Nice win from Alexander Kristoff.
Lloyd not strong enough with this crowd of good sprinters, and not that many sprinter stages left for him at get a win.
The 7th stage of the Tour de France is as similar as the stage yesterday as it can be. There are no mountain difficulties again in the 210 kilometers route from Epernay towards Metz, which lies only a few kilometers south from the borders to Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. The riders continue the route towards the Vosges but today the mass sprint seems to be unavoidable. Clearly, the French would be keen to have another win by Nacer Bouhanni but Lloyd Mondory is wearing the national jersey and would also be a good choice for the locals.
There was a bit of a fight today to take the break and the result was a small group but much stronger than what the teams of the sprinters would have liked. The 4 riders that made it were Gregory Rast (Orica), Ian Stannard (Sky), Luke Durbridge (Cofidis) and Julien Alaphilippe (Ag2r). With 130 kilometers remaining they had built a 6 minutes gap over the bunch but there was no rush yet to bring them back. Discovery Channel had taken the lead at the main bunch and looked ready to set a pace even though they had no sprinter to fight for the stage.
The intermediate sprint was placed in Chauvoncourt, 69 kilometers from the finish line in Metz. Marcel Kittel (Astana) was the fastest in the sprint, beating Lloyd Mondory (Etixx) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). They are clearly the riders most interested in fighting for the green jersey and they should have a good battle as no one has taken any significant advantage in the classification. The gap for the break shrunk quite a bit to 4 minutes while the preparation for the sprint was on. Astana and Euskaltel were committing a lot of riders to the chase.
Etixx was the team leading the last part of the chase with many riders at the front, including Jerome Coppel (Etixx), Jos van Emden (Etixx) and Bart de Clercq (Etixx). The break only had 20 seconds on the bunch with 10 kilometers to go, so the mass sprint seemed unavoidable. Not even riders like Gregory Rast and Ian Stannard collaborating were able to hold off the pace of the main bunch. The final kilometers today were completely flat so several trains should be formed in order to prepare the sprint. Luckily, there have not been mass crashes so far in the Tour and hopefully it will be the case today.
Etixx run into trouble when they were setting up their train for Lloyd Mondory and, even though they had been leading the way for many kilometers, they dropped down the order quite a lot. It seems that they were blocked against the barriers at some point. Meanwhile, with 3 kilometers to go it was only Andrea Guardini (Astana) at the front leading the way for Marcel Kittel. Astana was not as good as they were in previous stages. Among the riders that we could see following him were Andre Greipel (Lotto), Theo Bos (Cannondale) and Matthew Goss (Movistar). Many among the favorites were poorly positioned with a very stretched peloton.
Andrea Guardini had to leave Marcel Kittel on his own quite early today and with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go he had to launch the final sprint. He had Andre Greipel stuck on his wheel but there was a small gap right behind them as Theo Bos could not follow the pace and was dropping back. Matthew Goss and Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) were suffering to get in the fight for the stage again but the 2 at the front were getting a very good lead with Greipel in prime position by taking the tow. Meanwhile, riders like Lloyd Mondory, Alexander Kristoff and Mark Renshaw were nowhere to be seen.
Marcel Kittel was still leading the sprint with 600 meters to go but Andre Greipel was start to come out of the tow and threatening with overtaking him. That would put Greipel in a prime position to take the stage win. Matthew Goss was also side by side with Kenny van Hummel. The Dutch was gaining meters over his rivals and even though it seemed to be a fight between the two riders at the front Van Hummel has proven to be a really fast finisher. Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff) and Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r) were trailing but they seemed to be too far behind to fight for the stage.
Andre Greipel wins in Metz! The German got past Marcel Kittel to get his 4th win of the season and the first in this Tour de France. It was not that easy in the end as he came under threat by Kenny van Hummel, who managed to snatch the 2nd place in the stage and proved that he would have fought for the stage had he been better positioned. The third position went to Tyler Farrar, while Marcel Kittel had to settle for the 4th position in the end. It proved that he had been released by his team way too early. Astana cannot blame him this time for not delivering. The top 5 was completed by Nacer Bouhanni.
In the end, the stage was quiet for the GC candidates but their rest days are over as they will have several stages where they will need to be really vigilant. The mountain-top finish at La Planche des Belles Filles will be the first serious test of the Tour and it may already hint an order in the mountains. On the other hand, Marcel Kittel still leads the green jersey competition and he may do it for several days given that the sprinters are not meant to fight for a stage until the 14th stage finishing in Le Cap d'Agde.
