Emanuele Sella started to be known in the World of cycling in his debut season, more specifically when he was part of the break that managed to get to the end in the 2011 World Championships. The Italian was able to get the 5th final place in Copenhagen when he was still 23 years old. By that time he had already had to find another team for his next season as Movistar had not renewed him. Astana would be his home for the following 3 years.
Sella arrived in the Kazakh team for their first season in the World Tour. He was given a leading role in the team straight away, sharing the leadership with the local Alexandre Vinokourov. His first season in the team had not started very well and the first part of the year was unremarkable, only saved by the mountains' jersey in the Tirreno - Adriatico. However, all that changed when he managed to be the 4th in the Criterium du Dauphine out of nowhere. In truth he was never within reach of the podium and finished only 1 second ahead of Tejay van Garderen but the dose of confidence it gave him made a difference.
In the end, the 3 years that Sella spent in Astana served him to form a reputation as a youngster that was in the second line of action but that had the potential to progress further. His best opportunity came last winter. With his contract with Astana running out and about to turn 27 he received a call from BMC, who offered him a leading role in the team. He would have to work for Peter Stetina and Dries Devenyns in some races but the call from the best team in the World is not easily dismissed.
The result for both parties could not have been better up to now. Sella finally took his maiden win in the Fleche Wallonne, one of the races in the Ardennes. On the other hand, he was a very good helper for Peter Stetina in the Giro d'Italia in order for the American to end up winning the race. The future looks bright so far for Sella, who could well take the role of Dries Devenyns in the team. They have been fairly matched so far this season.
The Tour de France is the most important race in the World Tour calendar and one more year it will be the meeting point for the best riders in the World. The race will start from the island of Corsica for the first time in the race history. It will host the first three stages of the race before jumping to the continent for a team time trial in Nice. Another of the key differences with last year's race will be the individual time trial kilometers. Whereas last year there were two long flat time trials in 2015 there will only be one 30 kilometers long flat one and a mountainous one in the last week of the race.
The mountains will also be interesting with mountain-top finishes in Ax3-Domaine, Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez and Semnoz. The race should be quite different last year's, when Mathias Frank was leader for a lot of days even though he had a very weak team.
The most successful rider in the history of the Tour is Bauke Mollema, with one win and one second place. However, it looks like it will be difficult for him to fight for the overall win this year. Hubert Dupont and Tejay van Garderen, the other winners, will also be present in Corsica for the start of the race.
Favorites:
- Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale): Ten Dam has been very solid this season and he already managed to grab a podium in the Giro d'Italia. The Dutch became one of the best climbers in the World last season and he is confirming the results and even improving on them in 2015. His problem in the Tour might be that his teammates Jurgen van den Broeck and Kanstantsin Siutsou will not be in France and his support in the mountains is very limited.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): David Lopez sent his application for the Tour de France podium when he won the Tour de Suisse a couple of weeks ago. The Spaniard will have to face a lot less time trial kilometers this year and that will increase his chances of success. The Spaniard would probably like a couple more hilly stages but nevertheless he should be very strong in the mountains.
- Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team): The recent winner of the Giro d'Italia has to be among the favorites for the Tour de France. The only doubts lie on whether Stetina will be able to be in top shape for the two Grand Tours. Other than that, the fewer time trial kilometers will be in his favor compared to riders like Tejay van Garderen, to whom he lost 2 minutes in the time trial of the National Championships.
- Tejay van Garderen (Trek Factory Racing): The defending champion of the Tour de France is the last favorite for the overall win in Paris. Van Garderen has not been as dominant this year as he was in 2014 during the Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour de France. However, he only lost the Tour de Romandie in the last stage. His performance in the Tour de Suisse, 5th, cast some doubts on his potential performance in the Tour but since then he was able to win the time trial National Championship.
Other important riders that will have a chance of climbing to the final podium in Paris will be Cadel Evans (Movistar Team), Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC), Andrew Talansky (HTC - Highroad), Mathias Frank (Garmin - Sharp) and Andy Schleck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep).
The sprinters will have a lot of chances to shine in the Tour and most of the best have come to France, such as Marcel Kittel (Astana), Ben Swift (Team Sky), Andre Greipel (Trek Factory Racing), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin Pro Cycling) and Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida).
The first stage of the Tour de France is not a prologue this year but a normal stage. The race starts in Porto-Vecchio, from where the peloton will ride to Bastia. This opening stage is very flat and, therefore, a mass sprint is expected. It is a bit strange that the organizers have prepared such an easy stage to begin with, given the history of falls and nerves in the first week of the Tour. It would not be strange if any of the favorites crashes in these beginning of the Tour.
Only 3 riders formed today's break: Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Bart de Clercq (Sky) and Bradley Wiggins (Katusha). They made it to the intermediate sprint in Ghisonaccia with a gap of 6 minutes over the main bunch but they still had 104 kilometers to go. The peloton was having a quiet day with riders from Movistar, Euskaltel and Cannondale controlling the pace. However, there were already a couple of crashes in the first half of the stage, including one that affected Marcel Kittel. The sprint in the bunch was won by Alexander Kristoff.
Movistar, Cannondale and Astana were at the front of the peloton as they started chasing down the break. With 29 kilometers remaining they had managed to reduce the gap to 1' 45'' and the mass sprint looked unavoidable. It is a bit strange that Movistar is chasing as they don't have a sprinter good enough to contend for the win, while Cannondale has Elia Viviani and Astana has Marcel Kittel. The team that is still missing at the front is Trek, who usually have a lot of confidence on Andre Greipel.
Bart de Clercq gave it a last go and attacked from the break in the closing kilometers. However, his gap had been reduced to a mere 10 seconds at the 10 kilometers mark. Trek had finally appeared at the front and Fabian Cancellara was powering at the front of the pack to catch everyone back. Tony Martin was right behind the Swiss in the main bunch for Astana. The riders are already close to Bastia, where the finish line is placed next to the Mediterranean Sea.
