2006 TdF Contest Results

Saturday, July 1st, 2006, Prologue

Congratulations to Lili Simpson, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour T-shirt. Lili correctly guessed that Thor Hushovd would win the opening Prologue Stage. While no entrant guessed the average kph within 1/10 of a kph, Lili was one of many who accurately guessed between 51 and 51.5 kph.

Honorable mention (no prize except the admiration of her friends) goes to Lisa (aka Adventure Girl on the TE Forums) who correctly guessed the margin between first and second place at EXACTLY 0.73 seconds!!

Statistics: An overwhelming majority of contest entrants (60%) picked Dave Zabriskie as the likely winner of the Prologue. Another 10% chose Floyd Landis, while the third most popular prediction was George Hincapie at 6%. Clearly Thor was not on the radar of most of our entrants.

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006, Stage 1

Congratulations to Joy Brott, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour T-shirt. Joy correctly answered 3 out of the 4 questions posed about Stage 1. While no entrant guessed that Jimmy Casper of France would being wearing green at the end of the day, Joy correctly predicted that George Hincapie would be wearing the yellow jersey at the conclusion of the stage, with a 2 second lead over his closest competitor. She was also correct in predicting that there would not be a major pile-up involving 10 or more riders in the final 1 km (though fully 24% of the entrants *did* expect a pile-up!)

Statistics:

Green Jersey predictions: 31% of you thought that Thor Hushovd would hold onto the green jersey at the end of the day. Other clear favorites were Tom Boonen (24%), Robbie McEwen (17%) and Stuart O'Grady (8%)

Yellow Jersey predictions: An overwhelming majority of contest entrants (59%) picked Thor Hushovd to remain in yellow. Just 17% expected to see George Hincapie to take it from him. Dave Zabriskie was the third most popular choice.

Monday, July 3rd, 2006, Stage 2

Congratulations to Stephanie Helline, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a pair of Vive la France socks. Stephanie was chosen at random from among a number of entrants who correctly answered 2 of the 5 questions posed.

Honorable mention (no prize other than the admiration of her friends) goes to Suzanne Frantz, who predicted the total elapsed time of the stage to within THREE seconds. Wow!

As Stephanie predicted, Robbie McEwen out-sprinted his competition to win Stage 2 of the Tour. What no one predicted was that a relatively unknown Spanish cyclist by the name of David De La Fuente, riding for Saunier Duval-Prodir, would finish the day wearing the climber's polka-dot jersey. De La Fuente earned this honor after a breakaway that lasted for most of today's stage.

Statistics:

Stage 2 winner predictions: 24% of you thought that Robbie McEwen would win today's stage. Other clear favorites were Tom Boonen (30%), George Hincapie (13%) and Stuart O'Grady (7%).

Polka-Dot Jersey predictions: David De La Fuente?? Um, no one predicted that. The clear favorites were Fabian Wegmann (yesterday's jersey holder) and Michael Rasmussen, the 2005 polka-dot jersey winner.

Yellow Jersey predictions: What a difference a day makes. With Thor Hushovd's injury at the end of Stage 1, most of our contest entrants chose other contenders to be in yellow at day's end. Only a small minority (5%) expected to see him in yellow today. An overwhelming majority of contest entrants (78%) picked George Hincapie to remain in yellow.

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006, Stage 3

Congratulations to Tasha Enloe, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a pair of King (or Queen) of the Mountains socks. Tasha was the only entrant to correctly predict 4 of the 5 questions posed.

As Tasha predicted, George Hincapie finished the day as the American ranked highest in the overall GC. She also accurately predicted that he would be one of two Americans in the Top 10 (Floyd Landis being the other), and that Tom Boonen would be in yellow at day's end. Finally, her crystal ball foretold the average speed of the peloton at 44 kph (actual speed was 43.605 - all entries that rounded to 44 kph were considered correct answers.)

What no one predicted was that Mattias Kessler of T-Mobile would break away with just a few km to go to take the stage win. Anyone who saw him lose out by mere meters the day before, after being in a day-long breakway, was rooting for him as he finished this stage victoriously.

Statistics:

Highest ranked American in the GC: The clear favorite was George Hincapie with a whopping 96% of the vote.

# of Americans ranked in the Top 10: While 22% of entrants accurately predicted 2 (George & Floyd), clearly they hoped for more. 41% expected to see 3 American riders ranked in the Top 10. We even had some hearty souls predict 4 or 5.

