Finally! After a week riding through west-France in flat and hilly stages, we have the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France. It’s basically a one-climb stage, but that climb is Port de Bales.
Wiesenhof didn’t have an easy stage yesterday, with Lutsenko and Sagan attacking all-day, but today both the team and the race leader, Taaramae, will have to show their full strenght. Spilak should be the biggest threat to retain his lead, but Taaramae might remember the only time both rode together in this season, in Liechenstein, where Taaramae took an impressive win. The riders that currently sit on the podium places, Phinney and Gesink, will be also looking to steal that Yellow Jersey, although being weaker in the mountains might end up with them losing time today
The stage is about to start in Pamiers!
Remembering how they have ridden all race, it’s not a surprise to see both Lutsenko and Sagan attacking from the start of the stage. Both riders have opted for fighting KoM instead of trying to hold on a high place in GC. As initially they were the only 2 riders to have attacked, Wiesenhof didn’t chase them, a completely different approach to yesterday
Five more riders have joined the puncheur duo. The biggest name is Dominik Nerz, who has been injured since he crashed on S2. It’s clearly visible that he isn’t fully recovered, as he was the one who suffered the most to reach the leading group. Apart from the German climber, Nooytens, Pedrero, Siriwardena and De Luna are the other riders in the breakaway. Before the first climb of the day, which is placed less than 20 km away from the start, the seven riders already have 3 minutes on the bunch
Lutsenko won easily that Cat.4 KoM, ahead of Pedrero. Sagan was so badly-placed at the start of the sprint for the points that even with an impressive kick-off, he couldn’t get more than the third place
Cote de Carla-Bayle - Cat. 4
Lutsenko 5
Pedrero 3
Sagan 1
Pichon and Borges, the last men standing of yesterday’s breakaway have decided a little late that they also want to be part of today’s breakaway. But Aker and Haute Route - without any apparent reason - aren’t willing to let them go. This move has also provoked that the gap the breakaway had before is gone
After a few kms of chase, the teams that led the chase suddenly stopped working, making the original breakaway to gain some margin. In the back of the bunch there has been a crash involving a few riders, with the biggest names involved being Scarponi and Brown
The most obvious sign that neither Sagan or Lutsenko care about GC is that they didn’t try to get any bonus seconds in the two intermediate sprints of the stage, even when they also miss on some points for the Green Jersey. Although Lutsenko won the second sprint just for being taking his turn in that moment
Intermediate Sprint - Clermont
Siriwardena 6
Pedrero 4
Nooytens 2
Intermediate Sprint - Saint-Girons
Lutsenko 6
Borges 4
Pichon 2
It was expected that a breakaway which includes two riders in the top6 of GC would never be allowed to have a big margin, but Wiesenhof and Festina are doing their best to not let them get a gap over 3 minutes, and while there’s still 100 km left in the stage, the 9 riders in front only have now 2 minutes of margin
It’s time for the first proper climb of the day, Portet d’Aspet, a Cat.2 climb. Sagan believes that at the current pace they will be caught soon, and puts a high rhythm from the base of the climb. This obviously means that Nooytens is quickly dropped, and the worse climbers left also suffer a lot. In a very close battle for the points, the Slovak is able to win the 10 points of this climb, ahead of Lutsenko. This puts him second in KoM, 24 points behind the Kazakh
Col de Portet d’Aspet - Cat. 2
Sagan 10
Lutsenko 8
Borges 6
Pedrero 4
Nerz 2
In the bunch, things went slower and the gap in the top rised to almost 5 minutes, a gap still managable for the bunch to fight for the stage win
There’s a rather big crash in the descent of this climb in the bunch, which involved a few potential top20 finishers. Pinot, Aru, Brambilla, Kangert, Majka, Carapaz, Herrada, Pernsteiner, Faiers... and again Tenorio. Terrible race so far for the Spanish climber. He can only hope to recover to join some breakaway in the second/third week, but if he keeps crashing it’s not going to happen.
Sadly two riders have to say goodbye to the race. Tony Gallopin and Johannes Heider
YELLOW DOWN! Taaramäe has crashed! Dekker and Slagter have crashed with him, as well as riders as Arndt, Barbero, Lowe, Saggiorato, Trentin or Bauhaus. Disaster for the race leader!
Great news! Taaramäe is again on his bike and is trying to gain places in the bunch.