Astana took the lead of the peloton ahead of the last 3 kilometers and looked like the dominating sprint train by far. The Kazakh team had Robbie McEwen to lead out Marcel Kittel. Elia Viviani had worked very well to take his position and he was right behind the German. Trek had also formed a train but they were a bit behind. It would be Simon Gerrans leading Andre Greipel, given that Giacomo Nizzolo and Daniele Bennati are not in the Tour's squad. Ben Swift had taken the wheel of the German. Other sprinters that were well positioned ahead of the final sprint were Mark Cavendish, Matthew Goss and Alexander Kristoff.
Astana continued to do a perfect job and Robbie McEwen led the way at the last kilometer mark. The Australian was well ahead of the competition and Marcel Kittel only had Elia Viviani on his wheel. In principle it was a perfect setup for Kittel. On the left hand side of the road, Lloyd Mondory had made it to the front to make Alexander Kristoff progress. Meanwhile, Trek's train could not keep up with the pace and Andre Greipel is looking for a different wheel to follow.
Elia Viviani emerged from behind Marcel Kittel's wheel but the German was still stuck to Robbie McEwen with 600 meters to go. The crash that Kittel suffered earlier in the stage might be playing against him when his team had done a perfect job to deliver him to the best position ahead of the sprint. Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel are trying to make progress from behind but it looks like the stage win will be a battle between Elia Viviani and Marcel Kittel.
Elia Viviani wins in Bastia! The Italian was clearly faster and had no rival in the last few meters of the stage. This is the first win for the Cannondale sprinter in 2015 and in his whole career. What a better way to open his wins count than in the Tour de France. Marcel Kittel was clearly not in top shape today as he was clearly beaten and had to settle with the 4th place, as he was overtaken by Andre Greipel and Matthew Goss.
The first test for the sprinters left us a surprising winner in Elia Viviani. He will be the leader of the race and it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to hold on to the yellow jersey, given that the two following stages will be much hillier. The good news of the day is that there were no crashes in the final kilometers of the stage.
The island of Corsica offers a lot of possibilities in terms of making a stage difficult and the middle part of the second stage is a good proof. The riders will have to face three difficult climbs concatenated, especially considering how early it is in the Tour de France. The last of the three, the Col de Vizzavona, is 1,163 meters high. This means that many sprinters will not be able to make it to the finish line at the front and the stage could be quite open to surprises.
The break of the day had 4 riders: Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil), Roman Kreuziger (Belkin), Peter Kennaugh (Trek) and Warren Barguil (Garmin). They had a gap of only 2 minutes at the intermediate sprint, in Corte, just before the climbing started. The pace in the first half of the stage had been quite high and this might have an impact in the size of the peloton after the climbs. There are many teams interested in controlling the race and this resulted in a high tempo. In the sprint of the group it was Tyler Farrar who beat Elia Viviani for the green jersey points.
The route was tough in the middle part of the stage but not many expected attacks from outsiders to the win in the Tour. Frank Schleck, Xavi Tondo and Dries Devenyns jumped from the main group at the Col de Vizzavona and were only losing 35 seconds to the break at the top of the climb (with 59 kilometers to go). Warren Barguil and Jean-Christophe Peraud were losing 1' 30'' and the peloton was 2' 55'' behind. Cannondale was working at the front but they had to keep a pace that Elia Viviani could follow as they were interested in keeping the Italian in the yellow jersey.
The rider that was most surprising today was Andy Schleck and not for a particularly good reason. The Luxembourgish did not manage to follow the pace of the bunch and by the time the riders finished the descent he was 10 minutes behind. He basically threw away his possibilities of a good GC. Meanwhile, 7 riders joined at the front of the race and, with 22 kilometers to go, they were 1' 30'' ahead of the group of the leader, where only around 85 riders had survived.
The last difficulty of the day was the very short Cote du Salario. Dries Devenyns attacked from the break at that point and, even though they tried, nobody else could follow the Belgian. He had 30 seconds on the rest of the break at the top and 1' 25'' on the bunch. Even Jose Joaquin Rojas is working at the bunch due to the lack of domestiques but he could be giving away his chance for a stage win, given that not many sprinters survived in that group.
Euskaltel and Movistar started to work in the bunch in the last 10 kilometers, even with riders like Igor Anton and Michele Scarponi. Dries Devenyns is still leading the stage with 5 kilometers to go. He had 50 seconds on the main bunch but the rest of the riders that were ahead had already been caught back. The second stage has given us a very interesting battle among the outsiders and we might also see a change in leader.
Dries Devenyns was still ahead with 2 kilometers to go but his gap was decreasing very fast and it seemed that the stage win was in the chasing group. He had only 15 seconds over a charging group where Elia Viviani was decided to take his second straight win. His only rivals might be Peter Sagan and Jose Joaquin Rojas but both of them had done a lot of work in the stage.
Dries Devenyns was finally caught and with 1 kilometer to go Elia Viviani was already ahead. The Italian started his sprint from too far out and he might have had overestimated his strength. Tejay van Garderen was closely following the wheel of Viviani, while other riders like David Lopez, Mikel Nieve and Hubert Dupont were making progress. Peter Sagan and Jose Joaquin Rojas were not even strong enough to join the sprint and there were a few riders that dropped in the final kilometers of the stage, like Frank Schleck and Denis Menchov.
Tejay van Garderen wins in Ajaccio! The winner of the last Tour de France wanted to make a statement after the doubts he projected with his performance in the Tour de Suisse and he certainly did it. The American took advantage of the tow from Elia Viviani and won the sprint in the main group. Only 56 riders were in the same time in the end. Geraint Thomas took the second place in the stage ahead of Jelle Vanendert. Viviani was 4th after fading in the last meters of the sprint ahead of Robert Kiserlovski.
It is very early in the Tour but the pattern of who the riders that might contend for the win is a bit clearer. One of the favorites, Andy Schleck, lost 17 minutes and is completely out of the picture. There was no news about a crash or anything that affected the Luxembourgish so it is difficult to guess what might have happened to him. Schleck has been very inconsistent in his career and maybe this is another proof of it.
