A Countries Hero: Christophe
Riblon Wins Queen Stage
Frenchman Christophe Riblon (AG2R) won the Queen stage of
this year’s Tour De France, surviving out of a breakaway that completely
shattered during the two ascents of L’Alpe d’Huez. American Tejay Van Garderen
(BMC) finished a disappointing second, after he had been leading for most of
the final ascent, but was caught by Riblon with two km to go.
After the stage Riblon shed tears of joy saying, “It’s
unbelievable.” Clearly it was a victory for his team as he added, “Right from
the start of the Tour, we set our hearts on a stage victory.”
Meanwhile, Chris Froome (Sky) narrowly avoided a horrendous
meltdown as he conceded more than one minute to Nairo Quintana (MoviStar).
Luckily for him the other contenders suffered and he actually came out of the
day extending his lead. After the stage Froome said “[Today was] not a huge
setback. Richie was definitely feeling a lot better than I was today.”
A Race for the Break
The 18th stage of the 2013 Tour De France was a
leg killer. The stage was 177.5 km starting in the town of Gap and ending on
the famed L’Alpe d’Huez. The challenge was in the 6 categorized climbs on the
day, twice up Alpe d’Huez. The stage all included the harrowing descent down
the Col du Serenne, with its narrow road and bumpy roads; it was the ultimate
test of a rider’s bike handling ability.
The stage started incredibly fast with the Col de Manse (2)
right off the bat. The riders hit the climb very hard and immediately the
peloton shattered with riders attacking off the front and getting dropped off
the back. Saxo-Tinkoff was at the center of it all driving the pace and sending
riders off the front. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff) was doing most of the
animation, forcing Froome to come out and play early. Sky looked very shaky
early, leaving Froome with only Richie Porte (Sky) by his side. Ryder Hesjedal
(Garmin-Sharp) crested the climb first, but it would all come back together on
the descent.
As the peloton transitioned to the second climb of
the day, the Ramp du Motty (3), a breakaway finally formed. It was composed of
nine riders and included Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Jens Voigt
(RadioShack), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ), Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Andrey Amador
(MoviStar), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma), Lars Boom (Belkin), and Tom
Danielson (Garmin-Sharp). Back in the peloton riders were engrossed in
conversation and Michael Rogers was at the center of it. He was seen talking
with Froome and then Porte. Porte was very animated talking with him, probably
not believing they had just gone up that challenging climb.
Saxo Sets the
Groundwork
Saxo-Tinkoff, the team of Alberto Contador, was clearly on a
mission: to attack Chris Froome and gain time. At the base of the of the Ramp
du Motty, Nicolas Roche and Sergio Paulinho jumped out of the field. It would
be a long chase as the break was over 5’00’’ up the rode. Possibly Saxo was
setting up a scenario for Contador to bridge to his teammates on the final
climb because there is always power in numbers.
Tom Danielson crested the top of the climb first with the
Saxo-Tinkoff duo coming over the top 5’15’’ behind the lead nine riders and the
peloton a further two minutes behind them with 100 km still to race.
Over the next climb, the Col d’Ornon (2), the leaders gap to
the two chasers stayed constant at around the five-minute mark with Roche doing
most of the work and the peloton now more than eight minutes in the rear.
On the descent everyone started to get a little bit nervous
as they made their way to the next climb of the day. L’Alpe d’Huez. The
breakaway split into two groups of four and five, respectively, as they came
upon the intermediate sprint, won by Lars Boom, right before the base of the
climb.
L’Alpe d’Huez: The
First Time
As the breakaway hit the base of the famed mountain they were
all together and the fans that had been waiting days for them were going
ballistic. As the Saxo-Tinkoff duo hit the base of the climb, Paulinho gave
Roche a pat on the back as a thank you for the pace making he did and lifted
his pace, quickly dropping Roche. The Sky led peloton hit the climb rather
gently, everybody cautious and perhaps waiting for the next time up to attack.
Up front Tejay Van Garderen was attacking his breakaway
companions with Christophe Riblon in pursuit. The breakaway was now all over
the mountain in shambles, as was the peloton. Many of the sprinters were seen
going backwards as was Dan Martin who was 10th overall to at the
start of the day. He would finish the day in the gruppetto, losing any hope of
a high placing in Paris. Team Sky continued to ride steady up the mountain
perhaps just hard enough so that no one could attack, eventually bringing back
both Saxo riders.
As Tejay Van Garderen reached the top of the climb Riblon
and Moreno Moser caught up with him. Moser crested the climb first. Meanwhile, down
the rode riders began attacking out of the peloton. Thomas Voeckler and Pierre
Rolland (EuropCar) formed a chase group with Laurent Didier (RadioShack) and
Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil). Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) soon joined them
along with Andy Schleck (RadioShack). These attacks garnered no reaction from
the boys in black and blue of team Sky. Andrew Talansky (Garmin) tried to
bridge up to the chase group, but to no avail.
As the chase group crested the summit of L’Alpe the first
time they had shed Voeckler and Didier and were 7’20’’ behind the lead trio,
with many riders from the breakaway still surviving between them and the front
group. The peloton crested the summit 8’20’’ behind the leaders.