There will be a complete change in scenery in the Tour de France today as the mountains finally arrive in the race with the finish line at the top of La Planche de Belles Filles. It will not be a very difficult mountain stage as the climbs along the route are relatively easy but the final climb, which has 6 kilometers averaging 7.8% should be hard enough to see the first differences in the mountains. Luckily for the riders, the weather will be quite good in the Vosges area and they should enjoy a nice ride.
The break of the day was not too strong but the characteristics of the stage make it suitable for a potential win by the early break. There were 7 riders in the front group, including Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Andrea Guardini (Astana), Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM), Mauro Santambrogio (Sky) and Julian Arredondo (Orica). At the intermediate sprint in Sainte-Helene they had built a gap of 5' 15'' but they still had 127 kilometers to the finish line. The fact that Chavanel was 13th in the GC would probably not help them make it to the finish line in La Planche des Belles Filles.
The first climb of the day was a 3rd category climb that sat already in the 2nd half of the stage: the Col de Grosse Pierre. BMC and Cannondale had taken over the responsibility to reduce the gap of the break and it was 6 minutes at the top of the climb. The riders chasing are the likes of Filippo Pozzato (BMC), Tom Boonen (BMC) and Tom Dumoulin (Cannondale), not very strong in the mountains but it was not a problem in this stage as the terrain so far was not that hard. Nevertheless, the group should start to lose riders very soon.
Mauro Santambrogio was the first at the top of the second climb of the day, the Col du Mont de Fourche. In the process, he took over the lead of the KoM classification so it was quite likely that he would wear the jersey at the end of the day. With 47 kilometers to go the pace was starting to increase in the bunch and the gap had come down considerably, to 3' 10''. It was Linus Gerdemann (BMC) leading the chasing group, which suggested that the pace had to be higher. Nevertheless, we don't really expect attacks from the favorites until the final climb.
There were no attacks from the favorites but a group of outsiders jumped towards the end of the last climb. They were Samuel Sanchez (Movistar), Rob Ruijgh (Lotto), Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek), Miguel Rubiano (Ag2r) and Wout Poels (Vacansoleil). Even though they were not among the favorites, they could not be given much of a margin by the peloton and therefore Cannondale and BMC increased the pace a little bit. Pozzovivo's group was 2 minutes behind the early break, while the peloton was losing 3' 20'' at the point. However, with 30 kilometers remaining the terrain was still favorable for the bunch.
The fact that the intermediate group was not too far ahead encouraged attacks from Jerome Coppel (Etixx) and Cadel Evans (Lotto) to bridge the gap but that caused the group to eventually be caught back. Those were riders that are too dangerous in the GC. Given the way Lotto was attacking, it did not seem like they would be defending the yellow jersey for Tony Martin (Lotto) too much. Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) was the next rider to attack. He did it with 15 kilometers to go, in the little climb right before La Planche des Belles Filles. However, his gap was only 15 seconds to the group and he was wasting a lot of energy staying at the front.
Hubert Dupont's adventure was hopeless and he was caught quite quickly. Among the riders in the early break only Roman Kreuziger (LottoNL) made it to the bottom of La Planche des Belles Filles at the front but the attack by Cadel Evans at the bottom of the climb was the end to his adventure. Evans' attack was not that good but Wout Poels pushed on and was trying to open a gap at the 5 kilometers mark. He was followed by Domenico Pozzovivo and Chris Froome (Lampre). Meanwhile, Peter Velits (Discovery) took the lead in the peloton to control the pace for Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery).
It was Chris Froome that managed to open a gap and with 3 kilometers to go he had opened it to 20 seconds over the group of the leader. La Planche des Belles Filles is a short climb so any differences can be significant and with only 3 to go he was looking good for the stage. Froome knows that after all the time he lost in previous stages he cannot speculate and has to attack whenever he has the chance. Meanwhile, there were other riders trying to jump from the group, including Jerome Coppel, Robert Gesink (Ag2r), Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) and Peter Stetina (BMC).
