Stage List
ITT - 3 (1 MTT)
Flat - 9
Hilly - 2 (1 HTF)
Mountain - 7 (3 MTF)
Stage 1
A flat stage which is a circuit around Geneva in Switzerland starts us off at this year's TDF. The sprinters are expected to take the stage win here.
Stage 2
The traditional Tour opening prologue was pushed back to stage 2 in this edition. The stronger TT riders will be favourites to take the win here. It would be their chance to wear the Maillot Jaune early in the race.
Stage 3
The first of 5 consecutive flat stages ends with two undulations. The sprinters remain favourites for the stage, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise if a puncher pulls off the stage win.
Stage 4
A couple of smaller climbs provide a reason for the riders targeting the KOM to form a breakaway. The stage win should go to the sprinters.
Stage 5
A couple more climbs dot the profile although only one them is classified. The flat section before the finish should make life easy for the sprinters once again.
Stage 6
This stage provides another chance to the punchers to spoil the party for the sprinters. The small hill before the end is steep, sharp and not what sprinter likes to cross just before the finish line.
Stage 7
The climb in the midlle section of the stage should play absolutely no part in the stage result. The sprinters can enjoy a long flat build-up to the stage finish.
Stage 8
We go climbing for the first time this year. The tougher climbs are overcome in the first part of the stage itself. The end of the stage is gentler. The climb before the finish is likely to see some attacks, in hope of the stage win.
Stage 9
The biggest climb of the race await the riders on stage 9. The summit comes with less than 10 km to go to the finish line. The riders will have to traverse more climbs on the stage just to get this far. Expect the first substantial time gaps in the GC.
Stage 10
Coming after the rest day, the riders will not be too tired. This time trial might not be the best judge of where the favourites stand, simply because of the huge climbing stages to follow, where there is enough scope for poor TT-ists to make up time.
Stage 11
Another flat stage takes the riders through the French country-side. A relatively sedate stage should see the sprinters come out on top.
Stage 12
An even more sedate stage acts as the transition for the riders from the plains to the foothills. There is very little chance of anyone but a sprinter to take the stage win here.
Stage 13
A tricky hilly stage with 5, mostly difficult, climbs should see more action among the GC favourites. A good stage for the breakaway this as the peloton might be in energy conservation mode for what's to come next.
Stage 14
The first MTF of the race is a long, incrementally sloping climb, which will take the riders to the highest summit finish of the race. Three challenging climbs precede the afore-mentioned climb to the finish. However, the battle for the GC is likelier to be played out on the MTF slopes.
Stage 15
More high climbs need to be mounted before the riders can hope to get past this stage. Arguably the hardest stage of the race, as the climbs offer no respite - the riders will transition from one descent to the next ascent for the last three climbs. The GC leaders will have to be in top shape and excellent form if they are to keep themselves in the hunt after this stage.
Stage 16
The downhill finish might see the GC favourites not able to pull out time on each other. This despite there being four tough climbs where a lot of action is expected. The long descent might allow some of those dropped in the final two climbs to claw back lost ground.
Stage 17
This stage starts off with the a high climb but the pack is likely to take it easy there. The rest of the stage is not so challenging. Howeverm the ending can get interesting with the small, bumpy climb allowing for a late attack. A good stage for the break to try their luck too.
Stage 18
If ever a time trail deserved to be called the Queen stage of a GT, it was this one. Whoever came up with this must not like the riders too much! The profile goes up, up and up. Without team-mates, it's man versus the mountain in the quest for the TDF yellow jersey. Whoever takes advantage of this stage will put themselves as a top contender for the overall victory.
Stage 19
The stage starts off with a huge climb and ends at a summit almost as high as stage 15. The Col de Estaris expects the riders to challenge each other as they attempt to reach the top first. This stage is likely to witness the toughest battle for the GC, as the next stage is not a summit finish. By now, the riders will mostly be very tired and it might come down who is able recover the best from one stage to the next.
Stage 20
The relatively mild first half will be quickly forgotten as the riders take on four more enormous climbs before they can call it a day. The The GC leaders will look to hang on through this last challenge and hold on to the precious yellow jersey. A breakaway could be allowed to grab the stage win.
Stage 21
The traditional finish into Paris is no different with the riders finishing in the shadow of the Arc d'Triomphe on the Champs Elysees. The most prestigious stage for the sprinter in the whole year could also see the Green jersey being decided.
