Winners
Christophe Riblon
A beautiful victory for the seasoned Frenchman as he took by far the biggest victory of his career, giving the French their first victory of the Tour. Riblon looked strong on the first ascent of Alpe d’Huez, but then went off the road and into a ditch on the descent of the Sarenne before being dropped by Van Garderen on the final climb. However, the AG2R rider rode at his own rhythm as Van Garderen went too deep, and Riblon was able to reel in the struggling American in the final couple of kilometres, giving the team their first victory in the Tour since Riblon’s win at Ax 3 Domaines in 2010.
Nairo Quintana
The best climber on the day, Quintana took advantage of the carnage of the Tour’s queen stage to move himself up to third on GC. The Colombian was the first to respond to Froome’s attacks with 10 km remaining, before riding away from the yellow jersey with Joaquim Rodriguez as Froome began to struggle. With Contador, Kreuziger, and Mollema all suffereing further down the climb, Quintana was able to move onto the podium and is now only twenty seconds behind Contador, and with the Colombian still looking strong as we move into the final few days I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move onto the second step.
Joaquim Rodriguez
After being uncharacteristically quiet for the first two weeks, the Spaniard seems to have ridden himself into form and now seems to be able to climb with Quintana and Froome. Although he wasn’t able to respond to Froome’s initial attacks, Rodriguez rode across to the yellow jersey group, dropping Contador in the process, before pulling clear with Quintana to take fifth on the stage. After losing time at Ax 3 Domaines and Mont St Michel, the Spaniard now finds himself fifth in GC, and with both Contador and Kreuziger within thirty seconds, Rodriguez could yet put himself on the podium in Paris
Losers
Alberto Contador
After being so aggressive for much of the stage, it was Contador’s legs that let him down on the final climb of Alpe d’Huez. Saxo-Tinkoff had been trying to put men up the road for much of the stage, but it was not until the descent of the Col de Sarenne that the team leader went on the attack alongside Kreuziger. However this was a wasted effort after the Spaniard had to change bikes before the final climb, interestingly just after the announcement of an ‘unannounced’ bike weighing. With this in his legs going into the final climb, Contador really suffered on the second half of the Alpe, and would have lost a lot more time on the yellow jersey had it not been for Froome’s weakness. Contador now finds himself in second place, but with Quintana and Rodriguez breathing down his neck, the Spaniard will need two more good days to stay on the podium.
Bauke Mollema
Fourth at the start of the day, Mollema has been struggling with flu for the past few days and was always going to suffer on Alpe d’Huez. He had been looking fragile on Mont Ventoux, and didn’t seem to have found more strength today, being dropped relatively early on the final climb. Mollema ended up losing four minutes to Quintana, and it would have been more had he not been paced up the final 10 km by Robert Gesink. The Dutchman now finds himself almost nine minutes down on Froome, and his new goal will be to hold onto his position in the top ten.
Dan Martin
With a large Irish contingent on the Alpe, Martin would have wanted to put on a show at the front of the race. However instead he was suffering in the first autobus, coming in 25 minutes down on the leaders. Martin now finds himself nineteenth in GC over half an hour down. Perhaps the Irishman can look to get himself in the break on the two remaining Alpine stages, and maybe even pick up a second stage win.
Stage 19 Preview
A brute of an Alpine stage and 204 km, where the road is always going up or down. The worst of the climbing is tackled in the first half of the stage, with the punishing ascents of the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Madeleine. Both of these climbs are very long, 21.6 km and 19.2 km respectively, and will certainly deaden the legs for the rest of the day, as there are still over 120 km and three climbs to tackle after cresting the Madeleine.
None of the remaining climbs can match the Glandon or Madeleine in terms of scale, but both the Col de l’Epice and the Col de la Croix Fry have short sections over 10%, and the Croix Fry is unrelenting in its 7% gradient for its final 6 km.
The descent of the Croix Fry and the run in through La Clusaz and towards Le Grand-Bornard is fairly straight forward. The only difficulty is in the final 500m, where the road kicks up to around 8%, inviting early surges for the line, and possibly creating time small time gaps among the main contenders after such a long stage.
Scenario
Expect a large break to go early on the Col du Glandon, probably including some good climbers who are no longer a threat on GC. Perhaps the likes of Cadel Evans, Pierre Rolland, Rui Costa, and Bart de Clercq will look to get involved.
We might also see aggressive racing from the GC contenders as today’s long stage is the final chance to put any significant time into Froome, and the yellow jersey’s slight sign of weakness yesterday may give the other men hope. On the other hand perhaps the likes of Quintana, Rodriguez, and Contador will be resigned to their fate, and race conservatively to fight for the podium.
Expect a strong group to contest the win in Le Grand Bornand, with such a long stage not playing into the hands of the break.
Stage Win: Alejandro Valverde
Yellow Jersey: Chris Froome
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