Robert Gesink was the only rider to catch up to Chris Froome and with 700 meters to go it seemed that one of them would be getting the stage win. They had 15 seconds over a small chasing group including Laurens Ten Dam, Peter Stetina, Bauke Mollema and Jean-Christophe Peraud. It looked like the yellow jersey would also be in play given that Tony Martin had been dropped and was riding in a bigger group almost 1 minute behind the leaders. Martin had had very good performances in the mountains given his characteristics but today he was suffering.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in La Planche des Belles Filles! The Dutch had been not so good this year so far but he was impressive today. It looked like Chris Froome and Robert Gesink would fight for the stage but both Ten Dam and Peter Stetina caught up with them. It is the first win for Ten Dam this season and it could not come at a better time. His odds on retaining the Tour de France have surely gone up considerably. Nevertheless, he will not get the yellow jersey as he lost time in one of the flat stages. Robert Gesink, who finished second, will get it from Tony Martin.
The third place in the stage went to Peter Stetina, while Chris Froome was 4th. There was an 18 seconds gap to the following group, led by Jean-Christophe Peraud, who was joined by Bauke Mollema, Wilco Kelderman (Giant) and Tejay van Garderen (Trek). It was a good contact with the mountains but tomorrow's stage will be much harder. The fact that the finish line is not at the top of a mountain might mean that there may be no differences among most of the favorites but we may see some riders losing a lot of time. Given that the top 3 in the GC are within 7 seconds we could also see another change in the yellow jersey.
The second stage in the Vosges is much more difficult than the one finishing yesterday in La Planche des Belles Filles. The stage is much shorter, at only 153 kilometers, but it includes as many as 7 categorized climbs, most of them 2nd category. The fact that the stage finishes in Porrentruy and not at the top of a mountain might mean that we may not see the small differences we saw yesterday but there will be potentially many more interesting kilometers in the day. Most of the stage runs through Switzerland today, Porrentruy being only a few kilometers inside the Swiss border from France.
Today is probably a good day for a breakaway to win the stage but the group that was formed was not particularly strong. At the Cote de Maison-Rouge, with 99 kilometers remaining, a group of 4 was ahead: Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff), Nairo Quintana (Orica), Jonathan Hivert (Sky) and Christophe Riblon (Cofidis). Stefano Garzelli (Movistar) was only 30 seconds behind and cutting the gap to the break. Meanwhile, HTC was sporadically helping Ag2r set the pace but it was mostly the French team controlling the pace. They were 4' 30'' behind at the top of the climb.
Etixx and Euskaltel took the lead of the peloton as they climbed the Cote de Saignelegier, which top was 77 kilometers from the finish line. The group had already lost quite a few riders even though the gap of the break had increased a bit more to 6 minutes. It was a difficult stage to control by the bunch given that the continuous up and down the mountains did not let the teams organize properly. At the break, many riders were fighting for the KoM points and Chris Anker Sorensen was the provisional leader of the classification. At the peloton, Tejay van Garderen (Trek) crashed without consequences.
The Cote de Salucy was the 5th categorized climb of the day. Jonathan Hivert was first at the top ahead of Stefano Garzelli and Nairo Quintana but their gap to the peloton was slowly decreasing, 4 minutes at the top of the climb. There were better riders like Tim Wellens (Etixx), Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel) and Julian Alaphilippe (Ag2r) setting the pace at the bunch and that made a big difference in the climb. Even riders like Lloyd Mondory (Etixx) were starting to struggle to stay in the peloton. The climbing was starting to take a toll.
There were 25 kilometers between the Cote de Salucy and the start of the Cote de la Caquerelle, which top was 25 kilometers to the finish line. This section prevented the attacks from the favorites but as soon as the road started to climb again Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) attacked and turned the race upside down. He got to the top of the climb on his own, even though Wilco Kelderman (Giant) had initially followed the attack. He was 2' 25'' behind the break, while his closest chasers, Kelderman and Tejay van Garderen were 3' 10'' behind. The leader had to react to these attacks and was joined by Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) and Andrew Talansky (HTC). They were 3' 40'' behind.
Robert Gesink (Ag2r) had more or less controlled the situation as they reached the start of the Col de la Croix. His group had caught up to Wilco Kelderman and Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema was the only dangerous rider ahead. Meanwhile, Jonathan Hivert had attacked from the break and built a gap of 45 seconds with 16 kilometers to go. Jerome Coppel (Etixx) and Chris Froome (Lampre) had reacted but other like Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) had yet to make a move and the gap between the leader and the group of the French was 1' 30''. A significant gap that should start to worry the Discovery leader.
