STAGE 16 REPORT:
Tuesday, July 22,
2014
 |
| Stage 16 on the map |
After the transfer
west, from Nimes to Carcasonne, the riders enjoyed the final rest day on
Monday. Today the peloton headed out of Carcasonne and into the Pyrenees for
the longest stage of the race. 237.5 kilometers From Carcasonne to
Bagneres-de-Luchon, featuring the hors
categorie climb of the Port de Bales late in the stage. The finish line comes
just after the fast 20k descent off the big mountain.
The weather was
clear and sunny for the riders, as they prepared for a long day in the saddle. Everybody
wondered who would benefit and who would suffer after the rest day. Simon Yates
of OGE was a non-starter, as was World Champion Rui Costa, who is suffering
from pneumonia.
Rafal Majka of
Tinkoff Saxo grabbed the first category-4 climb at km25. The single KOM point
was all he needed to take the lead away from Joaquim Rodriguez in the king of
the mountains competition.
 |
| Stage 16 profile; into the Pyrenees |
Various breakaway
attempts failed, until after almost two hours, 21 riders broke free to form the
day's main break. They were:
Kwiatkowski, Bakelants, Voeckler, Gautier,
Reza, Albasini, Keukeleire, Rogers, Gallopin, Serpa, Izaguirre, Van Avermaet,
Slagter, Roy, Montaguti, S. Dumoulin, Delaplace, Kiryienka, Vachon, Eisel, and Kluge.
The highest placed
rider in the break was Kwiatkowski, who came into the stage in 16th place, down
19:24 to the overall race leader, Vincenzo Nibali. Europcar's Thomas Voeckler
had won here in Luchon twice before: on stage 16 of the 2012 Tour De France,
and on his way to winning the 2013 Route du Sud, so it was no surprise to see
him make the break.
The escapees built
their lead to about nine minutes as they tackled the category-2 Col de
Portet-d'Aspet (5.4k at 6.9%). Thomas Voeckler was first over that summit,
followed by Rogers, Bakelants and Slagter. The peloton crossed over 10:10
later.
 |
| The peloton pass through a tunnel on stage 16 |
The peloton trailed
the big lead group by about 11:30 when they hit the biggest test of the day:
The HC Port de Bales. Jeremy Roy started the attacking festivities in the lead
group. His and Vasil Kiryienka's accelerations shaved the large lead group down
from 21 riders to 12, and then six, as one by one former escapees were falling
off the back.
With about 5k to go
to the top of the climb, and 26k left to the finish, attacks from Mick Rogers,
Thomas Voeckler, and his Europcar teammate Cyril Gautier, further diminished
the lead group down to four: Thomas
Voeckler, Cyril Gautier, Jose Serpa, and Mick Rogers.
A thick crowd
enveloped the leaders as they approached the summit of the Port de Bales, with
Rogers riding in front. Voeckler turned on the gas, but on the narrow road, it
was difficult to pass anyone, with the crowd pouring over them. Even so,
Serpa--who had looked the strongest throughout the big climb--accelerated
faster, and took max points (25) over the 1755-meter (5758 ft) high summit.
Meanwhile, the
Astana team led the peloton chase for Nibali. Movistar joined in, first sending
Giovanni Visconti up to push the pace at the front of the pack, and then Beñat
Intxausti continued where the Italian left off. Alejandro Valverde's strong domestiques
put in huge efforts driving the peloton until they had splintered it down to just
a handful of elite riders. Many of the high-placed GC riders, like Tejay Van
Garderen and Romain Bardet were struggling under the high cadence on the steep
slopes, and lost contact after Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) upped the pace.
Nibali, Pinot, Valverde and Peraud were the only 4 remaining from the peloton
as they crossed over the Port de Bales summit at 1755m (5758 ft) up, still
trailing the leaders by over nine minutes. Pinot and Valverde were each joined
by a teammate (Roy for FDJ, and I think it was John Gadret for Movistar) as
they descended the mountain, toward the finish in Luchon. Pinot descended very
well, demonstrating that the young French climber has made real progress in
fighting his fear of high-speed descending.
 |
| Peraud, Nibali, Valverde and Pinot chasing on the Port de Bales |
Mick Rogers
continued to put pressure on the lead group. They were rejoined by Kiryienka
and Gautier inside of 10k to go. Gautier jumped first, but when Rogers made his
move, no one could catch the three-time World Time Trial Champion. He built a
gap and crossed the line nine seconds ahead of his four pursuers, Voeckler,
Kiryienka, Serpa, and Gautier.
Eleven other riders
from the big breakaway group finished ahead of the small yellow jersey group,
who had been joined by Leopold König and Jeremy Roy. They came in at +8:32.
