Paris podium for Julian Dean

Dean on the podium in Paris ©Graham Watson

Jul 25th, 11. NZ's Julian Dean stepped up to the Paris podium today as part of the Garmin Cervelo squad - winners of the 2011 Tour de France Teams Classification.

Dean is the ultimate team player, it seems right that this is the way he made it to one of the top podiums in the world of pro-cycling. 

Garmin Cervelo began their Tour success when they won the team time trial on Stage 2. It was the team's first Tour de France victory and their biggest goal of the Tour - the roster was picked with this stage in mind.

Dean's role was the first rider in the line-up. While other teams looked back and said they did not start fast enough, the Kiwi did exactly what was needed before he pulled off to let the stronger riders finish it off.  

With the win, Dean became only the second Kiwi to win a stage in the Tour de France.

The team's success continued the following day when Dean helped deliver the designated sprinter, Tyler Farrar, for the stage win.

It was a fantastic sight to see the leader of the Tour, Thor Hushovd, and Dean punch the air in delight as Farrar crossed the line for his first Tour de France sprint victory.

Dean and Farrar had been working towards this goal for a long time.

"For three years we've been working toward it and today we cracked it; nearly a dozen second places in Tour stages between us so it was nice to deliver him to, and share with him, his moment of victory," Dean wrote on his blog.

The team's dream run continued with Hushovd surprising many by holding on to the yellow jersey for a total of seven days.

Dean celebrates Farrar's Stage 3 victory ©Bettini Photo

Back in his World Champion jersey, Hushovd went on to deliver two more fantastic victories for the team.

The second of these, when he was in a break with teammate Ryder Hesjedal on the first day in the Alps, set the foundation for the Teams Classification win.

"It's nice to continue the run of success. I can't imagine what our team's Tour must look like to other teams when it's often so difficult to win just one stage," Dean wrote after Hushovd took the team's fourth stage victory.

It is not the number of stage victories that determines the winner of the Teams Classification though, it is the combined time of the first three riders.

After taking the lead, Garmin Cervelo worked hard to defend it.

On Stage 18 when Andy Schleck was in a dangerous breakaway with another Leopard Trek rider, Dean was put on the front of the peloton to help bring the time gap back.

Garmin Cervelo finished the Tour 11m04s ahead of Leopard Trek and 11m20s ahead of AG2R La Mondiale.

Dean and his seven teammates, plus a cardboard cut out of David Zabriskie who crashed out of the Tour, stepped up to the podium in Paris today - every one of them contributed to the team's success.

New Zealand is proud of you Julian!

Best Team - Garmin Cervelo ©Graham Watson

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