The last stage in the island of Corsica will be the shortest but also the hardest in this beginning of the Tour de France. The riders will have to face 5 categorized climbs in only 145 kilometers with the Col de Marsolino (which averages 8.1%) only 14 kilometers from the finish line in Calvi. It will be another day for the riders that can go through the hills and a puncheur might win the day. The last climb is hard enough so that a late attack might have an outside chance of making it to the finish line.
The intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Sagone, only 24 kilometers into the stage. There had not been a break formed so far and Elia Viviani took the chance to win the sprint and grab 2 very valuable bonus seconds on his fight to retain the yellow jersey for one more day. No other sprinter sprinted for the points and that is giving Viviani a good lead in the points' jersey. The pace up the first climb of the day might have also discouraged others as Cannondale had increased the pace not to allow a big break.
The break of the day was formed right after the intermediate sprint. The bunch was only happy when the group had only 4 riders: Jempy Drucker (Garmin), Robbie McEwen (Astana), John Gadret (FDJ) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Tinkoff). The group had built a gap of 4 minutes by the time they got to the Col de San Martino, the longest climb of the day. Drucker was the first at the top ahead of McEwen. They still had 88 kilometers to go. In the bunch Cannondale is taking the responsibility once again but Ag2r seems to be willing to collaborate setting the pace.
Rinaldo Nocentini attacked close to the top of the Col de San Martino but, although he spent lots of kilometers trying to connect with the break he was eventually caught back by the main bunch with 20 kilometers to go. The Italian would have been the favorite for the stage win had he made contact with the break, given that they still enjoyed a gap of 2' 20'' at that point. The stage was quite fast considering the difficult terrain and the twisty roads. Euskaltel and Belkin contributed to that by chasing hard to bring the break back.
The last climb of the day was the Col de Marsolino, a bit less than 3 kilometers long but averaging more than 8%. It was the place where Simon Gerrans attacked and dragged with him David Lopez and Hubert Dupont. There were others trying to follow but the three of them managed to open a gap of 25 seconds on the group of the leader at the top of the hill. In the break John Gadret went solo and crossed the KoM banner 55 seconds ahead of Lopez's group. The differences are small enough that they will be difficult to maintain in the remaining 14 kilometers.
John Gadret was riding solo with 6 kilometers to go but the French is not a great flat rider and only has 25 seconds over a group of 6 riders including David Lopez and Hubert Dupont. The group of the leader is losing 1 minute. It is taking longer than expected to the group of the leader to catch back given the difference in size. Alberto Contador is the rider making the most work to chase. The descent of the Col de Marsolino was a bit treacherous and a few riders crashed, including Oscar Freire.
David Lopez's group was caught with 3 kilometers to go, the moment when Tejay van Garderen attack looking for the win. However, it was still John Gadret who was leading the way with 2 kilometers to go, 10 seconds ahead of the American. The main group, with only 85 riders, was losing 25 seconds. It might be enough for one of the two riders ahead to win. Tejay must be really confident after his win yesterday. Among the sprinters in the group, Lloyd Mondory and Fran Ventoso are prominently ahead, both for Euskaltel.
John Gadret and Tejay van Garderen were caught back under the flame rouge as David Lopez pushed ahead looking for the win. It seemed unlikely that the Spaniard won given that he is not a particularly fast rider and the stage was not that hard to discard better sprinters. Mathias Frank and Andrew Talansky are also close to the front of the race.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Calvi! The French showed his raw speed against far inferior riders when it comes to a group sprint and grabbed his second win of the season, the other one being the Gent - Wevelgem. Euskaltel had two options and they decided to go for Mondory, who probably had gone through the hills easier than Fran Ventoso. The second place was for a surprising Danilo di Luca, who took advantage of taken Mondory's wheel to grab what is a good result for him.
Andrew Talansky was third ahead of Cameron Meyer and Jelle Vanendert, who completed the top 5. Elia Viviani will therefore keep the yellow jersey ahead of the team time trial, where Cannondale will probably make him lose it. Unlike yesterday there were no surprises and all the favorites made it to the finish line in the front group. The first differences in the GC will begin to open up tomorrow in Nice.
It could be said that today is the day when differences among the favorites start to appear but the team time trial in Nice is a bit too short for any gaps that cannot be recovered in the first block of mountains. The test will be 23 kilometers long and completely flat, which will favor the teams with pure specialists against the clock. For sure there will be riders that will profit from today but they will not make a massive amount of time on their rivals.
The first team to start that probably has a chance to take the overall win was Astana. The Kazakh team has a few good time trialists like Marcel Kittel, Yoann Offredo, Andreas Kloden and Tony Martin. As they were only the second team to start they had no trouble taking the first provisional place at the finish line 17 seconds ahead of Orica - Greenedge. This was probably not a big enough gap with the Australians for them to be fighting for the top positions of the stage.
Vacansoleil started the stage right behind Astana. The Dutch team had Bauke Mollema and Lieuwe Westra as their best men for the day and, even though they were behind Astana in the intermediate point they managed to finish 12 seconds ahead of the Kazakh team. This is good news for Bauke Mollema, although he did not give the feeling of being able to take the overall win in the Tour de France in the short term. It is starting to look as if Mollema's time has gone by already.
There were a few less relevant teams between Vacansoleil and Cannondale. The Italians started the stage around halfway through the list of teams. Laurens Ten Dam has marked the Tour as a target but the quality of the support that his team brought for him is way below what he got in the Giro, where he got the third place in the podium. The lack of depth in the team was blatant today, as they recorded the 8th best time, 26 seconds behind Vacansoleil.
Trek was right behind Cannondale. The American team hired the current winner of the Tour de France during the winter and this is the first time that Tejay van Garderen appears in the Tour as a champion. He silenced the critics who said that his performance was not like last year after the Tour de Suisse by winning the ITT National Championships and the second stage in the Tour. However, his performance alone could not give Trek a good result. They took the 6th provisional best time, 14 seconds behind Vacansoleil.