Overall Assessment
A total of 9 flat stages make this race a very enticing proposition as always for the sprinters. As far as the GC is concerned, this year is one of the most climbing heavy TDFs of recent times. The MTT on stage 18 is a spectacle in itself! A strong field is expected. The summit finishes on stages 14 and 19 could hold the key as far as time gaps are concerned.
Movistar Starting List
Naro Quintana
Mikel Landa
Bryan Coquard
Julian Alaphilippe
Rafal Majka
Jasha Sutterlin
J J Lobato
Eduard Korniets
Rafael Valls
The big one is here. The Tour de France sees Nairo aiming to conquer part 2 in his 3 part attempt at creating history. Movistar were not messing around when they announced their lineup. They were hoping to challenge for both the Yellow and the Green jerseys, arguably the two most prestigious jerseys on the cycling calendar. The competition, in terms of number of GC contenders, would be higher than in the Giro. However, none of the other favourites had a team like Astana's in the Giro. Zakarin and Kelderman were in good form coming into this race, while van Garderen was making a case for himself too. Froome, although much depleted this season, is always a big threat. The race for the Green jersey was expected mainly to be a four way fight between Degenkolb, Kristoff, Coquard and Demare. The course favoured pure climbers to a large extent, and it was to be seen who could take advantage of this.
Number of starters: 198 Number of finishers: 131
The following is a summary of important stages...
Part 1: Staying in Touch
Stage 1 - Flat
Mikel Landa started the TDF unwell with cold and fever. He would go on to lose almost 4 minutes on this stage, as he took it easy as the pack approached the finish. But before all that, the early break consisted of 9 riders. 5 were caught with 90 km still to go. 1 more rider joined up to the break but 3 of the earlier ones sat up and fell back to the peloton. The remaining duo were joined by a third and it was these three that stayed away till 10 km to go. Once they were caught, the sprinters took over. The sprint finish saw Arnaud Demare take the stage win with Coquard in second. The latter wore the Green jersey by virtue of taking more points in the intermediate sprint.
Stage 2 - Individual Time Trial - Flat - 14.6 km
The time trial on stage 2 favoured the TT specialists, but only a couple of them had started this race. Eventually, it was the ever-challenging Kwiatkowski who took the stage win ahead of Geraint Thomas and Taylor Phinney to put himself into the Yellow jersey. This wasn't a good stage for Movistar, but they weren't getting worried.
Stage winner - Michal Kwiatkowski Movistar - Julian Alaphilippe lost 55", Nairo Quintana lost 1'8", Rafal Majka lost 1'23", Mikel Landa lost 1'44" Other important results - Tom Dumoulin 4th, losing 10", Tejay van Garderen 6th, losing 20", Ilnur Zakarin 10th, losing 36", Wilco Kelderman lost 41", Rigoberto Uran lost 43", Chris Froome lost 48"
Stage 8 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 3 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
Stages 3 to 7 were mostly flat, but saw only 3 of them being won by sprinters. On stage 3, Betancur mounted a late attack and surprised the field to take the stage win. On stage 6, the breakaway just survived to give van Avermaet the stage win. On stage 7, Coquard had the stage win knocked out of his grasp in the final meters by Kristoff. He lost the Green jersey in the process.
Stage 8 was the first climbing stage.The early break consisted of three riders,. Movistar put Landa into the break, given he was 11 minutes down by this point (he lost more than 5 minutes on stage 3 due to the same illness - recovered before stage 4), to pivk up KOM points and to help Nairo in the latter stages. The break puled out to a maximum lead pf 10 minutes. Zardini, Uran and Vuillermouz launched the first attack in the pack with 40 km to go. They was soon followed by Kwiatkowski, Zakarin, Betancur and Amador. Nairo and Alaphilippe led the chase from the pack. Landa started to fall back form the break at this stage. He was caught by the attackers with 10 km to go. Nairo finally made the gap with 8 km left. Landa turned domestique and helped Nairo for a few kms. The break were caght and Nairo attacked with 3 km to go. He took advantage of the downhill, and took the stage win, although he could not create a time gap.
Stage winner - Nairo Quintana. Coquard was back in Green while Korniets now led the U25s Movistar - Mikel Landa 10th Other important results - Ilnur Zakarin 2nd, Michal Kwiatkowski 3rd, Rigoberto Uran 4th, Wilco Kelderman 6th, Tejay van Garderen 8th, same time
The state of the GC after stage 8...
