TDF Stage 20 Report and Results and Stage 21 Preview 2014 Tour De France

STAGE 20 ITT RACE REPORT:

54k from Bergerac to Perigueux; Rolling.

Weather: Sunny, mid 80sf.

The race against the clock shuffled the standings today on stage 20 of the Tour De France. The riders attacked a 54km individual time trial in one of the tightest podium races in recent years. Only utter disaster would have unhinged Vincenzo Nibali from his overall lead, but the rest of the podium would be decided on Saturday's race of truth.

Five-time Vuelta A España podium finisher (and 2009 Vuelta winner) Alejandro Valverde has been looking for a Tour De France podium finish, and today's ITT may be one of his last chances to accomplish that feat. With recent Giro d'Italia winner Nairo Quintana looking like the near-future of Movistar's Grand Tour GC hopes, Valverde, at 34, is running out of time.

Stage 20 ITT Profile

Two Frenchman came into the stage vying with Valverde for podium positions. Veteran Jean-Christophe Peraud of AG2R, and young climbing star Thibaut Pinot of FDJ. Last year JC Peraud started the stage-17 time trial with a broken collarbone, and then crashed out on the course, falling on the same right shoulder.  Today he had his chance for redemption. Pinot showed this year that he conquered some demons and was ready to prove his right to stand with the best...

TDF Stage 19 Race Report and Stage 20 ITT Preview 2014 Tour De France

Stage 19 Race Report:

Stage 19 on the map

 

208.5k from Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour to Bergerac; FLAT.

Weather: Rain and thunderstorms, 68f; Wind ~10mph

164 riders took the start on Friday. The rain seemed to follow the riders through the course.

A 5-man breakaway group escaped by km 15, and built a lead of about 3:30 early on:

Slagter, Gautier, Elmiger, Taaramae, and Gerard.

(All five riders succeeded in making it into multiple breakaways in this race; this was at least Gautier's 5th break (stages 9, 14, 16, 17, and 19).

By km75 the lead had been brought down to about 2:30. The peloton kept the gap at about 2:30 for the next 50k, and then started to reel the break in. Inside of 30k to go, Garmin Sharp's Tom Jelte Slagter attacked and broke away from the peloton. The early escapees were all swept up by the peloton by 20k to go, when Omega's Jan Bakelants attacked from the bunch.

Profile of stage 19; northward

Garmin had more cards to play, clearly intent on making something happen today. Alex Howes attacked, but was soon brought back. Riders fought to be in front for the narrow, technical cat-4 hill that topped out with 13k to go to the finish. The rain fell heavily at times, probably dissuading more attackers.

Recidivist escapees: Gautier, Elmiger and Taaramae (R to L)

With about 13.5k to go, another Garmin rider, Navardauskas attacked and bridged up to his teammate Slagter, who still led the race about 10 or 15 seconds up the road. Slagter led Navardauskas over the KOM line at the top of the Côte de Montbazillac (1.3k at 7.6%), and then Navardauskas pushed on alone.

Navardauskas clung to a 12-second lead with 11k to go, but then started to gradually build it up until it leveled out between 22 and 24 seconds with about 7k left to the finish. Navardauskas slogged through heavy downpours, and as he crossed the Dordogne River with about 3k to go, the chasing peloton was gaining ground on him again.

Just inside of 3k to go, the peloton was chasing the Garmin rider through Bergerac, when a crash near the front of the peloton created a big pile-up. Many big names were involved, including Peter Sagan, Andre Greipel, Frank Schleck, Greg Van Avermaet, Romain Bardet, Leopold König, and more. Later Sagan apologized and took responsibility for the carnage, saying, "I crashed first". Known for his excellent bike-handling skills, Sagan was a big favorite to win on today's technical run-in.

The Tour's biggest fan watched the race go by today

A group of about 15 riders survived to chase after Navardauskas. They were at + :13 as the strong Lithuanian sped under the flamme rouge.

Navardauskas rounded a 90-degree left turn onto the soaked finish straight. He looked behind to see the chase group coming fast, but his lead was sufficient.

He coasted over the line first, taking a much-appreciated win for his hard-working Garmin teammates.

John Degenkolb won the sprint for second, ahead of Alexander Kristoff and Mark Renshaw.

