Today should be another day for the sprinters. It’s a relatively short stage, 172km. It’s worth mentioning that there are 5 notable speedbumps in today, with the last one 11km from the finish. The finish is also slightly uphill. This could be ideal for a Hagen/Meersman type, and could hurt the FDJ guys and Viviani, for example. A breakaway has a good chance today as well. Going to be an interesting stage I assume.
Favourites
A.Demare(FDJ)/N.Bouhanni(FDJ)
E.Boasson Hagen(SKY)
M.Goss(OGE)
N.Stromberg(GRS)
G.Meersman(OPQ)
The early breakaway
The Race 167km -
And there are the first attackers. Cardoso(CJR) and Taborre(VIN) give it a shot. Both can take hills very well. 166km -
And there goes KoM wearer Voigt(RLT) as well! Plenty of KoM points to earn today. 164km -
Kroon(SAX) joins the trio as well now. They have 51 seconds. 151km -
Having just more than a minute, it looks like those 4 make today’s breakaway. Also, we can hope for some echelons today. There’s 41 wind force on the Cyanide scale atm, and the riders will have crosswinds most of the time today. 145km -
Elmiger(IAM) tries to make the jump. 140km -
Elmiger reached the 4 guys and it seems as if the peloton is going to allow it. If you ask me, those 5 guys are very strong and have a chance. 137km -
Ukranïan RR champion Grivko(AST) gives it a try as well now. 130km -
While Grivko reached the other escapees, the gap’s down to 45 seconds. The amount of wind has meanwhile decreased. No echelons today. 122km -
Yes, these 6 guys will be given space today. 1’40 is the gap, despite the high pace in the pack. 104km -
Due to disorganisation in the break(Taborre attacked), the gap is back to 50 secs. The peloton should make a choice now. 86km -
For the 100th time, Taborre attacks. Voigt follows now, and the others finally start to set some pace. 78km -
It looks as if that attack finally woke up the escapees. They are back together, now 2’30 ahead of the peloton. 60km -
Grivko wins the KoM sprint. Voigt is the only one who originally has KoM points. He made an effort, but blew himself up, which leaves him with 0 points on this sprint. 3 minutes is the gap. 51km -
Bad news for Belkin. Potential GT-winner Wilco Kelderman crashed from out of nowhere. Nah, I’m pretty certain it was a Sky rider pushing him. Anyway, Belkin is waiting for him now. 47km -
Elmiger wins the 2nd KoM sprint, just in front of Grivko and Taborre. Voigt looks too tired to make an effort, which is a shame, because he could’ve established his (shared) jersey today. The leaders are around 3 minutes ahead, still. Katusha takes control of the pack now. Kelderman was able to return to the pack. 40km -
While Elmiger wins the IS, Voigt nearly returned to the others. The gap has already increased to 3’30 now, which certainly is promising for the 5 escapees. 36km -
Elmiger wins this KoM sprint as well, ahead of Taborre and Grivko. That trio has quite a gap on Kroon and Cardoso, and even about a minute on Voigt, who has been a big letdown in the break today. They have 4’30 minutes on the pack now! It looks good for them! 30km -
The trio is 40 seconds ahead of Kroon and Cardoso now, and 1’40 of Voigt. The peloton appears to be okay with a breakaway win, having dropped the pace, now 6 mins behind the front group. 22km -
Grivko wins the second-to-last KoM sprint, ahead of Elmiger. Taborre couldn’t follow the pace, and is now a minute behind, and will most likely be picked up by the duo behind. The peloton follows 10 minutes later! Both Elmiger and Grivko are more than 20 minutes behind in the GC though, so no worries. 15km -
While Grivko wins the IS(not that anyone cares), it seems certain that one of these 2 guys will be the winner, being 1’40 ahead of the chasing group of 3 behind them. Elmiger should be the better sprinter of the two. 13km -
Movement in the peloton! On the second-to-last hill(yes, that’s how far they’re back), 7 guys break free. Nibali(AST), Quintana(MOV), Scarponi(LAM), Kelderman!!!(BEL), Ghita(ARG), Hesjedal(GRS) and Purito are there, having 42 secs! Niemiec is already riding in front of them! 12km -
Grivko wins the last KoM. Taborre attacked from the back, just 1 minute behind them. 7km -
The 2 guys are still leading, and look safe.
