TDF Stage 9 Report Results and Standings 2014 Tour De France

STAGE 9 Report:

Stage 9 on the map

170k Continuing through the Vosges, from Gérardmer to Mulhouse.

Mountains; flat finish.

Six categorized climbs today, the last summit comes with about 40k to go to the finish (20k of descending, and the final 20k are flat).

Weather: overcast with chance of rain; mid 60s f.

Today should favor a breakaway.

Right from the gun, the pace is high...

Peter Sagan is an early escapee. He's reeled in soon however.

Brice Feillu gets a gap.

Halfway up the first climb, about 25 riders are out ahead of the pack now.

Purito Rodriguez and Thomas Voeckler are working hard in the break.

 

Stage 9 profile

*km 11.5: 1st KOM (cat-2):

Thomas Voeckler was first over the Col de la Schlucht.

1. Voeckler  2. Edet  3. Rodriguez  4. Dumoulin

The peloton are pulling back the chasers at the top of the climb.

Voeckler has moved into second place in the King of the Mountains jersey competition.

*Tony Martin (OPQ) and Alessandro De Marchi (CAN) have escaped, and at km 35 they have a :20 lead. 15-20 other riders are chasing them, and the peloton is about 1:15 back.

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Sunday Standings Update - Stage 9 2013 Vuelta a España

Continuing from the previous post, here is a table of the top 40 riders in the General Classification for the Vuelta a España after stage 9. Again, the last column shows the number of places each rider has moved up or down in the standings since the previous stage.

As expected, stage 9 did not produce the same kind of time splits as stage 8—or as stage 10 will on Monday. Daniel Moreno took over the race lead with his impressive attack on the final steep kick up to the finish on Sunday. Most riders in the top 40 only rose or slid one to three spots. Pinot is the only one to have dropped back as many as five spots, and Purito’s four-spot jump up to 6^th place puts him among the best improvers on stage 9.

Preview of stages 8 to 10 2013 Vuelta a España

Three consecutive uphill finishes coming up on stages 8-10 before the stage-11 time trial.

Stage 8 on the map

Stage 8 Saturday is a big summit finish on the Alto de Peñas Blancas. The climb is 14.5k averaging 6.6%, with a maximum gradient of 12.5%. It rises almost a thousand meters in that span, and is a category 1 climb.

Stage 8 Profile

Final cat-1 climb of stage 8

As you can see in the profile, the climb is steep at the bottom, then levels off a bit for a couple kilometers before kicking up again for nine long kilometers to the summit.

The GC contenders will have a good battle on Saturday.

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Stage 9 Profile

Stage 9 final 5k

Stage 9 on Sunday is a good opportunity for a breakaway. The category 2 climb at km142 is 6.1% average and tops out about 16.2k from the finish. The last kilometer tilts up to the finish line.

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Stage 10 Profile

Stage 10's two tough climbs

Stage 10 ends with two big, painful climbs. The final climb to the finish is 15.8k long, but pay no attention to the average gradient. It includes the 3 kilometers of flat and descending road that precedes the real beast. The final 7+ kms are very steep, with max gradients approaching 20%. The first rest day follows, so stage 10 should see a good battle among the GC guys.

Pick your favorite climbers. The big steep finishes will offer guys like Purito and Pozzovivo a chance to gain back some lost time. I think Valverde and Uran should also shine this weekend. It will good to see if Horner and Roche and especially Zubeldia can keep their high places after these climbs.

My pick for stage 8: Domenico Pozzovivo

Tour De France 2013 Notes from week 1 on Rest Day 1

 

REST DAY NOTES:

Nine stages down, twelve to go.  Chris Froome is where we expected he would be at the first rest day: in charge, although his team has showed serious kinks in the armor. We have a general idea of who the real contenders will be for the overall classification, as well as the other jersey competitions. And we have seen who has not brought their best game to the race. The current jersey holders are all good contenders to be wearing those jerseys come Paris. Two more weeks of testing roads stand between them and the Champs Elysees first.

The Orica GreenEdge bus stuck under the stage-1 gantry

The first nine stages added up to one of the most thrilling Tour openings in recent memory. Corsica hosted a beautiful start, and all of Southern France delivered on compelling action. It has been very competitive, full of surprises, several lead changes, elation and deflation, hot sun, some records broken and others neared, tears and laughs, crashes, sacrifices, failure and success. It is the Tour De France.