Tom Jelte Slagter lit up the race for Garmin

It was a great attack and win for the Lithuanian Navardauskas, but a rather disappointing finish otherwise, since we were denied a proper bunch sprint.  Fortunately for all those involved, the crash occurred inside of 3k to go, so everybody there got the same time as the sprint group. Jack Bauer appeared to have suffered the worst from the crash, but is reported to be ok, and was able to take solace in the fact that his teammate scored the win.

Garmin got a win from Ramunas Navardauskas

STAGE 20 PREVIEW:

Tomorrow is the big 54k individual time trial. The standings will certainly get a shakeup, and then we will find out what the final 2014 Tour De France podium will look like. The course is hilly, but without any major climbs. The sheer length of it will destroy some riders hopes of a high finish, and we may see some surprise results.

Stage 20 ITT profile

 

I expect Nibali, Peraud, Valverde, and Van Garderen will do well. The other top GC contenders will have to throw every last ounce of their energy into the stage 20 ITT. Thibaut Pinot should be especially worried about losing his podium position.

The strong time trialists outside of the top GC contention who I expect to excel on Saturday include Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Shimano and Sylvain Chavanel of IAM. Chavanel has expressed the desire to "do something special" in the TT.

Other typically good TT-ers like Richie Porte and Michal Kwiatkowski are less of a sure bet, as they both showed weakness in the mountains. But put those guys in a skinsuit and an aero helmet, and you usually get fireworks. 

Compatriots JC Peraud and Thibaut Pinot

Some of the veteran TT-ers like Lieuwe Westra, Mick Rogers, and Vasil Kiryienka may be able to come up with decent performances. Kiryienka and Rogers particularly showed a lot of strength in the mountains.

Orica's Luke Durbridge and Svein Tuft would love to put on good performances tomorrow, and look out for Ion Izaguirre, Jan Barta, Maciej Bodnar, and Geraint Thomas. Any of them could be capable of a good show in the race of truth.

MY PICKS:

I think this course will suit JC Peraud very well, as well as Tom Dumoulin and Ion Izaguirre. In top form I would like Kwiatkowski, Porte, and Valverde for this course, but I'm not sure how their legs will be after the Pyrenees. Valverde will fight hard for a podium finish however, so I would still say he is a good pick.

I think Tony Martin means "turbo boosted" in German

But at the end of the day, we are talking about a time trial; and you can't have a TT and not talk about the German locomotive, Tony Martin. I wouldn't bet on him finishing worse than second, and in this case, I am picking him for the win.

It will all be decided tomorrow...

...Enjoy the race!

Stage 11 Time Trial Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

"The old man" Horner in red again

Stage 10 of the Vuelta a España featured a steep summit finish where Radioshack’s Chris Horner earned his second stage win of the race, and reclaimed the red jersey of overall race leader as a bonus. To the other top GC contenders the American’s relentless attack with about 4.5k to go must have seemed too early to stick. It was not until almost 2k to go that Vincenzo Nibali responded with a move of his own to chase down the plucky American.

Nibali finished 48 seconds behind Horner, and :14 ahead of Valverde, Basso, Rodriguez and Pinot, with Nicolas Roche another eight seconds back. Daniel Moreno struggled on the climb, lost the race lead, and dropped down to 6^th place.

Leopold Konig and Ivan Basso swapped places, Konig moved down from 7^th to 11^th place, and Basso up to 7^th from 11^th. The Italian Cannondale leader moving up as a result of the very good form he has been showing in the mountains.

You can see there was a lot more movement in the standings than after stage 9. Many riders made either significant advances or losses based on their performance on the final climb up the Alto de Hazallanas on Monday. Notably, beyond Horner moving into the lead, and the other “rearranging” of the top five, Thibaut Pinot of FDJ found the big climb to his liking, and he moved up ten spots to 8^th place overall. His higher aspirations may find trouble next weekend however, with stages 14 and 15, as more descending will be on the menu—Pinot’s big weakness.

Stage 17 Individual Time Trial Preview and Profile 2013 TDF

Stage 17 ITT on the map

The Tour De France classifications have a good chance of getting a shake up on Wednesday’s climbing time trial from Embrun to Chorges. Stage 17 is the final time trial of the race. Unlike the stage-11 TT around Mont Saint-Michel, Wednesday’s stage includes two category-2 climbs. This will favor the GC climbers over the flat time trial artists.

The climbs are not easy ones. Each is over six kilometers long and averages over 6% gradient. Beyond the climbing, the technical descents are also getting extra attention. The riders will need excellent bike-handling skills to get down the hills quickly and safely. They will also have to gauge their efforts carefully and take time where they can, in the areas they each excel at.