HTC was also among the favorites to win the day. The American team has always had good time trialists, although they will be missing Levi Leipheimer today. Nevertheless, they managed to take the 2nd provisional time at the finish line, only 3 seconds behind Vacansoleil. This will be music to the ears of Andrew Talansky, who will surely finish the day close to the top of the GC.
Chris Froome is the leader and best man against the clock in Sky but they have a good overall level to support him. The British team was 8th at the finish line 20 seconds behind Vacansoleil. Even though Froome will have a hard time trying to get into the top 10 in the race it was a bit of a disappointing performance for a team that could have been fighting for the top places of the stage if not for the win.
Discovery Channel was the next of the favorites for the stage but a surprising Belkin team took over the lead just before them. The performance by Discovery was actually quite good but they had to settle for the second provisional time, 7 seconds behind Belkin. Mikel Nieve and Jean-Christophe Peraud will definitely be at the top of the GC at the end of the day but a bit behind Hubert Dupont and Rob Ruijgh. The day also served for Peraud to wear his National Champion jersey for the first time and where better than in the Tour de France.
David Lopez is one of the big favorites for the overall win in the Tour de France but his team let him down today. Alexander Kristoff is the only decent time trialist in the team and the Norwegian is much better in prologues than in long time trials. They crossed the finish line to take the 14 provisional spot, 43 seconds behind Belkin. Lopez will have to work his way up the GC but it is not a difference big enough to make him overly worried.
BMC does not have very good time trialists but has a good average level that should put them high in the classification today. The American team made those predictions good by taking the 4th place, 21 seconds behind Belkin and only 1 second shy of Vacansoleil. Peter Stetina will be grateful that he will get to the mountains ahead of many of his rivals, given that he usually has to go against the current if the mountains are after a time trial.
Movistar was the penultimate team to start; only Ag2r came behind. The Spaniard had to rely almost exclusively on Cadel Evans and it did not really work. They got to the finish line in the 19th place, 51 seconds behind Belkin. This will put Evans in a difficult position ahead of the Pyrenees leaving him close to last among the favorites for the Tour.
The stage left us a very surprising win by Belkin, given that the Dutch team was not really a favorite for the stage. Their performance made them put 7 seconds on Discovery Channel and 20 on Vacansoleil. Among the favorites who are not in the top 10, this is where they are in the GC: Peter Stetina, +21''; Andrew Talansky, +22''; Tejay van Garderen, +29''; Mathias Frank, +32''; David Lopez, +43''; Laurens Ten Dam, +46''; Cadel Evans, +51''; Robert Gesink, +1' 06''.
The fifth stage of the Tour de France is in principle favorable to the sprinters. However, the 220 kilometers between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Marseille are a bit more difficult than what the profile suggests. The wind could well play a role in the first part of the stage, given that it runs mainly along the coast. The distance of the stage could also play against some of the sprinters and favor a break.
The stage started very fast today. The teams of the sprinters were not happy with the first groups that were formed and it took almost 70 kilometers for a break to settle at the front of the race. The 5 riders that made it were Julien Simon (FDJ), Gregory Rast (Orica), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and Mark Renshaw (Discovery). It was quite a strong break of riders that combine flat and hills. They would be hard to chase. They had a gap of 4' 45'' on the sprint at Le Cannet-des-Maures on the main bunch, where Marcel Kittel won the sprint of the group. The teams of the sprinters were controlling the stage nicely so far.
The Col de le Terme was only 28 kilometers to the finish line and, potentially, some riders might give it a go considering it is not that far from the finish line. However, Trek put Philippe Gilbert and Fabian Cancellara at the front of the pack to discourage the attackers. The strategy seemed to work and the bunch was only 2 minutes behind the break at the top of the climb. Meanwhile, Yauheni Hutarovich crashed just before the climb and the Belarusian will probably have a hard time coming back to the pack.
The break was keen on making it to the finish line but, although they were making the teams of the sprinters work hard, their gap dropped to 30 seconds with 11 kilometers to go. The stage was long and quite hard and that is taking its toll in the riders. Astana and Euskaltel are leading the pack and even David Lopez is collaborating for Euskaltel to take the stage. Another of the sprinters that will not make it in the bunch was Michael Matthews. The Lotto rider seems to be sick and having a hard time in this start of the Tour.
There were much defined trains in the preparation to the final sprint in Marseille today. Euskaltel were prominently ahead. They had Lloyd Mondory ready to set the sprint for Alexander Kristoff. The Norwegian has already won a few times this season. Astana was behind, with Robbie McEwen again ready to lead Marcel Kittel out. Elia Viviani, on the green jersey, was right behind the German. Meanwhile, on the other side of the road Simon Gerrans was ahead of his teammate Andre Greipel with Kenny van Hummel right behind. Other sprinters that were well positioned were Matthew Goss, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Ben Swift.
Lloyd Mondory was a luxury lead out man for Alexander Kristoff, as the French was the winner in the third stage of the Tour. He did a great job to put the Norwegian in the best position ahead of the last kilometer. Behind them, Andre Greipel seemed to start sprinting from way too far off. It seems like he is going to have trouble in this Tour with Simon Gerrans leading him. Kenny van Hummel, Elia Viviani and Theo Bos are still in the mix for the stage win.
Alexander Kristoff was waiting too much to emerge from behind Lloyd Mondory's wheel. He only did it with 500 meters remaining. It talks about the quality of the lead out that they were still clearly ahead at that point. It was going to be very difficult for their rivals to match Alexander Kristoff. Among those following the Euskaltel riders were Andre Greipel, Kenny van Hummel and Matthew Goss. However, the German started the sprint from way too far out and the other did not seem as a menace.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Marseille! The Norwegian made the Euskaltel work good and collected his 5th win of the season. He is the rider with the most wins in the season, now ahead of David Lopez, Peter Stetina and Michael Matthews. However, even though Kristoff took the stage the best sprint of the day was probably by Ben Swift, who overtook a lot of riders in the last meters to take the 2nd place in the stage. Kenny van Hummel was third, while Jose Joaquin Rojas and Andre Greipel completed the top 5.
