Tour de France 2012

V nedeljo se je na Elizejskih poljanah z 20. etapo končala že 99. Dirka po Franciji. Tako smo dobili novega zmagovalca te prestižne kolesarske dirke.

On Sunday the 99th Tour de France got it's new overall winner with it's last stage, traditionally finishing at the Champs-Élysées.

Le Tour de France

Moram priznati, da mi letos čas ni dopuščal, da bi si ogledala vse etape, vendar nekaj mi jih je pa le uspelo uloviti. Na srečo je bila med njimi tudi zadnja izmed njih. Od tem postanem kar malo žalostna, ker se vsa stvar končuje, hkrati mi je pa to tudi ena najzanimivejših etap. Vse to zaradi samega vzdušja med etapo. Na začetku se vsi pogovarjajo med seboj, pozirajo fotografom in se nastavljajo kameram, nazdravljajo na uspešen zaključek ...

I have to admit, because I've been working a lot lately, I wasn't able to watch all the stages. I managed to see some of them, though. Luckily, the last stage was one of them. While watching it, I got quite sad that it's all ending, but for me this was also one of the most interesting stages this year. All because of it's atmosphere. Before the start everyone is so relaxed and you can see on everyone's faces they are in fact relieved that the Tour is over. They're all willing to pose for the photographers, laughing and joking around. It's great to see it.

Prava dirka se nekako začne šele ko prispejo do Pariza, kjer se vedno dobijo kakšni ubežniki, ki celotno etapo naredijo zanimivejšo (načeloma jih pred koncem etape vedno ulovijo :-P). Na koncu se vsi ozirajo za šprinterji in se sprašujejo, kdo bo tokrat najboljši.

The whole stage doesn't really begin untill they come to Paris, where some riders go to a breakaway and that makes the stage more interesting. But at the end, all eyes are focused on the sprinters, waiting for what they will do.

Tour de France 2012 - Paris (Photo by Joel Saget)

To leto ni bilo nič drugače kot že zadnja tri leta. Zadnja etapa je že četrtič zaporedoma pripadla Marku Cavendisu. V ospredje sta mu pomagala Boasson Hagen in Bradley Wiggins. Tako je Cavendish zaključil etapo s 300m šprintom.

Of course this year was no difference, Mark Cavendish won his 4th stage at the Champs-Élysées, after he got pulled forward from Boasson Hagen and Bradley Wiggins and finished it with a 300 m long spring.

Slovenci smo imeli na dirki 4 predstavnike:
We had 4 representatives in the race:
- Jani Brajkovič (Astana)

Jani Brajkovič (photo by Graham Watson)

- Borut Božič (Astana)

Borut Božič

- Grega Bole (Lampre)

Grega Bole (photo by sirotti)

- Kristjan Koren (Liquigas - Cannondale).

Kristjan Koren (Photo by Roberto Bettini)

Jani Brajkovič je dirko končal na odličnem 9. mestu, Grega Bole pa je zaradi bolezni odstopil.

Jani Brajkovič finished the Tour on an amazing 9th spot, while Grega Bole withdrew due to his illness.

Seveda trije tedni ne minejo brez manjših ali večjih zapletov.

Of course 3 weeks don't pass without minor trouble.

Tako smo lahko bili letos priča odstopu Cancellare, ki se je vrnil domov k svoji noseči ženi, ta pa je kasneje rodila hčerko Elino.

Fabian Cancellara withdrew because of his highly pregnant wife, who later gave birth to a daughter Elina.

Na dopingški kontroli je padel Fränk Schleck, ki se je tako lahko poslovil od letošnjega Toura.

Fränk Schleck failed a doping test.

Ruski kolesar Alexander Vinokourov je letos odkolesaril svoj zadnji Tour.

Russian Alexander Vinokourov drove his last Tour de France.

Še posebej "zanimiva" je bila 14. etapa, kjer so imeli kolesarji veliko težav zaradi risalnih žebljičkov na cestišču, ki so jih gledalci raztresli po cestišču.

Especially »interesting« was the 14th stage, where all the riders had major problems with flattened tires due to a lot of tacks on the road. 

Letošnji dobitniki majic so:
This year's jersey winners are:

Jersey`s winners (Photo by Graham Watson)

- rumena majica (yellow jearsey): Bradley Wiggins (Sky procycling),

- zelena majica (green jersey): Peter Sagan (Liquigas - Cannondale),

- pikčasta majica (polka-dot jersey): Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar),

- bela majica (white jersey): Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team).

Pri rosnih 22 letih se je na svojem prvem Touru zelo izkazal Peter Sagan. Izkazala pa se je tudi celotna ekipa Sky, ki je letos prišla na dirko res zelo dobro pripravljena. Med njimi je tako letošnji zmagovalec dirke Wiggins, zmagovalec zadnje etape Cavendish, Froome, ki se je izkazal kot zelo dober pomočnik.

One of this Tour's biggest surprises this year is 22 years old Peter Sagan. He was unbeatable in sprint classification. Also something really incredible was how well team Sky was prepared this year, having Cavendish, overall winner Wiggins and Froome, the amazing assistant in their lines.

Team Sky

V skupnem seštevku točk pa je bila zmagovalna ekipa RadioShack-Nissan s kar 4 kolesarji med prvimi šestnajstimi. Za najbolj borbenega kolesarja (super-combative) je bil na koncu razglašen Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank).

But they didn't win the team overall classification, RadioShack-Nissan beat them, having 4 of their riders in the first 16 in the overall classification. And in the combative classification Chris Anker Soerensen from Saxo Bank won.

Ker sama zelo rada spremljam Tour, se tako že zelo veselim prihodnjega leta, ko bo na sporedu že 100. dirka. Moja pričakovanja so kar visoka. Kaj pa vaša? :-)
Because I like watching the Tour and all things that go with it, I can't wait for next year's, it will be 100th! My expectations are quite high, how about yours?

Več o posameznih etapah, kolesarjih, celotni dirki si lahko preberete na njihovi spletni strani

Tour de France 2012.
More about stages, cyclist and all the race you can read on their web page.

Pa še posebna zahvala! :) Hvala Nini Š. za pomoč pri pisanju te objave in prevodu v angleščino. :) Sama je imela več časa za spremljanje Toura, tako da mi je bila pri pisanju res v veliko pomoč! :)))

We do not own any of the pictures in this blog post.