Looking back at some of the fascinating events and protagonists of the first nine stages I will just pick a few to discuss briefly:

First of all, Chris Froome: He stayed out of trouble for seven days, and then dominated the first mountain stage. He then responded to every attack thrown at him in the second mountain stage. The only problem for Chris “Vroom” was his team. The normally robust Sky squad showed the effects of the heat and physical damage they have suffered with a terrible showing on stage 9. Worse, Froome’s most reliable Sherpa, the Tasmanian Richie Porte, hit the wall on Sunday, losing eighteen minutes, and dropping way, way out of podium contention (He dropped from 2^nd overall to 33^rd). The stage 11 time trial on Wednesday will give Sky another chance to shine.

Alejandro Valverde: He is comfortably sitting in the seat vacated by Richie Porte, second overall, and his Movistar team sent a very powerful message to Chris Froome and the rest of the world that they are a bad-ass force to be reckoned with, and that Sky are maybe not so invincible after all. It was the best refreshment after all the clamor about Froome possibly running away with the maillot jaune like Wiggo last year and making for a dull race. No dullness here.  

Valverde also enjoys a top-notch support squad, each one of which is a high talent in his own right. And Valverde is not as bad a time trialer as many are making him out to be. On a flat course he may be not too dissimilar from the three riders behind him on GC. I would not be surprised if there is very little change in the top 5 after the TT.

Alberto Contador: “el pistolero” has not been at his best so far, but obviously this bears frequent repeating: He gets better over the course of a tour. He hasn’t sounded as confident in the last couple of days as he did before the race, but riders find many ways to cozen their foes and the press. Contador is still perfectly placed to stay in contention for a podium spot—at least. It may be that he will not rediscover that top form, but I would never count the five-time grand tour winner out. Plus he has a high-caliber firing squad of support that includes Roman Kreuziger and Mick Rogers.

Cadel Evans The 2011 Tour champ looked a little shaky for a while there, but he stepped up and stayed with the leaders all the way to the stage 9 finish, and picked himself up from 23^rd to 16^th. Unfortunately the time he lost on stage 8 is probably enough to keep him from hoping for anything above a top-five finish. Still, he recovers as well as any Tour champion I’ve ever seen and if he is one of the few remaining in the last mountainous week, he could still net a high spot.

J-Rod: Katusha’s diminutive torque-thrower Joaquim Rodriguez has not yet tasted the tastiest stages for his mountain goat legs. But he stayed with the front group through the treacherous ninth stage, and more importantly stayed with them all the way through the 30k descent and flat finish. He could have a surprising TT and possibly remain a legitimate podium candidate, at least. Though TT’s are not purito’s forte, so he will have to be patient until stage 15, when the Mont Ventoux finish will beckon for the climbers’ return.

Everybody seems to be calling Bauke Mollema a “surprise”. I do not find anything surprising about the good-going of the Dutch rider for Team Belkin. I mentioned in my TDF race preview several stage races in which he made top-5 this year, including finishing second at the TDF warm-up race, the Tour de Suisse. He has showed good TT results, and continues to climb with the best. Mollema could be just coming into his own now, and although his past Tours De France have not been exceptional, this year does seem to offer him a good opportunity to show what he can do.

The other important riders I want to discuss are the young riders.

Nairo Quintana has been putting on the kind of show that we have come to cherish about him. He rides with calm composure and then periodically, at will, puts in some serious damaging attacks. He reminds me of Contador a few years ago, the way he can attack and come back, and attack and attack and attack. He is one of the most entertaining riders of this year’s race, and a very good bet to win the white jersey now.

Thibaut Pinot: the young French hope was in close contention for white jerseys at stage races all season long. He was also runner-up in two mountain jersey competitions, and rode a powerful Tour de Suisse right before the Tour De France, finishing fourth overall, sixth on points, and 2^nd in the KOM. Suddenly, Pinot’s prospects for this Tour are dwindling fast. He was 10^th overall last year and 2^nd in the young rider’s competition, despite having revealed a serious handicap: he fears descending. How he dealt with it last year, I don’t know, but if he does not find a way to deal with it, then he will never be the grand tour contender his team and his country are hoping for.

Pinot lost a devastating 25 minutes yesterday on stage 9. At the finish he made some damning remarks like, “I cracked on the descent… I'm afraid of speed. It's a phobia,” and “When I saw that I was not able to stay on the wheel of a rider like Mark Cavendish on the descent of a mountain pass, I asked myself: ‘What am I doing on the Tour?' I received the clear response that I have nothing to do here." He continued, ”I don't know if I will be able to get over this trauma.”  We knew he was not a great descender, but this is an issue that should not be rearing its ugly head during the Tour De France. At least Sunday’s revelations will have to inspire FDJ to work on Pinot’s problem, either with training or psychological therapy, or whatever they can come up with to dispel his “fear of speed”.

