2017 Tour de France: Bodnar wins TT Froome clinches 4th TDF; Stage 21 preview

 

Notre Dame de la Garde, Marseille

Macief Bodnar was the surprise victor 

yesterday with a fine ride

 Chris Froome with third place 

clinched his 4th Tour de France victory

As was widely expected Chris Froome clinched his fourth Tour de France victory – four in five years (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), He becomes the fifth most successful winner of the Tour de France. Only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain have won more editions of the Tour – all on five each. Armstrong, of course, 'won' seven but has been stripped of all of them because of his doping.

During our stay in Marseille in January we walking up the steep hill to Notre-Dame de la Garde, so it was no surprise to see some of the Tour riders struggling up the steep slope. Clearly some had underestimated its difficulty.    

Macief Bodnar set the best time (28.15) early on and despite Michal Kwiatkowski doing a great ride he just fell short of overhauling Bodnar by a second. 

Although Rigoberto Uran did a good ride (28.46) Chris Froome (28.21) was never threatened and came in third. Romain Bardet, suffering from a cold, lost a lot of time coming in at 30.18. He lost 2nd place overall to Uran and only held onto third place overall by one second to Mikel Landa.      

 

Stage 21: Montgeron to Paris Champs-Elysée 103 kms

Today is the traditional ceremonial stage into Paris enlivened at the end of the final sprint. Unless there is a crash there will be no change to the overall standings. From a depleted field of sprinters I am going for André Griepel to win challenged by Michael Matthews and Evald Boasson Hagen.

2017 Tour de France: Roglič overcomes the Galibier, Stage 18 – showdown on the Izoard?

 Primoz Roglič wins in Serre Chevalier

 Overall Chris Froome still in Yellow, Fabio Aru loses time 

 Green: Michael Matthews leads 

following Marcel Kittel's retirement

Climber: Warren Barguil still leads 

but advantage has been trimmed a little 

Young rider: Simon Yates still leads  
but Louis Meintjes is now closer at 2.28'

Primoz Roglič soloed to a very fine first Tour de France stage victory – first over the Galibier and the long 28 kilometre descent into Serre Chevalier. This first Alpine stage revised the Overall Standings slightly with Fabio Aru losing time at the top of the Galibier and then more on the descent. Aru was at 18 seconds to Chris Froome but now is down to 4th place at 53 seconds. Rigoberto Uran and Romain Bardet are now Froome's closest challengers tied on 27 seconds.

Only Dan Martin and Bardet attacked Froome on the Galibier but each time these attacks were easily neutralised. At the very top of the Galibier Martin was also dropped and is now at 2.37, while Simon Yates also lost time down to 4.07. He still leads the Young Rider Competition but his advantage to Louis Meintjes has now been reduced. Despite crashing Warren Barguil rode another fine race and still has a comfortable lead in the Climbers' competition. 

Alberto Contador tried one of his typical daring long range attacks that nearly came off – it certainly enlivened the race. Initially he had Nairo Quintana for company but to Contador's surprise Quintana couldn't sustain the effort. Quintana is now at 12th place 12.54 down, which is easily his worst Tour de France result.    

Unfortunately Marcel Kittel was involved in a crash early on in the stage and, although he rode on, had to abandon the race soon after. This is a great shame for Kittel but also deprives us of an exciting finale to the Green Jersey competition. Providing Michael Matthews reaches Paris he will surely now win the Jersey. Before Kittel abandoned Matthews had already closed the gap to just nine points. Matthews now leads André Griepel by 160 points. 

Stage 18: Briançon to Izoard 179.5 kms

Today is the last chance for the overall contenders to challenge Chris Froome in the mountains. Froome is expected to perform better in Saturday's time trial in Marseille than Bardet and Aru. The uphill finish, only the third in this Tour, gives someone the chance to grab the Yellow Jersey. Realistically, unless Froome blows up, only Uran and Bardet are likely to be able to do this. However, Sky remain the dominant team, especially with Mikel Landa climbing so well and Froome didn't show weakness yesterday. Should be a gripping climb up the mighty Izoard! 

2017 Tour de France: Matthews wins again, Stage 17 first crucial Alpine stage

Michael Matthews wins sprint and closes on Kittel 

Difficult and windy conditions at end sees 

Dan Martin loses 51 seconds 

After today Matthews is just 29 points behind Kittel – remarkable!  

Anyone hoping for a nice quiet transitional stage would have been severely disappointed today as it was full-on racing for almost all of today. Marcel Kittel was dropped on the first climb of the day but only around 22 seconds off the main peloton and his points adversary Michael Matthews – result full out racing. 

