Stage favourites for the first mountain stage of the race are Contador Alarcon Phinney
Mont Ventoux is also known for its open landscape climbing the last kilometers off the mountain. Luckily there’s no wind to speak about at the start, meaning it will be all about the riders on this beautiful day!
It’s an aggressive start to the stage as several riders try their luck for the breakaway. But Wikipedia
is having none of it and reels them back in. 147 kilometers to go and 1 kilometer before the intermediate sprint we have a lead group of 10, just 40 seconds ahead of the peloton. The riders up front are Walker Tschopp Rosch Dumoulin Moinard Ortega Howes Di Maggio Rolland Kreuziger
Walker
wins the intermediate sprint as he’s attacking through it followed by Ortega Howes
Though, they’re all caught, meaning most of them just launch again. 124 kilometers left to race of the stage, and we finally have our breakaway off the day. It’s Rolland Di Maggio Dumoulin Howes Roux Tschopp Ortega Anza
being able to get a gap of three minutes back to the peloton.
Tschopp
is the only rider in the breakaway with mountain points from previous stages, and he starts his campaign for the polkadot well, claiming the win in the first mountain sprint with 84 kilometers left. The gap back to the peloton is up to 5’15.
Back in the peloton it’s the challengers team’s leading the chase, as Aker-MOT Project 1t4i
have taken the responsibility to chase with Wikipedia
closely watching.
The second and final intermediate sprint comes with 49 kilometers left, and no interest is shown by the breakaway riders. It’s Di Maggio
leading through as the peloton has cut the gap to only three minutes.
Tschopp
is first to summit Col de la Madeleine as well, giving him 11 mountain points and the provisional lead in that competition. Though, with 20 points given to the winner at the top of Mont Ventoux, everything is still to be decided.
25 kilometers left and their lead is down to 2’20.
Col de la Madeleine is the vorspiel for Mont Ventoux, and it’s a good one! One of the favourites for the stage win Alarcon
attacks on this fourth categorized climb, and he’s followed by König Panayotov Nerz
They quickly get a gap of 35 seconds.
Valls Eastman Valverde
also have a go at it in the short descent following Madeleine, but all these attacks see Wikipedia
come to the front and they shut them all down.
König Scarponi Valverde
try again, but they aren’t really getting far with Elissonde Pinot Mai
keeping things under control for race leader Phinney
And we’re off! 16.3 kilometers left as the breakaway starts to climb Mont Ventoux. The beast of the Provence! Immediately Howes Roux Tschopp
attack and get a 20 seconds lead on the other riders up front.
As the strong going train of Wikipedia
team mates catch most of the escapees Martin Valverde
attacks! This could be a good move as the peloton is forced to get past some traffic.
Their attack catch all the breakaway riders, but they couldn’t make it last and are back in the peloton.
Though, there are really fireworks now, as Contador Alarcon
attack! They’re the two best climbers in this race, and now they’re looking to co-operate to get a gap at the bunch!
It’s 13.000 meters of suffering left for the two riders in front, who have pulled a gap of 20 seconds back to the others.
Wikipedia
can’t shut this one down! Eastman Martin
realizes that and attack when the front two have a gap of a solid 35 seconds.
10.3 kilometers to go and Valverde
has attacked once again, this time being able to get a gap of 15 seconds back to the other favourites, where Van Den Broeck Phinney Spilak
lead the chase. Though, they’re really not cutting it as Contador Alarcon
up front are 45 seconds ahead of them and 30 seconds ahead of Valverde!
Van Den Broeck
must be super strong today as he pulls Valverde
back 8.8 kilometers away from home. His strong turn also leads to a very select chase group, as it’s only Phinney Spilak Martin
that are able to follow!
Sicard
is giving it everything, but he can see a gap forming to the mentioned riders.
Martin
is also forced to let go with 7.6 kilometers left of climbing, meaning we have Contador Alarcon
at the very front, 44 seconds ahead of Van Den Broeck Phinney Spilak Valverde
Martin
is 21 seconds behind that elite group of four with Sicard
fighting remarkably well. He’s 11 seconds behind the Irishman.
Then comes Eastman Scarponi Valls Keinath
They’re 30 seconds behind Sicard, which means they’re already 1’45 behind the leading duo with 7600 meters left of climbing!
Panayotov Krasnoperov Schwab Pinot Augustyn De la Fuente
are the next group on the climb, but they’re a massive 1’30 behind Eastman’s
group.
This really begs the question; where on earth is Gesink?
Well, here’s the answer. It’s a major disaster for the Dutch climber. Gesink
was poorly placed starting the climb, and he’s now desperately chasing 4’28 behind the leading duo. There’s no doubt he has thrown away his good overall placing here. In addition to all the mentioned riders he also has Lloret
just in front of him.