Michal Kwiatkowski recovered on stage 9 to climb back up to 13^th overall. His talent is big and he is showing the heart to capitalize on it. The TT’s might be his friend as he fights to climb higher in the standings, and actively take on Quintana for the white jersey. I cannot wait to see how he goes for the next two weeks.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Enjoy the rest of the race!

 

Stage 9 Report and Results 2013 Tour De France

168.5k from Saint-Girons to Bagneres-de-Bigorre

High Mountains

Mostly sunny, around 28c (82f) at lower elevations, several degrees lower at altitude.

Much climbing is on the menu today. Should be a good one.

Check out my stage 9 Preview to see specs on the climbs. And you can always find previous posts in the right column of the page under “Archive”.

Chris Froome stamped his authority on the race yesterday on the first big mountain stage. The other teams will have to come up with some creative tactics to unseat the talented Team Sky leader.

Cadel Evans, whose team BMC had a terrible day on stage 8, put it succinctly when asked about his time loss yesterday: “A lot of guys went faster than me…”

Stage 9 Profile

TO THE ACTION:

185 riders took the start this morning.

DNS: Rohan Dennis (GRS), and Michael Schär (BMC).

At the drop of the starting flag, Johnny Hoogerland (VCD) attacked immediately. The Vacansoleil rider was one of the early attackers on stage 8, yesterday, too. He jumped right at the start yesterday just as today, and was with the lead group for the first 150 kilometers.

It’s good to see Hoogs attacking like this again. He has had a long hard recovery from the crash that took him out of the 2011 Tour de France. You probably recall one of the most horrible crashes in recent memory, when a France Television car made the absurd decision to avoid hitting a tree by wildly swerving right into the front of the peloton, taking out Juan Antonio Flecha and sending Hoogerland flying into a barbed wire fence. He says he still suffers from that injury. It could only have been exacerbated in February of this year when Hoogerland was hit by a car while training, breaking several ribs and other bones around his spine, and suffered internal bleeding and a bruised liver.

JH is soon joined by Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun) and Laurent Didier (Radioshack).

Well, that did not last long. The peloton has caught the first three escapees.

-160k: Now, Jeremy Roy (FDJ), and Michael Albasini (Orica) try a move, but it is quickly foiled.

Stage 9 Preview and Profile 2013 Tour De France

 

The first big mountain stage is behind them. Team Sky and their leader Chris Froome put the hammer down, and it is up to the challengers to try and reclaim what he took from them on Saturday.

The stage 9 profile covers five Pyrenean mountains

Stage 9 is the last in the Pyrenees

Now they have stage 9, and more mountains to contend with.  Stage 9 takes the riders 168.5 kilometers from Saint-Girons to Bagneres-de-Bigorre. On the way they will climb five mountains, four of which are category-1 climbs. The first climb is a cat-2 that comes early, about 23k into the stage, and it will make a fine point of attack.

Almost immediately after that, comes the cat-1 Col de Menté (7k at 7.7%).

After about 20k of relatively easy roads that lead to the intermediate sprint in Bagneres de-Luchon, come three consecutive category-1 climbs that all top 1500 meters in altitude. Not gargantuan, but tough enough to do some damage to the field. This will thin out the peloton a good deal.

 

The Peyresourde profile

The middle climb is the long and steady Col de Peyresourde. They will be climbing from the opposite direction that they climbed it in stage 16, last year. This side is 13.2k at 7%. From the Peyresourde, there will be no respite whatsoever. The fourth climb is the cat-1 Col de Val Louron-Azet. It logs in at 7.4k at 8.3%.

The last and worst climb is the cat-1 La Hourquette d’Ancizan. It tops out with about a 30k descent to the finish in Bagneres-de-Bigorre. It is the fourth cat-1 in a row, and is listed as 9.9k long, averaging 7.5% incline. Look for an elite group to go over the last climb and race down the early part of the descent putting as much time behind them and whoever is trying to chase.

The final climb before the 30k descent to the finish

That 30k descent looks like enough room for dedicated riders to get back on to a lead group, but after all the climbing I would not expect too many besides the cream of the crop to be there to contest the finish. It looks to me like a good stage for Rui Costa of Movistar, Roman Kreuziger or Nicolas Roche of Saxo-Tinkoff, Michal Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma, or maybe Mikel Nieve of Euskaltel. It will come down to the men who recover best after the stage 8 effort.

I definitely expect to see Froome, Valverde, and Contador there at the finish, and probably Mollema, Fuglsang and Dan Martin as well. I would say Evans, Pinot and Hesjedal, too, but like I said, it will come down to how well they all recover overnight.

MY PICK: Rui Costa (Movistar)