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That’s all for today: Thanks for your time, your emails (sorry I couldn’t use them all) and your companyy on what was an eventful day’s racing, from the women’s La Course all the way through to the conclusion of Stage 18 of Le Tour. There’ll be somebody else in the hotseat tomorrow, but make sure to tune in. If the good lord spares me, I’ll be back on Saturday for what Lizzie Deignan, runner-up in La Course, called “that thing” followed by the penultimate stage of the men’s race.
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Plus qu'un CLM pour faire la différence ! / One Time Trial left to win time! #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/PTofeO7vnw
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 20, 2017
Another email in defence of Rigo Uran: “He was on nobody’s radar before the Tour started and he’s almost certainly achieved a podium place by riding a clever tactical race,” says Tom Atkins. “Plus, his win in the second week when he was basically riding a fixie for the last 10k was a great story.”
An email from Ashley Roberts: “Just to play Devil’s advocate, perhaps Uran is backing himself to win it in the time trial,” writes Ashley. “He looked pretty strong when he closed that gap to Froome with a few kms to go. Maybe he feels he has a better chance of making up the time in the time trial than by destroying himself trying to do it on a mountain stage. Personally I think Froome has it in the bag, but you never know what Uran is thinking.”
Chris Froome all but wraps another Tour
The Sky leader and defending champion showed no signs of weakness on a day that was the last realistic chance any of his GC rivals had to try to wrestle this Tour away from him. He leads by 23 seconds from Romain Bardet with one sprint stage, a time trial and a procession to go. Rigoberto Uran is a further four seconds behind, but a superior time trialist to Bardet. Froome, it should go without saying, is better against the clock than both of them.
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Warren Barguil wins his second stage
On a day when he guaranteed himself the King of the Mountains jersey (assuming he finishes the race) the French rider from Team Sunweb rode excellently to win his second stage of this Tour in a time of 4hr 40min 33sec, four and five hours quicker than Guardian readers Conor Tierney and Mark Seddon respectively.
Disappointing from Rigoberto Uran
Having incurred the wrath of Romain Bardet yesterday for his total lack of combativity in this Tour, Rigoberto Uran once again failed to do anything of interest today and settled for just hitching a ride with the other GC contenders. Perhaps he was tired, but it seems to me he knows Froome is going to win and is hap[py to settle for a place on the podium in Paris.
Warren Barguil wins the stage
Raising both hands towards the Sky, Warren Barguil wins the stage. Behind him, Darwin Atapuma finishes a distant second. Romain Bardet beats Chris Froome in the race for third and grabs himself some bonus seconds.
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Barguil soldiers on. The King of the Mountains is lording it over his subjects on Col d’Izoard and grits his teeth as he heads for the finish line.
500m to go: Heartbreak for Darwin Atapuma and Colombia. After being forced to shove an idiot spectator running alongside him out of his way, Warren Barguil goes for home.
Barguil catches Atapuma: Warren Barguil catches Darwin Atapuma after putting in a ferocious shift. Behind them, Landa, Froome, Bardet and Uran are riding together.
Froome attacks!
Chris Froome attacks, leaving Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran in his wake. Froome has Landa up the road to assist him as Rigoberto Uran sets off in hot pursuit.
2.7km to go: It’s Independence Day in Colombia and Darwin Atapuma is doing his country proud as he pedals upwards towards the finish. The UAE Team Emirates rider has a lead of 26 seconds.
3.2km to go: OK, maybe it’s time to forget about my Treacherous Landa conspiracy theory. At the moment, Warren Barguil is scorching up the climb and is 39 seconds behind stage leader Darwin Atapuma.
4.2km to go: Darwin Atapuma still leads, with Tony Gallopin 30 seconds behind. Mikel Landa attacks off the front of yellow jersey group. He’s obviously heading up the road to be there in support of Chris Froome should he need him later ... or is he?
4.6km to go: Dan Martin attacks off the front of the yellow jersey group, but is closed down by Kwiatkowski. Fabio Aru is struggling to stay in touch with them.
Atapuma leads: Strength in numbers for Sky, with Landa, Kwiatkowski and Nieve leading Froome up the climb with Romain Bardet hitching a ride. In the polka dot jersey, Barguil attacks off the front of the group as he sets off in pursuit of Darwin Atapuma.
6.5km to go: Atapuma catches Lutsenko, while back in the yellow jersey group AG2R try to put some distance between themselves and Sky. Their efforts come to nothing, Bardet’s support riders crack and the Frenchman is forced to get on Chris Froome’s wheel. With Fabio Aru also visibly struggling, this could be the moment Chris Froome wins the Tour. Has Uran anything to offer, or is he just settling for a place on the podium?
7km to go: Lutsenko ploughs onwards and upwards, his thousand-yard stare in place and his face a mask of agony. Atapuma is gaining on him and can see him in the difference. Rigoberto Uran, if you happen to be reading this - now might be a good time to put in a long overdue attack and try to win this Tour.
A zinger from James Whittle: “If The Sun were vaguely interested in cycling and he managed to pull it off, would tomorrow’s back page most likely read ‘Edet’s Izoard’?”
Daniel Batten writes: “With all the talk over the past week of Aru not having a worthy support team to help when he was in yellow, now we see his teammate Lutsenko charging up the Izoard,” he says. “Has Astana given up the GC?” It looks like it.
8.5km to go: Behind Lutsenko, Darwin Atapuma stands up on his pedals, stares resolutely ahead and begins his attempt to shake off Gallopin and Navarro and reel in Lutsenko. He put in a huge effort yesterday, so it’s surprising to see him riding so well today. Back in the yellow jersey group, Sky avail of their final opportunity to take on fluids and energy gels before passing under the 10km To Go banner.
