[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]Finally, they were here. The Pyrenees. Joaquim had been waiting for them impatiently. After all the hard training he had done, especially on long climbs in the high mountains,
it was time to see if it would pay off.
And everything seemed to come together. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and most importantly not wet. The long, steep descent from the Col d'Aspin could have been a real problem otherwise.
In the briefing this morning, the team had agreed on riding aggressively today. They knew there were lots of dangerous opponents today, so they wanted to show strength even before the climbing began. And they did. Even Alexander Kristoff in his green jersey joined the relay.
On the first meters of the ascent, Joaquim already felt that he was in good shape today. So after a calm few first minutes, when the first serious attack was launched by Nairo Quintana, he didn't hesitate. No one would get away from him today. No matter how often they would try.
Stage 7 - Part II
L'Isle-Jourdain - Lac de Payolle
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/XXOjrAD.png[/img-r]Similar to Katusha, the Astana squad had intended to control the pack today, occupy the first rows and keep a steady pace for as long as possible. Albeit for completely different reasons.
Vincenzo's bad performance from two days ago was only the precursor for two terrible nights for the team captain. He came down with a stomach flu, could barely eat anything yesterday and didn't catch much sleep this night either. But he looked on the up this morning, emitting a bit more confidence.
Hence the plan of the day. But that got quashed within minutes. A few minor attacks were being dealt with, but as Nairo Quintana attacked, it got difficult. Fabio, alongside Jakob Fuglsang, increased the pace, but not even a minute passed and they heard Vino's voice over the team radio: "Vincenzo's in trouble, don't overdo it guys."
And indeed: As they looked back they saw their captain dropping position by position, eventually even out of the group. They stopped to relay, slowed down and let him catch up. His face was pale, his breath irregular. Fabio and Jakob bandied worried looks and took Vincenzo between them. They could only hope he would get his second wind, or else ...
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/NkmosC8.png[/img-r]Pierre was still feeling the repercussions of his crash. His wounds were almost scabbed over, but his hip was still sore and he hadn't gotten enough sleep for three straight nights now.
He was hoping for a calm day, with the top favorites carefully testing their own and each other's capabilities.
But no, not a bit of it. From the get go, attacks kept flying. A first major one by Nairo Quintana was neutralized rather quickly.
When Daniel Martin attacked four kilometers from the summit, though, everyone felt that this was the move to get on. The peloton, still around 30 riders at this point, broke apart, smaller groups scattered all over the road. Pierre felt surprisingly well, and he was able to follow as Rodriguez did his yellow jersey credit and jumped past Dan Martin.
As the attacks slowed and the hectic faded, Pierre took a little time to orientate. Contador was with them, that was expected. Julien Alaphilippe's presence was a major surprise. And Valverde being there was at least curious - his captain was a little behind with Martin and Pinot. Froome and Nibali were nowhere to be seen.
As they closed in on the summit, Pierre saw Michal Kwiatkowski maybe 60 meters ahead of them, the last remaining escapee. Rodriguez was the first on the downhill, he really wanted that stage win it seemed. Pierre's only goal was to hang on. If they could distance the rest behind them, this could be huge.
Stage 7 - Part III
L'Isle-Jourdain - Lac de Payolle
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/NkmosC8.png[/img-r]The remainder of the stage was pretty straightforward. No one in their group of five made any attempt to get away, they worked together to put as much time on their rivals as possible, and maybe catch Kwiatkowski.
Pierre hadn't been able to contribute much, though. All his efforts went into keeping up through the hairpin corners of the descent, all those changes of rhythm, the constant braking and accelerating really hurt him. But he knew it would be worth it.
During the final 100 or 200 meters, it became clearer that Kwiatkowski was out of range. Eventually, everyone simply charged to the line with everything they had left, not tactics whatsoever.
Pierre didn't have anything left. But similarly to two days ago, at some point, his brain just stopped to process any sort of pain or any complex thought at all. The only things that mattered were the road and the pedal strokes. And that brought him safely over the finish line.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/XXOjrAD.png[/img-r]Vincenzo's second wind didn't show up. He fought, Fabio could see that every time he looked over his shoulder to check if his captain could follow. But they still weren't very fast.
Fabio had hoped to make up some ground on the descent, Vincenzo was arguably one of the best descenders in the peloton. But not today. A few times, he had trouble taking corners, almost crashing twice. Riders were catching up to them, forming a growing group around them. Even Diego Rosa and Tanel Kangert, who had dropped quite a bit earlier on the climb, joined in.
Together, they finished the stage and escorted Vincenzo to the team bus, fobbing off dozens of journalists who tried to get a statement from the defeated Italian. He stumbled and almost fell as he climbed up the two stairs into the bus, and finally just plunked into one of the chairs.
Fabio sat down a few seats away. He didn't say anything - there was nothing to say. The Tour, GC wise at least, was over. For the both of them.
Aru's only 2 minutes down on Quintana, he could probably still rescue a podium even if Nibali isn't up to it.
