A look back at how wrong my Tour de France predictions were

Before the Tour started I climbed off the fence once again to give my predictions on how I felt the race would unfold and once again I proved that you shouldn't put your money were my mouth is! Below is a look at how things panned out...

Overall Classification prediction (In brackets their actual finishing place)
1. Alberto Contador (DNF)
2. Chris Froome (DNF)
3. Vincenzo Nibali (1st)
4. Andrew Talansky (DNF)
5. Rui Costa (DNF)
6. Alejandro Valverde (4th)
7. Thibaut Pinot (2nd)
8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (13th)
9. Bauke Mollema (10th)
10. Romain Bardet (6th)

So not a single one correct. I was closest with Mollema in 10th instead of 9th while the French duo of Pinot and Bardet, along with Valverde, did better than I expected though that is in part due to the number of DNF's in my top five: Four of them!

Points: Peter Sagan (1st), Mark Cavendish (DNF), Marcel Kittel (4th).

Correct on first but then again the odds on him retaining his green jersey title were good...it's hardly a coup to have predicted that! And who knew Cav wouldn't make it to the finish of the first stage?

Mountains: Pierre Rolland (20th), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Did not place), Joaqium Rodriguez (3rd).

Only Rodriguez out of the three put his hat in the ring for this competition. Rolland was too tired after the Giro and Van den Broeck was virtually invisible for the three weeks and didn't score a single mountain point. Rodriguez coming back from a serious injury suffered at the Giro had a go for it but was no match for young Rafal Majka.

White: Andrew Talansky (DNF), Thibaut Pinot (1st), Romain Bardet (2nd).

Close enough, and had he not crashed out, Talansky would very much have been in the mix. Got to think however that Pinot and Bardet will stake a claim to win it again next year.

Team: Tinkoff-Saxo (11th)

Tinkoff lost Contador and as a result their targets for the tour changed to stage wins. It meant some of their better riders losing big time one day in order to get in on breaks the next. Ag2R La Mondiale came as a bit of a surprise winning it, but should they have? With Jean-Christophe Péraud, Romain Bardet and Ben Gastauer (21st overall) all on the team it's little wonder they ended up at the top.

Most stage wins: Mark Cavendish (0)

Cav didn't even finish the first stage and so the duel between himself and Kittel was taken away with us leaving Kittel to sweep up 4 stage victories. Nibali also came through with four wins, a dominance I doubt anyone forseen even if they felt he could have still pipped Froome and Contador to the yellow jersey.

Stages: (In brackets is the actual winner)
1 - Mark Cavendish (Marcel Kittel)
2 - Alejandro Valverde (Vincenzo Nibali)
3 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)
4 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)
5 - Peter Sagan (Lars Boom)
6 - Sylvian Chavanel (André Greipel)
7 - Peter Sagan (Matteo Trentin)
8 - Rui Costa (Blel Kadri)
9 - Joaquim Rodriguez (Tony Martin)
10 - Alberto Contador (Vincenzo Nibali)
11 - Peter Sagan (Tony Gallopin)
12 - Jérémy Roy (Alexander Kristoff)
13 - Pierre Rolland (Vincenzo Nibali)
14 - Joaqium Rodriguez (Rafal Majka)
15 - Marcel Kittel (Alexander Kristoff)
16 - Nicolas Roche (Michael Rogers)
17 - Vincenzo Nibali (Rafal Majka)
18 - Vincenzo Nibali (Vincenzo Nibali)
19 - Peter Sagan (Ramunas Navardauskas)
20 - Tony Martin (Tony Martin)
21 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)

5 correct out of 21, or 24%! It should be noted that I made these predictions on the morning of each stage hence why I didn't have Cavendish winning a stage beyond the first one despite prior to the tour picking him to win the most stages. But let's be honest, taking Kittel to win stages 3, 4 and the final one into Paris with Cavendish gone and his dominance apparent, was hardly a coup, and likewise taking Tony Martin to win the time-trial. In the mountains, the way he was riding, taking Nibali to win the queen stage on Hautacam was far from pushing the boat out either!

So keep this in mind when I return with picks for next years Tour.