9km to go: “He just daren’t take his hands off the bars at the moment,” says Carlton Kirby on Eurosport, as he observes how the ashen-faced stage leader Lutsenko hasn’t taken a swig from his water bottle in quite some time.
Back in the yellow jersey group: AG2R continue to lead the train, but Chris Froome is nicely positioned behind them.
Pain!!! The hurt increases as our stage leaders hit the gradients of 7% rising to 10% and more. Lutsenko has a lead of 46 seconds over Gallopin, Navarro and Atapuma.
10km to go: Gallopin switches from one side of the road, which is quite wide, to the other and tempos past his companions. Backj in the peloton, Thomas De Gendt can be seen shaking hands with Roman Barguil, before giving him a congratulatory pat on the backside for winning their battle for the polka dot jersey.
11km to go: Lutsenko continues his assault on Col d’Izoard with a lead of 49 seconds over his closest pursuers: Gallopin, Navarro, Hardy, Ulissi and Molard.
Mike McGrew writes: “Fabio Aru’s win at La Planche des Belles Filles was a summit finish as well,” he says, as I crawl back into my box.
Lutsenko goes solo: With Edet unable to keep up, Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko goes for home. Just the 14 kilometres to go for him, all of them violently uphill. He has a 40 second lead on his nearest rival.
Early in the climb to Izoard: Edet and Lutsenko are 35 seconds clear of the the Gallopin group, which is in turn 1min 35sec clear of the remnants of the original breakaway. The peloton/yellow jersey group is a further 2min 28sec back, a total of 4min 18sec from the stage leaders.
An email from Mark Seddon: “I was also one of the ‘lucky’ ones to do l’Etape du Tour this year,” he says. “It took me just over nine hours, over two of which were spent trying to get up the Izoard (with stops for cramps, existential despair etc.). It is a brute and may help to separate some of the main contenders.
“I stopped about 10km from the top at Arvieux and bumped into Martin Johnson (ex-England and Lions captain). I was having enough trouble getting my 70kg up the mountain, so kudos to him for completing it (he has at least eight inches in height and maybe 40kgs more in weight than me!).”
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Corrections and clarifications: “Stage 12 to Peyragudes was a summit finish too when Froome lost time on all his main rivals,” writes Richard. “I am sure plenty of people have pointed this out.” They haven’t, as it happens - but I should have remembered considering I watched every minute of the thing!
19km to go: Cofidis’s Nicolas Edet and Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko have opened a 20 second gap at the front of proceedings. The gap between the leaders and the breakaway continues to fall - it’s currently 4min 37sec.
AG2R still leading the peloton: Romain Bardet’s team have a train at the front of the peloton, in an attempt to set up their man for what is his last realistic chance of winning this Tour. The gap to the leaders is down to 4min 50sec.
The final climb of the day - and what a brute it is - the Col d'Izoard. This 14.1 km climb is at an average of 7.3%. #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/MVZ6jUfaQy
— Le Tour de France UK (@letour_uk) July 20, 2017
24km to go: A group of 10 riders including Gallopin, Navarro, Lutsenko, Edet and Atapuma have begun their ascent of Col d’Izoard. Gallopin attempts to galvanise those around him into working together to maintain their gap over the peloton. It’s a mite over five minutes at the moment.
AG2R continue to lead the peloton: The team of Romain Bardet, third on GC 27 seconds behind Chris Froome, continue to dictate the pace as the peloton finishes it’s descent of Col da Vars. The stage leaders have an advantage of 5min 49sec.
Less than 30km to go: Almost all of them are uphill at what I think is the only summit finish of this year’s race (apologies, but Summer Baz missed a few stages, having been sent to Wimbledon to write about tennis instead). For the first time in Tour history, a stage is concluding on Col d’Izoard, which is a brutal climb.
33km to go: The descent continues with Gallopin, Lutsenko, Atapuma and Sicard leading the charge. The original 50-man breakaway was blown to bits on the climb to Col de Vars and the yellow jersey group is hoovering them up as they descend. The gap from the yellow jersey to the stage leaders is 5min 56sec.
Tony Gallopin alone on the descent: The Lotto-Soudal rider descends the Col de Vars on his lonesome, with 20 or 30 riders scattered between him and the peloton, which is 6min 14sec behind. AG2R are leading the peloton’s descent, with Sky keeping tabs on them. They have 10 kilometres of descending to go and I’ll be back in five minutes, which is time enough for you to learn how to ride down a mountainside without breaking your neck.
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A statement from Chris Froome? With five AG2R riders on the front of the peloton as they continue their assault on Col de Vars, Chris Froome grabs a musette from a Sky minion on the roadside, hangs it around his neck and dispenses energy bars and gels to his team-mates. If the maillot jaune is having a bad day, he’s hiding it well.
An email from Conor Tierney: “I did the L’Etape du Tour last Sunday,” he writes. “There were 11,000 amateur riders taking on this exact stage. Count your lucky stars you weren’t doing live updates for that - it took me 8hrs and 30 minutes to get around!”
That’s not a bad time - fair dues for finishing it. I’d love to do the l’Etape some time, but a recent ride with a pal of mine suggests I need to do some training. We decided to cycle up Denmark Hill in Sarf London. He’d dropped me before we got anywhere near it, so I turned around and went home about 20 minutes after leaving the house.
50km to go: At the front of the race, Sicard and Lutsenko have been joined Tony Gallopin and Darwin Atapuma. Lutsenko is first over the top, which means Warren Barguil only has to finish the race in Paris on Sunday to be guaranteed the polka dot jersey and the title of King of the Mountains that goes with it.
51km to go: The lead group approach the summit of the Col de Vars, with Direct Energie’s Romain Sicard attacking off the front. He’s joined by Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko and they open a decent sized gap with less than a kilometre to the top.