Yellow Jersey predictions: 22% chose Boonen, while another 43% expected Thor Hushovd, now in 4th to remain in yellow. 18% chose Hincapie, who is now in 3rd. No one chose the man who now sits in 2nd, Michael Rogers of T-Mobile.

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006, Stage 4

Congratulations to Patience Hutchinson, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Vintage Portrait Tee. Patience was the only entrant to correctly predict the answers to 4 of the 5 questions posed. As Patience predicted, Robbie McEwen would both win the stage *and* be in the green jersey at the conclusion of Stage 4. She also knew that Tom Boonen would remain in yellow with a 1 second time gap over 2nd ranked rider Michael Rogers.

Statistics:

Winner of Stage 4: The 29% of entrants who predicted Robbie McEwen would win, thus taking his 2nd stage of the Tour, were correct. Meanwhile, 41% of entrants expected that Stage 4 would see Tom Boonen with his first win of the 2006 Tour.

Green Jersey Predictions: While 42% of entrants expected Boonen to retain his hold on the green jersey, the 47% of entrants who selected Robbie McEwen were correct instead.

Yellow Jersey predictions: Despite not yet winning a stage, Boonen (56%) remains in yellow for one more day, with a 1 second lead over Michael Rogers. The Hincapie (20%) & Hushovd (13%) supporters remained hopeful.

Riders with same finishing time as Stage leader: Predictions ranged from a low of 0 to a high of 174. In reality, out of 172 starters, 148 received the winner's time. The last man crossed the line 3'06" back.

Thursday, July 6th, 2006, Stage 5

Congratulations to Kyra Kenwood, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and and a Tour de France Vintage Portrait Tee. Kyra was chosen at random from among a number of entrants who correctly answered 3 of the 5 questions posed.

Although Kyra did not select Oscar Friere as the stage winner, she did expect Robbie McEwen to hold on to green and Tom Boonen to retain his place in yellow. She was also within 10 seconds of the actual time gap (13'48") between Oscar Friere and the last person to cross the line (all answers between 13 and 14 minutes were considered correct).

Statistics:

Winner of Stage 5: Just 4(!) entrants chose Oscar Friere as the winner of Stage 4. Instead Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen garnered greater than 50% of the vote.

Green Jersey Predictions: 63% of entrants expected Robbie McEwen to retain his hold on green. A smaller percentage hoped to see Boonen regain it.

Yellow Jersey predictions: Despite not yet winning a stage, Boonen (62%) once again remains in yellow for one more day, his lead now 13 seconds Michael Rogers. The Hincapie (13%) & Hushovd (12%) supporters remained hopeful.

Breakaway group: Most people expected a 50km or more breakaway group. Estimates on the size of that group ranged from 1 to 15. In Stage 5, 2 riders broke away at around 37.5 km and were not caught until the final 2 km. Those two riders were Samuel Dumoulin of AG2R and Bjorn Schroder of Team Milram.

Time Gap between 1st and last rider: David de la Fuente (currently 2nd in the polka dot jersey standings) crossed the line 13 minutes 48" behind Oscar Friere. Estimates ranged from just a few seconds to upward of 30 minutes.

Friday, July 7th, 2006, Stage 6

Congratulations to Laura Brooks, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Vintage Portrait Tee. Laura was chosen at random from among a number of entrants who correctly answered 4 of the 5 questions posed.

Laura correctly predicted the following:

Average speed of the stage winner - actual speed was 45.308kph (all answers between 45 & 46 were considered correct).
Discovery leads the team competition (by 1 second over CSC and 2 seconds over T-Mobile)
McEwen won stage 6. That's 3 stages in 7 days!
Tom Boonen continues to wear yellow.

The final question was the time gap between the yellow jersey and the rider placed 2nd in the G.C. The correct answer was 12 seconds.

Statistics:

Average speed: 12% of entrants correctly answered between 45 and 46 kph.

Team competition: Despite a slim 1 second margin at the end of stage 5, fully 55% of entrants expected Discovery to hang on to the lead. And they did! Most other entrants expected T-mobile or CSC to overtake.

Winner of Stage 6: 36% of entrants expected Robbie McEwen to make it three, and he did not disappoint. Boonen, in yellow despite lacking a stage win, was selected by 28% of entrants.

Yellow jersey & time gap: 82% predicted Boonen would remain in yellow. He now has a 12 second lead over Robbie McEwen, who now finds himself in 2nd position, having moved up from 6th the previous day.

