Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) has been SRAM’s most successful rider of the 2011 Tour de France. With many of our SRAM equipped GC contenders out of the race (Horner, Kloden, Brajkovic, Zabriskie, Vinokourov), we were losing guys to root for. Hushovd’s racing has been inspiring, with two solo stage wins and seven days in yellow. Both wins came impressively out of long breaks where Hushovd surprised some (projected) better climbers and faster sprinters.
With an inspiring day on the bike, and closing in on the podium, SRAM LTE (Limited Tour Edition) equipped Alberto Contador still has a great shot at another championship. His surprising attack on the col de Manse demonstrated to everyone that he has not given up on this Tour, despite some incredible bad luck. We will enjoy watching the great Spaniard, who has never lost a Grand Tour, fight all the way to Paris on SRAM and Zipp.
Also in the top ten riding SRAM RED is Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) as well as the American in his first Tour, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo).
Leipheimer has spent some time on the tarmac, but has proven resilient. We have yet to see the best of the Californian in this year’s edition, we are all expecting him to perform well in the time trial. Leipheimer was one of the early adopters of SRAM R2C aero shifters.
Ryder Hesjdahl (Garmin0Cervelo) has also shown his class, but overshadowed by his teams success.
Nicolas Roche (AG2R) is currently 22nd, but will come out of the final mountain stages much higher in the GC.