A group of 8 still stands, in front of the peloton. The new guy is De las Campos(EUS). They have a minute on the pack, which slowed down, mainly because OGE stopped chasing, because Goss dropped. Porte, who missed out, is chasing now. They have 15km to go, though. Niemiec is still in front of the GC group. 5km -
It’s obvious that these 2 will decide the winner today. Taborre is a minute behind, and a minute ahead of Kroon and Cardoso. Also, Porte tries to bridge the gap to the GC group now. 3km -
While the front group still shows no activity, Porte goes under the 10km banner. He needs to close a minute on the GC group and has 40 secs on the pack. 1200m -
Grivko in the first to start the sprint, but Elmiger starts as well! 700m -
Elmiger still has a small gap on the Ukrainian champion. This could be close! 300m -
There’s Grivko! He seems to be in the lead now, but can he hold on? Finish -
Yes he does it! Great victory for the Ukrainian, I expected Elmiger to be faster, but Grivko proved me wrong there!
Taborre is third, and Cardoso outsprints Kroon for 4th.
The pack still needs to go 5km now. Niemiec is now part of the group of 9.
Porte wasn’t able to make the catch up to now, while the pack has an impressive pace and picks up Porte now.
They all start their sprint early, with 2km to go! But the peloton is getting closer, finally.
Purito pips out Quintana for 7th now, but the pack actually caught up. Just a bit too late for the Top 10 though, Kelderman takes up the last Top 10 spot, while the best sprinter, Bouhanni, makes 12th.
So no GC gaps in the end. I didn’t expect them in the first place anyway, it has been a very weird stage today. Peloton was rather dumb today.
Jakob Fuglsang (AST), Christian Schroder (EUC), Thomas Voeckler (EUC)
Race:
180km to go
Only 142 riders left after yesterday's crashes. Today is the first hilly stage, so we will see who has suffered the most from the crashes, or who is still fresh!
179km to go
The race organizers aren't even out of the way yet when the first attacks happen! Gomez (CJR) and Van Dijk (AJW) are very early with their attempt!
168km to go
They stayed out for a short time. They and their companions were caught by the peleton and won't even make the highlights.
154km to go
A new break formed. 10 riders are currently 1 minute away from the peleton!
149km to go
They couldn't stay out either. When the catch was nearly made, Sven Nys (CRE) punctured out of the break. How unfortunate!
133km to go
Some riders are really stubbern about getting into the break. A group with 7 riders, mostly re-triers, got clear a little, but then others start attacking as well and the peleton chases them down again. Am I watching a replay every time?
114km to go
It took a while, but we finaly got a group at the front. 13 riders: Astarloza (EUS), Bazayev (AST), Charteau (EUC), De Vreese (TSV), Delfosse (CRE), Di Serafino (AND), Didier (RLT), Hägg (TNE), Houle (ALM), Mazzanti (VIN), Molard (COF), Pasqualon (BAR) and Tan (RVL). Lequatre (BSE) and Minard (ALM) are trying to bridge the gap between the peleton and the break, they are exactly 2 minutes ahead and 2 minutes behind.
104km to go
The first mountain sprint is won by Delfosse, ahead of Mazzanti and Pasqualon. The chasers have closed in to 1 and a halfminute, while the peleton is almost 3 and a half minutes behind them. Lotto is doing most of the work at the moment.
100km to go
It's very early, but pre-race favourite Fuglsang (AST) attacks out of the peleton. He is followed by Bulgarian Champion Petrov (CJR) and Van Goolen (AJW)!
80km to go
A helicopter shot from the peleton, who doesn't seem to realise the current situation. Fuglsang is 6(!) minutes ahead of the peleton. The break is 9 minutes ahead, while Lequatre and Minard have managed to bridge the gap.
74km to go
The first crash of today, it will be hard to beat yesterday's number. Rybakov (RVL) is run over by multiple cyclists (Bagot (COF) is shown on the picture), but still manages to get on his bike and rejoins the race!
63km to go
2 new crashes! This time it's Canola (BAR; above) and Gomez (below). The break is 6 and a half minutes ahead, the group with Fuglsang 5.
