Thanks to the Googler Cache Cache, here are a couple screen shots of the Tour de France 2012 route leak. Though the map still shows the 2011 course, this page apparently describes the 2012 Tour de France course. The sidebar column details the stages and below is a list of the start and finish towns.

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[File photo]

Well, you can't drive the nail in the coffin of a grand tour without looking back, rehashing some predictions, and inviting a cartoon goat to say something about the entire sport of cycling. So let's get started.

...Hm, Tourbecco seems to be running late. I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe this is a good time to type up a caveat or two. Grading system this time is just pass/fail, with a special third category for teams that don't fit the bill there, to be made up as I go along (shocking, I know). Also, I'm just one overscheduled, forgetful person, so if I have shafted any teams, or simply overlooked key details, please feel free to supplement this post. Indeed, if I hadn't missed any detail from a three week race involving 189 riders and assorted other characters, it wouldn't speak too well of, say, our family vacation. Or my day job. But like many of you I have survived another grand boucle with my job intact (I think), my kids intact (there's two of them, right?), and my sanity somewhere nearby. Anyway, Tourbecco hasn't shown yet, but he can jump in when he gets here.

Saxo Bank Sungard

Plan A: GC

Grade: Fail

Commentary: All things considered, Alberto Contador acquitted himself well enough to earn a little more respect from my grading system, but if you can't hold a guy who's won his last six grand tour starts to ridiculous standards, who can you? Icarberto flew too close to the Giro-Tour Double Sun, and got his wings singed a bit in the process. Even there the Cycling Gods were showing uncharacteristic lenience... possibly due to what they've got in store for him next.

That said, Contador may have at least improved his popular standing. His attacks on the Alpe d'Huez stage were just what all those boo-bird fans say repeatedly they want to see more of. Also, this being France, Contador's unpopularity surely said more about his success than his nationality or ethics (though neither was forgotten). Now that he's finally lost one, true Tour fans are gonna miss Bert when he's gone.

The rest of the team was neither seen nor heard from much, though in a mashup Tour like this perhaps that's for the best. Richie Porte's inauspicious Tour debut saw him placed as the second-best Australian on GC... a full two hours and change behind his more decorated countryman. Chris Anker Sorensen's stock as one of Bert's minders rose in value. 

Surprisingly Good/Alarmingly Bad Prediction: 

Riis does have Richie Porte to play the threatening foil role, so it's not all Bert and the Watercarriers.

Oops, I got my 2011 and 2012 Tour previews mixed up. Sorry bout that.

WWTS? Obviously this means "what would Tourbecco say?" The answer is, of course, something terrible, but I can't pretend to channel Tourbecco in any literal way. So instead I will nominate a Theme Song From Tourbecco If He Hadn't Gotten Stuck in Traffic*: Neil Young, Let's Impeach the President. When you're #1, everyone is out to get you.

[*Surely that's all this is. A little traffic jam.]

Rest of the teams, on the flip...

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As always, there are two sides to every story, and so thus with this year's Tour de France. At the end of three weeks of arduous racing, we end up with happyfaces and sadfaces, joy and pain, elated boys and broken men, winners and losers.

Some tales are obvious - Cadel, winner; JVDB, so not winner - some are less clear-cut. Below the jump, I talk Cancellara, ill-fitting jerseys, medicinemen and Denis Menchov as I round up some winners, and some losers. Care to join me?

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Cycling is not for the impatient. Races roll on for hours on end, and regardless of the course profile they are almost never kind to the riders who jump before the final half hour. Stage races are worse: you can pounce with great patience for early victories but that may or may not help you in the final classification. Grand tours, it thus follows, are even more extreme. Since there are only three of them, it's easy to generalize: course organizers like to save the fireworks for the final few days, so fans don't drift away too soon.

On top of all that, succeeding in a grand tour is perhaps the ultimate patient man's game. For every story of a rider who won on his first try, there are other stories of riders trying again and again before breaking through... and many, many more stories of riders who, however quickly they climb the ladder, must still go a few rounds before becoming a contender.

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Mark Cavendish of HTC-Highroad won the final sprint of this year's Tour de France on the the Champs Elysées for his third straight victory on the famous boulevard. Mark Renshaw, who perfectly led out Cavendish, had time to celebrate from behind as Cavendish crossed the line. Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky finished second, while André Greipel of Omega Pharma Lotto crossed the line third.