Catching the 4 and a half minutes to Contador would be tough, and I don't know how far down he is on Froome but it's not out of the question that if he is feeling good then he couldn't catch one of them, especially if he is allowed a little bit of space to go long on a final climb and take a chunk back at once, even if that is only a minute it would help and put him back to a point where he'd only need one of those 3 to have a bad day to have a chance of jumping them.
Rolland is looking strong so far, either he's peaked too early in the tour or we finally found out where that mystical 10% got to. He's looking like a top 5 contender at this point though which is really good for him.
I wonder if J Rod can hold on in the big mountains to come, does he have a strong enough team to support him when Contador, Froome and Quintana start the serious attacks there?
And poor Jean Rene, hopefully something will go right for him and his squad soon, at least Coquard got involved in the sprint this time which is progress, maybe they just need to send Tommy V or Sicard in a mountainous Break or bank or maybe make good use of their extra motivation on Bastille day to get a result then.
I like the way you've split each part of the day into different posts, today's the first day that I've been home to read it bit by bit (at least for the first 2 parts, read the last one after work) to get the full effect of it and I've got to say that it does work really well and I know you previously asked whether we like it and if we want it to continue and the answer is a definite Yes from me.
Anyway I'll probably go back to not breaking the flow by reading in silence but thought I should leave something positive to let you know that it is being enjoyed and that I hope you can keep up with the pace of the tour.
Oh and that I look forward to seeing what you do on rest days if you do decide to make posts then.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]Good god this had been a boring day. It was one of those stages that could go either way: If ridden aggressively, with attacks early on, this could have been complete mayhem. But it seemed like no one had any interest in that.
Joaquim didn't feel the need to do much today, he assessed it as a high risk, low reward situation. He did think he was among the strongest riders at the moment, but he chose control over chaos.
For the first half of the stage, it was mostly Katusha relaying. After the second climb, Sky came to the front, and for a moment, Joaquim was worried. Chris Froome had lost a considerable amount of time yesterday, and this looked like a set up for potentially a long range attack.
But nothing happened. A break had been up front the entire time, and neither Katusha nor Sky was willing to invest enough to get them back.
All that resulted in well over 40 riders crossing the final summit together. Joaquim joined in the sprint for fourth place: He had actually been climbing the sprint classification recently, but also he just wanted a little excitement. He was looking forward to tomorrow a lot. The first mountain top finish would provide more than enough of that, he was sure.
Don't forget that Aru has the Giro in his legs, though. He isn't in peak form, thanks to Astana's season planning. He might be allowed to ride for himself now, but we'll have to see what he has left to give.
As for Rolland and JRod, they're looking very strong indeed. Both have done extensive climbing training, maybe that finally pays off.
Thanks a lot for the feedback, I'm glad that you like the structure, and I'm happy that it seems to work the way I intended. Again, I really appreciate you taking the time, hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of this just as much!
Stage 9 - Part I
Vielha val dAran - Andorra Arcalis
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/NkmosC8.png[/img-r]The day had begun slowly for Pierre. He had overslept and almost missed the shuttle to the stage start. In the bus, he dozed off again. And as he rolled to the start line, he caught a few strange looks, until Thomas Voeckler finally brought to his attention that he wasn't wearing a helmet. It had been a strange morning.
During the first few kilometers, too, he caught himself drifting away in his thoughts. Nothing in particular, and he couldn't explain it either. But he just wasn't able to concentrate - and that would cost him.
There was a small oil spill on the road. Everyone was signaling it to the riders behind, but Pierre wasn't paying attention. Before he knew it, he hit the ground. He was surprised more than anything.
Luckily, he wasn't really hurt. The pace hadn't been too high, and besides a little scratch at the side, he was fine. This was a wake up call.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]Joaquim was on tenterhooks, once again. And he was annoyed, too. So many favorites had already lost a good chunk of time, but no one seemed to want to do anything. Maybe they were afraid to lose any and all chances with an overly ambitious attack. And maybe they were right.
But now, there was no hiding anymore. The steep portion of the climb to Arcalis was about to start. And Joaquim was fired up for it.
He had had his men relaying for most part of the climb until now. He wanted to make the race hard for most of the pack, but the pace wasn't high enough to deter attacks from the favorites - Joaquim wanted those, after all. But as nothing kept happening, he had enough.
He ordered Ilnur Zakarin and Jurgen van den Broeck to the front and told them to put the hammer down. And that finally had an impact. Within moments, the trio got a small gap to the rest of the pack. Of course that would be closed quickly. But it wasn't about the gap, it was about sending a message. If no one else was going to, then he would start things off.
Stage 9 – Part II
Vielha val dAran - Andorra Arcalis
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/NkmosC8.png[/img-r]Pierre heard the message loud and clear. After his crash, he had joined the pack in no time, and curiously enough, he was feeling better now. He shared Rodriguez' feelings towards the idleness of many riders so far, but his current position had been too good to risk anything.
Today, though, a move didn't feel like a risk. His legs were too good. And as he saw the Spaniard increasing the pace up front, he took it upon himself to launch the first attack.
He sprinted up the road and it felt as good as he had anticipated. As he began to ride a steady pace again, he noticed only one rider had caught his wheel. Chris Froome. The Brit had performed disappointingly so far, and it was only logical that he would try and gain some time today. Rolland was fine with that: They shared the same goal, and they both knew it. Taking turns, they continued their way towards the summit together.