Rui Costa showed some good descending skills in his stage-16 win on Tuesday. He has a great shot at a top spot tomorrow. Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans are good on a hilly and technical course. Evans has not been performing at his highest level during the Tour, but he might look at this TT as a potential stage win, and give it his all.

Stage 17 time trial profile

Chris Froome is probably going to put even more time into his rivals, but several others could pull off top performances on the course. The most interesting races within the race could be between second and sixth places. All those guys are close on time, and will be fighting for a spot on the podium in Paris. They should all perform well tomorrow.

The technical and hilly 32-km route

Regardless of trying to dismantle Froome, every rider in the top ten will be grappling for higher positions—and there is a lot of wiggle room.

Kwiatkowski and Rogers could jump Dan Martin. Kwiatkowski has a good shot to get back into the top ten. I expect Jakob Fuglsang and Jean-Christophe Peraud could jump Joaquim Rodriguez in the standings, but J-Rod will hope to regain any time he loses when they hit Alpe d’Huez on Thursday, and again in the high mountains on Friday, and again on Saturday.

Mick Rogers could do well, but he may or may not be tasked with saving energy for his leader, Contador, in the Alps the next three days. Alejandro Valverde, Maxime Monfort, and Andreas Klöden are others who will like the course.

Speaking of Valverde, Team Movistar could win the team competition for the day with all the climbing/time trialing talent they have. Valverde, Rui Costa, Quintana, Jonathan Castroviejo, and the Costa Rican native, Andrey Amador. Amador has not been in his best form during this Tour, but he is typically capable of a good TT, especially on a hilly course like this.

Looking further down the standings, Thomas De Gendt, Michael Albasini, Ryder Hesjedal, Jerome Coppel, and on a good day, Rein Taaramae, could also hope for good results. Whether Tony Martin will be able to excel on this course is debatable. I have higher hopes than most, but he is certainly not the runaway favorite on this one.

MY PICK: I really like Froome, Contador and Peraud on this course. But I am going to go out on a limb, sort of, and pick Jeremy Roy of FDJ.

Stage 11 Time Trial Report and Results 2013 Tor De France ITT

 

33k ITT, mostly flat

Weather: Sunny, 25c

Mont Saint-Michel hosts the stage 11 ITT finish

The course is 20.5 miles long, or 33k. The intermediate split points are at km 9.5 and km 22.

182 riders will take the start today.

Svein Tuft set an early fast time at the second intermediate checkpoint of 25:35.

Tuft finishes with the currently fastest time of 38:04.

Two-time World TT Champion, Tony Martin is on the course. He sets a new fastest time at the 2^nd INT of 24:42.

Jeremy Roy finishes at 38:12, currently second.

Thomas De Gendt comes in with a very good time of 37:30, and takes the lead from Tuft.

Stage 11 Profile

*Tony Martin comes in to the finish, and he has set the new best time at 36:29. That is an average speed of 54.271 kph. That will be the standard to beat for some time. Winds are picking up a bit, and may cause trouble for the later starters.

A report is in that spectators have thrown urine at Mark Cavendish on the course. That is shameful, despicable and dangerous. I hope they catch whoever had the tiny brain to conceive that assault. I know what their punishment should be, too.

Morons aside, let’s get back to the race:

The stage 11 ITT route

Jonathan Castroviejo is a rider I singled out for a good time today. He passes the first INT at km 9.5 with a time of 10:51. That is :30 slower than Martin’s time there.

Castroviejo is fifth at the 2^nd INT. He finishes 1:52 off the pace.

Edvald Boasson Hagen would be a good prospect for this course, but Team Sky have been told to save energy for Froome in the stages ahead. This is always a consideration. With the next high mountain stage not coming until Sunday, I thought Boasson Hagen would have been set loose today, but I guess not. EBH comes in almost four minutes off the pace.

The current leaders are:

1.    Tony Martin 36:29

2.    Thomas De Gendt +1:01

3.    Svein Tuft 1:35

4.    Jeremy Roy 1:43

5.    Jonathan Castroviejo 1:52

Tom Dumoulin of Argos Shimano is fifth fastest at the 2^nd INT.

Tejay Van Garderen seems to have rediscovered his strength. He is second fastest at the 1^st INT, just 18 seconds slower than Martin.