Saturday, July 8th , Stage 7 Results

Congratulations to Patience Hutchinson, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Astute readers will recall that Patience *also* won our Stage 4 contest. In that contest, she was the only entrant to correctly predict 4 of the 5 answers. Now, with Stage 7, she was the only entrant to guess 2 of the 5 answers correctly. She correctly predicted, within just a few seconds, the times of both the slowest *and* fastest riders. (Perhaps Patience should buy herself a lottery ticket.)

Stage 7 was a particularly difficult stage for our entrants to correctly predict. Serhiy Honchar blew away the competition with a finishing time of 1 hour, 1 minute, 43 seconds. This gap was enough to put him in the yellow jersey as the overall race leader. Not a single entrant predicted this outcome (OK, let's be honest here. Who but the most avid followers of professional cycling even know much about this man? We here at TE admit that *we* sure don't…)

Most entrants also predicted that, much like the prologue, the time gaps between riders would be very close. And indeed, there were 9 riders whose time was less than 60 seconds off that of Floyd Landis, the 2nd place finisher. But no one came close to Honchar.

Sunday, July 9th, Stage 8 Results

Congratulations Kristin Vincent, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Kristin was chosen at random from among a number of entrants who correctly answered 3 of the 5 questions posed.

Kristin correctly predicted that a breakaway would beat the odds and make it to the finish line before being overtaken by the finish line. That rider, Sylvain Calzati of AG2R, crossed the line more than 2 minutes ahead of the peloton. Kristin also correctly predicted Calzati's average speed, as well as the fact the Honchar would remain in yellow.

Statistics:

Breakaway: 27% of entrants predicted a breakaway would succeed in staying away.

Winner of Stage 8: Calzati was a surprise winner for all our entrants. Boonen and McEwen remained the favorites, but a sprinkling of entrants were rooting for Oscar Freire, Jens Voigt, Michael Rogers, Andreas Kloden and others.

Yellow Jersey predictions: With the stage being flat, more than 53% of our entrants were correct in predicting that there would be no change in the yellow jersey standings. Serhiy Honchar remains in yellow, with a 1 minute time gap over Floyd Landis.

Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 - Stage 9

Congratulations to Michaela Camps, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Michaela was one of just 2 entrants who answered 4 out of 5 questions correctly. She was chosen via a spirited game among TE staff of rock-paper-scissors. Scissors cut paper and Michaela won. Michaela correctly predicted the average speed of the peloton (all answers between 47 & 48kph were considered correct) and that Serhiy Honchar would remain in yellow. She also knew that 4 T-Mobile riders would be ranked in the Top 10 in the GC at day's end (in fact all 4 were in the Top 5!) and that no rider would abandon during today's flat-as-a-pancake stage.

Statistics:

Winner of Stage 9: Poor Oscar Freire. He's clearly under-appreciated by our entrants, despite already having one stage win under his belt during this tour. Not one entrant selected him to win. Most entrants favored Robbie McEwen or Tom Boonen.

Yellow Jersey: We've considered giving a prize for the most creative spelling of the name of the current yellow jersey wearer. Variants included Sergei, Serguei, Serhiy, Serhly, Honchar, Hontchar, Honchr, Hochar, Gonchar, Gontchar, Gonshar, Gontschar, etc. For the record, we use the spelling as it appears on the letour.fr website (Serhiy Honchar), though we've seen it spelled in various ways in the cycling press. All of the above spellings are considered correct for the purpose of choosing our winner.

T-Mobile riders: With only 7 of 9 riders starting the tour, it's even more impressive that 4 are currently ranked in the Top 5 in the GC (and that T-Mobile is currently leading the Team competition as a result). This is sure to change once the race enters the mountains, but it's impressive nonetheless.

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 - Stage 10

Congratulations to Jody Holtz, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a pair of King (or Queen) of the Mountains socks. Jody was selected at random from among several entrants who correctly answered 1 (yup, just 1) of the 5 questions correctly.

What we LOVE about this year's Tour is it's unpredictability. Without Lance (and with the loss of several pre-race favorites in Operacion Puerto) it's pretty much anyone's game. As avid cycling fans, we've loved learning about riders we've not heard much about before, and we're enjoying the drama of seeing the race play out. Thus, it really came as no surprise to us that today's stage was so hard for our contest entrants to predict. Not one of our entrants expected Cyril Dessel or Juan Miguel Mercado to be players in today's race.