The disappointment of the day was Marcel Kittel, who could only be 8th even after Astana's hard work. The German seems to be enduring difficult times to produce the results that he did last year. The sprinters will have another chance tomorrow to battle among themselves as the stage finishes in Montpellier after a very flat route.
The way of the Tour towards the Pyrenees continues with another opportunity for the sprinters. Today's stage is much easier than yesterdays and no surprises are expected. The route is completely flat on the way to Montpellier and the length of the stage does not invite to think about surprises. It will be close to a rest day for many in the peloton.
Only 4 riders formed the break of the day: Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil), John Degenkolb (Lotto), Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Garmin). The Slovak took advantage of the break to increase a little bit his lead in the KoM classification by taking the first place in the small hill at the beginning of the stage. Trek, Euskaltel and Astana were controlling the main bunch but the stage was really quiet. The favorites for the GC were practically having a day off.
Alexander Kristoff got interested in the points competition after his win yesterday and took the first place in the bunch sprint in today's intermediate sprint in Nimes. The Norwegian beat Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel to get closer to Elia Viviani in the classification. With 49 kilometers to go the break was still enjoying a 3 minutes lead but the stage seemed completely controlled by the bunch. The teams of the sprinters will probably not even have to try hard to catch.
John Degenkolb attacked from the break with 10 kilometers remaining and he dragged Arnaud Demare with him but the main bunch was already getting very close to the break. Philippe Gilbert and Peter Kennaugh are leading the way as Trek has complete confidence on Andre Greipel. It is a shame that they have brought no one that is really capable of leading him out in the last kilometers of the stage.
The sprint trains were quite matched today as the final sprint was getting closer. Euskaltel was marginally ahead with Lloyd Mondory again ahead of Alexander Kristoff, while Theo Bos was behind the Norwegian. Astana was almost at the same level with Robbie McEwen ready to lead Marcel Kittel out and Jurgen Roelandts behind. In Trek Simon Gerrans was going to lead Andre Greipel. Kenny van Hummel was behind Greipel and other well positioned riders were Mark Cavendish, Yauheni Hutarovich and Elia Viviani.
Robbie McEwen won the lead out men sprint today and was slightly ahead of Lloyd Mondory. Marcel Kittel seems to be in a great position to fight for the win. Alexander Kristoff seems to have had a bit of trouble chasing the French. Andre Greipel had to start his sprint very early not to lose too much time on the rest of the sprinters. It is clear that Simon Gerrans, although fast, is not at the same level as Mondory and McEwen. Among the riders that are still in the fight are Jurgen Roelandts, Mark Cavendish and Theo Bos.
Once again Marcel Kittel faded away completely and with 500 meters to go he was already out of the picture for the stage win. Astana must be really worried about the lack of form that their leader is showing lately. This meant that Alexander Kristoff, who again took a while to start his sprint, was in the best position to win the stage. However, Andre Greipel was closing on him quite rapidly and Theo Bos was progressing on the right hand side of the road and Mark Cavendish on the left.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Montpellier! The Euskaltel rider was not as dominant as he was yesterday but nevertheless he got his second win in a row. We are running out of adjectives to classify the kind of season that Kristoff has had so far. He accumulates 6 wins already, an outstanding achievement for a rider that was not considered to be among the top sprinters in the World. Ander Greipel was very close to grabbing the win today but he came close.
Mark Cavendish managed to take the third place in the stage, while Marcel Kittel and Theo Bos rounded the top 5. Kittel actually recovered in the last meter of the stage but it was again a poor performance for the German, who was expected to take many more wins this season. The sprinters will have another chance tomorrow before the mountains start in the Tour de France.
The last stage before the Pyrenees is marked as flat but the reality is that it is much more difficult than the two previous stages. The climbs to the Col de 13 Vents and the Col de la Croix de Mounis are quite hard and a few sprinters might lose contact with the main bunch at those. In principle, the shape of the sprint should be quite different to the previous days, when Alexander Kristoff clearly dominated everyone else in the last kilometer.
There was quite a bit of a fight to take the break today, given that the chances of making it to the finish line are much greater than normal. A group of 5 managed to go away after the intermediate sprint: Ruben Plaza (Movistar), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Thor Hushovd (FDJ) and Peter Velits (Vacansoleil). They had a gap of 7' 30'' on the main bunch at the Col del 13 Vents, with 110 kilometers to the finish line. Sylvain Chavanel was the only rider interested in the KoM points and he easily took them.
Gregory Rast attacked almost at the top of the Col de 13 Vents with his sights put on connecting with the break. This is a rather odd move from the Swiss but at the top of the Col de la Croix de Mounis he had already cut the lead to 3' 30''. The climb was conditioned by the strong head winds that hit the riders especially in the last kilometers of the mountain, which made the climb much more comfortable for the pack. However, the lead had barely dropped to 7 minutes. Sylvain Chavanel was again first at the top and will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow.
Gregory Rast finally managed to get to the break and with that addition the front group was quite strong. With 15 kilometers to go the gap had gone down to 1' 05'' but the road was downhill almost until Albi, which meant that the peloton was not completely sure of catching the break at that point. Astana, Trek and Euskaltel are making a huge effort against the wind to cut the gap as soon as possible. The stage had probably been tougher for the riders working at the front but not so bad for the rest of the bunch.
David Lopez had to do the last effort in order to catch the break and with 3 kilometers to go everything was prepared for a new mass sprint. However, there was a crash in the front of the pack and, among those affected are Robbie McEwen (Marcel Kittel's lead out man), Peter Stetina (Winner of the Giro), Elia Viviani (Green jersey) and Kenny van Hummel. Therefore, the only train that is formed is Euskaltel. As usual, Lloyd Mondory will work for Alexander Kristoff for the Norwegian to get his third stage in a row. Jurgen Roelandts is behind with Kittel, Mark Cavendish and Theo Bos also well positioned.