On the final circuits, a break went up the road and Jérémy Roy of Français des Jeux celebrated his Super-Combatif prize with one last escape. But the sprinters' teams never gave them much space to ride and they never offered much threat to the traditional sprint on the Champs Elysées.

In the final kilometers, Lars Bak of HTC-Highroad attacked in an effort to force the other sprinters' teams to work. Behind, the chase took some time to organize, but soon Omega Pharma Lotto went to the front for their sprinter André Greipel, while Garmin-Cervélo slotted in behind them for Tyler Farrar.

With 1.5 kilometers to go, Belgian National Champion Philippe Gilbert led the field, then HTC-Highroad came out of hiding and set up Mark Cavendish perfectly for the finish. Sunday marked the twentieth career Tour de France stage victory for Cavendish, who also won the first Green Jersey of his career.

Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team celebrated his first ever Tour de France victory. He pulled on the Yellow Jersey after the final time trial in Grenoble, but he won the Tour by chasing every possible advantage in the opening stages and with a doggedly determined defense in the high mountains. Evans won by 1:36 ahead of Andy Schleck of Leopard Trek. For the first time in the history of the Tour de France, two brothers will stand on the final podium. Fränk Schleck finished third.

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In a dramatic finale to this Tour of surprises, Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team went on a rampage in Grenoble and to take back the Yellow Jersey from Andy Schleck of Leopard Trek. Evans began the day 57 seconds behind Schleck, who took the race lead Friday on the Alpe d'Huez after two massive attacks in the high mountains. The dramatic race through the Alps set up a thrilling showdown in Grenoble between the two lead riders.

Evans plainly had the race under control in Grenoble and quickly seized the advantage. Shortly after the first time check, Evans held the virtual race lead, and steadily ran up the clock against a struggling Andy Schleck. Evans gained time on the climb and railed the descent to seal Schleck's fate.

Sunday, Evans will become the first Australian ever to win the Tour de France. Evans will ride into Paris with a 1:34 advantage over second-placed Andy Schleck. Schleck, meanwhile, will finish second in the Tour de France for the third time in three years.

In the battle for the stage victory, Tony Martin of HTC-Highroad won the day in 55:33.91. Martin rode the course in an average speed of 45.9 km/hr to take his first ever Tour de France stage victory. Cadel Evans finished second, 7 seconds behind Martin.

Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank, in a last-ditch effort to climb the overall classification, finished third on the stage, but he could not overtake Thomas Voeckler or Fränk Schleck. Fränk Schleck will stand on the third step of the podium in Paris.

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The Tour de France unfolds in a kaliedescope of snapshot moments. David Millar captured one such moment as he drove back to the hotel after the final time trial in Grenoble. Here is what he saw:

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

In team car being driven to hotel. Chatting to VdV & spot cyclist on autoroute ahead, dressed in full Europcar kit. Looks oddly familiar.

Chat stops, tell car to slow. As we pass have time to look into eyes of a tired and broken Voeckler. Tragic doesn't come close to describe. — @millarmind

Thomas Voeckler rode out of his mind, this Tour de France. And if there was any doubt how much he truly wanted to win, or at least reach the final podium, what Millar saw there on the road, should put an end to them. Voeckler did a torrid ride these past week, only surrendering the Yellow Jersey on the Alpe d'Huez after the wheels came off on the col du Galibier. It was a crazy thing to set off alone to chase down Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, but Voeckler couldn't help himself. He just wanted it that badly. The French rider will finish fourth overall on Sunday in Paris, which is a career best for him.

The Tour de France hurtles precipitously toward Paris, and the contenders for the Yellow Jersey have one more chance to seize victory in this most unpredictable race. Saturday's stage is a 42.5 kilometer individual time trial in Grenoble. After the hard race through the mountains, the riders will race the clock with the overall victory still far from decided.

The Tour de France comes down to this: One rider, one bike, racing alone in the wind, the inexorable ticking of the clock driving him faster, ever faster. After three weeks of racing, Saturday will decide who will wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris.

The Grenoble time trial follows a circular trace and includes two short climbs. The climbs are not enough to give the climbers much advantage, though. The elevation gain is only around 200 meters for each. The final 15 kilometers are false-flat descending to a flat finish. The second half of the course should favor the specialists and bigger riders over the climbers.

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