Cyril Dessel (AG2R) and Juan Miguel Mercado (Agritubel) were among a group of about a dozen riders who broke away after an intermediate sprint at 37.5km. The two would manage to stay way the entire day, gaining as much as 11 minutes on the main peloton during the stage.

Cyril Dessel was the first man over all three of the day's climbs, earning him 54 points in the polka-dot competition, and the polka-dot jersey.

Mercado edged out Dessel by centimeters at the finish line to win the stage, and moved up from 66th in the GC to 2nd, 2'34" behind Dessel, who now wears the yellow jersey. Dessel advanced from 28th place with a 3'50" deficit.

The time gap between 1st and last was 24'24", and it was this question that won today's contest winner her prize.

Thursday, July 13th, 2006 - Stage 11

Congratulations to Susie Barber, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a pair of King (or Queen) of the Mountains socks. Susie answered 3 of the 5 questions correctly. While several other entrants also correctly answered 3 questions, Susie edged them out by *precisely* predicting the 8 second gap between Floyd Landis, the new wearer of the yellow jersey, and Cyril Dessel who is now placed 2nd in the GC.

Statistics:

Polka Dot Jersey - after dropping to 9th in the polka dot competition yesterday, David De La Fuente came roaring back today, finishing 3 of the first four climbs, including the HC-rated Col du Tourmalet, in the lead. Fabian Wegmann stayed with De La Fuente on 3 of those climbs, beating him on one, before fading on the 4th. And our contest entrants? The majority picked Rasmussen, Mercado or Dessel to be in polka-dots.

Stage Winner: Just one (!) entrant picked Denis Menchov to win the stage. The clear favorites were Floyd Landis, Cadel Evans, Andread Kloden and Michael Rasmussen.

Yellow Jersey and Time Gap: Almost 50% of our entrants expected Landis to be in yellow at the conclusion of the stage. A sizable number expected Cyril Dessel to remain in yellow for one more day, but Floyd took the lead by a mere 8 seconds.

Withdrawals: 3 riders abandoned the tour today, including Iban Mayo, the leader of Euskatel-Euskadi. Mayo finished more than 24 minutes behind the leader yesterday and had fallen to 111 in the GC. Estimates on withdrawals ranged from the overly optimistic souls who predicted zero, to the glass-is-more-than-half-empty gal who estimated 27.

Friday, July 14th, 2006 - Stage 12

Congratulations plus a gold star to Lilly Sawyer, who correctly predicted the answers to ALL 5 of today's questions and won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a pair of King (or Queen) of the Mountains socks. Lilly is the first and so far, only person to correctly answer all of the questions on one of our daily contests.

Statistics:

Breakaway: almost half of our entrants correctly predicted that a breakaway would make it to the finish in today's stage.

Stage Winner: Lilly was the ONLY person to predict that Discovery's Yaroslav Popovych would win today's stage. Other popular picks included McEwen (27%), Boonen (13%) and Landis (9%).

Yellow Jersey: 91% of entrants correctly predicted that Floyd Landis would remain in yellow.

GC Time Gap: 46% of entrants correctly predicted that the time gap between the Yellow Jersey and the 2nd place rider in the GC would remain at 8 seconds.

Average Speed: 21% of entrants correctly predicted that the average speed of the stage winner. Popovych crossed the finish line with an average speed of 46.151 kph. Answers from 46 to 47 kph were counted as correct.

Saturday, July 15th - Stage 13 & Sunday July 16th - Stage 14

It was a weekend of repeats for our contest entrants. We clearly have some avid Tour watchers with a knack for predicting the outcomes.

Michaela Camps took her second stage win on Saturday by being the only entrant to accurately answer 4 of the 5 questions posed. The key was her choice of Jens Voigt to take the stage. Voigt's only other Tour stage win came on a stage much like this one - a long, very hot day in the Tour in 2001, - so Michaela's choice was a logical one. (She was one of just 2 entrants to choose Voigt.)

The other big news of the day, of course, was the huge gap the peloton allowed Voigt, Oscar Pereiro and the other escapees to achieve. The 30 minute gap was sufficient to take Landis out of yellow, and put Oscar Pereiro on the podium. 91% of our entrants expected Landis to stay in yellow, so this was quite a shock to many. Clearly, Phonak does not believe Pereiro is a threat in the Alps. We find this surprising, as Pereiro was 2nd only to Rasmussen in the polka-dot jersey competition last year, and finished in 10th place in the 2005 Tour, immediately behind Landis in 9th. Of course, Pereiro rode for Phonak last year, so perhaps they know just how to break him…. Time will tell!

