Stadium finishes have a long and honourable tradition in the Tour de France, which finished at the Parc des Princes in Paris from 1903 to 1967, and the Vélodrome Municipale in Vincennes from 1968 to 1974, with a plethora of finishes on the outdoor and semi-outdoor velodromes that were once the pride of most French regional towns.
After Friday’s road race stage south out of the Alps, won by Edvald Boasson Hagen, Saturday’s time trial through the streets of Marseille marks a return to the Tour’s roots, with the most likely outcome a relentless ride by the race leader Chris Froome to seal a probable fourth title in five years.
It is half a century since the Tour visited the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille – then known as the Stade-Velodrome Municipale, and then too there was a British angle, if a more poignant one. Tom Simpson crossed the line there in seventh on 12 July 1967, finishing one place behind the rapid Dutchman Gerben Karstens in a bunch sprint behind six escapees. It was the last time Simpson crossed a finish line; the next day he would die on the slopes of Mont Ventoux.
The Stade Vélodrome has not seen cycling since 1985, when the shallow bankings of the cycle track were ripped up under the aegis of Olympique Marseille’s then owner Bernard Tapie, ironically enough at a time when Tapie was heavily involved in cycling with Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault in his La Vie Claire team. With a crowd of over 60,000 in the stands, the spectacle as the Tour’s cyclists start and finish should be spectacular.
In the best Tour tradition, that this is not a paying spectacle, the tickets were available free of charge, although in keeping with another Tour tradition that nothing is left devoid of a sponsor’s branding if it can be flogged off to the highest bidder, the Vélodrome will bear the name of a mobile phone company for the day.
Slotted between a Celine Dion concert and the opening of the French football league season, the 22km contre-la-montre, should, on form in this Tour so far, complete Froome’s fourth Tour win, and Team Sky’s fifth in six years.
There is some question over what skinsuit Froome will use but in spite of the narrow margin separating the top three – Froome’s lead is only 23sec to Romain Bardet, 29sec to Rigoberto Urán – a look at the gaps that Froome opened up in the 14km time trial three weeks ago in Düsseldorf does not bode well for the aspirations of either the second-placed Frenchman or the third-placed Colombian.
In Germany, albeit on a course turned into something of a lottery by wet roads, Froome opened a 39sec gap on Bardet in the 14km, and 51sec on Urán. That suggests only a puncture or a crash can disrupt his progress but the margins are sufficiently tight that even a couple of mis-taken bends could suddenly make the race interesting. That may be a high-pressure scenario where Sky would expect their leader to thrive but it would be inaccurate to say the weight is on Bardet and Urán’s shoulders. Froome has absolutely no margin for error.
As ever with Sky, there may be a touch of controversy, in this case depending on which skinsuits they choose as the dimpled variant their riders wore in Düsseldorf was believed to have helped them dominate the stages. The understanding on Friday was Froome would wear the suit provided by the Tour’s kit sponsors, while his team-mates would use the team outfits, which would favour their strongest time trialist, the former world champion Vasily Kiriyenka. Other favourites will include Tony Martin of Germany and the Serre Chevalier stage 17 winner, Primoz Roglic.
Marseille figured in the first Tour in 1903 but has been rarely visited by the race since 1971. That will add an extra something to what should be a sumptuous backdrop. The 22km course – out and back on the same roads for 15 of those – takes in the Prado, the corniche from the beach to Pointe Cardinale, the Vieux Port and the climb of Notre Dame de Garde thrown in for good measure. There are corners enough to test bike handling to the full.
With the overall battle in temporary abeyance on Friday, the Tour organisers showed a touch of the cruelty that has always been the race’s hallmark, by adding a hilly 9km “neutralised” loop to what was already the longest stage of the race, making for a day out in the saddle that was not far shy of 150 miles, taking the riders out of the Alps and down into the heart of Provence.
The previous dominance of Quick-Step and Sunweb, who had taken half the previous 18 stages between them, meant 11 teams had yet to land the victory that would “save” their Tours. As a result, there was a particularly intense battle to figure in the day’s escape, the last of the Tour that would stand a chance of making it to the finish.