6400 meters and there are no attacks coming from the chasing group as it’s now Spilak
chasing hard to get some seconds back on Contador Alarcon
Valverde
is dropped in the process, but they’re still 40 seconds behind.
And look at this! The riders are out in the open landscape and Contador
waves Alarcon
goodbye, as he rides clear of the Venezuelan 5.9 kilometers from the top. His lead back to the chasing trio is still 43 seconds. If he continues this riding he could be a serious test for Phinney’s
overall lead!
Phinney
realizes the big threat coming from Contador
and he picks up the chase himself with five kilometers to go! But he has a lot of work to do, as they’re 40 seconds behind the determined Spaniard up front!
The American’s pace is too much for Van Den Broeck
who is forced to let the two others ride away with 4400 meters left as he sees his own name painted at the road.
Phinney
has clearly picked up the pace as he catches Alarcon
4.1 kilometers away from home. And the gap to Contador
is definitely coming down as the chapel atop of Mont Ventoux comes into view. The trio is only 20 seconds behind now!
Phinney
is just amazing! 3700 meters left, and he rides away from Spilak Alarcon
and is about to join Contador
up front! We saw the American doing similar things in Giro d’Italia, knowing his limits and pacing himself according to his own abilities. He’s looking for the same tactic today, and by the look of it, he’s doing it perfect once again!
Behind the front four Van Den Broeck
is doing very well, only chasing 17 seconds behind Spilak Alarcon
He has distanced Valverde
with no less than 46 seconds, looking to improve his current fifth place in the general classification.
Then follow two fighters in Martin Sicard
with Martin
being two minutes behind Phinney in the lead.
Gesink
has accelerated on the climb, now being 4’05 behind the stage leader. He’s chasing 30 seconds behind a group consisting of Keinath Scarponi Valls Eastman
Up front Phinney
is unstoppable! His advantage gets bigger with every turn at the pedal by the American. 1500 meters left of suffering and he’s 35 seconds ahead of Contador and 50 seconds in front of Spilak and Alarcon.
Flamme rouge for the race leader! Phinney
will extend his overall lead here, question is if he also has decided and bagged the race.
Spilak Alarcon
starts to sprint for third place as they’ve managed to keep Contador
at 15 seconds. Those bonus seconds could be vital for the overall placings behind Phinney!
There’s no doubt! This is race leader Phinney’s
big day! He has outclassed the rest of the peloton, as he arrives the top of Mont Ventoux solo, claiming an outstanding win!
Contador
looked very good for the stage win before the American started to pace himself, and the Spaniard must be pleased with second place. The clock shows 55 seconds lost to Phinney as he crosses the line.
Spilak
wins the sprint for third and eight bonus seconds, while Alarcon
must admit he wasn’t better than fourth place today. Though, you have to credit the wild card rider. His aggressive racing contributed to making this stage incredibly hard all the way from Col de la Madeleine.
Van Den Broeck
must be pleased with his ride, coming home fifth, as the unofficial clock shows a loss of only 1’37 to Phinney. That’s about 20 seconds behind the duo just in front of him, and another ~17 seconds slower than Contador.
The beast of Provence really proved itself as one of the toughest mountains today, as Valverde
comes home for sixth around 2’20 behind the stage winner. It’s a strong ride from the Spaniard as he attacked multiple times before Contador’s attack went clear. You must ask if you could have done more if he had tried to save his energy a bit more.
Martin
arrives the finishing line as the seventh best rider, a massive three minutes behind Phinney. That should be good enough to move him well inside the top 10 in the GC.
Sicard
ends a brave ride in eight. The unofficial clock shows a gap of 3’35 to the American stage winner. This must have been an inspiring ride for the Frenchman, perhaps he dreams of winning on this legendary mountain later in his career?
Gesink
sprints home for ninth, having been able to overtake the group he chased. Scarponi
was the only one able to follow him and he thus rounds off the top 10. They’re about 4’35 behind Phinney.
Valls Eastman Keinath
are then coming home about five minutes later than the American stage winner. They’ve all given their best, but they were simply not strong enough to follow the best climbers today.
Stage results
1
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
5h06'58
2
Alberto Contador
Festina-Canal+
+ 49
3
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
+ 1'07
4
Jose Alarcon
Team Bintang
s.t.
5
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
+ 1'29
6
Alejandro Valverde
Koenigsegg
+ 2'15
7
Daniel Martin
Pendleton's
+ 2'59
8
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
+ 3'32
9
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
+ 4'30
10
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
11
Rafael Valls
Santander
+ 4'55
12
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