Lloyd Mondory is taking Alexander Kristoff again perfectly positioned ahead of the last kilometer of the stage. Kristoff has proved to be deadly so far in this Tour when he gets to the sprint in this disposition. All the riders are in a straight line as Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, Theo Bos and Tony Gallopin follow the Euskaltel duo. Meanwhile, the news is that barring a miracle Peter Stetina is going to lose time at the finish line in Albi. The American was a bit hurt and took a while to take the bike again.
Alexander Kristoff again took his time to start his own sprint and followed Lloyd Mondory until the 600 meters mark. This had worked other days for him so there was really no point on changing his strategy. Mark Cavendish seemed to be quite strong today and had already overtaken Jurgen Roelandts. The British seemed the most dangerous man for Kristoff but Marcel Kittel was also close behind.
Marcel Kittel wins in Albi! The German finally found the way to the wins again and in a day where everything had gone wrong after the crash of Robbie McEwen he managed to narrowly beat Alexander Kristoff and take his first win in the Tour de France. The German made a great comeback in the final meters of the stage, when Kristoff's speed seemed to fade away. Probably the stage was too hard for his characteristics. Mark Cavendish was 3rd, while Jurgen Roelandts and Tony Gallopin completed the top 5.
On the bad news of the day, Geraint Thomas, one of the victims of the crash, had to abandon the race.It was a shame for the HTC rider, who was inside the top 10 in the GC. Even more important, Peter Stetina and Tejay van Garderen also crashed and lost 3 minutes at the finish line. This will make it very difficult for the winner of the Giro and last year's winner of the Tour to get to the podium in Paris, given the level of the competition in the Tour.
After much waiting the mountains finally arrive in the Tour de France at the second weekend of the race. The Pyrenees will be the first mountain block of the race, starting with the arrival to Ax3-Domaine, the sky resort at Plateau de Bonascre. However, the last climb will be preceded by a much tougher climb, the Col de Palheres. It will be the day where the best riders in the mountains will have to present their credential to win the GC in the Tour. We might not know who wins the Tour but we will definitely know someone who does not at the end of the stage.
The break of the day was on the weak side today. Cameron Meyer (Quickstep) was first at the intermediate sprint in Limoux, beating Bart de Clercq (Sky) in the sprint. Other members of the 8 men break were Simon Geschke (Giant), Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Warren Barguil (Garmin). They had a gap of only 3 minutes so far but the sprint was quite early in the stage. The interesting point is that De Clercq is only 38 seconds behind in the GC. Meanwhile, the sprint in the group was won by Ben Swift.
Several outsiders for the GC were brave enough to attack even before the start of the climb to Pailheres. A group of 7 riders, including Mikel Nieve, Denis Menchov, Dries Devenyns and Tiago Machado were only 50 seconds behind the break after only a couple of kilometers of the ascent to the long climb of the Pyrenees. The main bunch was not overly worried by the attack. They were almost 3 minutes behind the head of the race and Cannondale, Movistar and HTC were working at the front of the pack.
Mauro Santambrogio, the best young rider, was working at the front of the main bunch 8 kilometers to the top of Pailheres. The gap of the break had increased slightly to 3' 35'', which did not say much about the Italian's job at the front. However, Juanjo Cobo and Michele Scarponi seemed ready to close down that gap as soon as they deemed it too dangerous. Meanwhile, the second group on the road was closing in the break and they were only separated by 30 seconds.
The hardest climb of the day was Pailheres and some of the favorites did not want to finish the climb without attacking, especially as the gap to the outsiders was not being reduced in the climb. Robert Gesink and Jelle Vanendert jumped from the group with 5 kilometers to the top of the climb and, even though Hubert Dupont tried to follow he did not manage to do it. The attack triggered that Juanjo Cobo started working at the front of the group and that started to reduce its size considerably. Meanwhile, the second group on the road did not manage to make contact with the break, even though they are in principle better climbers.
Xavi Tondo and Bart de Clercq jumped from the break in the last couple of kilometers of the climb and crossed the KoM sprint ahead. They break had completely disintegrated. They had a gap of 20 seconds on Tiago Machado and 40 on Rinaldo Nocentini but there was a continuous line of dropped riders. Robert Gesink and Jelle Vanendert were at that point in a group of 7 riders, 2' 05'' behind but the group of the leader was only a few seconds behind led by David Lopez. The most important news was that Peter Stetina had dropped from the group of the leader and was losing 1 minute to them at the top. It is a bad signal for the American, who crashed yesterday.
There were a few regroupments in the very long descent of Pailheres but the lack of any flat between the two climbs played in favor of the front group. 9 riders were 1' 25'' ahead of the group of the leader at the beginning of the climb to Plateau de Bonascre, where the Ax3-Domaine sky resort is placed. Tiago Machado and Denis Menchov did not have any time to lose in the final climb and attacked straight away. The other strongest climbers in the front group were Mikel Nieve and Xavi Tondo. At the group of the leader it was Alberto Contador working for Cadel Evans.
The climb to Ax3-Domaine started with lots of attacks in the group of the leader. Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema opened the fire 7 kilometers from the finish line but Hubert Dupont and Jelle Vanendert reacted to the attack and the rest of the group followed. With 5 kilometers to go the race was in complete chaos and only Denis Menchov survived at the front of the race with a gap of 35 seconds on the group of the favorites. It seemed like a lot of riders had a lot of energies to burn today as even with lots of attacks the size of the group was still quite big at this point.
David Lopez finally neutralized Denis Menchov within the last 2 kilometers of the climb to Ax3-Domaine. The Russian stayed in front of the group much longer than his fellow riders from the break. This is a good sign for his final performance in the Tour. Lopez was attacking at that point but he suffered the same fate as the rest of the attackers today. Xavi Tondo followed his attack and eventually as many as 25 riders followed. It did not seem like any differences were going to be opened up in the first day in the mountains. Meanwhile, Peter Stetina was already losing 5 minutes and with it any hopes of a podium in Paris.