A Nasty Little Bugger
The Col de Serenne (2) was a nasty little climb. Riblon and
Van Garderen shed Moser before reaching the top, with Van Garderen reaching the
crest first. Moser was clearly suffering, his face an image of pain. Back at
the peloton there had been a changing of the guard as MoviStar took control at
the front. Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin) who started the day 6th overall
was dropped on the climb. He would rejoin on the descent, but then get dropped
again falling all the way to 10th overall by day’s end. The chase
group, including Andy Schleck, crested the top 6’04’’ back with the peloton
7’45’’ back.
Harrowing Descent
The descent off the Col de Serenne was nerve racking; with
narrow roads and tight corners it was not for the light of heart. Riblon and
Van Garderen flew down the descent, but suddenly Van Garderen could not pedal
his bike, his gears had jammed. As he waited by the rode side for a new bike,
Moser flew by him and caught back up with Riblon. In the chase group Pierre
Rolland was having trouble. Not able to take the corners as fast as the others,
he was getting dropped.
In the peloton Roman Krueziger and Alberto Contador
(Saxo-Tinkoff) attacked. Suddenly up front Riblon overshot a corner and rode
into a muddy ditch. He did not crash, but he had to dismount and climb through
the mud to get back on the rode. Riblon chased hard and rejoined Moser as they
passed under the 25 km to go banner. Meanwhile, Van Garderen was still 30
seconds behind trying to get back with the leaders. The chase group had lost
Rolland, but picked up Sylvain Chavanel who had been left out in no man’s land
with break absolutely falling to pieces on the first ascent of L’Alpe d’Huez.
With 17 km to the finish line Van Garderen made contact with the lead duo,
while the peloton, led by team MoviStar reeled, Contador and Krueziger back in.
Four km from the base of the final ascent of L’Alpe d’Huez, Van Garderen made
contact with the two leaders. The chase group containing Andy Schleck was still
more than six minutes behind, and the peloton more than eight minutes back.
A World of Pain
The lead trio hit the bottom of the L’Alpe and rode into a
tunnel of noise. The crowds seemed bigger and louder than on the first climb of
the mountain. Riblon launched off the front as Jens Voight, who had been riding
alone, was about to make contact with the leaders. Only Van Garderen was able
to follow Riblon, leaving Moser to ride his own pace to the top. As Voight
passed Moser, Van Garderen dropped Riblon, determined to ride to the win solo.
MoviStar drove the peloton towards the base of climb,
picking up ruminants of the breakaway, and 7’00’’ behind the leaders, riders
began flying off the front. One of those riders was the Spaniard Alejandro
Valverde (MoviStar). Meanwhile, Porte steadily led Froome past all of the
riders that had attacked. The peloton had been whittled down to a very select
group with most of the contenders there.
Up front Van Garderen continued to push through the crowds. As he came
upon the 10 km-to-go banner he held a 4’20’’ gap on the yellow jersey group
containing all of the GC men and 15’’ on Riblon, including Roman Krueziger who
started the day third overall was getting unhitched at the back.
Suddenly Froome put in a hard acceleration and the young Nairo
Quintana (MoviStar) bridged up easily. With the help of a teammate, Joaquin
Rodriguez made contact with Froome, while Porte made contact with the group as
well. That acceleration shed Contador and many others alike.
Van Garderen continued to push on, trying to win a stage to
salvage the disappointing Tour BMC was having. With 7 km to go, the yellow
jersey group was 3’58 behind him and Riblon was losing more ground, now 25’’
back. At the 5 km-to-go banner Van Garderen’s lead on Riblon was now 37’’ and
still 3’30 back to the quartet of Rodriquez, Quintana, Porte, and Froome.
Contador was a further minute behind them and now alongside Krueziger. His
thoughts of a last ditch effort to win the Tour, vanishing. Then Froome was
calling for the team car, did he have a flat? No. He wanted a gel, but feeding
had closed with 6 km left to go in the race. Froome sent Porte back to the team
car to take a feed so he wouldn’t be penalized. Porte and Froome would each get
docked 20 seconds at the end of the day and fined 200 dollars for taking an
illegal feed. As Froome suffered and ate the gel, Rodriguez put in an attack
and only Quintana could follow this time; Froome simply was suffering badly.
As the leaders came within the last 3 km it was Van Garderen
also was suffering badly and pedaling squares. Riblon, who was motivated by his
home country’s fans, had found a second wind and was closing in fast on the
American only 20’’ behind. At the 2 km-to-go banner the catch was made and Riblon
immediately attacked past. The American could only look on as the stage win
went up the rode.
Christophe Riblon powered across the line throwing his arms
in the air, tears in his eyes. He not only won this stage for himself, but for
the country of France. Van Garderen crossed the line a minute later, clearly
distraught about what had happened so close to the finish. Next came Quintana
and Rodriguez. They had gained valuable time on Froome
and both would move up on the general classification with Quintana into 3rd
place overall. Chris Froome rolled across the line alongside his lieutenant
Richie Porte. He conceded a minute to Quintana, but gained time on everyone
else. The Belkin boys, Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam were the big losers on
the day. Both lost massive time and slipped places in the overall.
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