The Col de la Croix was a short climb but it was hard enough that it allowed Peter Stetina (BMC) and Hubert Dupont to catch up to Jerome Coppel and Tejay van Garderen in less than 3 kilometers. It was not a good sign for Tejay, who had been with the group of the leader and did not have the pace of the best climbers. At the front of the race, it was Bauke Mollema and Jonathan Hivert when they crossed the KoM sprint. The group of the leader was 45 seconds behind and Stetina's group was losing 1' 20''. Mathias Frank (IAM) and Jean-Christophe Peraud were only a few seconds behind and they would try to catch up in the descent.
It was clearly not the best day for Tejay van Garderen. As things came back together at the front and a group of 12 seemed ready to fight for the stage, he had lost the wheel of Jean-Christophe Peraud and Mathias Frank in the flat and was losing 20 seconds to that group. It seemed that the crash he had suffered earlier in the day was playing a role, even though it had looked like nothing at the time. Meanwhile, other riders losing time today were Rein Taaramae (Katusha) and Cadel Evans (Lotto), who were 45 seconds behind. Even farther behind were Chris Froome and Davide Rebellin (Astana).
Peter Stetina and Hubert Dupont attacked with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go and they opened a tiny margin with the rest of the riders in the front group. It seemed that the fact that they had not spent that many kilometers in a break was helping them in the final kilometers to fight for the stage. Bauke Mollema was trying to bring the group to the two riders at the front as they crossed the last kilometer flag. Andrew Talansky, Laurens Ten Dam and Wilco Kelderman were all close to the front as well and trying to get a stage win.
Peter Stetina wins in Porrentruy! It had been more than a year since Stetina won the last time, in the stage finishing in Val Martello of the 2016 Giro d'Italia. He narrowly beat Hubert Dupont for the line and that brings him to the 2nd place in the GC, only 2 seconds behind Robert Gesink. It has been a while since he had the option to win a Grand Tour, so it would be nice to see the American fight for another Grand Tour. As we said, the second place in the stage went to Hubert Dupont and the top 5 was completed by Laurens Ten Dam, Jerome Coppel and Mathias Frank.
Most of the favorites finished in that front group but the biggest loser of the day was probably Chris Froome. The British had been really good in yesterday's finish in La Planche des Belles Filles but could not follow the attacks today and finished 2 minutes behind. Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen ended up losing 53 seconds, which keeps them both outside of the top 10 in the race. The time trial on Tuesday should bring them back to contention as they are both really good against the clock. Tony Martin will not be a factor in the GC any more as he lost 6 minutes at the finish line.
A quite flat time trial will provide a break between the mountain stages in the Vosges and in the Alps. The 38 kilometers that separate Arc-et-Senans and Besancon should make significant gaps appear, even among the top riders in the GC. This Tour de France features a lot of kilometers against the clock compared to what is usual in Grand Tours in recent years and that made some of the top riders in the GC fights skip the French race. It was an interesting move by the likes of David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert but maybe an overreaction given that there are also plenty of mountain stages.
The World Champion, Cameron Meyer (Trek), was the first among the favorites to start today. He was 24th in the GC before the stage started and was expected to challenge Tony Martin for the stage win. However, things did not go well for the Australian as he could only be 3rd in the provisional time sheet as he crossed the finish line. He had lost a staggering 29 seconds to Tanel Kangert (Katusha), the rider that had set the pace so far. Meyer is clearly not at the top of his game in this Tour de France and that will be a huge disappointment for him as he had the opportunity to shine.
Given the latest failures by Cameron Meyer it looks increasingly likely that Tony Martin (Lotto) takes over the World Championship crown later this year. He proved again today that he was outstanding as he took the provisional lead as soon as he crossed the finish line in Besancon. The 44 seconds he put on Tanel Kangert also meant that it would be really hard for other riders to improve on that time. This could be his third win in the 2017 Tour de France. There had been talk at some point that Martin could potentially retake the leader's jersey after today's stage but the 6 minutes that he lost yesterday made it impossible.
Chris Froome (Lampre) has been performing hit and miss this season so far and the Tour de France has been no different so far. He was really strong in the finish at La Planche des Belles Filles but in Sunday's stage at Porrentruy he lost time again and he is well behind the top 10. He was meant to gain time today on most of the favorites but it would not be that much as he crossed the finish line in the provisional 3rd place, 51 seconds behind Tony Martin. Many among the favorites will fall behind him but the gaps should not be as big as he would be expecting. The 6 minutes that he lost so far in the GC are a big problem for him to get to the podium places.
