The final stage in the Pyrenees was
a brutal one. The riders travelled 145.5km from Pau to the top of the Hors
Category climb of Hautacam. Do not kid yourself; the organizers did not make it
that easy. The riders also traversed the famed Col du Tourmalet before screaming
down the 100kph descent to Hautacam.
Huzarski lead over the Cote de
Benejacq (2.6km, 6.7%) at km 28 and Lars Boom lead over the Cote de Loucrup
(2km, 7%) at km 56. Astana was keeping the breakaway on a tight leash as they
gap was around 4’ over the Loucrup. The breakaway was working well together,
but all that would change once the riders hit the Tourmalet
Highest Peak of the
Pyrenees
The
Col du Tourmalet is a brutal climb at 17.1 km in length and an average gradient
of 7.3%. The riders would climb from the sunny valley into the clouds atop the
Tourmalet. This year the Tourmalet marked the highest elevation crossed in the
Pyrenees and with it came a special prize to the first one across the top. The
winner would get the Souvenir Jacques Goddet award.
The
breakaway hit the base of the Tourmalet with a 3’50” advantage over the
peloton. Immediately EuropCar went to the front of the break and drove the
pace. Chavanel attacked on the lower slopes of the climb, which saw no reaction
from the breakaway riders. Chavanel knew the climb of the Tourmalet very well
having crossed over the top first during a stage of the 2003 Tour.
With
a still brutal 9km to go to the summit Kadri and Nieve came across to Chavanel
and then dropped him as the group behind split to pieces. The chase of Kadri
and Nieve was very disorganized. For the breakaway riders the Col du Tourmalet
was a climb of attrition. Whoever was able to ride a steady tempo to the top
without blowing up would find himself at the front of the race. Astana continued
to ride tempo at the front of the rapidly thinning peloton. It was appearing by
the top of the Tourmalet the peloton would already be down to the elite men of
the sport.
At
the town of La Mongie, 5km from the summit and 50km from the finish, Kadri and
Nieve had a 36” lead over a now formed chasing trio of De Marchi, Huzarski, and
Trofimov. De Marchi is making a case for the most aggressive rider at this
year’s Tour de France. He has been in the breakaway most of the mountain
stages. When the peloton reached La Mongie they were 4’05” behind the leaders.
The
two leaders pushed into the mist of the top of the Tourmalet. Nieve was clearly
the stronger of the two, but was probably keeping Kadri around to help in the
valley between the end of the descent of the Tourmalet and the start of
Hautacam. A bad headwind awaited the riders in the valley today. Biel Kadri
took the award atop the Col du Tourmalet. A long, fast descent awaited the
riders. The chasing trio crossed the top 1’40” down on the lead duo. While, the
peloton came over the top roughly 3’30” in the rears.
Not a Normal Descent
The
descent of the Col du Tourmalet is like nothing in the world. It is nearly 30km
and is wide open. The drop-offs are harrowing and there are no guardrails.
Furthermore, the descent is mostly straight on with only a few switchbacks and
the other few corners are full gas. The speeds on the descent are not for the
weary as speeds average 100kph. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) who last year was in tears
at the bottom of descents unable to deal with speeds, seems cured and has been
descending well.
One
of the better descenders in the peloton Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) decided
to take advantage of the descent and attacked on the downhill of the Tourmalet.
Pinot and Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) where threatening his second overall
placing and both had also been climbing better than him of late. Valverde flew
down the descent picking off dropped riders of the breakaway along the way. He
showed off his bike handling skills as he carved the corners perfectly.
Valverde has a strong team around him and today they had placed two men in the
breakaway. Herrada and Izaguirre heard on their radios that Valverde was coming
and they waited for him so they could pace him to the bottom of Hautacam. When
Valverde caught up to his two teammates his gap over the group containing
Nibali and all of the other GC contenders stretched out to 30”.
As
the leaders, Kadri and Nieve hit the 25km to go banner they held a 1’21” lead
over a now 6-rider chase containing, =Trofimov, De Marchi, Oss, Bakelants,
Simon, and Huzarski. The yellow jersey group had caught Valverde and was now
just 2’52” behind the leaders. Clearly, Nibali wanted to win the stage, making
his mark as the strongest rider in the race.