In the peloton, Romain Bardet’s AG2R troops are assembling near the front ... presumably with mischief in mind. Sky’s Christian Knees and Luke Rowe have been shelled out the back of that group.
Matthew Dreilling writes: “Purely speculating, but I suspect firms making bikes and gear feel they get a better return from sponsoring teams than running ads,” he says. “After all, what commercial could possibly be more compelling than seeing Roglic cross the finish line on his gorgeous Bianchi Specialissimia?”
A fair point well made, but is Roglic crossing the finish line on his gorgeous Bianchi Specialissimia as inspirational a sight as Ian Botham reading from an autocue as he attempts to hawk Revitive Medic electrical muscle stimulation machines to the elderly and infirm? No, is the answer to that question.
Various riders being dropped: Both groups are losing riders as the climb ramps towards the summit of Col de Vers. In the lead group of 18 riders, Serge Pawels is forcing the pace. In the peloton, the Skybots are pedalling relentlessly at the front. The gap between both groups is 6min 56sec.
An email from Sam Lister: “How long do you think it will be until the online betting companies get their claws into cycling?” asks Sam. “How long before Paddy Power or Bet365 are team sponsors? It seems a match made in heaven: there’s always some racing going on somewhere and there’s a healthy dollop of nefarious morality and ethics to throw into the mix.”
Having floated that dangerous idea, Sam adds: “My friend wants your babies. Unfortunately, he’s a 31 year old balding, bearded male with a penchant for Derby County.” Tell him I’ll think about it.
Onwards and upwards: A group of four riders have opened a small gap at the front of the race with five kilometres to go to the summit of Col de Vers. It’s 2,109 metres above sea level with a gradient of 7.5% and a ferocious kick to the top.
@bglendenning Re: advertising, interestingly over on this side of the Pond we see a fair amount of cycling-related ads on NBCSN's feed.
— Mark Seip (@seipjm) July 20, 2017
@bglendenning Peloton Stationary Bikes, Jelly Belly Sports Beans, Canyon Bikes, etc. (2/2)
— Mark Seip (@seipjm) July 20, 2017
Re: my advertising query ...
@bglendenning Fair question but..... pic.twitter.com/dbxzMzcbrm
— Matt (@fantasticmrmatt) July 20, 2017
Steve Cummings in the break yet again, said today he wasn't as stiff as expected after head over heels into a field yesterday.
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) July 20, 2017
60km to go: How things stand: with eight kilometres to go to the summit of the Cat 1 Col de Vars, a 25-man breakaway featuring Ben Swift has a lead of 1min 05sec over a group of 32 riders that were in the original 54-man escape party. Nobody in any danger of winning this Tour is in either group.
Behind them, the peloton in which all the main GC contenders are comfortably ensconced is 6min 55sec behind the leaders. They’re being towed along by Pawel Poljanski from Bora Hangrohe who is being followed by the massed ranks of Team Sky.
An email from Stephen De Souza, who makes a fair point: “In response to Arthur, Dan the Man is always trying to attack when he can, which is why he is yoyoing up and down the GC,” he says. “Bardet tried several times on yesterday’s final climb but just couldn’t shake Froome. It’s been very close and might have been closer if Porte’s unlucky streak hadn’t persisted. On the other hand if G hadn’t crashed there might have been only one team on the podium. In summary, the parcours has worked well to create a close race.”
An email from David Alderton: “I‘m inclined to agree with Arthur,” he writes. “It got quite exciting yesterday with a couple of attacks on Froome, but there’s a definite feeling of not wanting to risk things over small reward amongst the riders. I yearn for a rider with the style and panache of Pantani, (however much of a tragic figure he was) and the having a similar rival. Which is why Sagan has been missed. One hopes smaller teams might make things more competitive, although FdJ seem to be ahead of the rest on that.”
Action at both ends: And I’m not talking the gastroenteritis that did for Philippe Gilbert. The lead group of 50 or so riders has split in two, with half of them have opened a gap of about 20 seconds on the other half. Seven minutes behind them, Burghardt and Poljanski are continuing to make the pace with Sky. The gap from the front bunch to the peloton is 6min 39sec and we’re on the lower slopes of the day’s second climb, the Cat 1 Col De Vers, which will help sort the men from the boys.
An email from Fiona: “The ads on France 2 and 3 where I watch the Tour are for sheltered living and prepaid funerals, go figure,” she says. “There are fewer ad breaks than ITV which I sometime watch and they never break away when it gets exciting which has rarely been the case this Tour.”
Out on the road, Bora Hansgrohe are chasing hard in their attempts to salvage something from the wreckage of a Tour which has seen their two main men in Peter Sagen and Rafal Majka. They have nobody in the lead group and have sent Burghardt and Pawel Poljanski to the front of the peloton to try to reel in the breakaway. Poljanski famously posted a photo on Instagram the other day, to show the ravages of 16 stages on his veiny pins.
A response to my question about TV advertising: “Total guess, but TV advert revenues aren’t huge anymore, especially on the ‘minor’ channels,” writes Jason Good. “I assume they do deals for slots across multiple channels. Daytime viewers tend to be students (with little cash) and older folk (some with more cash). Selling the Lycra-clad two-wheel lifestyle to the over 60s probably hasn’t got legs, and perhaps too few people are watching the live feeds to overcome the cost of individualised advert sales/organisation? I notice the ITV highlights show has a sponsor using cycling to sell ‘pre-loved watches’, though. I guess this has higher ratings.” Pre-loved watches?
An attack at the front: A group of 10 riders attack off the front of the leading bunch. Astana’s Andrei Grivko is the one with whom I’m most familiar.
A move from Marcus Burghardt: Anxious to feature in today’s rolling report for something other than crashing into a dog 10 years ago, Marcus Burghardt puts the hammer down at the front of the peloton. The Bora Hansgrohe rider’s searing pace helps the bunch reduce the deficit to the front bunch to 7min 38sec.