Tejay van Garderen (Trek) cemented his win in the 2014 Tour de France in the time trials and he was expecting it would be similar this year. However, the American has never shown again in a Grand Tour the qualities that he had in that Tour and today was no different. His time trial was very solid but a bit uninspiring as he crossed the finish line in the 3rd position, 47 seconds behind Tony Martin. This will likely leave Van Garderen still outside of the top 10 and not looking good. He crashed yesterday and it surely did not help his performance either.
Jerome Coppel (Etixx) started the day 8th in the GC and looking to improve as he is a very solid rider against the clock. However, not even himself could have hoped for such a good result as he took the best time so far at the finish line, putting 12 seconds between himself and Tony Martin. This was an outstanding performance by the young French, who has been making huge progress in the last few years and is ready to battle it with the very best. Coppel had lost a bit of time and will still be quite a bit behind the podium in the GC but we can confirm he is a candidate to recover places and be in the mix for the final podium.
One of the biggest surprises of the Tour de France so far is the appearance of Wilco Kelderman (Giant) in the top 5 of the race. The Dutch is riding for a Pro Continental team and is only 25 years old but is already fighting against the best. He was expected to lose time in the time trial but his performance was not too bad as he clocked the 13th provisional time, 1' 28'' behind Jerome Coppel. This means that he will at least keep the 5th position in the GC because he even put some time on Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) and the gap between them in the GC is 9 seconds.
One of the riders that has given a very good feeling in the first touch with the mountains was Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale). The Dutch is on course to trying to win the Tour for the 2nd time and his time trial was really solid. When he crossed the finish line he was an outstanding 3rd, 41 seconds behind Jerome Coppel but ahead of all the other favorites. Ten Dam is slowly but steadily positioning himself to assault the lead in either the Alps or the Pyrenees and it would be no surprise if he did it given his performances so far.
Even though Jerome Coppel did a great time trial, the best hope for the French to win again the Tour de France is probably Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery). Peraud started the day only 3 seconds behind Robert Gesink in the GC but given that he is the best time trialist against those at the front he is the likely holder of the yellow jersey after the stage. He did not disappoint with his time trial as he clocked the 3rd time at the finish line, 30 seconds behind Coppel. Peraud already knows what it is to climb onto the podium of a Grand Tour so he should feel less pressure than other riders.
Peter Stetina (BMC) was the next rider to cross the finish line and he was quite a bit better than expected. The American was 10th as he finished with a time 1' 10'' worse than Jerome Coppel. It was a good performance given that in principle he is a worse time trialist than riders like Cameron Meyer and Bauke Mollema, both of which finished behind. This gives a sense as to how far behind was Meyer. Stetina would be overtaken in the GC by Jean-Christophe Peraud but he will still be in the mix in the following days and is a very dangerous rider in the mountains.
The last rider over the line was the leader, Robert Gesink (Ag2r). However, he was not going to be leader for longer as his time trial was rather poor. The Dutch should not have lost much time today but when he finished he could only be 20th, 1' 40'' behind Coppel. It was one of the worst performances among the favorites for the final win, only Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) having an even worse time trial. This will leave him 3rd in the GC and probably the worst news for him is that Laurens Ten Dam is only 10 seconds behind him in the GC.
The leader's jersey was inherited by Jean-Christophe Peraud but that was not much of a surprise. It was widely expected that he would be able to recover the 3 seconds deficit that he had in the GC. The stage was in the end won by Jerome Coppel, which was very surprising given that both Tony Martin and Cameron Meyer were in the field. The performance of the Australian was rather poor and could only be 12th in the stage. He has been showings signs of not being in his peak performance any more. Once the time trial is over, the Alps will be the next thing on the menu, which will happen from tomorrow.
There is no respite for the favorites in the GC as the time trial is followed by a mountain stage featuring the Col de Grand Colombier. The huge climb in the Jura mountains is 42 kilometers from the finish line so there are doubts as to whether any rider among the favorites will be brave enough to attack there. Grand Colombier will be followed by the Col de Richemond, right before the descent to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. Considering that there are only 2 stages in the Alps this year the riders should make the most of them to put time on their rivals.
The first climb of the day was the Cote de Corlier, a 2nd category climb tackled with 102 kilometers to the finish line. The group of 8 that was at the front had been formed bit by bit and it contained riders like Davide Formolo (Astana), Ben Hermans (Katusha), Mauro Santambrogio (Sky), Diego Ulissi (Lampre) and Adriano Malori (Trek). Discovery was leading the bunch with the whole team committed to helping Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) hold on to the lead. Christophe Riblon (Cofidis) was the first at the top of the climb and took the provisional lead of the KoM classification.
