so Cavendish, Gilbert, and Rojas should all be able to contest it.
Today is Bastille Day, the French national holiday, which usually means French riders killing themselves in the breakaway in an effort that ultimately comes to naught. Expect that pattern to continue as the poorly placed GC hopefuls (Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez) are going to need to go all out to crack the field, while the well-placed GC riders like Evans and the Schlecks will have to play defense, keeping those threats under control.
It's really anybody's guess who has the best climbing legs in the Tour this year, but we're going to get our first look today. Lots of commentators believe Ivan Basso of Liquigas has been keeping a low profile awaiting the big mountains and tipping him for a possible stage win here.
I typically watch Tour stages with one display on Versus, and a second showing the English-language video stream they provide, with commentary by Matt Keenan, then Phil and Paul once the on-air broadcast is underway.
I have paid for the Flash-based video stream to my Mac, but last year, I used the Versus iPhone app on my iPhone and iPad (using the iPhone app double-sized) to track the race during broadcast commercials or when I was away from a TV.
This year's app is much better, with far more video, at least a dozen good quality photos per stage, full iPad support, and fewer crashes. In one way it was worse, however. Last year's app allowed (and still allows, if you've got the 2010 Tour app installed) you to go back and watch the full video of the stage, while this year's offered only highlights (typically, crashes and finishes) once the live video was done.
Until today, that is. There's a new version 1.2.0 of the iOS app that allows subscribers to go back and watch previous Tour stages in their entirety. For now, the full stream goes back to Stage 6, but it's promised that previous stages will be available soon. It's done through a browser window, launched by the app, and allows you to scrub through the video to look for your particular highlight. Stage 6 and Stage 8 have about 3:20 of video, Stage 7 and Stage 9 around 4:15. As I write this at 7:25 Eastern on Tuesday, Stage 10 hasn't yet appeared.
Video quality may be a bit lower than the initial stream -- I'm not in a position to test it with a good quality broadband connection right now.
Over at The Inner Ring, they're discussing whether Cavendish is the greatest sprinter of all time. He's certainly the greatest Tour sprinter of our time. In the time I've been following the Tour (since the late '80s), there's never been a sprinter so dominant in the Tour over 3+ seasons.
Petacchi won 4 stages in 2003, then went 7 years before taking a pair last year. Cipollini won stages every year from 1995-99, and 4 in 1999, but wasn't invited from 2000-2003, so he ended his career with 12 Tour stage wins. Boonen has won 2 stages in three different Tours. McEwen won two or three stages in each of 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006 (12 in total), but he was shut out in 2003.
The sprinter who came nearest to matching Cav's Tour record in recent memory was probably Tom Steels, who won 9 stages in three Tours from 1998-2000. In Cav's last three complete Tours, he's won FIFTEEN. And as he showed today, he blends Petacchi's finishing speed with McEwen's positional savvy.
In the days Before Cavendish, picking a sprint stage was about throwing a dart at which of the guys with a good finishing kick would be on a good day or get a great leadout. Given 4 choices, you would probably hit one or two podium spots. Today, if it's a sprinter's stage, you're crazy to pick against Cavendish. That's how dominant he has been.