Almost 25 riders reached the flame rouge together and that was the point where Andrew Talansky decided to attack. The American had not shown his National Champion jersey too much today, leaving Juanjo Cobo to work for him. The Spaniard did a great job of keeping him out of trouble. His attack could not be responded by David Lopez and it had to be Pierre Rolland and Laurens Ten Dam who tried to close the gap to the HTC rider. Tejay van Garderen was also close to the front of the pack and looking for his second win in the Tour.
Andrew Talansky wins in Ax3-Domaine! Talansky attacked already within the last kilometer of the stage not to be caught again by his rivals. In fact, he would have gained a few seconds had it not been for Laurens Ten Dam, who took the second place and made the following 20 riders get the same time as the winner. This is the first win for Talansky since he took the National Champion jersey and he jumps to the 4th place in the GC. The third place was for Robert Kiserlovski, while David Lopez and Pierre Rolland completed the top 5.
All in all, the first stage in the Pyrenees left us with mixed feelings. On one side a lot of riders tried to attack but it seemed that no one was willing to risk it too much in the first day. There are not many time trial kilometers in this Tour and not many riders have to recover a big amount of time. Only Peter Stetina was the big loser of the day, clearly conditioned by his crash in the last kilometers of yesterday's stage.
Jean-Christophe Peraud seems to have found a second youth in 2015. The French had to abandon the structure for which he raced for 6 years to recover the kind of performances that he had had when he was around 25. When the World Tour started Peraud was quickly in the spotlight after taking 2 stages in the Tour de France and a podium in the Ronde van Vlaanderen in the opening season. The Leopard - Trek rider was the clear leader of the team and he confirmed his leadership next year with a podium in the Vuelta a España. 2010 has been his best season so far.
However, his career was completely put off track in the next year. The performance of the French was completely lackluster and his discreet results were completely overshadowed by the appearance of Frank Schleck and Jakob Fuglsang to lead the American team. It took Peraud a long time to recover and his 2012 and 2013 seasons are particularly poor.
It was not until 2014 when Peraud managed to come back from his ashes. The win in the 15th stage of the Tour de France, in Foix, seemed to give him the confidence he had been lacking for a few years and he almost made it two stages a couple of days later in Bagneres-de-Luchon. These good results and the fact that his contract was ending at the end of the year motivated the French to look at other alternatives. At the end of the year he signed for Discovery Channel, which promised to give him a leading role in the team.
Jean-Christophe Peraud has not taken too long to come back to the top of the classifications in Discovery Channel. He is repaying the trust that his team put in him and has already won a stage in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the ITT National Championships. That was a special day for him, given that the championships were raced in France and he was the local favorite for the race. It is probably too optimistic to expect another podium in a GT as the one he got in the Vuelta 5 years ago but at the moment he is 3rd in the Tour de France. Who knows how far can he go in the race.
The Pyrenees only had two stages in this edition of the Tour, probably too few. The organizers were probably worried that a rider dominated the race and left it settled early on. However, this second stage in the mountains will depend very much on the attitude of the riders. The route is very tough, with 5 categorized climbs but the top of the last one, the Horquette d'Ancizan, is 31 kilometers from the finish line. Unless some favorites are clearly weak it is difficult to think of many riders attempting an attack from that far out.
By the time the riders made it to the second climb of the day, the Col de Mente, the break had still not consolidated at the front of the race. There was a group of 7 ahead, including Yoann Offredo (Astana), Stefan van Dijk (Giant), Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) and Rein Taaramae (Katusha). They had 35 seconds on another group of 3: Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep), Philippe Gilbert (Trek) and Bryan Coquard (FDJ). However, the peloton was chasing only 2' 15'' behind. At the top of the climb, 123 kilometers from the finish line, Yoann Offredo was first.
Belkin realized between the climbs to the Col de Mente and the Col de Peyresourde that they were waiting too much energy in chasing the break and the main bunch took it easy during the climb to the latter. Many riders that had dropped in Mente rejoined the group. At the top of the climb the gap had increased massively to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, the 2 front groups joined and Johan Vansummeren started fighting for the KoM points with Yoann Offredo. The Belgian was first in the Peyresourde.
A few riders attacked in the last kilometers to the top of the Peyresourde and 4 of them formed a chasing group: Dries Devenyns, Xavi Tondo, Stefano Garzelli and Tiago Machado. Lampre clearly realized that they had to find ways to shine and filtered their two best riders. At the top of the penultimate climb of the day, Val Louron, they were still losing 5' 15'' to the break. The bunch started increasing the pace as Cannondale and Movistar moved to the front of the pack but their loss to the break had increased to 9' 15''. In the fight for the KoM points it was Daniel Moreno who was first at the top this time around.
The last climb of the day was the Horquette d'Ancizan and, as expected, none of the favorites had made a move halfway through the mountain. The front group was still formed of the same 10 riders, although Stefan van Dijk and Yoann Offredo seemed to be suffering quite a bit to follow the pace of the rest of the break. 5 kilometers to the top of the climb they had a gap of 4 minutes on the second group and 6 to the main bunch, which might be enough for the win. The peloton had picked up the pace with Movistar putting Alberto Contador and Michele Scarponi to work.
Michele Scarponi set the pace for the main bunch in the last 4 kilometers of the climb and reduced the size of the group of the leader to less than 40 riders. He only got some help from Belkin's Tom Danielson in the last kilometer. Dani Moreno attacked from the break with 2 kilometers to go and tried to go on his own in the descent. However, he had 31 kilometers ahead of him. He had a gap of 30 seconds on Rein Taaramae and 40 seconds on Tiago Machado's group. The Portuguese had made contact with the break after leaving his group behind. Machado is 8th in the GC, not too far back in terms of time. He could grab the yellow jersey if he keeps a gap with the bunch.
Daniel Moreno and Rein Taaramae are not among the best descenders in the peloton and, even though they joined forces, with 20 kilometers to go they were about to be caught by a group of 6 riders that included Johan Vansummeren, Philippe Gilbert and Tiago Machado. The steepest part of the downhill was over at that point and the rest of the stage was very favorable but with parts of flat terrain. A group of 4 including Dries Devenyns and Xavi Tondo was losing 1' 15'', while the main bunch was still 3' 10'' behind. It should be a gap big enough for those at the front. Meanwhile, Peter Stetina lost track with the group of the favorites again today but only at the last part of the climb to the Horquette d'Ancizan.