Intermediate sprint result
- 1. Sonny Colbrelli 20 pts
- 2. Thomas De Gendt 17 pts
- 3. Dion Smith 15 pts
- 4. Tony Gallopin 13 pts
- 5. Lilian Calmejane 11 pts
- 6. Elie Gesbert 10 pts
- 7. Jurgen Roelandts 9 pts
- 8. Nicolas Edet 8 pts
- 9. Zdenek Stybar 7 pts
- 10. Jesus Herrada 6 pts
- 11. Marco Marcato 5 pts
- 12. Sylvain Chavanel 4 pts
- 13. Romain Sicard 3 pts
- 14. Ben Swift 2 pts
- 15. Jan Bakelants 1 pt
86km to go: The seven-man breakaway has been reined in and the 54-man breakaway has just contested the intermediate sprint, which was won by Sonny Colbrelli from - who else but - Thomas De Gendt. They’re now more than eight minutes clear of the peloton containing all the GC contenders. Remember, Brice Feillu, over 30 minutes behind Froome, is the highest placed GC rider in the lead bunch.
As the lead group pass through the feed zone and get their nutritional affairs in order, I’m away for five minutes. Here are the lads from Global Cycling Network with some feed zone and musette knowledge with which you can bore your friends to death.
An email from Arthur: “I admire your persistence and attempts to keep up interest is this year’s TDF,” he writes. “Maybe I’m turning into a cranky old guy, but this is really a terminally dull TDF. What we will remember from this year’s tour? Sagan ejection, Kittle/Boassen Hagen photo finish, Gran’s win while stuck with two gears.
“It’s a shame what we won’t remember is the GC contenders (aside from Contador, whose attack was brave) riding to win. They’re all (Froome too) riding to not lose. Or to maintain their placings. The lack of attacking is a certain way to turn off a new generation of followers of the race. It’ll just be old people like me, hoping for something resembling the tours I knew as a younger man.”
I’ve found this Tour quite interesting, Arthur, although if nobody puts a serious attack into Froome today I’ll be disappointed. That’s not borne out of any desire to see Froome lose, I hasten to add. I’ve met him a few times and have generally found to be a decent bloke, but I really want to see Aru, Bardet or Uran try to wrestle this race from him. Ideally, the mischief-maker in me would love to see Mikel Landa try to shaft him.
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Watching on TV: Despite regularly flicking between the coverage laid on by ITV and Eurosport, it’s difficult to avoid their regular ad breaks. For reasons that remain unclear, over the last few days I’ve been consumed with an urge to plan and pay for my own funeral, go on a cruise, claim compensation for an accident that wasn’t my fault and buy a machine that will stimulate my aching muscles with electric currents.
With cycling such a popular sport and past-time, it seems strange that nobody seems interested in advertising bikes, kit, other equipment, cycling holidays and such like. Anyone know why?
Nothing much to report The seven-man breakaway head on towards the intermediate sprint, with the Category 1 Col de Vars still a long way away. The gap from the stage leaders to the peloton, led by Sky, is now over seven minutes. It’s not clear how far ahead of the original mass breakaway our seven leaders are. It’s not much of a gap - about 350 metres worth of road.
Recommended reading: “It all combines to turn the race into a petri dish of skinny, sniffly men trying not to cough on each other.”
A good article here from the Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Robinson on the extraordinary lengths teams on the Tour go to in a bid to prevent their riders from getting sick (hat tip - Miguel Delaney).
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103km to go: Pauwels, Tulik, Brambilla, Clarke, Vachon, Swift and Chavanel are 32 seconds clear of the previous breakaway and have 6min 41sec on the peloton.
106km to go: “According to the ITV4 commentary, the Burghardt/labrador incident in 2007 led to a change in the wheel strength regulations, requiring them to be much stronger,” writes Matthew Cobb. “Future dog/wheel encounters might not have such an anodyne outcome, as the energy would tend to go into the dog, not into distorting the wheel.”
I heard that - they claim Burghardt didn’t hit the dog (the video evidence suggests they’re wrong), but turned his wheel to avoid the impact and it just buckled in half before taking out the pooch. It seems I’ve been erroneously bigging up that labrador’s nails-hardness for a decade.
108km to go: Sylvain Chavanel, Ben Swift, Angelo Tulik, Gianluca Brambilla, Florian Vachon, Serge Pauwels and Simon Clarke put 50 seconds into the mass breakaway. Ben Swift from UAE Team Emirates is leading the stage.
112km to go: The 54-man breakaway have six minutes on the peloton. Six or seven riders look to have attacked off the front of the escape party.
More on team colours: “I remember in the 1990s that the ONCE team had to change their colours from yellow to pink for the TdF,” writes Jono Brennan. “Not sure what the rule is now.”
An email from Matt Furmidge: “Is it considered risky taking water bottles from unknown spectators on the road side?” he asks. “Do riders only do it as a last resort?”
I think it is a last resort to drink from a water bottle handed to you by a spectator, for obvious reasons, but it’s common for riders to take one and pour it over themselves to cool down.
Teams will often place staff on the roadside to hand out bidons, to save domestiques from having to drop out of the peloton, stick a dozen of them down their shirts, then make their way back through the bunch to hand them out. It’s a fairly energy-sapping ordeal, as you can imagine. Domestiques used to - and possibly still do - compete to see who could carry the most bottles, with the record being 18, as I recall. I have the pertinent info somewhere and will attempt to dig it out.
De Gendt and Calmejane on the first climb: They’re less than a kilometre from the summit of the Cat 3 Cote des Demoiselles Coiffees (translation: ladies with hairdos), where the most notable feature of the topography are “hoodoos”, large boulders balanced somewhat precariously on the tip of windblown soft rock pillars.
