2011 Tour de France polka-dot jersey preview
In 1910, Alphones Steinès convinced Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange that the it was possible for a cyclist to climb the Tourmalet and it became the first year that the Tour crossed through the Pyrénées. Despite the assurances of Steinès, no riders
were sitting on their bike when they reached the top. Octave Lapize was the first to push his bike to the summit, simultaneously telling the reporter waiting there that Desgrange and the other Tour organisers were murderers.
“A monumental stage awaits the riders as they will climb the Col Agnel, followed by the famous Izoard and its famous lunarscape, and finally the Galibier, at the summit of which will be the highest [in the] history of the Tour de France, at 2645 metres,”
described race organiser Christian Prudhomme.
The following year, Gustave Garrigou echoed that sentiment. “You are bandits!” he shouted at the peak of the Galibier in 1911, the first time the Tour de France crossed the Alps. This year, the Tour commemorated the centenary of the Pyrénées pass be sending
the riders up the Col du Tourmalet twice. Likewise, in 2011, the peloton will take on the Galibier twice.
“Oh! Col Bayard! Oh! Tourmalet!” wrote Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange after the Tour’s first crossing, “I do not fail in my duty in proclaiming that beside the Galibier you are pale and vulgar drinks: before this giant there is little more than to
pull his cap and bow down low!”
The route was unveiled in Paris on Tuesday, with climbers Anthony Charteau, Jérôme Pineau of France and Jurgen Van den Broeck of Belgium in attendance. Pineau wore the polka-dot king-of-the-mountain jersey for nine stages of the 2010 race, but Charteau wore
it for 10 and won the competition. Runner-up and fellow Frenchman Christophe Moreau, the oldest rider in the 2010 Tour, will not be putting up a fight next year as he announced his retirement after his strong performance in July.
"After sixteen years as a pro, with good and bad moments, I've decided to retire very officially."
Van den Broeck, who finished in fifth overall in this year’s Tour despite being a climbing specialist, will have more of an advantage in 2011 on a route which his team Omega Pharma-Lotto manager Marc Sergeant has said is a race for the climbers.
“If he wants to finish higher he needs to plan on attacking and taking some time,” said Sergeant. “Otherwise if you just follow wheels you’ll finish between fifth and tenth. With the confidence he has now and the work he’s put in, he can aim for higher.
Saying he can win the Tour is very ambitious though.”
Pineau was the clear leader in the climbs for the first half of this year’s Tour while he supported teammate Sylvain Chavanel to two stage wins and a time in the yellow jersey. A crash in the 12th stage kept both Frenchmen from continuing their
leadership of the race.
“In 2011 the polka dot jersey is going to be one of my objectives,” said Pineau. “I've realised that I can strive to capture that jersey. For me, as an athlete but especially as a Frenchman, it represents a very prestigious milestone with its own unique
charm.”
Defending polka-dot jersey champion Charteau will ride with Europcar when the Tour begins in the team’s homeland of Vendée. He is wary of a points revision which favours summit finishes for the climbers’ points, but he said there’s
no reason he can’t wear the polka-dot jersey in 2011.
"I'm not fast enough when it comes to sprinting, that's why Jérôme Pineau beat me on the 3rd and 4th category climbs,” said Charteau. “I'll need to be strong in the high mountains. It's a mountainous Tour de France and a very nice
one in my opinion."
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