Spoiler
Stage 9 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 5 major and 1 minor intermediate climb
A 4 man break with Slagter and Mohoric built up a 9 minute lead. 3 more riders joined it on the fifth climb. The peloton split behind them on the same climb. Zakarin attacked with 25 km to go and caught up with the break. They were all caught with 12 km to go. Kwiatkowski was dropped and was almost certain to lose his Yellow jersey. Zardini attacked with 8 km to go, followed by van Garderen at 6 km. At this time Nairo and Zakarin was in the third group on the road. They caught up with van Garderen with 3.5 km to go. Nairo attacked with 3 km to go, leaving Zakarin and van Garderen behind. Zardini held on to take the stage win.
Stage winner - Edoardo Zardini Movistar - Nairo Quintana 2nd, 23" behind, Mikel Landa 1'39" behind, Julian Alaphilippe 8th, 1'55" behind Other important results - Tejay van Garderen 3rd, Ilnur Zakarin 4th, Rigoberto Uran 5th, Mathias Frank 6th, all 51" behind. van Garderen took the lead in the GC
Here's how the GC looks as we go into the first rest day...
Spoiler
To be continued...
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 03-06-2016 16:59
Stage 10 - Individual Time Trial - Flat - 26.4 km
The flatness and length of the stage gave the advantage to the GC contenders who were good TT-ists. They did live up to the hype, with Tom Dumoulin winning the stage, although he was not in the running for the GC. van Garderen took advantage of his TT skills and extended his lead at the top. Nairo lost quite a bit of time.
Stage winner - Tom Dumoulin Movistar - Jasha Sutterlin 21st, losing 2'11", Nairo Quintana lost 2'25" Other important results - Tejay van Garderen 4th, losing 35", Rigoberto Uran 5th, losing 1'21", Michal Kwiatkowski 6th, losing 1'22", Mathias Frank 7th, 1'23", Ilnur Zakarin lost 1'59"
The GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 13 - Mountain with hill top finish, including 3 major and 2 minor intermediate climbs
A 13 strong man breakaway with Gesink, Meintjes and Vuillermoz was allowed to form, but 1 rider came back to the pack. The pack split on the first climb. The peloton was down to 60 riders on the third climb. Zakarin and Betancur went away off the front with Movistar, Kelderman and van Garderen now chasing. van Garderen was eventually dropped on the last climb. Nairo caught up to Betancur on the descent before the finish. Eventually, he caught up to Zakarin too with 1.5 km too. Ahead of them, Meintjes won comfortably. Nairo and Zakarin finished together.
Stage winner - Louis Meintjes from breakaway Movistar - Nairo Quintana 10th, 10'44" behind, Julian Alaphillipe 12'51" behind (9th in GC) Other important results - Alexis Vuillermoz 2nd, 45" behind, Ilnur Zakarin 9th, 10'44" behind, Tejay van Garderen 14'29" behind
We have a new leader again...
Spoiler
Stage 14 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 4 major intermediate climbs
Strong breaks were becoming par for the course. This time it was Sergio Henao, Fuglsang and Mohoric joining 6 others. The pack split on the first climb. The group of leaders was down to 40 on the third climb. With 8 km to go, all but 2 of the break was caught. Rotson Safford had an 11 minute lead over Mohoric, the next rider on the road. The latter was caught by the GC leaders but Safford cruised to the stage win. The trio of Nairo, Zakarin and Uran rode together for quite some distance on the last climb. Uran had lost 5 minutes on stage 11 after a heavy fall. He was dropped too with 4 km to go. Nairo attacked with 2.5 km to go, dropping Zakarin. The former claimed second, but the time gap wasn't enough to take the Maillot Jaune.
Stage winner - Rotson Safford from breakaway. Up to 3rd in the GC! Movistar - Nairo Quintana 2nd, 9'38" behind, Mikel Landa 5th, 12'3" behind Other important results - Ilnur Zakarin 3rd, 10'5" behind, Rigoberto Uran 4th, 10'26" behind
Stage 15 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 4 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
The last of three consecutive monster climbing stage saw a 13 man break spread across two groups. The peloton was down to 90 riders at the top of the third climb. Nairo had a worrying fall on the third descent, but thankfully recovered, making it safely back to the peloton. Uran rode away from the front on the fourth climb. In the organization that followed among the GC contenders, Zakarin was dropped. The GC was looking like it would be Nairo's way. Safford, the star of the last stage, and Betancur attacked on the fourth descent. Ahead of them Tim Wellens won the stage with a huge lead over the GC leaders. Nairo eventually chased down Safford and Betancur with 6 km to go. He closed the gap to Uran with 3 km to go, and then well and truly left him behind. He pulled out significant time in what could very well to be the turning point of this race.