55km to go
Some riders can't follow the pace of the peleton anymore. Notable names: Boom (BEL), Gaudin (EUC) and Shaqif (MTN). They were all victims of the crash yesterday. Meanwhile, the chasers have caught up with the morning break, currently 5 and a half minute ahead!
28km to go
The riders have entered the local laps, and the gap has decreased to 3 and a half minutes. Vachon (BSE) has attacked out of the peleton, which only counts 68 riders. Most favourites are there.
23km to go Fuglsang wins the second mountain sprint, the first ascent of the Col de l'Europe. 6 riders have been dropped from the break, and the peleton is split into small groups. Notable riders to have missed the split: Alinejad, Schleck (both RLT), Calzone (AND), Schawbe (COF) and Schroder (EUC).
20km to go
Attacks from the peleton! Anton, Verboven (both EUS), Battaglin (BAR), Gasparotto (AST), Martens (BEL), Roelandts (LTB) and Voeckler (EUC) seek the attack. The leaders have been reduced to 2 now, Delfosse and Fuglsang.
15km to go
The disadvantage of local laps, riders who get lapped. Fuglsang has dropped the Belgian and is on his way to win the third (second here) mountain sprint. The former members of the break are 40 seconds-1 minutes 30 behind. The favourites are 3 and a half minutes behind.
10km to go
10 kilometers, a little more than a locall ap, is left for Fuglsang. He is about to lap a team-mate. The rest is more than 1 and a half minute behind, is he going to take over today?
6000m to go
The final mountain sprint is for the Dane as well. The favourites have almost catched up with the morning break, the battle for second pace is on!
0m to go
There's no doubt that Fuglsang has put in an amazing performance today! Deserved victory! But who will be the next, unlapped rider to cross the line?
2 minutes and 20 seconds later, Verboven crossed the line in second, followed by Roelandts, Gasparotto and Izagirre (EUS). The group of 16 riders is a mix of favourites and breakaway rider's. However, Fuglsang is the new GC-leader, 21 seconds ahead of Roelandts and 2 minutes ahead of Alinejad.
Champion System is scoring nothing at all. I thought wow when we were setting up a sprint train in stage 2 but then we totally screwed it and got 15th and 16th. With this team I can't hope for more anyways.
REPORT - CRITÉRIUM DU DAUPHINÉ
STAGE 7: LE PONT-DE-CLAIX - SUPERDÉVOLUY
A warm welcome to the penultimate stage of this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné!
The riders face a hard day with lots of climbs, so a short introduction should make things easier to follow: From the start in Le Pont-de-Claix, the cyclists head onto the fabulous L’alpe d’Huez with its summit on 1760m. After a short descend they climb Col du Sarenne, a Cat. 2 climb and the top of today with 1966m. While in the upcoming Tour de France, the riders are going to take on L’alpe d’Huez again, we – or rather the riders – will climb Col d’Ornon then, another Cat. 1 climb. We have a rather hilly terrain then but with no major obstacles. However, with around 20km to go, the riders will climb up Col du Noyer, a hard one with an elevation of 1664m. After a short descend, the final uprise to Superdévoluy starts where the finish is at 1503m. So we will see major action today and hopefully all the GC hopes show their potential in the next hours of racing.
The weather you can guess yourself: Sunny and warm. France seems to be a lovely country. We have three very-early-escapees in De Clercq (LTB), Martìnez (EUS) and Garzelli (VIN). They attacked right after the start. With De Clercq we have a strong climber in here, but three men seem to be to less to survive all those hard climbs in the end.
Taaramae (COF) thinks the same as me, so he attacks but already has a 90 seconds gap to close. That is going to be hard work, because unfortunately nobody joined him.
140km to go, E1 – 7:40 – Peloton
And we are already on the ascend to L’alpe d’Huez. That famous climb is part of so many moments of big history from Le Tour, but today it will not decide things. But still, it will hurt everybody on the road. Meanwhile Taaramae has catched the others but that did cost lots of energy, so I doubt he will have much left for the end. The break is working well together, but it does not look good for them as behind Movistar has everything under control.