A breakaway from the breakaway: Thomas De Gendt and Lilian Calmejane attack off the front of the 50-man breakaway and put a stretch of road between themselves and the rest. De Gendt must be a shoo-in for the most combative rider in this year’s Tour - he’s been prominent in pretty much every breakaway I can remember.
An email from Mark in Yorkshire: “Fairly new to this and its dull and could probably find answer elsewhere, but whats the rules on team colours?” he asks. “Are they not allowed yellow? Kept thinking on first glance Kittel/Matthews is doing well to keep with the big boys then I see like four of them, think I’ve been on the pop and realise its Cannondale in green. Also lot of white this year I see.”
I haven’t a clue, to be honest, but I’m sure somebody out there will know. At the moment the peloton is being led by six Sky riders wearing white jerseys and they’re being followed by a procession of Cannondale-Drapac riders in green.
Something of a lull: On Eurosport, Sean Kelly on co-comms is doing his daily newspaper review, while the French TV director treats viewers to some stunning aerial shots of the Alpine scenery: lunar peaks above the tree-line towering over azure blue lakes and lush green forests.
Meanwhile on a Moto, a Tour cameraman is showing off, focussing on the wing mirror of the bike to get a picture of the reflection of the peloton snaking behind him. It’s good to be alive.
@bglendenning re Rowe. Max Leonard, in his book Lanterne Rouge, suggests yellow & lanterne rouge could indicate perfect domestique
— James W (@USPostalBoy) July 20, 2017
133km to go: The gap from our 50-man breakaway to the peloton is 4min 44sec. Brice Feillu is the highest placed GC rider in that breakaway, at over 30 minutes behind Chris Froome. It’s going to be a long afternoon, so feel free to send in your emails on whatever subject takes your fancy (try to keep them short). I’m off to cycle through the feed zone, which should take no more than five minutes. While I’m away, here’s yesterday’s thrilling instalment of Orica-Scott’s Backstage Pass to keep you entertained.
The gap is 4min 37sec: Our 50-man breakaway remain over four minutes clear of the peloton with 137 kilometres to go. Sky continue to lead the chase on the road to the first climb of the day, the Category 3 Cote des Demoiselles Coiffees.
Oh, go on then: Thomas Voeckler, Lilian Calmejane, Sylvain Chavanel, Romain Sicard and Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie),Carlos Betancur and Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Stephen Cummings, Serge Pauwels and Jaco Venter (Dimension Data), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro De Marchi, Amaël Moinard and Nicolas Roche (BMC), Andrei Grivko, Bakhtiar Kozhatayev, Alexei Lutsenko and Michael Valgren (Astana), Jan Bakelants and Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Darwin Atapuma, Kristjian Durasek, Marco Marcato, Ben Swift and Diego Ulissi (UAE), Rudy Molard (FDJ), Daryl Impey (Orica), Gianluca Brambilla and Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step), Tiejs Benoot, Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal), Simon Geschke (Sunweb), Dimitri Claeys, Nicolas Edet and Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Pierre Rolland, Simon Clarke and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale), Sonny Colbrelli and Tsgabu Grmay (Bahrain-Merida), Guillaume Martin, Marco Minnaard and Dion Smith (Wanty), Brice Feillu, Elie Gesbert, Romain Hardy, Eduardo Sepulveda and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo), Robert Kiserlovski, Maurits Lammertink, Tiago Machado and Nils Politt (Katusha).
The gap is out to 4min 09sec: Our 50-man breakaway group (no, I’m not naming them all) has opened a gap of over four minutes on the peloton, who have just had a mass comfort break at the side of the road.
Want some signed cleats? We’ve had an email to say that German champ and Labrador-botherer Marcus Burghardt has launched a Tour de France charity auction on eBay to win a pair of cycling shoes signed by star riders - including Chris Froome, Marcus Kittel, Peter Sagan and Greg van Avermaet, among others. The auction runs till the end of Le Tour and you can get involved by clicking on this link. The money will be split and donated to the Child Cancer Foundation and a Junior Cycling Club. In the very unlikely event you haven’t seen it yet, here’s Burghardt 10 years ago encountering the world’s hardest dog.
The gap is 2min 52sec: The gap from our 50-man breakaway to the yellow jersey group stretches. Of the 50, Brice Feillu is the highest placed on GC and he’s over 30 minutes behind Chris Froome. Sky are not represented in the giant breakaway, but they are controlling the front of the peloton.
An email from Brian LeBlanc: It was mentioned following Dan McLay’s abandonment yesterday, but it’s worth repeating. “Apropos of nothing,” writes Brian. “If things stay the way they are right now, Sky would win a rather unique double: both the overall and the lanterne rouge. Luke Rowe is down at the bottom, seven minutes behind the rest of the field. Far as I can tell, that hasn’t happened since 1964.”
Although I am happy to stand corrected, I understand there is a certain amount of kudos attached to finishing dead last in the Tour. Finishing the race at all is an excellent achievement, but by finishing last instead of say, fifth last, the lanterne rouge can apparently command higher fees to appear in the post-Tour criterium races that are popular in the Low Countries.
The peloton splits in two: Messrs De Gendt, De Marchi, Gesbert and Calmejane are caught by a group of almost 50 riders. They’re 1min 36sec clear of the yellow jersey group that is being led by Sky. Between the two groups, Marcus Burghardt and Emanuel Buchman are trying to bridge the gap.
The early escapees are reined in: Now Thomas De Gendt, Alessandro De Marchi, Elie Gesbert and Lilian Calmejane have opened a gap of about 15 seconds on a large chasing group. The youngest rider in the race at the age of 22, Gesbert made the news on the first rest day when he prompted an evacuation of his Fortuneo-Oscaro team hotel after leaving a towel unattended on an electric radiator to dry.