Stage winner - Tim Wellens from breakaway Movistar - Nairo Quintana 8th, 12'20" behind. Lobato retired as he finished outside the time-limit! Other important results - Alexis Vuillermoz 2nd, 22" behind, Rigoberto Uran 9th, 13'18" behind, Zakarin 17' behind. Vuillermoz was up to 4th in the GC while Zakarin lost a place to Safford
Stage 18 - Individual Time Trial - Mountain - 63.2 km
The mountains of stages 13, 14 and 15 saw an accumulated 64 retirements, mostly riders finishing outside the time limit! The ones who made it past were rewarded with slightly milder racing after the rest day (although stage 16 had 4 more mountains to climb). That brought the peloton to this stage.
The GC favourites were out and out favourites for this stage. There was not much hope for any surprises. And there weren't! Among the favourites, the early pace was set by Froome, who'd started this near about 20th place. His time was beaten by Frank, which in turn was beaten by Uran. Nairo split the duo, but Zakarin lost even more time, despite finishing 5th on the stage.
Stage winner - Rigoberto Uran Movistar - Nairo Quintana 2nd, losing 1'41" Other important results - Mathias Frank 3rd, 1'45" behind, Chris Froome 4th, losing 3'20", Ilnir Zakarin 5th, losing 5'1"
The GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 19 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 2 major and 2 minor intermediate climbs
A 7 man break with Sergio Henao, Mohoric and Bongiorno was allowed to form. They were joined by another rider on the first climb. They built up a 20 minute lead as Movistar were content in just protecting Nairo's position. The leaders' group was down to about 20 at the base of the third climb. Nairo and Uran went away from the front of the pack on the same climb. They were never caught by the peloton. Mohoric won the stage from the break, while Nairo managed to drop Uran on the final descent, extending his lead further.
Stage winner - Matej Mohoric from breakaway Movistar - Nairo Quintana 9th, 10'19" Other important results - Rigoberto Uran 10th, 11'17", other GC contenders finished together, 12'24" behind
Stage 20 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 4 major and 2 minor intermediate climbs
The early 5 man break became 7 after the first climb. Movistar had long given up on chasing breaks as they were of no danger to Nairo. However, there was a moment of panic for them as 6 GC heavyweights - Froome, Zakarin, Kelderman, Uran, Betancur and Frank) - rode away from the front of the peloton on the fifth climb. Nairo chased them with the help of Alaphilippe and Landa. He caught up to them at the onset of the last climb. They seven riders rode together for a while. Nairo and Kelderman attacked on the descent with 5 km to go, taking half a minute's time from the others. Bauke Mollema won from the break.
Stage winner - Bauke Mollema from breakaway Movistar - Nairo Quintana 8th, 13'14" behind Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 9th, 13'14" behind, other GC contenders 13'4" behind
Stage 21 - Flat
Barring serious misfortune or something spectacular, all but one jersey had already been decided. The Green jersey was still up for grabs. Bryan Coquard led the standings by 19 points over Alexander Kristoff. No one else was in with a shot at winning it.
The early break had 7 riders. They were kept on a short leash and were caught as the sprinters lined up for the intermediate sprint. Coquard took full points with Kristoff in second, to extend his lead to 22 points. This meant that even if Kristoff won, Coquard could seal the jersey with a 4th place finish. Another breakaway of 7 riders formed after the pack had settled down. They got to a 4 minute lead. Movistar left the chasing to the other teams. A breakaway win suited them just fine, as anything lower than 5th place for Kristoff would mean Coquard would keep the jersey. As it turned out, despite the best efforts of Astana, for Kristoff, and Orange, for Degenkolb, the breakaway spoiled the sprinters' party on the Champs Elyses. Jay McCarthy took a famous win. An Aussie winning this stage after quite a long time. Movistar safely negotiated the course with Coquard taking 11th palce and Nairo punching the air with delight as they crossed the line.