At the start of the climb to Grand Colombier not much had changed in the peloton. Discovery was still setting the pace with riders like Philip Deignan (Discovery), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Discovery) and Nicolas Roche (Discovery). However, as long as these riders were leading the bunch we could not expect a tough race in the mountains. Therefore, the gap to the break soon grew to 7' 30'', increasing their chances of a stage win. Esteban Chaves (Ag2r) had suffered a puncture in the break but he had no problems coming back to the group.
Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) decided that he could not lose time and decided to attack with 12 kilometers to the top of Grand Colombier. This was a very brave move by the French, who dragged Jerome Coppel (Etixx), Romain Bardet (IAM), Daniel Moreno (Euskaltel) and Andy Schleck (Vacansoleil). With 7 kilometers to the top of the climb they had opened a gap of 2' 40'' over the group of the leader as no one really reacted and it was Cameron Meyer (Trek) leading the group with Jonathan Castroviejo (Lampre) right behind. Discovery essentially disappeared from the front, showing how weak a team they are. Meanwhile, Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) had surprisingly been left behind.
It took a while for other riders to react to the attack by Hubert Dupont and Jerome Coppel but they mostly did it before the top of the Col de Grand Colombier. Dupont and Coppel were only 1' 30'' behind the early break at the top, having left behind the 3 riders that went with them. Those had been caught by Robert Gesink (Ag2r), Chris Froome (Lampre), Tejay van Garderen (Trek), Wilco Kelderman (Giant) and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil). However, the gap was 5' 35'' to the front already. Even further back, the group of the leader with Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) was still 7' 35''. They were playing with fire allowing those riders to take such an advantage.
Laurens Ten Dam and Jean-Christophe Peraud both reacted just before the top of the Grand Colombier. They got in the descent to a group with Cadel Evans (Lotto) and a few others, including Rein Taaramae (Katusha). With 5 kilometers to the top of the Col de Richemond and 23 to the finish line Hubert Dupont and Jerome Coppel had made it to the early break. Robert Gesink's group was 3' 25'' behind, while the group of the leader was losing 4' 55''. Peter Stetina (BMC) had been even slower to react and found himself alone chasing 6 minutes behind the front of the race.
By the time Hubert Dupont and Jerome Coppel reached the top of the Col de Richemond it was clear that they were going to advance considerably in the GC. They had left behind the riders from the early break and only had favorable terrain from there to the finish, 18 kilometers mostly of descent. They were maintaining the lead quite well as Robert Gesink's group was still 3' 30'' behind, although the group of the leader was cutting the gap a little bit. Meanwhile, Peter Stetina was still riding alone and this was going to hurt his chances of getting to the podium in Paris.
Tejay van Garderen was very generous in the effort to chase the attackers back. His group had been reduced to 6 riders after they dropped Dani Moreno and Andy Schleck towards the end of the Col de Richemond. They were also quite close to start swallowing riders from the early break but the gap to the leaders was coming down very slowly. They should use the few flat kilometers before the finish line to take advantage of the long effort that Hubert Dupont and Jerome Coppel made to cut back their gap. Meanwhile, Mathias Frank (IAM) was dropped from the group of the leader and was about to be caught by Peter Stetina in the descent.
There was perfect collaboration in the group of the leader, including Laurens Ten Dam, Cadel Evans and Andrew Talansky (HTC) relaying. However, with 5 kilometers to go it became apparent that Jean-Christophe Peraud was going to lose the yellow jersey only one day after getting it in the time trial. With 5 kilometers to go, the leaders were 4' 10'' ahead and Jerome Coppel's deficit in the GC was below the 3 minutes mark. Meanwhile, Robert Gesink's group caught up with the riders from the early break and was quickly biting into the gap.
Jerome Coppel started the final sprint ahead of Hubert Dupont. It may be 2 stages in a row for the Etixx rider. Few people thought that it would be a successful attack when they jumped from the peloton 54 kilometers from the finish line. They clearly underestimated the legs of both riders, confident that Coppel would have wasted too much energy while taking the win yesterday in the time trial. Christophe Riblon and Davide Formolo were 1' 50'' behind, while Robert Gesink's group was only a bit behind. That group was riding very hard in the flat.
