2014 Grand Tours wrap up
On Sunday Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) wrapped up his third Vuelta a España title and sixth Grand Tour triumph, concluding the 2014 Grand Tours. Contador nipped Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) in the tightest contest of all three big stage races. Earlier in the year, Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) captured his first Grand Tour by winning the Giro d’Italia, and Vincenzo Nibali’s dominant first title at the Tour de France was his second Grand Tour win in two seasons, making him one of six men – Contador included – who have won all three Grand Tours.
These four riders listed above are the best stage racers in the peloton, and the prospect of this formidable quartet skirmishing injury and illness-free in next year’s Tour de France makes a cycling fan giddy.
But before we look forward, let’s look back on this year to see who had the most success in the Grand Tours. Outside the three Grand Tour winners, who had the best year individually? Which teams had the edge in 2014?
The Wildcards
Wildcard Pro Continental teams require their own criteria of success. Only IAM Cycling and Cofidis were invited to more than one Grand Tour – the Tour and the Vuelta for both.
Leopold Konig (Czech Republic/NetApp-Endura) was the top wildcard rider on GC in 2014, coming 7th in the Tour, while Daniel Navarro (Spain) placed 10th in the Vuelta and nabbed a stage win for Cofidis, a team that was almost hyperactive in the last week of the Vuelta. But the greatest wildcard feat of the season was Bardiani-CSF winning three out of five stages in the latter half of the Giro with three different Italian riders. The only Pro Continental cyclist to win a competition was LL Sanchez of Caja-Rural prevailing in the Vuelta King of the Mountains.
Individual Wins
This was a close contest. Marcel Kittel (Germany/Giant-Shimano) conquered six stages – four in the Tour de France and two in the Giro. French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) spread his five wins over the Giro and Vuelta. Kittel’s teammate and compatriot John Degenkolb tied with Nibali on four stage wins, both men accomplishing this in a single race. Another German, Tony Martin, grabbed three time trial victories, while Australian vet Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) had a pair of Giro wins and a Tour triumph.
Individual GC
The “win” here is also a narrow one. Alejandro Valverde‘s 3rd in the Vuelta and 4th in the Tour trumps Official Revelation of 2014 Fabio Aru‘s Giro 3rd and Vuelta 5th. Pierre Rolland is the only rider who comes close to these two after his 4th in the Giro and 11th in the Tour. A little farther back is Belkin’s Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands) who slotted in 7th in the Giro and 14th in the Vuelta.
Team Wins
Giant-Shimano goes long here: 11 wins via Kittel, Degenkolb and Luka Mezgec (Slovenia). Nibali and Aru provided all seven of Astana‘s stage wins. Tinkoff-Saxo got three wins from Rogers, two from Rafal Majka (Poland) in his campaign for a Tour KOM title, and two from Contador on his way to his third Vuelta. Movistar snagged five victories (Quintana, Malori, Valverde, Vuelta TTT), as did Omega Pharma-QuickStep thanks to Martin, Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) and Matteo Trentin (Italy).
Sky, BMC and Europcar were the only WorldTour squads not to get a Grand Tour stage victory in 2014.
Team on GC
Movistar‘s Giro win and Valverde’s placings in the Tour and Vuelta gets the edge over Astana‘s Tour win and Aru’s results. Ag2r‘s remarkable Tour, with Peraud’s 2nd and Bardet’s 6th, combines with Pozzovivo’s fifth in the Giro to put them on the “team GC podium”. BMC makes a case for itself with Van Garderen’s Tour 5th, Sanchez’s Vuelta 6th and Cadel Evans’ Giro 8th. Belkin jammed riders into the last two positions of the Tour top-10 (Ten Dam and Mollema) and had Kelderman at 7th in the Giro.
Team Competitions
Ag2r was the only squad to win two team competitions in 2014: the Giro and the Tour’s. For the most part the team was absent from the Vuelta, an assertion their 20th ranking supports. UCI’s top ranked WorldTour team, Movistar, was 2nd at the Giro, 3rd at the Tour and 5th at the Giro. BMC came 4th in both the Tour and Giro and 8th in the Vuelta. Astana takes the consistency award for placing 6th in all three competitions.Sky, unable to win a Grand Tour stage or title, has the solace of being the 5th best team at the Vuelta and the 7th at the Giro and Tour.