Meanwhile, Festina hasn’t waited for Taaramae to recover his place in the bunch but neither they have gone full gas. They have just set a pace that didn’t allow the breakaway to win a lot of time now
In Col des Ares, another Cat.2 climb, Lutsenko kept proving that he doesn’t want anyone to take the KoM jersey from him, taking another 10 points in the top of the climb, and also showing that he is the strongest rider in the breakaway. A breakaway win is very unlikely today, as with Taaramae’s crash, the other GC contenders will have to test if he is injured in Bales. The seven riders left in the breakaway - Siriwardena and Nooytens have already been caught by the bunch - have only 2 minutes into the bunch, where Wiesenhof is surprisingly setting a very high rhythm.
Col des Ares - Cat. 2
Lutsenko 10
Sagan 8
Borges 6
Nerz 4
Pedrero 2
These seven riders start now Port de Bales, the final and most important climb of the day - and of the race so far. They hold a 3-minute gap to a bunch led by Wiesenhof and Festina
Sagan, Lutsenko, Borges, Pichon, Nerz, Pedrero and De Luna
Not too much is happening in the first part of the climb to Bales. In the breakaway De Luna couldn’t keep up with the rhythm any longer and has been dropped. In the bunch, there are now around 70 riders on it, but it seems like Novak wants to save some energy for himself, in order to fight for a top15 in GC, rather than go full gas for his leader, who seems to want to attack later. The gap to the breakaway with 10 km left in the climb is 2’20
Sagan and Lutsenko are the soul of the breakaway, and while they should be caught by the GC favourites later, they are about to drop the rest of the breakaway. Pichon was dropped 1 km ago, Nerz is being dropped now, and Pedrero and Borges are barely holding on their wheels. In the bunch, Novak is finally setting a high rhythm, which has reduced the main group to only 30 riders, with those who fall before being the best riders dropped, like Brambilla, Tenorio, Slagter and Carapaz. But watch out for the Yellow Jersey. Taaramae has lost some places in the group, and while it might only be that the change of rhythm caught him off-guard, this is not a good sign
And there is the confirmation... Taaramae is dropped from the favourites’ group with almost 6 km left in the climb... Despite wearing sunglasses, we can see how tears are coming out of Rein’s eyes. This is an awful moment in the race, to see the race leader crash out of the lead
Well, coming back to the breakaway group, Borges has been dropped, and with only 4 km left to the summit, they keep a two-minute margin to Spilak’s group. They might not reach the top of the climb alone, but at least they’ll finish the stage with the favourites’ group
Spilak has suddenly become the biggest favourite for the GC win, but he needs to gain some time on both Phinney and Gesink, so he attacks. The first to follow is Amador, but at the time of the Costa Rican’s move, he has already opened a gap to the group
Sagan and Lutsenko are already feeling Spilak’s presence, and with 2,5 km to the summit of Bales, they attack, both for KoM points and stage win. It’s worthy to remember that Sagan is the virtual race leader with the current gaps, and even if Spilak caught him, but couldn’t drop him, the Slovak would take again the race lead he lost in the time trial
Pedrero is quickly dropped, while Spilak is already catching Nerz and Borges, and is 1 minute behind the leading duo. Amador is coming around 30 seconds later than Spilak, but the weirdest thing is the pasivity of the rest of favourites, which is allowing Taaramae to stay a little longer in this group, to limit his losses
Gesink finally makes his move, but the gap to Amador is already over the minute. Really bad decision to wait until now, which will make him to lose an incredible oportunity to take the race lead, as Phinney is also pasive
And that attack wasn’t the best idea for the leading duo, as with still 1’4 km left to the summit, both Sagan and Lutsenko have exploded, while their gap to Spilak and Amador is only 58 seconds
Now everyone wants to attack in the favourites’ group, with Phinney leading Haig, Nibali, Yates, Guldhammer, Dekker, Wellens and Hirt
700 metres to the top of the climb, and Spilak has now caught Sagan and Lutsenko, while Amador is paying the extra effort he did to recover the 40 seconds Spilak once had on him. Remember that Sagan can finish within 20 seconds of Spilak if he finish second or third in the stage, something likely now, to take the GC lead.
Very chaotic situation now in the race, with lots of riders attacking and the breakaway riders being in the middle of the action
Spilak must have thought that it was worthless to do all the descent to Bagneres-de-Luchon on his own, so he didn’t push more in the final 500 metres of the climb, thus allowing Amador to recover, and also Gesink and Phinney to come back to the leading group. Amador won the KoM in Bales.