126km to go, E1 – 9:20 – Peloton
After a big sufferfeast and 21 bends, the break is now on the top. Martínez took the HC-KoM, but nobody sprinted for it, because the breakaway riders should not have the chance to win the jersey anymore anyways.
122km to go, E1 – 9:30 – Peloton
There is an attack from the pack! I am not sure what Danielson (GRS) is going to do as he now has over 9 minutes onto the leaders, but this looks more like a serious attack than just going for the Mountain points. Until now Movistar has pulled the pack to the top with a calm but steady pace, so most riders decided to hang on instead of building an early gruppetto.
120km to go, E1 – 8:49 – Peloton
No, I was wrong. He did just pursue the KoM points with Barguil (ARG), Serpa (LAM) and mountain jersey leader Rabottini (VIN) also going for points but then dropping back to the peloton. So in the end the results of this HC climb are: Martínez 20, Garzelli 18, Taaramae 16, De Clercq 14, Serpa 12, Danielson 10, Barguil 8, Rabottini 7, Feillu (SOJ) 6 and Berhane (EUC) 5. Meanwhile the break has reached the summit of Col du Sarenne, so for them the hardest climbs are done for today.
114km to go, E1 – 6:50 – Rabottini, Serpa – 1:44 – Barguil – 0:32 – Peloton
Rabottini, Serpa and Barguil went for the points again on Col du Sarenne. Their sprinting to the line gave them a big advantage on the still altogether pack which is riding slowly to save energy. But I doubt that this was a good idea as Serpa and Rabottini are now in the middle of nowhere while Barguil should drop back into the peloton in a few moments.
90km to go, E1 – 6:50 – Rabottini – 0:35 – Peloton
Serpa gave it up and had a calm downhill while Rabottini looks like he is going to challenge for more points on the upcoming Col d’Ornon, though under the pacemaking of Movistar on the descend his advantage dropped down. The breakaway is not looking good at all, because their gap did not increase again after the action we saw. Will they even take on the final climbs in front of the pack? Meanwhile a serious number of riders was dropped from the pack, about 130 guys are still together.
80km to go, E1 – 4:50 – Rabottini – 1:30 – Peloton
As many different teams have taken control of the pack together, the leaders are crossing the KoM with De Clercq taking the points again. Rabottini behind will score the rest of 8 points and therefore increase his lead further. He extended his lead by about a minute on the climb, but it seems unlikely that he will catch up to the front. The peloton is thinning out and has just about 100 riders left.
40km to go, E1 – 1:26 – Rabottini – 0:53
As nothing interesting happened in the meantime, we jump to the Intermediate Sprint, which is won by Taaramae. The effort of Rabottini is impressive. I still cannot believe what that guy is doing as he is still in between of the head group and the pack. He has closed about 9 minutes on them all on his own – and that after his victory yesterday! In earlier years I would have been yelling “Doping!”, but I do believe in our sport, so I am just stunned, because that performance is just… wow. In the pack, all sorts of teams are sharing the pacemaking: Belkin, RadioShack, Europcar, Vacansoleil, Astana, Omega Pharma, Sky, Saxo-Tinkoff, BMC, Katusha and AG2R are among them, so Movistar can finally relax a bit.
30km to go, E1 – 1:20 – Peloton
We see an attack from Martínez and Taaramae who leave De Clercq and Garzelli behind. However, this is nothing more than a last showing of jerseys, because Movistar has taken over again and is rushing along the road, so the gap is almost nullified. Rabottin had to give up already, but that was still a super-strong performance from him. Hopefully he will survive the final climbs now. Everything is set up for a nice finish, I cannot await it!
25km to go, E1 – 0:32 – Peloton
While the breakaway riders are constantly attacking each other and then coming back together, Mollema (BEL) now tries his luck. He has lost all GC hopes, so maybe he can show his strength by achieving a stage win? Some meters behind, Martin (GRS) tries to follow him with a strong acceleration.
20km to go, Peloton altogether
Movistar is going on with the strong riding as they not only reeled in the breakaway but also Mollema and Martin when the climb starts. But now we have more serious attacks coming in that cannot be defended by team strength as we have no more flat sections until the end. Danielson, Barguil, Mollema and even Contador (TST) attacked, but they could not open an advantage. But now second overall and points leader Froome (SKY) attacks, so the heat is turning up rapidly. What will the yellow jersey do now?
