A look at last year’s Tour top ten, and where they are this year

By Andrew Hood

Lance Armstrong ruffled some feathers when he called the 2008 Tour de France a “joke” in the months ahead of his celebrated comeback.

The seven-time Tour winner has since apologized for making those remarks, but the top stars from last year’s Tour are not having much luck in the 2009 edition.

Of last year’s top 10, only two – Frank Schleck and Christian Vande Velde – are hanging among the leaders this year.

Four – Bernhard Kohl, Samuel Sánchez, Alejandro Valverde and Tadej Valjavec – aren’t even in the race.

With two stages to go, we look at how last year’s top 10 is faring in this year’s “no joke” Tour:

• Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) 15th at 17:23: The veteran Spanish climber has had a nightmare defense of the yellow jersey. Sastre was nearly three minutes behind Contador before the Pryénées. Unable to respond to the high-speed attacks at Arcalis and Verbier, Sastre’s frustration poured out in a scathing rest-day press conference when he blasted the media for not giving him his due respect. He will throw the dice on Mont Ventoux to try to salvage the Tour with a dramatic stage victory.

• Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) 30th at 40:17: Never out of the top 10 in four previous Tours, Evans’ bid for a third-straight podium was handicapped by the team time trial, when he lost more than two minutes to Astana and Garmin. Ridiculed for an early attack in the Pyrénées, Evans later struggled in the Alps. Reports of strife within the Silence camp suggest a possible exit for the two-time runner-up.

• Bernard Kohl (busted for doping): The Austrian climber was one of the big names nabbed by anti-doping authorities for CERA. Kohl has since fessed up about his doping practices and vowed never to race again. Officially, he faces a two-year racing ban and disqualification.

• Denis Menchov (Rabobank) 47th at 57:48: Another disaster of a Tour, the Russian came into the race flat after putting everything into winning the Giro d’Italia in May. Menchov lost time in every key stage and crashed twice en route to Le Grand Bornand.

• Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) eighth at 10:08: The American is among the best from last year’s top 10 and he was the one who had the bumpiest road back to the Tour. The all-rounder crashed out of the Giro in stage 3, but surprised many to be at the start line in Monaco despite his serious injuries. Not quite as sharp as he was in 2008, Vande Velde could still finish in the top 10 if he makes it up Mont Ventoux with the leaders despite vowing to help teammate Bradley Wiggins.

• Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) sixth at 5:59: The elder of the Schleck brothers is the best among last year’s top 10. A winner of a stage at Le Grand Bornand, he and younger brother Andy are going to attack up Mont Ventoux to try to secure a spot for both of them on the final podium in Paris.

• Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) DNS: The Olympic road champion decided to bypass the Tour to take aim at overall victory at the Vuelta and for the rainbow jersey in September. “Samu” believes the hilly world’s parcours in Mendrisio is perfect for his style of racing.

• Kim Kirchen (Columbia-HTC) 50th at 1h01:07: His season started off badly with a horrible crash at the Tour of California, derailing his spring classics campaign, not returning until April to racing. Despite an effort to regain fitness for the Tour, he started in Monaco behind his top form. Although he was riding into fitness, he faded during the five-climb stage across the Alps this week.

• Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) DNS: Banned for two years from racing in Italy by Italian authorities for what they say is irrefutable evidence he was linked to the Operación Puerto doping scandal. The fact that some 80km of the Tour route passed through Italy in stage 15 sidelined Valverde, who is preparing a legal battle against the Italians. Valverde will race the Vuelta a España and likely the world championships.

• Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r-La Mondiale) DNS: After racing the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Suisse, the Slovenian skipped the Tour to spend time with his recently born daughter.

Follow Andrew Hood’s twitter at twitter.com/eurohoody.

FILED UNDER: News / Road / Tour de France TAGS: doping / operation puerto / Tour de France

Andrew Hood

Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood's covered every Tour since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002. He lives in Leon, Spain, when he's not chasing bike races.

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