2001 Tour de France
The Tour de France of 2001 was relatively short, but also difficult, with a number of heavy mountain stages, a team time trial and a climbing time trial. France was done 'clockwise', and thus the Alps were visited before the Pyrenees. The Tour started in France, but in the first week Belgium was visited as well. The finish was, as is traditional, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
The great favorite was the winner of 1999 and 2000, the American Lance Armstrong. His major opponent, like last year, would probably be German Jan Ullrich. Other major contenders seemed to be Joseba Beloki from Spain, Christophe Moreau from France and Francesco Casagrande from Italy. Not starting, because their teams were not selected, were Swiss Alex Zülle, Italian climber Marco Pantani and Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini.
Results
Stage recaps
General classification
| Rank | Name | Country | Team | Time (Ave. Speed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Armstrong |  United States
|
U.S. Postal | 86h 17' 28" |
| 2 | Jan Ullrich |  Germany
|
Deutsche Telekom | 6' 44" |
| 3 | Joseba Beloki |  Spain
|
ONCE | 9' 05" |
| 4 | Andrei Kivilev |  Kazakhstan
|
Cofidis | 9' 53" |
| 5 | Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano | Spain
|
ONCE | 13' 28" |
| 6 | François Simon |  France
|
Bonjour | 17' 22" |
| 7 | Oscar Sevilla | Spain
|
Kelme | 18' 30" |
| 8 | Santiago Botero |  Colombia
|
Kelme | 20' 55" |
| 9 | Marcos Serrano | Spain
|
ONCE | 21' 45" |
| 10 | Michael Boogerd | Template:NET | Rabobank | 22' 38" |
Best young rider:
1. Oscar Sevilla (Spa) 2. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) 10.03 3. Jorg Jaksche (Ger) 47.32 4. Denis Mentchov (Rus) 1.13.20 5. Marco Pinotti (Ita) 1.15.59
Combativity:
1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 94 2. Laurent Roux (Fra) 55 3. Jens Voigt (Ger) 45 4. Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) 44 5. Paolo Bettini (Ita) 36 6. Jacky Durand (Fra) 36 7. Bradley McGee (Aus) 32 8. David Etxebarria (Spa) 30 9. Laurent Brochard (Fra) 28 10. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) 23
Teams (with the top-3 riders of each team):
1. Kelme-Costa Blanca Oscar Sevilla Santiago Botero J.E. Gutierrez 2. ONCE-Eroski 4.59 Joseba Beloki Igor Gonzalez De G. Marcos Serrano 3. Team Deutsche Telekom 41.06 Jan Ullrich Alexandre Vinokourov Andreas Kloden 4. Bonjour 41.49 Francois Simon Didier Rous Walter Beneteau 5. Rabobank 51.53 Michael Boogerd Geert Verheyen M. den Bakker 6. US Postal Service 54.51 Lance Armstrong Roberto Heras J.L. Rubiera 7. Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone 1.20.41 Andrei Kivilev Daniel Atienza Daivd Moncoutie 8. iBanesto.com 1.22.24 Francisco Mancebo Thomas Brozyna J.P. Rodriguez 9. Festina 1.45.33 Luis Perez Felix Garcia-Casas Sven Teutenberg 10. Jean Delatour 1.49.18 Laurent Brochard Stephane Goubert Laurent Roux