15km to go, Froome – 0:39 – Nieve – 0:21 – Kangert – 0:20 – Peloton
Froome’s attack has caused everybody to fight his bike up that mountain now. Nieve and Amador have been following him firstly, but he dropped both and Amador now seems so exhausted that he was swallowed up by the peloton again. Kangert opened up a lead on the next guys, but somehow nobody wants to let go anybody else, so the chasing group is still relatively big.
12,5km to go, Froome – 1:08 – Nieve – 0:14 – Kangert – 0:07 – Hinault – 0:15 – De Gendt – 0:14 – Chasers
It is 2km away from the summit and it looks like Froome is going to take over the yellow jersey today as he is steadily increasing his lead. Behind we have small gaps as Nieve and Kangert surely went to early while Hinault and De Gendt got away from the 20-man chasing group that includes the big favourites. Out of the Top10, only Kim (EUC), Chavanel (OPQ) and Peraud (ALM) are caught up behind.
10km to go, Froome – 1:39 – E2 – 0:25 – De Gendt – 0:22 – Chasers (16) – 0:31 – Yellow jersey
Froome has now reached the summit and he will surely love the little rest on the descend. Kangert, Nieve and Hinault will take that one as a small group with De Gendt behind. The chasers dropped Amador among Klöden (RLT) and Martin (GRS). In a group a bit further behind, Voeckler, Schröder, Peeters and Nokkvason (all EUC) are helping Kim not losing to much time. What a strong team Europcar has sent here! We have a shot on the chasers which include: Sánchez (EUS), De la Montagne, Navarro (both COF), Lewis, van Garderen (both BMC), Contador, Rogers (both TST), Pinot (FDJ), Van den Broeck (LTB), Spilak, Trofimov (both KAT), Schleck (RLT), Gadret (ALM), Mollema, Meyer (OGE) and Kwiatkowski (OPQ).
4km to go, Froome – 1:31 – Kangert – 0:55 – De Gendt, Nieve, Hinault – 0:25 – Chasers (17) – 1:08 – Yellow jersey
The leader up the road is already done with the descend and most of the guys did not even enter it. Froome is riding strong and should have an easy win today. Behind him, things got messed up a bit. At the start of the descend, Kangert attacked Nieve and Hinault. Those both did not work together at all, so at first De Gendt catched up and now they lost their whole advantage on the chasers – that is just horrible to watch as they are totally screwing it up losing a minute on a 5km descend. Behind, Klöden rejoined the chasing group. In the yellow jersey group, that is constantly losing time, we have Voeckler doing all the work for Kim who is in there as well as Amador. Those two will lose their good GC position for sure.
Finish line
Froome finishs of a strong day by winning this stage, but somehow our cameras missed him. He was riding so fast that our technicians were not even ready for him. Sorry for that. Instead we see three jerseys from the small chasing group we already know. However, it is not Nieve, but Sánchez in there, because he attacked from the bigger chasing group when his teammate was caught. It looks like Hinault and De Gendt will also be caught by that group. The group with Kim and Amador is losing more and more time.
Finish line
Kangert gets second. Strong ride by him, especially because he got all that advantage on the downhill instead of playing weird games with the others.
Finish line
Sánchez crosses the line third, then Contador finally outsprints Hinault and De Gendt who could have done more for sure. Van Garderen, Kwiatkowski, De la Montagne and Navarro complete the top ten.
From Sánchez to Lewis in 22nd, all the guys are clocked at the same time, so GC changes are little. Still, due to Kim losing 4:34 on Froome and Amador even 4:59, we have a different situation before the last stage. Froome should win the overall being more than 4 minutes in front of Kwiatkowski. But then everything is possible as the gaps are small. Amador dropped down to fourth, Kim to 11th with Kangert being on the last podium spot now. Sky is leading the Team Classification in front of RadioShack and AG2R. Kwiatkowski is best young rider, De la Montagne and van Garderen follow.
Soz guys
(FDJ)/N.Bouhanni
(SKY)
(OGE)
(GRS)
(OPQ)
Jakob Fuglsang (AST), 
Christian Schroder (EUC), 