Port de Bales - HC
Amador 20
Spilak 16
Sagan 14
Gesink 12
Lutsenko 10
Phinney 8
Pedrero 6
Haig 4
Wellens 3
Yates 2
Nibali 1
Lutsenko in troubles! He hasn’t been able to follow Spilak’s rhythm in the early part of the descent, and as Phinney was the only one behind him, the American has lost the others’ wheels. And if he can comeback to the group he is the main favourite for both stage win and to take the GC lead, as he is currently second in GC, 5 seconds ahead of Gesink and 10 of Sagan
Phinney has been able to rejoin the leading group, but Lutsenko hasn’t, and he’s already losing over half a minute, and is going to be caught soon by Yates’ group
Spilak attacks in a flatter part of the descent! And it’s a really good move, as it seems like Phinney is the only one with energy left to try to follow him. In 10 kms if he has good legs he can open a decent gap
Only 5 km to go! Spilak still has a 10-second gap to Phinney, who has opened also a little gap to Gesink, Sagan and Amador
With less than 3 km to the finish, Phinney has caught Spilak. Both will fight for the stage win, while Phinney will be the new race leader for sure, as he has 41 seconds on Spilak in the GC. The other three riders are already losing around 30 second, and if they can’t stop losing so much time, they’ll be in risk of getting caught by Wellens, Haig and Hirt, who are 50 seconds behind them
Spilak leads Phinney under the “Flamme Rouge”. The gap to the chasing trio is almost one minute, which will allow Spilak to move onto the second place in GC
500 metres to go and the stage win battle can’t be tighter, as both riders are in paralell and going at the same speed
Phinney seems to have a little margin with 100 metres left, but he can’t celebrate yet, as Spilak keeps going strong, and the American started his sprint a little earlier...
But that doesn’t matter and Taylor Phinney wins in Bagneres-de-Luchon! As he will also be the new race leader, this will be his 11th day in Yellow in his career, tying Cancellara as the rider with most days in Yellow without having won the race
1’20 later, Sagan wins the sprint for the third place, ahead of Amador and Gesink. Despite missing on the race lead just in the final 5 km of the stage, the Slovak surely wouldn’t have ever dreamt about being in the podium of the Tour de France after the first mountain stage. Amador finally comes back from his dreadful performance in Mur-de-Bretagne, while Gesink loses his podium spot, he is still the “actual” third placed in GC, as Sagan shouldn’t be counted in that fight
Moser is all over the place, as Hirt also wins the sprint for the sixth place in the stage, ahead of Yates and Wellens. They finish 2 minutes behind Phinney. And there’s a slightly chance that the Czech breaks into the top10. And Yates might finally take the U25 jersey as truly his, as the Brit has been wearing it for some days since Lutsenko was also KoM leader (or wearing other jerseys)
Another team with two riders in the top10 of the stage is the wildcard team UBS, as Schelling somehow wins the sprint of the next group, which includes Lutsenko, Guldhammer, Haig, Nibali and Pedrero, who takes a surprising top10 place in the stage for the BotD. These riders will lose around 30 second to the previous group, something that would allow Lutsenko to keep his lead in the U25 standings
Six minutes down the road, a big group arrives to the finish. And on it there are Dekker, Novak, Borges, Nerz, Tenorio and the former race leader Taaramae. This is a very sad way to lose both Yellow Jersey and any TDF win hopes, but hopefully his injured aren’t too severe, and can fight for another stage win later in the race and a top10 GC
There was a crash in the final descent which involved the twice stage winner in the race Ben Swift and former TDF winner Frank Schleck. Will see how this affects to Swift’s performance in future sprint stages
Taylor Phinney is the new race leader! He has a 49-second gap to Spilak and a little more than 1’30 to Sagan and Gesink, while anyone else is more than 3 minutes behind the American
Demare keeps the Green Jersey, while Phinney moves within 25 points to the lead, with Spilak rising to the fourth place, less than 30 points behind the Puma rider
Lutsenko increases his lead in the KoM jersey. Now he has 22 points of advantage to Sagan and 39 to Borges, while anyone else is more than 50 points behind the Kazakh, who also leads the U25 standings, just 20 seconds ahead of Yates.
The battle for the PT title has translated to the TDF, as Festina marginally keeps the lead in the Teams competition ahead of Moser