Jerome Coppel wins in Bellgarde-sur-Valserine! It was a classic day of cycling capped by the win in the stage and the yellow jersey for Jerome Coppel. It looked highly unlikely when they attacked but in the end, it was a perfect performance. Hubert Dupont was the rider that started it all but he had to settle for the second place in the stage. However, he got himself back in the mix to get in the final podium. The only problem they might have after this exhibition is that tomorrow's stage is very hard as well and they might pay the price of today's effort.
The next group was led by Tejay van Garderen, 2' 33'' behind the winner. He was followed by Bauke Mollema and Wilco Kelderman across the line. This group caught up with Davide Formolo and Christophe Riblon at the last kilometer. Meanwhile, the group of the leader, alongside Laurens Ten Dem ended up losing 3' 32''. Peter Stetina finished with Mathias Frank, 5' 50'' behind. Nevertheless, the American did not fall from the top 10 in the GC and given how many mountain stages are remaining he could still be a factor. The stage finishing in La Toussuire might give us a completely different order.
Stage 12: Albertville - La Toussuire - Les Sybelles
Yesterday's stage could potentially become a classic but the most awaited stage in the Tour de France was probably the one finishing in La Toussuire. The stage is not too long, only 144 kilometers but it features the climbs to the Col de la Madeleine, la Croix-de-Fer, the Col de Mollard and the final climb to La Toussuire. The 2 first climbs are among the toughest climbs in the Alps and have been tackled countless times by the riders in the Tour and the Dauphine. The sheer cumulated climbing should create gaps even if the riders are not very combative.
The first of the climbs of the day was the 25-kilometers long Col de la Madeleine. Etixx tried to control the break for a while but eventually gave up and a group of 11 was ahead as they got close to the top of the climb. It included names like Ian Stannard (Sky), Ruben Plaza (BMC), Michael Albasini (IAM), Joost van Leijen (Giant), Johan Vansummeren (HTC) and Mauro Santambrogio (Sky). They had built a gap of 3' 15'' at the top. Meanwhile, Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) had crashed in one of the descents at the middle of the climb and they were losing a lot of time.
Etixx was still setting the pace at the Col de la Croix-de-Fer with riders like Enrico Gasparotto (Etixx), Michael van Staeyen (Etixx) and Tim Wellens (Etixx). 11 kilometers to the top of the climb the gap to the early break had grown to 6' 40''. In between the break and the peloton was Davide Rebellin (Astana)m, who had jumped close to the top of the Col de Madeleine. He was 2' 15'' behind the leaders. It seemed so far that no favorite was willing to make a bet like the one that Jerome Coppel (Etixx) and Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) did yesterday.
Mauro Santambrogio was first at the top of the Croix-de-Fer and grabbed the lead in the KoM classification. With only 56 kilometers to go, the gap of the early break had increased a bit more, to 10 minutes so it looked increasingly likely that they would fight for the stage win in the front group. Meanwhile, Davide Rebellin was still in an intermediate position but unable to cut the gap between himself and the break. Etixx was starting to pick up the pace in the bunch but few riders had been dropped, which in such difficult climbs says a lot.
By the time the peloton reached the top of the Col du Mollard it was clear that today's stage was not going to be overly interesting. The peloton was already 12 minutes behind the riders from the early break, which suggested that they would not have tired legs when it came to the climb to La Toussuire. It is understandable given how difficult was yesterday's stage. Meanwhile, Mauro Santambrogio was still consolidating his lead in the KoM classification. On the back of the race, it looked quite likely that Alexander Kristoff and Giacomo Nizzolo would give up before the finish line.
The early break was 6 kilometers into the final climb to La Toussuire when Riccardo Zoidl (Orica) attacked. He quickly opened a small gap over Francesco Bongiorno (Movistar) and Alessandro de Marchi (LottoNL), who were 20 seconds behind. The rest of the break was 35 seconds behind. Sky was the only team with 2 riders in the group so they should play differently. The peloton was still more than 11 minutes behind and Etixx was not really interested in pushing harder. Surely someone among the favorites should test whether the leader could pay for yesterday's efforts.