At the other end of the string, there was a concomitant struggle to cling on to the coat-tails of the peloton as it wriggled and snapped behind escapee after escapee over the day’s opening two hills. When the day’s allotted 20-man escape finally went clear, relatively late, the relief must have been palpable in the 30C heat.
Boasson Hagen’s relief was also understandable. The Norwegian had taken over sprinting duties at Dimension Data after Mark Cavendish’s enforced withdrawal with a broken shoulder blade – although he would never put himself in the same sprint bracket – and had come close at Pau, Rodez and Romans-sur-Isère. At Nuits-Saint-Georges, he had come within an infinitesimal six millimetres of beating Marcel Kittel; to add to his team’s frustration, Steve Cummings had fallen foul of Sky’s tactics at Peyragudes when set for the win.
The 20 included Yorkshire’s Ben Swift, in the day’s escape for the third stage running but he was caught on the wrong side when the group split in the final kilometres. The nine who finally went clear included the most experienced members of the break – the Swiss Michael Albasini, old breakaway lag Thomas De Gendt, near veterans Sylvain Chavanel and Daniele Bennati – meaning that to guarantee the win, Boasson Hagen had to strike out alone, which he did after taking a roundabout faster than his companions and emerging with a 10-metre gap.
Initially he was accompanied by Niklas Arndt but with 2.5km gently downhill remaining Boasson Hagen had ridden the German off his wheel to set up his first Tour stage win for six years.
Back then, the Norwegian was in his heyday, having just left HTC for Team Sky, where his career stalled before he moved to MTN-Qubeka. Now 30, he remains one of the great unfulfilled talents of cycling, widely predicted to be a dominant force in one-day classics after showing immense early promise, but never quite living up to expectations.
Here, however, he delivered a timely, emphatic reminder of why he was once nicknamed Eddy Boss.
Stage 19 results
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Team Dimension Data) 5:06:09” 2. Nikias Arndt (Germany / Team Sunweb) +5” 3. Jens Keukeleire (Belgium / Orica-Scott) +17” 4. Daniele Bennati (Italy / Movistar Team) 5. Thomas De Gendt (Belgium / Lotto-Soudal) 6. Sylvain Chavanel (France / Direct Energie) 7. Elie Gesbert (France / Fortuneo-Oscaro) 8. Jan Bakelants (Belgium / AG2R La Mondiale) 9. Michael Albasini (Switzerland / Orica-Scott) 10. Pierre-Luc Perichon (France / Fortuneo-Oscaro) +1:32” 11. Lilian Calmejane (France / Direct Energie) +1:37” 12. Ben Swift (Britain / UAE Team Emirates) 13. Gianluca Brambilla (Italy / Quick-Step Floors) 14. Julien Simon (France / Cofidis, Solutions Credits) 15. Romain Hardy (France / Fortuneo-Oscaro) 16. Rudy Molard (France / FDJ) 17. Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia / Katusha-Alpecin) 18. Tony Gallopin (France / Lotto-Soudal) 19. Romain Sicard (France / Direct Energie) 20. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek-Segafredo)
Overall classification
1. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 83:26:55” 2. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R La Mondiale) +23” 3. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale-Drapac) +29” 4. Mikel Landa (Spain / Team Sky) +1:36” 5. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana Pro Team) +1:55” 6. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step Floors) +2:56” 7. Simon Yates (Britain / Orica-Scott) +4:46” 8. Louis Meintjes (South Africa / UAE Team Emirates) +6:52” 9. Warren Barguil (France / Team Sunweb) +8:22” 10. Alberto Contador (Spain / Trek-Segafredo) +8:34” 11. Damiano Caruso (Italy / BMC Racing Team) +13:41” 12. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar Team) +13:52” 13. Mikel Nieve (Spain / Team Sky) +23:11” 14. Alexis Vuillermoz (France / AG2R La Mondiale) +23:33” 15. Emanuel Buchmann (Germany / BORA-hansgrohe) +31:01”