Stage 9 – Part III
Vielha val dAran - Andorra Arcalis
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/XXOjrAD.png[/img-r]The roles in the Astana squad had been redefined a little after the recent stage. Vincenzo had accepted that he wasn't in the shape he needed to be to enter the GC fight again. Both he and Fabio would take free roles now, maybe go for a stage win or two if everything went well.
Today was not that day. Nothing went particularly well. Again.
Fabio had started the stage optimistically, eager to show everyone what he was capable of doing if he was allowed to go for himself. He tried to stay close to the front all day, representing the team, but of course also showcasing himself.
But as soon as the first attacks started flying, and the pace increased, he realized that he didn't have it either. He was still stronger than Vincenzo, but not at all on the level he thought and hoped. He tried to hang on for a while, but it was no use. Soon, he sat up. He just wanted to get this stage over with.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]The attack was a bit stronger than Joaquim had expected. Pierre Rolland was riding an exceptional race so far, he had to admit that. But it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.
He went out of the saddle to accelerate himself. Few of his rivals could even follow that initial move. Over the next few hundred meters, he tried to get rid of the rest of them by wearing them down with constant changes of rhythm: Brief accelerations were followed by more moderat sections, all the while keeping the duo up front in sight.
Daniel Martin and Alejandro Valverde were the only ones who kept up. No sign of Pinot or Bardet, Contador and Quintana were the last ones to lose contact, and again, Valverde left his designated leader behind. But that wasn't Joaquim's concern. With the flamme rouge in sight, he accelerated again and caught up with Rolland and Froome.
He went past them, tested if they were cooked, but both quickly went out of the saddle and stayed with him, they obviously had some energy left. But Joaquim was fine with the selection anyway.
He focused on the final sprint instead. Alejandro Valverde went to the front early, Joaquim speculated he might be keener on some more time between him and Quintana. Either way, he accepted the invite, stayed on his wheel and came around to cross the line first of this group, third of the stage.
It had been a good day, a real show of strength. He had controlled the race with relative ease, put some time on Contador and Quintana. He was ready for more. But the Pyrenees were pretty much over, tomorrow was the rest day. And he hated it.
Purito is doing well with the malliot jaune. But Valverde looks threatening.
Pierre is also doing great even though he crashed.
Fabio looks like he must go for stage wins?
Directe Energie must probably count on Coquard and breakaways
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]Joaquim hated rest days. This one even more. He had felt incredibly good over the past few days, the yellow jersey was further proof of that. At the moment, he thought the recuperation would help his rivals much more than him.
But there was nothing he could do about it. He had watched the finale of the European Championships last night, albeit without any emotional investment. He hadn't been able to watch much of the tournament, of course, and after Spain had been eliminated, the rest of his interest had mostly faded.
As he went for a training ride the next morning though, he noticed the effect France's defeat had. The atmosphere was chastened everywhere he went, only the receptionist at the hotel had a smile on his face as he reported that Rui Costa had been seen running around the building wearing nothing but a Portuguese flag wrapped around his hips late after the match.
Joaquim spent the rest of the day trying to take his mind off the race. He called his wife, played a few rounds of cards with his team mates and went for a short run later in the evening. But nothing could really divert his attention from the next day. He just wanted to get back on the road.
But he was really happy, and the big smiles on the faces of his riders only added to it. Today had been a relief for everyone, because even though they still hadn't achieved their goal of a stage win, they had come closer than ever.
And it was thanks to Bryan Coquard. He had been showing signs of his strength a few days ago, but today he also nailed his timing. Well, almost.
In the end, it was enough for a great second place, as just Peter Sagan was able to outsprint him. And while a second place isn't a result to be remembered for too long, it can still serve as a much needed morale booster for a team lacking much sense of achievement lately. And maybe even as a sign for more.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/UFIcaqd.png[/img-r]Since the rest day, it seemed like everyone in the pack just wanted to slowly building up rhythm again. A few riders got away on the early attacks, there was little resistance in the pack.
Joaquim was glad that the pace wasn't too high. He still felt a little rusty. Alexander Kristoff told him that he felt really good, but Joaquim didn't want to waste any team resources on this flat stage, and he wasn't keen on an increase in pace either.
As no other team felt obligated to chase, the stage went to the breakaway. Unfortunate for the Norwegian, as he was in fact the strongest of the pack. After the stage, he complained about not having the full support of the team. Joaquim let him grumble a little.
He could understand him, but Alexander would get over it. He had increased his lead in the points classification. He would have to be content with that for now. There were more important things the team had to worry about.
Peter Sagan
John Degenkolb
Alexander Kristoff
Mark Cavendish
Caleb Ewan
Bryan Coquard
Sam Bennett
Joaquim Rodriguez
Bauke Mollema
Nairo Quintana
Fabio Aru
Bob Jungels
Michal Kwiatkowski
Rui Costa
Fabian Cancellara
Eduardo Sepulveda
Simon Spilak
Yury Trofimov
Merhawi Kudus
Philippe Gilbert
Alexey Lutsenko