Peter Stetina (BMC) was the first rider among the favorites to attack. He did it as the peloton still had 11 kilometers to climb, so far enough to create a gap if he had the legs. Dani Moreno (Euskaltel), Robert Gesink (Ag2r) and Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) all tried to follow but none could join him initially. However, even though Stetina was a dangerous rider Etixx did not lose the formation and kept Jerome Coppel well surrounded. Meanwhile, at the front of the race Riccardo Zoidl was still at the front but the chasing group only had 6 riders as many in the early break started to pay for the effort they had made.
Jerome Coppel did not seem to have a great day as he did yesterday and he was dropping places in the main group. He might have been paying for his efforts in the previous stage. Robert Gesink had joined Peter Stetina but they only had a 20 seconds gap ahead of the group of the leader, which was still quite large. La Toussuire did not seem a climb where opening gaps was easy. Meanwhile, Riccardo Zoidl only had 4 kilometers to go and his chasers were Ian Stannard, Ruben Plaza and Mauro Santambrogio. Sky had two riders but apparently Stannard was stronger even though he was not a climber and they were making him wait for Santambrogio.
Riccardo Zoidl was suffering to make it to the finish line but his chasers were even worse as the Austrian had increased the gap to 1' 10'' as he rode under the 1 kilometer kite. Davide Rebellin had done a much better climb than most in the front group and was about to catch Ruben Plaza's group. However, they seemed way too far back to be within reach of Zoidl. It is worth noting how tired the riders in the break made it to the top of La Toussuire as the 5,000 meters of accumulated climbing started to take a toll on them.
Riccardo Zoidl wins in La Toussuire! This is the first win as a professional for the 23-year-old rider and where better to get it than in one of the most important stages of the Tour de France. It is also the first win for Orica this season and also the most important that the team got in their history. Zoidl suffered considerably in the final kilometer and Ruben Plaza was 2nd only 17 seconds behind. Ian Stannard was third, 32 seconds behind, ahead of his teammate Mauro Santambrogio, which suggests that if the British had not waited he might have been celebrating. Davide Rebellin was in the end 5th in the stage.
Peter Stetina and Robert Gesink did not manage to hold on to the lead they had with 4 kilometers to go and most of the favorites crossed the finish line in the same group. The first among them was the leader, Jerome Coppel. The French was not struggling at all and he may have been playing with his rivals when he dropped in the group previously. The only rider among the best that ended up losing time was Wilco Kelderman (Giant), who fell to the 7th position in the GC after losing 1 minute against the rest of the favorites. This should not cast doubts on the great Tour de France that he has had so far.
All in all, the stage was a bit disappointing. It may have been expected after yesterday's battle and the fact that a very hard final climb seems to block the race until the riders get there. The climb to La Toussuire was very hard but it was difficult to open a gap as there were many Etixx riders ready to set the pace in the final climb. Tomorrow's stage is another one that should be marked for the breakaway but some of the sprinters that are able to go over the first climbs might have something to say. It will be a very tricky one to predict.
Tony Martin is one of those riders with whom you have to wonder how they made it so late among the best. The German has been the most surprising of the season by a mile and it was quite difficult to see this coming only a couple of years ago. Martin started his career at the HTC team, where he spent 3 years. He was initially touted as a potential good rider for the future, especially considering that he got a podium in the Paris - Nice when he was only 24. However, he gradually disappeared from the top places for many seasons.
The worst period in his career was clearly the 3 years that he spent in Sky. The British team was always in the bottom half of the World Tour rankings and Tony Martin was one of the best domestiques that the leader of the team during those years, Ben Swift, had to control the flat stages. Nevertheless, even though he had a role to play in the team, this never translated into an kind of result and he spent 3 consecutive seasons without scoring a single point in the World Tour rankings. These poor results tell a tale of how bad the future was looking for Martin.
The start of the turning point for him was probably the TTT World Championship in Richmond at the end of the 2015 season. Martin had moved to Astana to work for Marcel Kittel with a role similar to the one that he had had in the Sky team in the past. However, in a very surprising result, the Astana team managed to get the gold medal at the race with a solid team but not one that was expected to get the win overall. This probably encouraged him to start working much more in the time trials and it also gave him a contract with Lotto - Soudal, the best team of the World in the recent years.
The rest of the story is quite recent and probably well remembered. Martin came 3rd both in the European Championship and in the World Championship last year but it was only his first step towards becoming one of the best riders in the World. 2017 has been the year when he really broke through with wins in the Tour de Romandie and the European Championship, while almost taking the overall in the Criterium du Dauphine as well. He has won 7 times so far and should be the favorite for the ITT World Championship in Bergen later in the year.