Here's an interesting tidbit from VeloNews about the huge time gap on Saturday's stage:

"So far back was the peloton that the 29:57 margin put 152 riders outside the stage's time limit, which in theory put them all out of the Tour. That would have left the Tour with just five riders going into tomorrow's stage 14 had the dust not been brushed off article 22 of the Union Cycliste International's rule book, This allowed the race jury to increase the cut-off from 9 to 10 percent because more than 20 percent of the day's starters faced the axe."

Judy Holtz took her second stage win on Sunday. She correctly answered 3 of the 5 questions posed. The big news of the day was the 6 man break, which suddenly became 3 after the horrific crash suffered when 2 of the lead riders lost control on a gravel-filled corner. Mattias Kessler of T-Mobile, unable to avoid a collision with one of the downed riders, hit the guardrail and launched in the dirt on the other side. David Canada left the race with a broken right collarbone, and Rik Verbrugghe left with a suspected broken leg. Kessler, who initially seemed stunned, was able to get back on his bike and complete the stage, albeit with rocks and gravel imbedded in his helmet. Kessler has been exciting to watch this year, and we hope to see him back in the saddle on Tuesday.

Although this was a very exciting stage, with the final two men left in the break crossing the line just seconds in front of the peloton, the overall standings changed very little. The majority of our entrants expected such a result, with Pereiro staying in yellow for another day, and Team CSC continuing to lead the team competition.

Tuesday July 18th - Stage 15

Congratulations to Rick Bush, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Rick, our very first male winner, was selected at random from among several entrants who correctly answered 3 of the 5 questions correctly.

Rick correctly surmised that David de la Fuente would be wearing the polka dot jersey at the conclusion of today's stage. De la Fuente received a bunch more climbing points today, as he was the 1st climber over the Col du Lautaret, just as Rick predicted. Rick also knew that Floyd would be back in yellow. Despite finishing 4th in the stage, Floyd finished far enough ahead of Oscar Pereiro to finish the day with a ten second advantage going into Stage 16.

Despite having been in polkadots for 5 previous days, and in 2nd position for most of the rest, the vast majority of our entrants clearly did not expect de la Fuente to keep that jersey. Instead, Michael Rasmussen was the clear favorite.

About 80% of our entrants expected to see Floyd in yellow again. And he is, by the smallest of margins.

The first over the Col d'Izoard was Stefano Garzelli, which was expected by not one of our entrants. Similarly, no one picked Frank Schleck of CSC to win the stage.

Wednesday July 19th - Stage 16

Congratulations to Anita Kallhovd, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a beautiful Hincapie Vintage Wool Jersey. Anita was the only entrant to correctly predict the answer to 3 of the 5 questions. Anita accurately predicted that Michael Rasmussen would be in the polka dot jersey at the conclusion of today's stage. She also predicted the approximately 46 minute time gap between the stage winner (Rasmussen) and the last person to cross the finish line. Finally, she knew that 5 men would abandon during this very difficult stage.

Statistics:

Yellow Jersey: Greater than 90% of entrants expected Landis to stay in yellow. Instead, he blew up on the final ascent and lost over 10 minutes to the stage winner. He now sits in 11th place, with ... Oscar Pereiro back in yellow. Of course, with a 10 minute time loss, Landis would have been out of yellow regardless. However, we can't help but wonder if he regrets letting Pereiro make 30 minutes on the peloton the other day.

Polka-dot jersey: In yesterday's stage, Rasmussen was favored for the polka dot jersey by most of our entrants. But de la Fuente prevailed. So today, the pendulum swung in de la Fuente's direction ... and Rasmussen wears the jersey! Nonetheless, Rasmussen still retained support among a minority of our entrants, including Anita.

Abandons: Only one very optimistic soul expected no one to abandon. The most pessimistic entrant guessed 17. But 5 was the magic number, expected by about 10% of our entrants.

Thursday, July 20th - Stage 17

Congratulations to Russell Morse , who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Russell was the only entrant to correctly predict the answer to 4 of the 5 questions.

What a day!! After Floyd's complete collapse yesterday, almost everyone counted him out of the race. But not Russell or the other 2(!!) who picked Floyd to win the stage. As the finish line clocked ticked, we sat on the edge of our seats to see if his time advantage would be enough to put him back in yellow. The answer? Not quite, as Russell predicted. Floyd is now just 30 seconds out of the yellow jersey, with Sastre just 12 seconds back.