Nibali defended the maillot jaune very well. The Sicilian Shark has
yet to miss a move.
Laurens Ten Dam lost 1:11 to Nibali, but was
the next GC rival to finish, after Pinot, Valverde, Peraud, Nibali, and Konig
crossed the line together. Ten Dam moved up one spot to 8th place in the
general classification, as Bauke Mollema
of Belkin faltered, and dropped from 7th to 10th overall.
 |
| Vasil Kiryienka working in the break |
Romain Bardet lost 1:50 and dropped out of his
podium spot, to 5th place overall. Pinot
and Peraud moved up to 3rd and 4th
places, respectively.
American Tejay Van Garderen dropped down another spot,
to 6th, after suffering on the mountain, and ultimately coughing up another
3:36 to Nibali.
Michal Kwiatkowski did himself a big favor by
getting into the break. He finished 7th today, just :36 behind the winner, and
almost eight minutes ahead of the yellow jersey, Nibali. Kwiatkowski pulled
himself back into the top ten, up from 16th to 9th place overall.
 |
| Michael Rogers takes a bow...and the stage win |
Haimar Zubeldia has
been a consistent, if quiet presence near the back of the top ten. He put in
another steady, solid ride today, and was Trek Factory Racing's best-placed finisher
today, coming in about a minute and a half ahead of teammate Frank Schleck. 37-year
old Zubeldia managed to leapfrog Rolland and Van Den Broeck and slip into 11th
place on GC. He could easily finish in the top 10 if the challenges ahead prove
too daunting for any of the three cyclists who are riding within 90 seconds
ahead of him.
STAGE 17 PREVIEW:
Stage 17 on
Wednesday takes the riders through more spectacular Pyrenean scenery. The
longest stage of the race is followed by the shortest road stage of the race,
but takes the peloton over three category-1 mountains--including the 13k Col de
Peyresourde--and finishes 1680 meters (5512 ft) up, on top of the 10.2k, 8.3%
avg, HC climb of the Pla d'Adet.
 |
| Stage 17 profile |
Those who suffered
today will hope to recover and have the legs tomorrow. If not, it can be a
long, lonely ride home.
The serious
mountain jersey contenders will have to come out again tomorrow, with 80
potential KOM points available on the course. Rodriguez wasn't there in today's
break, and he lost his Polka dot jersey to a sly Rafal Majka by one single point.
It would be great to see the two of them duke it out in the Pyrenees tomorrow.
From what we have seen so far, I would have to give the edge to Majka. But
Purito is never one to underestimate in the high, steep mountains...
 |
| Rafal Majka took over the KOM jersey |
I don't know if
Alessandro De Marchi has another mountain break in his legs. If the polka dot
jersey is out of his reach, perhaps the desire for a stage win is not. We may
see the Cannondale rider get in the break again.
Christophe Riblon
is another rider who must be itching for a go. The Frenchman for AG2R made the
break on stages 10 and 14, but hasn't yet finished inside the top 20.
I have been waiting
to see a move come from someone who has been totally absent from the
conversation so far, but who has been riding consistently, is the highest
placed rider on his team, and is not unfamiliar with attacking in the
mountains: Yuri Trofimov of Katusha.
The Russian has been bobbing around between 15th and 20th place on GC since
stage 5. He is currently riding in 15th overall, but with a deficit of over 23
minutes to the yellow jersey, he could be in a position to be allowed to escape
and try his luck at stage win; especially since his team leader, Purito
Rodriguez has not finished above 9th place yet. The problem with this scenario
is that I expect Purito to be out hunting mountain points on Wednesday, so if
he brings Trofimov along to help him through the climbs, the Russian may not
get the opportunity to fly. Of course he could be used as a spoiler against
other KOM hopefuls, if Purito can't be there.
Bartosz Huzarski,
Brice Feillu, and Nicolas Edet are three others I would not be surprised to see
in tomorrow's break. I have a feeling that Team SKY will let Mikel Nieve loose though, and the
Spanish climber could help salvage an otherwise lackluster Tour for Dave
Brailsford's British squad.
 |
| Pinot keeps improving |
My pick for stage 17:
Besides Nibali and
Valverde, Thibaut Pinot has been climbing very well, and even seems to be
improving every day. Leo Konig has also been looking strong in the mountains,
as has Jean Christophe Peraud. I
have always had a soft spot for Peraud, but I'm not sure he can pull off a
stage win here...
I will go with
Thibaut Pinot to win on the Pla
d'Adet.
I like Nieve on
Wednesday too, but I am going to throw Yuri Trofimov's name in as my longshot pick.
Enjoy the racing!
No comments:
Post a Comment