Hautacam
Hautacam
is one the feared climbs in cycling. It stands tall and at 13.7km in length and
averaging 7.8% it is not a climb for the weary. Plus, a one-worded climb just
sounds mysterious and painful. As the leaders hit the base of the climb with
now only 13.7km to the finish the crowds were immense and loud. Nieve
immediately jumped away from Kadri in pursuit of the stage win Team Sky
desperately needs to salvage this year’s Tour. The chase group blew to shreds
as it also hit the climb. Back in the yellow jersey group Nibali was down to
just one teammate.
As
the GC rider group approached the 10km to go banner they had picked up all of
the riders in the chase group and only Kadri and Nieve remained out front. Then
Chris Horner (Lampre) attacked out of nowhere and was immediately followed by
Nibali. No one else reacted in the group. Horner was way down on the general
classification and Nibali was far enough ahead that everyone else was racing
for the podium. Entering the day places 2-4 were separated by just 42”.
Horner
and Nibali rode steady, but only held about a 15” advantage over the GC
contenders. After a km of sitting on Horner’s wheel in which the duo passed
Kadri, Nibali leapt away in pursuit of his cherry on top. Nibali wanted to
prove he was the best in the race. With 8km remaining to the finish Nibali
passed Nieve and took the lead on the road. Nibali accelerated hard, in the
saddle, past Nieve giving him no chance to catch on.
Rafal
Majka attacked out of the thin GC group in pursuit of saving his Polka Dot
jersey. Majka needed to finish top 6 on the stage if Nibali won in order to
keep the jersey away from Nibali. With 7km to go Nibali was rolling up the
climb with a 53” gap back down to the GC group with Majka 40” down.
Race
for the Podium
Finally,
the race for the podium began, with 5.8 km to go Pinot attacked and immediately
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Peraud jumped across to him. Behind them Leopold
Konig (Netapp), Laurens Ten Dem (Belkin), Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Romain Bardet
(AG2R) and Haimar Zubeldia (Trek) where together, but no one wanted to set the
pace. Where was Alejandro Valverde? He was dropped. Valverde was struggling;
his place on the podium was now in jeapordy.
The
trio of van Garderen, Pinot, and Peraud worked well together and began closing
in on Majka. Valverde kept yo-yoing on and off the other GC group behind as
they worked very poorly together. Up front though it was all Nibali. He motored
along up the climb. He appeared to be in no trouble at all. He shoulders were
steady, his cadence was steady, his breathing was steady. There was no stopping
“The Shark of Messina” today.
With
2.3km remaining in the last mountain stage of this year’s Tour Nibali had
nearly 1’30” over the Pinot chase group, which had now caught Majka. Majka
desperately wanted that Polka Dot jersey and clenched his jaw to hold on to the
group as Pinot drove the pace. Valverde’s group was now over 30” behind and
with that meant Valverde had conceded his second place overall to Pinot.
Vincenzo
Nibali crossed the line and pointed at the Team Astana logo on his yellow
jersey. He had won his fourth stage of this year’s Tour and did it in
dominating fashion, attacking low on the climb and driving all the way to the
finish. Majka sprinted to the line for second place, but was just beaten out by
Pinot. They crossed the line officially 1’10” behind Nibali with Peraud and van
Garderen finishing seconds later. Bardet broke away from his group in the final
km and finished 1’53” down on Nibali, losing more time to Pinot in the fight
for the Best Young Rider’s White Jersey. Valverde, Ten Dem, Konig, Zubeldia,
Mollema came in 1’59” behind Nibali. Valverde not only lost his second place
overall, but he had slipped to fourth overall, off of the podium. Nibali now
held a more than 7’ advantage, but places 2-4 got even tighter with them
separated by just 15”.
Note: Jose Rojas (Movistar) was disqualified from the tour
during the stage for spending too much time behind a vehicle on the Col du
Tourmalet.
Stage
18 Results:
Stage Winner: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
Yellow Jersey: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
Green Jersey: Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
White Jersey: Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)
Polka Dot Jersey: Rafal Majka (Tinkoff)
Top
10 GC:
1. Vincenzo
Nibali (Astana) 80:45:45
2. Thibaut
Pinot (FDJ) +7’10”
3. Jean-Christophe
Peraud (AG2R) +7’23”
4. +7’25”
5. Romain
Bardet (AG2R) +9’27”
6. Tejay
van Garderen (BMC) +11’34”
7. Bauke
Mollema (Belkin) +13’56”
8. Laurens
Ten Dem (Belkin) +14’15”
9. Leopold
Konig (Netapp) +14’37”
10. Haimar
Zubeldia (Trek) +16’25”
No comments :
Post a Comment