Statistics:

Yellow Jersey: 41% of entrants expected Pereiro to stay in yellow. A sizable percentage (32%) expected Carlos Sastre to snatch it away. A hopeful 7% chose Landis, but it was not to be. Not today, that is.

Polka-dot jersey: Rasmussen was the choice of about 95% of entrants. And indeed, he retained it. But Landis's long day in the saddle (with no one but Patrik Sinkewitz of T-Mobile sucking his wheel) managed to earn him enough KOM points to launch him ahead of David de la Fuente. Nonetheless, we expect Rasmussen will wear it for the rest of the Tour. Then again, this Tour has been so topsy-turvy, anything could happen!

Stage finishers: The whittling away at the back of the peleton continues. Just 143 riders finished the stage, compared with 147 yesterday.

Time Gap: The time gap between yellow and the lanterne rouge now stands at 3 hours, 50 minutes and 36 seconds. The man in that position, Wim Vansevevant of Davitamon Lotto, finished the stage 52 minutes behind Landis.

Friday, July 21st, Stage 18

Congratulations to Lara Gentry, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Lara was selected at random from among the 9 entrants who correctly predicted the answers to 2 of the 5 questions.

With no shake-up in the overall standings, it now appears that tomorrow's time trial stage may decide the outcome of the Tour.

Statistics:

Yellow Jersey: About half of our entrants expected Oscar Periero to remain in yellow. The other half were evenly divided between Carlos Sastre and Floyd Landis.

Breakaway Group & Time Gap: A breakaway group of 15 riders stayed away and together for more than 50 kilometers today. The biggest lead achieved over the peloton during the day was about 8:20, achieved near the end of the stage.

Contest note: We will not be publishing updates over the weekend (We're involved in a bike race here in Oregon all weekend. 540 miles. 40,000 feet of climbing. 106 degree expected day time high. Sounds like fun, eh? We're happy to be crewing, not riding!) We'll be back on Monday afternoon with results of the Stage 19 & 20 contests, as well as the announcement of our Grand Prize Winner. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Saturday, July 22nd, Stage 19

Congratulations to Laura Pruett who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. Laura was selected at random from among all entrants to correctly predict the answers to 3 of the 5 questions.

Laura correctly predicted that Serhei Honchar would win the final time trial of the Tour, that the yellow jersey would change hands, and that it would be Floyd Landis who took it away.

Despite the fact the Honchar won the 2nd time trial of the Tour, most entrants did not expect him to win the 3rd. Landis was the favored choice of many entrants, though he ultimately finished the time trial in 3rd place, behind Honchar & Andreas Kloden.

Sunday July 23rd, Stage 20

Congratulations to John Wickstrom, who won a $20 Team Estrogen Gift Certificate and a Tour de France Logo Tee. John was the only entrant to correctly predict the answer to 5 of the 6 questions.

John was the ONLY entrant to choose Thor Hushovd to win the stage. Robbie McEwen was the overwhelming favorite to take the final sprint on the Champs Elysees. Like many entrants, John also accurately predicted that Belgian Wim Vansevenant would take the Lanterne Rouge with a time gap in excess of 4 hours behind the yellow jersey. You can read an interesting article about the "race" for this jersey here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/23/sports/LANTERN.php

Grand Prize Winner

Congratulations to Kim Johnson who won a $250 Team Estrogen Shopping Spree! Kim was the only entrant to correctly answer 4 of the 6 questions posed.

Kim accurately selected Floyd Landis to be both the top American finisher and the owner of the yellow jersey. She also predicted that Jose Azevedo would be the highest ranked Discovery team member at the conclusion of the Tour (He finished in 19th place.) Finally, she accurately predicted the overall average speed of the winner of the Tour (for the purpose of selecting a contest winner, both 40 & 41 kph were considered correct answers - the actual average speed of Floyd Landis over the course of the entire Tour was 40.784 kph).

Kim missed two questions. In one, we asked how many riders would complete the entire race. The answer was 139 of 176 starters. We also asked what the overall finishing time would be. All answers within 5 minutes of the actual time of 89 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds were considered correct for the purposes of selecting a winner. Honorable mention (no prize other than the admiration of her friends) goes to Lili Simpson, whose prediction of 89:39:14 was just SIXTEEN SECONDS off the actual finishing time.

We'd like to thank all of you who participated in our Tour de France contest. We hope you had fun. We sure had a great time puting together the questions and writing the daily recaps. It was an exciting Tour with so many ups and downs. We can hardly wait for 2007!