Once Dani Moreno and Rein Taaramae were caught by the chasers there was a bit of discussions in the group over who should work and that allowed even the group of Dries Devenyns and Xavi Tondo to catch them. The Spaniard attacked straight away and was only followed by Tiago Machado. Lampre had two very strong cards to play as they also had Stefano Garzelli in the group. With 9 kilometers to go they had already put 50 seconds between them and the second group. Everyone seemed to be letting Johan Vansummeren do the chase and the Belgian was not happy about it. The group of the favorites was closing in and the gap to them was only 1' 35''.
The chasers did not get organized and with 3 kilometers remaining it seems like Tiago Machado and Xavi Tondo will be the ones that will have the chance to take the stage. For the Portuguese it will also be the chance to take the yellow jersey so every second is important for him. The gap had even grown to 1 minute over the chasers, while the group of the leader was only 1' 20'' behind. By the looks of it the two groups will be merged at the end of the stage. Cannondale was working in the favorites group but also more important riders like Bauke Mollema were relaying.
The two men at the front reached the last kilometer and it was Tiago Machado who started the sprint even though he was leading. Xavi Tondo was making a bid to pass him on the left with 500 meters to go but it is not clear whether he will have the legs to sustain his speed and beat him at the line. By that time it seemed clear that Machado would be the leader at the end of the day.
Tiago Machado wins in Bagneres-de-Bigorre! The Portuguese held off Xavi Tondo behind to take his first win of the season and the yellow jersey of the Tour de France. It was a great reward for a rider that attacked from far out both yesterday and today. That kind of attacks rarely work but it is good that sometimes they do to encourage the attacking mood of the riders. Tondo had to settle for the second place in the stage after a great ride from the Spaniard.
The group of the leader lost only 40 seconds at the finish line, led by Robert Kiserlovski, who beat Bauke Mollema and his teammate Jelle Vanendert in the sprint. This leaves both Hubert Dupont and Rob Ruijgh 17 seconds behind in the GC. To be fair, the Pyrenees have been a bit disappointing considering that the 10th in the GC is less than 1 minute behind. The race will travel to the north-west of the country in the rest day for a few flat stages only broken by the time trial in Mont Saint-Michel on Wednesday.
Nearly at the halfway stage of the race and as of yet no one rider has been able to take a grip of proceedings, hopefully that will all change in week two
A quite simple and easy stage welcomes the riders to Bretagne after a long transfer from the Pyrenees in the rest day. The stage will run between the towns of Saint-Gildas-des-Bois and Saint-Malo ad will also be quite short, only 145 kilometers long. The favorites for the day have to be the sprinters as there are not really any difficulties that might prevent their teams to control the race.
The break of the day was formed early in the stage and had only 4 riders: Julien Simon (FDJ), Sonny Colbrelli (Lampre), Luke Durbridge (Astana) and Jeremy Roy (Ag2r). It is curious that Astana decided to go with the break today rather than working for Marcel Kittel, the last winner in a mass sprint. It is unknown to us whether the German is sick and therefore not a favorite for the stage today. The group had a gap of 4 minutes over the bunch with 85 kilometers to go and Sky, Tinkoff and Euskaltel were setting the pace in the peloton.
The intermediate sprint was 53 from the finish line today and there were many points for grabs among the sprinters in the peloton. The quickest at that point was Alexander Kristoff, the green jersey, who beat Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel in the sprint. The gap to the break was already decreasing and was around 3' 30'', not enough for the men in the break to think of a potential win. The race seemed controlled for the bunch even though there was a bit of wind but not enough to cause echelons.
Sonny Colbrelli tried a late attack from the break and dragged Luke Durbridge with him but with 8 kilometers to go they only had 15 seconds over the main bunch so their chances of succeeding were slim at best. The mass sprint looks unavoidable and even riders like Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen were helping their teammates to get a good position ahead of the last 5 kilometers.
Trek's train was relying on Tejay van Garderen to get them to position and were clearly ahead with 3 kilometers to go. Simon Gerrans was ready to lead Andre Greipel out but they also had Kenny van Hummel on their tail. Meanwhile, Euskaltel's attempt to build a train was falling apart by the minute. Lloyd Mondory was trying to bring Alexander Kristoff to the front but they were also dragging Marcel Kittel behind. Other sprinters that looked well positioned were Tony Gallopin, Matthew Goss and Theo Bos.
Andre Greipel started his sprint from very far out taking advantage of the slight downhill of the last 2 kilometers. Lloyd Mondory could not bring Alexander Kristoff to the first place ahead of the last kilometer and it looks like the Norwegian is going to have a hard time trying to win today. However, only Kenny van Hummel, Marcel Kittel and him seemed to be able to threaten Andre Greipel's position as everyone else was too far behind.
Andre Greipel was still maintaining the lead of the sprint with 500 meters to go and at that point only Kenny van Hummel seemed threatening for the German. There was a big gap between the sprinters, probably caused by the peloton being much stretched before the last few kilometers and the slight downhill. Marcel Kittel was still pushing hard but he seemed to be already out of the picture for the stage win, the same as Alexander Kristoff.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Saint-Malo! The Dutch sprinter took advantage of Andre Greipel's wheel and finally managed to pass him for the win in the last few meters of the stage. Van Hummel will be one of the few riders to take wins in both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France this season. This win remarks how good a Tour Belkin has done so far, with another win in the Team Time Trial and Hubert Dupont wearing the yellow jersey for a few days.
The third place in the stage was for Marcel Kittel, while Alexander Kristoff and Yauheni Hutarovich rounded the top 5 in the stage. However, none of them was even close to taking the stage win. The sprinters will have several other opportunities this week but tomorrow it will be the turn for the time trialists to fight for the win.
