Stage 6 Report and Results 2013 Tour De France

Stage 6 in southern France

176k from Aix-En-Provence to Montpellier; flat

Sunny, hot, dry, windy

Winds 15-20 mph; 88 f (31 c)

Toward the end, the Mistral winds should pick up;

193 riders will start today.

 

Stage 5 injuries (with two non-starters today):

*Van Den Broeck: injured knee   DNS 6

Bouet: fractured wrist    DNS 6

Zubeldia: broke bone in left hand

Bouhanni: both shoulders and left thigh damaged

Vande Velde: blood clot in neck, loose collarbone screw

*Hesjedal: cracked rib from stage 1 crash

Danielson: scrapes and bruises

Klöden: hurt right calf

Van Garderen: bumps and bruises

Schär: endo, stressed patellar tendon, bumps and bruises;

*Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte found tacks in their tires after stage 5.

Stage 6 location

TO THE ACTION:

A lone breakaway rider today: Luis Angel Mate (COF) escaped at the start.

With 144k to go Mate leads the peloton by 5:00

-133k: Mate sits up after a mechanical issue, and is picked up by the peloton.

Gruppo compatto

-120k: Quintana hits the pavement; gets back on, and receives attention from medical car;

INT SPR (km 63):

1.    Greipel 2. Cavendish 3. Kristoff 4. Sagan 5. Steegmans 6. Flecha 7. Sabatini 8. Kwiatkowski 9. Chavanel 10. D. Van Poppel 11. Velits 12. Bookwalter 13. Tuft 14. Burghardt 15. Lancaster

Stage 6 Profile

Bouhanni is suffering on the bike. He has been distanced by the pack;

Km 68: KOM 1 cat-4 Col de la Vayede

1.    Siutsou

-100k: Peloton still together; Bouhanni trails by 3:00; His Tour may be coming to an early end.

Most of the rest of the route will probably see strong winds upsetting the pace;

-88k: Bouhanni, last year’s French road champ, abandons the race before the feed zone.

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Stage 6 Preview 2013 Tour De France

Stage 6 continues west to Montpellier

Stage 6 from Aix-En-Provence to Montpellier should be another one for the sprinters. A mostly flat stage with only one categorized climb, and it is a cat-4, and it comes with over 100k left to ride. At 176 kilometers in length stage 6 should be an average day with a bunch sprint finish.

I am going with Cavendish tomorrow. His lead-out train was impressive today, and he is certainly a top favorite for stage 6. With four of my first five picks coming in second, I am hoping to break the pattern. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 80’s (around 30 c) for Thursday’s stage 6, so keeping hydrated and preventing overheating will be important.

Stage 6 Profile

I will do the best I can to post regularly over the July 4 holiday. Fortunately stage 7 looks like another sprint, but stage 8 to Ax 3 Domaines is when the real fun begins! 

Stage 5 Report and Results 2013 Tour De France

 

228.5k from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseilles

cloudy skies, dry roads

Temperatures in the high 60’s f.

Stage 5 Profile

TO THE ACTION:

Km 3: 6 men escape:

Yukiya Arashiro and Kevin Reza (EUC), Anthony Delaplace (SOJ), Alexey Lutsenko (AST), Romain Sicard (EUS), and Thomas De Gendt (VCD).

Km 22: KOM 1: cat-3 Cote de Chateauneuf-Grasse (1.4k at 8.4%):

1. De Gendt 2. Delaplace

The leaders have built a lead of over thirteen minutes.

Km 93: KOM 2: cat-4 Col de l’Ange (1.6k at 4.1%):

1. De Gendt

126k to go: Intermediate Sprint (Lourges):

1. De Gendt 2. Lutsenko 3. Delaplace 4. Arashiro 5. Sicard 6. Reza 7. Greipel 8. Kristoff 9. Sagan 10. Cavendish 11. Rojas 12. Henderson 13. Sabatini 14. Boeckmans 15. Sieberg

-100k: The lead is down to 8:51;
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On the Time Elimination of Cannondale Rider Ted King after stage 4 of the Tour De France:

I was surprised to hear what a fuss was being made over Cannondale’s Ted King being eliminated from the Tour De France after finishing outside the time limit on the stage 4 team time trial. Yes, it is terribly unfortunate for a rider who has worked and trained very hard to be sent home, but those are the rules. Every rider and team knows the rules and all are expected to follow them. Of course, that presupposes that the referees will enforce the rules fairly and equally.