“Apparently, Gesbert thought that he had switched the light off, but had inadvertently turned the radiator on instead,” reported Cycling Weekly. “The towel subsequently heated up to such an extent that it started to smoulder and produce smoke, which triggered hotel staff to take action. The hotel was partially evacuated as the situation was quickly brought under control and there were no injuries as a result.”
We have a breakway ... sort of: Voeckler, Grivko and Bak have put a few seconds between themselves and the peloton, while 10 or 12 other riders attempt to bridge the gap before the race settles down. Needless to say, Thomas De Gendt is among them - the Lotto-Soudal rider has apparently bottomless reserves of energy. Curiously, Grivko is wearing black shorts under his turquoise jersey, unlike the bloke I saw cycling down Brixton Road earlier this morning, who had the light blue shorts and socks to match in his dazzling replica kit.
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They're racing on Stage 18
Christian Prudhomme waves his flag to semaphore the start of racing and there’s an early attack featuring Thomas Voeckler, Lars Bak and Andrei Grivko, among others.
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The roll-out continues
Interviewed earlier this morning, Chris Froome conveyed the impression that attack might be the best form of defence and he is widely tipped to have his eye on today’s stage. Considering how strong he’s looked in the face of various attacks this week, it would appear his nearest rivals’ only hope of doing some serious damage ahead of Saturday’s time trial in Marseille is that the reigning champion will be heavy of leg and have an exceptionally rare bad day.
Another four abandonments yesterday
Quitting after 60 kilometres following his bad fall earlier in the stage, Marcel Kittel was the most high profile rider to step off his bike yesterday, ending his interest in the competition for a green jersey that is now on the shoulders of Michael Matthews and almost certain to stay there, barring accident or illness.
Still suffering the effects of sickness that had dogged him for the previous couple of days, Britain’s Dan McLay (Fortuneo-Oscaro) also abandoned, as did the Frenchman Thibaut Pinaut, whose Francais Des Jeux team now has only three of their original nine dogs left in this fight. Lotto Soudal’s German rider Marcel Sieberg didn’t sign in for yesterday’s stage, a state of affairs that means if all those who finished in Serre-Chevalier start today we’ll have 169 of our original 198 riders left in the race - a fairly low rate of attrition, all things considered.
Started @LeTour with tears of joy & finished with tears of big disappointment. Thank you ALL for your support,most of all my @quickstepteam! pic.twitter.com/Lj0TE2E28R
— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) July 19, 2017
Stage 18: Briancon to Izoard (179.5km)
It’s the final mountain stage and with it comes what is ostensibly the last chance for several General Classification contenders to put some serious time into Chris Froome ahead of Saturday’s race against the clock in Marseille. Sky’s team leader looked bullet-proof yesterday as he repelled several attacks on the Galibier, before extending his lead on all but Rigoberto Uran by snatching bonus seconds for finishing third on the stage.
Second on GC, 27 seconds behind Froome, Uran has kept his powder dry to date in this Tour but has no choice but to attack today if he plans on winning it. There could be few more fitting occasions for the 30-year-old Colombian to light some fireworks in the peloton than Independence Day in his native country, where millions of his compatriots will be spending the early hours of their national holiday gathered around television sets to cheer him on.
Level on time with Uran (but officially behind him on GC), Romain Bardet is also obliged to attack, after his team decided it wouldn’t be prudent for him to do so in the face of a headwind yesterday, while Fabio Aru has nothing to lose after losing more time. Behind the Italian, Froome’s lieutenant Mikel Landa sits 1min 24sec off the pace and has looked as strong as anyone despite admitting that yesterday was not one of his better days. As ever, the Spaniard will be tasked with protecting Froome even if winning the stage seems well within his wide range of capabilities.
As ever CyclingNews have created an excellent guide to today’s stage and posted it on YouTube for our viewing pleasure.
Good day everyone. With the La Course competitors ready to put their feet up after a brutal morning’s work, it’s time for their male counterparts to tackle Stage 18, which also finishes at Izoard. The peloton is just rolling out of Briancon, led by the following gentlemen.
That’s all from me and stage one of La Course, thanks for reading. I’m handing over to your guide for stage 18 of the Tour de France, Barry Glendenning.
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Here’s your top three heading into ‘that thing’ Lizzie Deignan was referring to, the pursuit-style time trial on Saturday in Marseille. Deignan’s team-mate Guarnier finished fourth meaning they could well team up and attempt a chase together, if they are still on speaking terms.
RESULTS #Etappe 1 ⛰
— SportsNewsNL (@SportsNewsNL) July 20, 2017
1🇾🇪#Annemiek @AvVleuten
2🇬🇧+0:43 #ElizabethDeignan
3🇮🇹+1:23 #ElisalongoBorghini@LaCoursebyTDF #LeTour #ColdIzoard pic.twitter.com/OYUbj8s8Kp
Asked about stage two and the prospect of chasing down Annemiek van Vleuten, Deignan is perplexed. “Oh, that thing,” she says. That just about sums up the riders’ collective thoughts on the significance of stage two of this La Course format. “I wouldn’t call myself a time trialist but it’s being raced on a road bike [rather than a TT bike] so that’s an advantage for me.” Is she happy with how La Course has been structured this year? “I think it’s great to have a mountain-top finish, but it needs some work in terms of organisation. It all felt like a bit of an afterthought but if the organisational side can be improved it will be good.”
Lizzie Deignan clearly isn’t too happy that she played second fiddle to Megan Guarnier today for Boels-Dolmans: “We took control like we wanted to. I made a mistake of not having confidence in myself and ended up being a domestique. Megan put her hand up and said she could be leader. That’s cycling.”
