Bethie's Best and Worst of the 2006 Tour

by bethie on Jul 23, 2006 2:05 PM EDT

Chris asked for Diaries and since I haven't been on a bike in, well let's just say a number of years, I don't really feel qualified to take up any of the great subjects he posed in his thread. I know there will be some marvelous feedback on those subjects and cannot wait to read everyone's input. That said I decided instead to present here the second annual Bethie's Best and Worst of the Tour.

The Tour is over for this year and we all know Phonak and Landis took home the big award. Actually in my own humble opinion, I think every rider who finishes a Tour de France deserves a gold medal. It is quite an achievement to do what they do. But everyone cannot be the winner. There are categories that the Tour organizers overlook, so I've complied the following to commemorate the riders and background people of the 2006 Tour de France who were not recognized elsewhere for their participation.

Best Teammate:
This one is tie between Mattias Kessler of T-Mobile and Jens Voigt of CSC, and for the life of me I can't favor one over the other. Both had stage wins, both had crashes, and both worked like big diesel engines for big pulls that amazed me each time I saw it.

Worst Teammate:
Any question on this one? Christophe Moreau of AG2R. OK, OK, so I don't like him as a rider anyway, but I still thought it was pretty crappy for him not to wait to help Dessel in stage 16.

Disappointments:

I was hoping for a stage win for Eki and Zabel. Farfetched, I know, but it would have been nice to see.
Bobby Julich crashing out.

Best Strip:
Tough one this year, but I have to go with Gerolsteiner over Caisse d'Epargne even though I like their colors, because who in their right mind would send their team out in hot weather to ride in black spandex? Oh right, Team CSC.

Worst Strip:
Agritubel, even so I was happy to see them win a stage. Good on the wildcard team! Maybe next year you'll have enough dosh to hire a designer.

Best Job:
Hands down, it's got to be Podium Girl

Worst Job:
Gendarme with the yellow flag in the traffic islands

The "If you were my son, what you'd hear from me" award: Damiano Cunego
Here's the lecture: "Listen, son, you're going to be on the podium in Paris tomorrow in front of millions of people all over the world. If you don't have time for a haircut, at least wash and comb it, you look like a bum."

Best Rider's Diary:
Bobby Julich

Best Religious Finish
Tied between the "Our Catholics are better than Your Catholics" triple cross and prayer of Popovich, and Rasmussen's impersonation of Jesus on the cross.

Favorite Rider Name:
Another tie, this time between Inaki Isasi and Riccardo Ricco (Anyone besides me think "Oh Luuuucy, I'm Hoooomme" everytime his name was mentioned?)

Best Stage Podium
Serguei Gonchar, both times. It was really great to see him jump with his fist in the air, all smiles. And when he got his first yellow jersey he was like a six year old kid, pulling it away from his body to show everyone "See, See??? This is MINE!"

Best Deja Vu moment:
Kessler going over the guardrail, I was sure he was going to hit that pole again.

Most fun of the Tour:
VDS challenge and daily input from the folks at Podium Cafe. What a great Tour! Thanks everyone!

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Comments

Great diary

Thanks, Bethie. My own small addition:

Cruelest Father on the Tour:

The one that named his kid Ewen McEwen.

by Sui Juris on Jul 23, 2006 2:59 PM EDT reply actions

Great

I love it when people add categories. We should have one for best and worst ad.

by bethie on Jul 23, 2006 3:11 PM EDT reply actions

Best Ad . . .hmm. Let me get back to this.

Worst Ad . . . hmm, all of them? Guess there's no getting back to the best ad.

Seriously, I can't think of a single good television ad that I saw during the OLN coverage (cf. the Adidas ads during the World Cup). I mean, I think I even hate Saab now, and I dig Saabs. The worst, perhaps, is that inane "I wanna ride" Honda commercial. You want to ride? Get on your god_@)#@ bikes, you lazy little bastards. And get off my lawn!

by Sui Juris on Jul 23, 2006 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Questions for Saab and Honda

(a) If your company was found by tres cool aircraft engineers, isn't "their spirit" totally dead now that you're selling clunky overweight SUVs that are basically Saturns with Saab badges on them?

(b) If your goal is to sell lots of Honda motorbikes to parents (as the commercial implies), don't you think you might want to edit out that clip of the guy catching huge air, flying off his bike and holding onto it by only the handlebar grip? If you were the parent of a teenager, would you buy them a Honda motorbike after watching that?

by socal @ Podium Cafe on Jul 23, 2006 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, I liked

the Geiko gecko, and also the Geiko commercial with Little Richard. Woooooooo!

I also liked the Sasquatch/jerky commercials. They appealed to my, um, more immature practial joke side.

Worst. Commercial. Ever. Pennzoil.

by bethie on Jul 23, 2006 9:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Mee-Mah

Oh, crap! I just forgot the Portuguese word for firewall!

Were we really supposed to go all bugeyed over a company that built airplanes for the Swedish Air Force? These planes were meant to repel what, reindeer that strayed over the border from Finland? Not to mention the Saab Viggen and the Saab Draken were two of the biggest POSs ever to take to the skies.

by Mateo on Jul 24, 2006 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Look

all Saab is saying is that its cars are just as heavily subsidized and subject to cost overruns as its planes. That's it.

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 24, 2006 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Chris remember Dad's Saab when we were kids?

I think he went through more transmissions in that thing, than I've gone through tubes in the last 4 years. We should be thankful for that car. It taught us to hone our hitchhiking skills...

by Peter Fontecchio on Jul 24, 2006 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Best and worst teammates..

Best: Michael Boogerd-Rabobank.

He absolutely buried himself for team leader Menchov.

Worst: Michael Rasmussen-Rabobank

He absolutely abandoned his team leader Menchov in pusuit of the who-cares-Polka-dot-jersey.

by Peter Fontecchio on Jul 23, 2006 5:02 PM EDT reply actions

Agree

about Boogerd. Another plus to him would be a nighttime ride. He could guide you along with those brilliant shiny teeth. :-)

by bethie on Jul 24, 2006 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions

let's not overlook Axel,

he put in a pretty solid effort for Floyd.

by Scott. on Jul 24, 2006 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Funniest Rider Podcast

Here.

by Sui Juris on Jul 23, 2006 7:17 PM EDT reply actions

hee

I would second that one, but this one is my favorites. Not that I actually have a copy of that Shakira album or anything.

by callmecayce on Jul 24, 2006 12:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Worst team strategy

T-Mobile, of course. How many years in a row can they win in this category? We could fill a DVD with boneheaded T-Mobile lowlights, bookended by "We don't need to help chase Pereiro because we don't have the maillot jaune today" and "We don't need to help chase Landis because we don't have the maillot jaune today". They had the strongest team in the Tour by far and underachieved except on the ITTs, which of course allow the riders to excel unburdened by their team directors.

Honorable mention in this category goes to the overrated Bjarne Riis, who admitted that he, like T-Mobile, saw no need to chase on stage 17 because he just assumed Landis would run out of gas.

Totally agree about Moreau. What a scumbag. He would have won the "least deserving" award hands down if he had beaten out Dessel for best-placed Frenchman. As satisfying as it was to see Dessel finish ahead of Moreau, it would have been even better for Moreau to have a mechanical in the ITT and end up throwing his bike into a ditch while waiting for his team car to arrive, a la Riis in 1997.

by socal @ Podium Cafe on Jul 23, 2006 9:26 PM EDT reply actions