Stage winner - Jay McCarthy
General Classification
1)Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
2)Rigoberto Uran (American Express)
3)Ilnur Zakarin (Aeroflot)
What a difference a year makes! From losing the TDF by 16 seconds to winning it by over 10 minutes, and beating Froome by over 27 minutes! Only one stage win for Nairo, which was the only one for the team too, but no doubt that he was the best climber of the lot. The ease with which he rode away from everyone else was breathtaking. Perhaps he would've been challenged a bit more if Uran had not lost 5 minutes after falling on stage 11. Bryan Coquard fulfilled his childhood dream too. A Frenchman was wearing the Green jersey on the podium in Paris! Eduard Korniets slipped under the radar but came out on top in the U25s. With this kind of domination, it was no wonder that Movistar won the Team classification too. A perfect race for the team. Nairo finalised exorcised the ghosts of the past two years. And this was his reward:
Three other races took place while we were enjoying le Tour and the week following it...
Int. Osterreich Rundfarht
Dayer won stage 2 which set him on on course for the podium finish.
Tour de Wallonie
Lobato put the disappointment of the TDF withdrawal behind him. He won stage 3 and held on for the last two stages to claim his second consecutive GC victory in this race.
The start of the Autumn classics takes us to the beautiful San Sebastien at the beginning of August. Movistar were looking to do good on their sponsors' aspirations and claim a top 5 position here.
The early part of the race saw two riders go off the front in a breakaway. They built up a 9 minute lead of the peloton. The peloton was quiet for more than 150 km before Pello Bilbao went away from the front on the second climb. He was pulled back by the peloton as they settled down on the succeeding flat. Alaphilippe and Gorkha Izagirre were next away off the front and they caught the break too. All four riders were reeled in by the peloton before Alaphilippe attacked again with 25 km to go. Matej Mohoric first, and Elia Favilli then, made the gap to Alaphilippe. Mohoric was dropped, and was picked up by Kelderman, who had gone off the front. All four riders were caught by the peloton with 5 km to go. Eustaquio Sanchez launched what looked like a decisive attack a km later, bringing back memories of his sensational win in Quebec while still a trainee. The pack started the sprint with a km to go, wth Sanchez visibly out of breath by now, and in danger of being pipped at the line.
Lobato, the best sprinter in the reduced bunch, came from about 7th place in the final 500 meters, to actually pip his team-mate at the line, and take 1st place. It was bitter-sweet for Movistar, as one their riders rejoiced while the other was crestfallen at the finish. Eustaquio Sanchez was clearly unhappy with his 2nd place. Andrey Amador, another former Movistar man, took 3rd place.
A heated argument ensued in the post-race area as an angry Sanchez confronted Lobato about stealing the win. Lobato defended himself saying that it looked like Sanchez would be overtaken anyway, and he was protecting the race win for Movistar. The team management had to get involved to calm down the feuding team-mates. Sanchez was consoled and his passion admired. He would come back to fight another day. Lobato received congratulations from all quarters.
Wow, what a victory for Nairo at the TdF. Admittedly a little disappointing that the competition couldn't put up more of a fight. Two down, one to go. Will Nairo really go down into (virtual) history books as the first rider to do the "Grand Slam"?
@Tamijo: Thanks. We're doing quite well at the moment . Hope to keep this going...
@Ripley: Fingers crossed! No racing for Nairo till the Vuelta as we try to save him as much as we can.
A moderately difficult first stage welcomes us to Poland. The peloton will cover the first category climb to Jelenia Gora four before heading down to the finish. It will be tough for the sprinters to win here despite the flat ending. Expect a sprint finish among a reduced bunch.
Stage 2
Stage 2 goes mostly flat. The sprinters will be favourites to win here.
Stage 3
Two category 1 climbs await the riders, although they are not expected to drop any of the sprinters, coming a long way before the finish. A sprinter should win win here.
Stage 4
Another flat stage should see no other result than a pack sprint for the win.
Stage 5
Many climbs await the riders before they finally head down to the finish. The last two climbs should see most of the action among the favourites as they look to get a foothold at the top of the GC.
Stage 6
This stage is expected to decide the outcome of this race. The stage is a circuit consisting of two categorised climbs, which the riders will cover five time. The last circuit is likely to decide the GC.
Stage 7
Another flat stage means another win for a sprinter. The GC, barring some misfortune, should not be affected by the result on this stage.
Overall Assessment
Favouring more the punchers than a pure climber, this race should see the GC decided on stages 5 and 6. The flat stages mean a number of the top sprinters should also show up. Could become a closely fought race.