That was a lot of fun. Linda Villumsen made a brave solo attack, Lizzie Deignan put in a brilliant ride on the front of the peloton to reel her in, but Annemiek van Vleuten outsmarted and out-powered the rest to claim the stage victory and the first finish on top of the Col d’Izoard.
YES!!!! @AvVleuten is a living legend. No one deserves this big victory more. So proud and happy for my amazing team mate! #LaCourse
— Gracie Elvin (@gracieelvin) July 20, 2017
Annemiek van Vleuten speaks! “To finish here on the Tour de FRance in front of so many people was amazing. Rio inspired me to do more climbing. I have to be honest, I regret going so early! I tested my legs but I was good to go.”
No celebration from Deignan, whose shoulders slump over her bars as the legs finally stop pumping. Van Vleuten wins the first stage of La Course and the most important one, and will have a lead of more than 40 seconds for the start of Saturday’s second stage. The Italian Elisa Longo Borghini comes in third with Megan Guarnier chasing back well at the end to claim fourth.
Annemiek van Vleuten wins La Course stage one!
The Dutch rider crosses the line with her hands in the air and a big smile. Behind her Lizzie Deignan approaches to take second, her momentous effort rewarded with a podium finish.
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500m to go The Col d’Izoard is at its steepest but Annemiek van Vleuten is not going to let anything stop her now. Behind her Lizzie Deignan digs in, eyes glued to the road below as she fights the pain to keep her pace and a podium place.
1km to go Annemiek van Vleuten is closing in on a memorable La Course victory. Deignan’s priority is claiming second place and she is being hunted by Borghini and Gillow.
2km to go Van Vleuten has a momentary problem as she shifts gear but is quickly back in the grove. Deignan is eating into the deficit slightly, now down to 35 seconds, but surely there is too much to make up now.
2.5km to go This is so impressive by Annemiek van Vleuten, the former world road cup champion. Behind her there is only one rider left chasing – the unshakable Lizzie Deignan. The gap is still 40 seconds.
3km to go Van Vleuten is determined to reach the summit of the Col d’Izoard on her own. She powers on, quickly opening a 40-second lead with a grimace. There is a short period of sweet relief on its way as the road briefly descends before the gruelling finish. Only two riders are left on the chase: Lizzie Deignan and Shara Gillow.
3.5km to go The lead pack of 10 or so riders have been strung out by Annemiek van Vleuten’s attack on a brutal 9% gradient. The Dutch rider is 20 seconds clear with the Italian Borghini chasing hard, alongside Shara Gillow and Lizzie Deignan who has surprised us all with her ability to adapt in the mountains.
4km to go Van Vleuten has her Orica-Scott team-mate Amanda Spratt for company and suddenly the Dutch rider attacks! The rider who was on her way to Olympic gold before that horror crash in Rio is at the front right here and plenty, including Spratt, have been left behind. Deignan clings on with several others but her team-mate Guarnier is struggling.
5km to go Guarnier is still just about in touch with the 10 or so riders leading the race. Deignan leans in to her radio to hear quite what she should do next as the most gruelling part of the Col d’Izoard approaches. Annemiek van Vleuten, four-time Australian champion Shara Gillow and Wiggle High5’s Elisa Borghini are all in the mix.
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6km to go Megan Guarnier is struggling! Boels-Dolmans have put in a massive workload at the front with Lizzie Deignan leading the way but with a check over her shoulder the Briton realises her team leader is nowhere to be seen. Deignan finally releases her grip on the nose to go and find the American Guarnier.
7km to go A home favourite, Pauline Ferrand Prevot of Canyon Sram, puts herself on the shoulder of Lizzie Deignan who continues to hammer out a relentless pace. This front group is now beginning to split a little as the serious stuff – 7% gradients and upwards – kicks in.
8km to go Villumsen is up and out of her seat, pumping hard, but with another glance over her shoulder she gives it up, slowing to rejoin the peloton. Lizzie Deignan can take much of the credit for that chase and she is going really well on her less-favoured terrain. The peloton continues to shed riders as the road tips up with no more than 20 riders left. Leah Kirchmann of Sunweb is in position near the front and she could be another in contention come the finish – this race is wide open.
9km to go Boels-Dolmans are still near the front of what remains of the peloton with Lizzie Deignan putting in a big shift. Her team-mates have begun to fall away with Blaak the latest to slide from the main group, but their star rider Guarnier is still well placed. Three riders have gone clear and are in the small gap between the peloton and Villumsen who is still out in front. This is shaping up to be a very interesting finish.
11km to go Villumsen has a couple of chasers who have broken from the pack and cut her lead right down to 12 seconds. The Kiwi glances over her shoulder down the road, suggesting she is feeling this climb in the legs right now as the peloton begins to string out.
12km to go Linda Villumsen’s lead had seemed to be over but she has opened it up once more to over 20 seconds, and still looks comfortable. Christine Majerus has slipped off the back and it seems she is done – Boels-Dolmans will be fully focused on Megan Guarnier’s chances now.
13km to go Blaak and Brammeier have done a lot of the work on the front and now it is their Boels-Dolmans team-mate Lizzie Deignan leading the peloton, which suggests she is working for either Megan Guarnier or perhaps Christine Majerus rather than prioritising her own chances of victory.
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14km to go Villumsen remains around 15 seconds clear, but her advantage is gradually shrinking. As the gradient increases riders are slipping off the back and one of the victims is Marianne Vos, who is not exactly in her element here.
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15km to go Villumsen’s lead is crumbling as the road tilts up. She stands in her saddle as she battles with this climb but in the background the peloton swarms around the corner towards her.
@lawrenceostlere La Course also short so it can be on same day as men's race: same infrastructure and hopefully some of same audience.
— Conor McGloin (@conormcgloin) July 20, 2017
16km to go So New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen leads La Course up the Col d’Izoard, 30 seconds ahead of the peloton which is fast closing in. Boels-Dolmans continue to do much of the chasing on the front with Megan Guarnier and Lizzie Deignan among their ranks.