Ted King after race elimination following stage 4 TTT

During NBC Sports’ stage 5 pre-race show, in typical colorful fashion, Bob Roll described the Tour de France stage time limits as “…a blood meridian running through the Tour,” and, “…a bad spirit that haunts your dreams.” In other words, the time limit is a threatening specter looming over the peloton, reminding the riders that they are engaged in the highest level of competition and must give their all to show their worth. After all, why should someone who is not in top form be permitted to contest a race with the best cyclists in the world?

The “bad spirit” haunted Ted King’s race. He injured his shoulder in stage 1, and then got eliminated from the race in stage 4. The fact that his parents are flying out to watch him race, and the Twitter frenzy that saw several pro cyclists lobbying for King’s cause, should not bear on the case. The only issue is whether or not the race referees are going to apply the rules strictly to all riders all the time. In the past we have seen them make exceptions under certain circumstances. For instance, during stage 18 of the 2011 TDF a large group of over 80 riders in the grupetto who finished outside the time limit were all allowed to start the next day, to avoid the mass elimination. On the next stage over 80 riders again finished outside the time limit, and the race referees decided again not to enforce the elimination. Several top sprinters and stars were in those groups. So, a double standard does seem to exist in the enforcement of rules in the Tour De France, and it worked against King. The rules are just flexible enough to favor the big stars that the fans want to watch.

heistedking

The worst part about the Ted King elimination is that he was only outside the finish window by seven seconds. And yesterday’s TTT was the fastest ever in Tour history. Another fact I consider is that King (no offense, man) is not a rider who was going to have a big impact on this year’s race. He is too green. He is not a powerful climber or a super-fast sprinter, but his loss does handicap his team a little. It is doubly unfortunate for the Cannondale rider then, because cyclists need to put those thousands of kilometers of racing into their legs to build their form for the future. Hopefully the blogger and Pro-Tour cyclist, Ted King, will be back next year to show the Tour De France why he belongs there. For emotional reasons, I would have liked to see the New Hampshire native continue riding, but what would be preferable is equal and exact application of the rules for all riders, all the time.

Stage 5 Preview 2013 Tour De France Profile and Picks

By the end of stage six of the Tour De France last year, Mark Cavendish had already won a stage, André Greipel had won two stages, and Peter Sagan had won three. So far this year, none of them has tasted victory yet.

Sagan has the green jersey, but he has not yet crossed a finish line first. Stage 5 to Marseilles tomorrow gives the Slovakian speedster—and the other fast men--another opportunity.

Stage 5 Profile

Stage 5 is another rolling route similar to stage 3, except for two main, possibly offsetting differences: its climbs are a little less demanding, and the stage is 83 kilometers longer (or 57% longer).  At over 228 kms, stage 5 is the second longest of the race.  However, there is so much undulation throughout the route that the fast men who want to force a bunch sprint will have to chase very hard to keep up with a determined breakaway.

The westerly stage 5 route to Marseilles

None of the four categorized climbs is above a cat-3, and that one, the first, at km22, is only 1.4k long. The other three are cat-4’s, none of which is steep enough to cause much damage. 228 kms is a long time for a break group to hold off the peloton, but a number of possible attack sites exist on the course, and a late break could potentially succeed.

After the last cat-4 there is an uncategorized climb that tops out about 12.5k from the finish. The descent of that hill may be a good place for a bold attack to get away. If a charging peloton are not too far behind any escapees in the last 20k or so, then whatever sprinters make that group will be likely to have their bunch sprint finish.

Weather could become a factor on Wednesday. The temperature is expected to be about the same, but I read a 40% chance of showers is expected for the start town of Cagnes-sur-Mer; although the finish in Marseilles only expects partly cloudy skies. If those rolling roads are wet they could cause some unfortunate crashes. Headwinds are also going to trouble escapees in the final few kilometers.

PICKS:

The lack of any “real” climbs leads me to think that the sprinters will force the bunch sprint in the end. A few may not be able to keep up, but I wouldn’t bet against any of the top names. I like Sagan again, and he’ll be gunning for a win after two consecutive second places on stages 2 and 3. But since I picked him on both of those stages, I will go with someone else.

Cavendish and Greipel are both reasonable picks, of course. Julien Simon of the wildcard Sojasun team and Daryl Impey of the on-fire Orica GreenEdge team have been looking very stage hungry, as have JJ Rojas (Movistar), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), and Francesco Gavazzi (Astana). I would not be surprised if Lars Boom tries something on Wednesday, but I am going to pick Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen.