Winners
Matteo Trentin
After spending the past two weeks working for Mark Cavendish, the Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider was given an opportunity to ride for himself for a day, and picked up Italy’s first stage win of the 2013 Tour de France. While Michael Albasini was most people’s favourite once Julien Simon had been brought back, the Swiss rider had been at the forefront of the action, bringing back moves on the Cote de la Duchere and forming counterattacks in the final 10 km. In contrast, Trentin had been following wheels and conserving energy, a successful tactic as shown by Gerald Ciolek at Milan-San Remo this year. This meant that the Italian seemed to be the freshest in the final 200m, sprinting from a long way back in the group to overhaul Albasini on the line.
Andrew Talansky
Another rider who followed Trentin’s tactics of biding his time, it was only Talansky’s inferior sprinting ability that meant he was only able to land third on the stage. However, while a stage victory was out of reach, today did give Talansky’s GC ambitions a great boost. Seventeenth at the start of the day, the American now sits in twelfth, only six seconds off Rodriguez in tenth place. I was slightly surprised that we didn’t see AG2R or Katusha come to the front of the peloton to reduce the gap in the final 20km, at is their riders who the Garmin-Sharp rider will now threaten. Nonetheless, Talansky now finds himself in a much better position ahead of tomorrow, and gives Garmin-Sharp more to play with now they have two men challenging for the top ten.
Chris Froome
After yesterday’s chaotic stage, the yellow jersey will be more than happy to have an easy day today. Although Sky spent the second half of the stage on the front of the peloton, the pace was never high and they should have plenty in reserve for tomorrow. With Siutsou and Thomas doing most of the work on the front, Peter Kennaugh and Richie Porte were never called into service, and the two men who should be Froome’s key lieutenants should be well rested ahead of Mont Ventoux tomorrow. The only question will be whether they can avoid another jour sans like the second day in the Pyrenees.
Losers
Euskaltel, Lampre, and Vacansoleil
The three teams who missed out on today’s break, none of the three have got anything from the first two weeks of the Tour, indeed if you weren’t paying attention then you could be forgiven for not realising that Lampre were even in the race. It’s clear that all three teams realised that it was a day for the break, with Euskaltel chasing hard early to bring the 18-man group back, before moves by Hoogerland, Cunego, and Oroz to attempt to bridge across. None of these moves were successful, and all of these teams will have to look to the Alpine stages to attempt to salvage their Tours.
Julien Simon
For much of the final 15 km, it looked as if Simon’s excellent move over the brow of the Cote de la Duchere would take him all the way to the line. However, the Frenchman’s effort caught up with him on the long, wide boulevards of Lyon, and the catch was made within the final kilometre, more through Simon’s tiredness than the presence of any concerted chase from the group behind. Sojasun will be disappointed not to notch up their first Tour stage win, but the sponsors might be content with the publicity today, especially with Simon picking up the combativity award, and the smallest team in the race will again look to attack in the Alps to justify their wildcard invitation.
Tejay Van Garderen
The American came into the Tour as the favourite for the white jersey, but his lack of form was again on show today as he dropped off the back of the break in the final few kilometres to come home 1:35 down. Van Garderen attacked on the Cote de la Duchere, but was chased down by Albasini before Simon countered over the brow of the hill. If the 24 year old had been in form, then I would have expected him to go again on the Cote de la Croix-Rousse, but instead he was nowhere to be seen, and ended up being dropped as the group brought back Simon. Expect him to look to go on the offensive again in the Alps, but Van Garderen clearly hasn’t got the form, and will need to look at his preparation to work out where it all went wrong before coming back to France next year.
Stage 16 Preview
The longest stage of the race at a brutal 242.5 km, today is all about the second summit finish of this year’s race to Mont Ventoux. There is little to say about the Giant of Provence that has not already been said, but the combination of a gradient that regularly creeps into double figures and the high winds that often batter the riders on the second half of the climb always makes for spectacular racing.
The first 200 km of the stage is spent skirting along the edge of the Rhone valley, with a stiff northerly wind pushing the pace up. As the riders go through the sprint point at Malaucene they will see signs for Mont Ventoux to the left, but instead continue straight on, skirting round the mountain to tackle from the Bedoin
Scenario
With a relatively easy day today and a rest day tomorrow, we should see spectacular racing as the likes of Contador, Mollema, and Quintana seek to reduce Froome’s lead going into the final week.
The big question all week has been the strength of the Sky team, however Kennaugh and Porte have been taking it reasonably easy over the last few days, and I would expect them to be able to stay with the main group for at least half of the final climb.
But even without his teammates, Froome still seems to be the strongest man in the race. No doubt he will be put on the back foot by Saxo-Tinkoff and Movistar, but I really can’t see him losing more than a few seconds, time that he can afford to lose given his handsome advantage.
Stage Win: Nairo Quintana
Yellow Jersey: Chris Froome
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