18km to go Villumsen looks extremely relaxed as she pumps hard to try and maintain her advantage at the front, which has dropped only slightly to 35 seconds. Boels-Dolmans coax Cervelo-Bigla into the action at the front of the peloton, who themselves want to put Ashleigh Moolman in position for the finish. Villumsen approaches the start of the steep 17km climb (average 7.3% gradient) up the Col d’Izoard to the finish. Despite the short-ish stage, after such a high-paced ride this is going to be a brutal ascent.
20km to go Linda Villumsen has plenty of pedigree – the 32-year-old is a former world time trial champion and the peloton are keeping an eye on the time gap, which remains at around 40 seconds.
22km to go Boels-Dolmans have decided Linda Villumsen is not someone they can take lightly. They hit the front of the peloton and put their collective foot down as they take the lead in trying to reel in the VeloConcept rider.
25km to go Linda Villumsen’s solo attack has stuck, for now at least. She’s around 40 seconds clear of the main bulk of the group as they cut through the valley towards the start of the official Col d’Izoard climb.
@lawrenceostlere Why is this race so short? And tomorrow's seems underwhelming. Do the riders want longer races?
— MaliciousA (@MaliciousA) July 20, 2017
Partly because the organisers want to keep the pace – and therefore the interest – high, with such a gruelling finish to come, and partly because there is only so much time before the men’s stage begins later on. But 67km compared to the men’s 180km certainly seems a little too short. Saturday’s additional stage is an odd one, though a similar format has worked in the men’s Hammer Series this year.
29km to go Kiwi rider Linda Villumsen is the latest to punch clear, cheered along the packed streets of Guillestre as the road begins to kick up pointing ominously towards the finish atop the Col d’Izoard.
31km to go Lizzie Deignan and Marianne Vos are both among those riders at the front of the peloton. Although the pace has settled a little, the legs are constantly being worked as they try to stifle continued attacks. Finally one chancer gets free – Silvia Valsecchi. The Italian is out on her own at first, but now a few attempt to bridge the gap and form a viable breakaway. In the process the peloton follows and swallows up Valsecchi, and the leaders are all back as one once more.
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34km to go That breakaway has been hauled back into the main lead group of perhaps 40 riders, and just for a moment they settle into a steady rhythm as one, as the tough climbing approaches. Victorie Guilman of FDJ suffers a fall and although she gingerly returns to her bike, she has lost contact with the main group.
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37km to go A little group has joined Rozanne Slik at the front including her Sunweb team-mate Leah Kirchmann, Cylance’s Rossella Ratto, and Chantal Blaak of Boels-Dolmans. They are keeping up this phenomenally high pace as riders continue to fall off the back of the group.
40km to go A crash! That attack by Slik happened as the road narrowed and in the melee to keep up one rider is down – Britain’s Molly Weaver. She is seen lying in some pain on the side of the road and her race is over.
43km to go Sunweb kick hard on the front via Rozanne Slik, the Dutch rider. A couple of Boels-Dolmans tried to close off the attack but can’t keep pace and Slik has gone clear, albeit only slightly.
45km to go Australian rider Amy Cure holds up her hand. She has an issue with her chain and her Wiggle High5 team are there quickly with a replacement bike, but it will take a bit of extra work to rejoin what is a flying peloton right now.
48km to go Astana and Canyon Sram both make their presence felt on the nose of the peloton but no team has been able to instigate a successful breakaway. WM3 now hit the front – they are riding for their 22-year-old talent from Poland, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who is enjoying a storming season.
52km to go Team Sunweb begin forcing the pace with British rider Molly Weaver among their leading group who are stringing out the peloton and leaving a few stragglers behind in the process. Not much of an impact from Boels-Dolmans so far, who are expected to be there or thereabouts with Megan Guarnier and Lizzie Deignan in their arsenal.
57km to go The peloton begin pretty much the only descent of note on this route, near the village of Queyrieres, before cutting east towards Izoard near the France-Italy border. This could be an opportunity for a breakaway and right now it is the French rider Marjolaine Bazin leading the pack.
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60km to go A couple of early attacks are closed off immediately, but there are likely to be plenty more in these early stages of what is a surprisingly short route. The men will ride 180km to the same finish later today on top of the Col d’Izoard but La Course has been tasked with a little more than a third of that. But there we are. The first 30km of this stage are relatively flat but the latter 35km or so will be almost entirely uphill, with the road groaning up and up some more until the steep finish, averaging a painful 9% over the final 7km.
Under way!
The flag waves and this 67km race gets going in sunshine in Briançon.
Preamble
There’s no denying it is a slightly odd La Course this year. For the first time the women’s race on the Tour de France is not on the Champs-Elysees but instead a two-stage event, featuring today’s 67km with a mountain-top finish followed by a pursuit of sorts in Marseille on Saturday along the route of the men’s time trial - but only for the top 20 riders from stage one.
The format has not received an entirely rapturous reception by its competitors, with Lizzie Deignan one of those initially feeling that La Course has been made the “circus” beside the main event, but the Briton says she has an open mind and has come round to the idea. It is at least a rare but welcome chance to see the women’s peloton take on one of the great Tour climbs, with today’s finish on top of the Col d’Izoard.
The 14km ascent at an average 7.3% gradient means it is likely to be one of the pure climbers reaching the summit first, like Deignan’s American Boels-Dolmans team-mate Megan Guarnier. Expect Ashleigh Moolman of Cervelo-Bigla, Annamiek van Vlueten of Orica-Scott - who finished third at the Giro Rosa - and Katarzyna Niewiadoma of WM3 Energie to be in contention, though this race is something of an unknown quantity which makes it all the more intriguing.
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