Kittel's group never got back on, so Matthews took both the intermediate sprint and the stage win – 50 points in total and closing fast on Kittel. Matthews has been following the tactics used by Peter Sagan to great effect in the last few years – getting in breaks and picking up points a pure sprinter can't. 

As predicted wind played it part in the final 20km or so. Of the leading contenders only Dan Martin got caught out losing 51 seconds to his rivals and now at 2.03 to Chris Froome. Martin paid the penalty of his team splitting between looking after Kittel and Martin, so poor Martin was short of helpers at the crucial moment. 

Stage 17: La Mure to Serre Chevalier 183 kms 

First big test: La Croix du Fer

 Col du Télégraphe and and the legendary Col du Galibier

Tomorrow is the first of two big stages in the Alps. I suspect that if Chris Froome is to be beaten it will have to be on one of these two stages. If he goes into the the Marseille TT in the lead it will be almost impossible to beat him unless he has mechanical problems. Can Bardet do something at the top of the Galibier and then on the long descent to Serre Chevalier?   

2017 Tour de France: Matthews wins in Rodez, Froome grabs Yellow. Stage 15 preview

 Michael Matthews wins Stage 14, Chris Froome 

one second behind retakes Yellow

 Overall: Chris Froome back in Yellow

Green Jersey: Matthews reduce 

deficit to Kittel to 99 points 

Michael Matthews won his second Tour de France stage with a finely judged sprint beating Greg van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert, who started his sprint too early and faded a bit at the end. This win has allowed Matthews to close the Green Jersey Points deficit on Marcel Kittel to 99 points. 

In yesterday's preview I suggested that the steep uphill finish, the 570 metres at 9.6% Col de Saint-Pierre, could well see some overall contenders gain a few seconds. Like Chris Froome I never expected Fabio Aru to come in 25 seconds behind Matthews and 24 behind Froome – all because of lousy tactics by Aru and Astana and impeccable ones by Sky.   

The last 10 kilometres into Rodez were very fast and technical with lots of roundabouts, especially as the Col de Saint-Pierre approached. It was noticeable that Sky rode together not far off the front for most of the stage and in front of Astana. In the last 13 kilometres or so they came to the front and guided Froome all the way to the base of the climb. In contrast Aru was isolated on the fast descent into Rodez, which hit 85 kph in places. I kept checking for Aru's position during the descent and saw he was well back, so thought he was likely to lose some time of the col – a finish reminiscent of an Ardennes classic. Even so I was surprised he came in 24 seconds after Froome, who did a great ride to come in just a second behind Matthews. Dan Martin and Rigoberto Uran also did great rides finishing on the same time as Froome. Of course Martin always does well in the Ardennes classics. Romain Bardet lost four seconds on Froome, while Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador lost over 20 seconds each. 

Although the time gaps are still small I reckon it will be very tough to pull the jersey off Froome's shoulders but today's stage is a chance.   

Stage 15: Laissac-Severac L'Eglise to Le Puy-en-Velay 189.5 kms

Still lumpy until final three kms

This is a tough stage through the Massif Central, which could well see further changes to the Overall Classification as well as perhaps being a rare opportunity for a breakaway to win the stage.  The stage includes the steep Col de Peyra Taillade, which has never been included in the Tour before and hits 14%.

Will Aru recover enough to challenge Froome and  can he continue to challenge if the Astana team can't get themselves sorted? What about the other contenders. 

If they race hard today we could see a great stage and fireworks. Can Michael Matthews get over the first category climb – Montée de Naves d'Aubrac – well ahead of Kittel and pick up some more valuable Green jersey points? This climb comes very early – around the 17 km mark – 8.9 kms at just under 7%. Could be crucial!

2017 Tour de France: Kittel wins again in Pau, Stage 12 preview – showdown in Pyrénées?

 Marcel Kittel takes his 5th 2017 stage win 

 No change overall – Chris Froome still in Yellow

Green Jersey: Marcel Kittel consolidates lead – 

133 points ahead of Michael Matthews

If yesterday's flat stage again panned out largely as expected with a small break of three riders going away from the off and Marcel Kittel winning the sprint, the finish was made much more exciting than the previous flat stage due to the very brave and impressive ride by Macief Bodnar, who was only swept up by the sprinters with 200 metres to go before the line. 

Kittel again won comfortably – at present there is no-one to touch him.

Stage 12: Pau to Peyragudes 214.5 kms

You can be confident that this won't be Kittel's third successive stage win. Instead this long stage (214.5 kms) in the Pyrénées may give Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran to put some pressure on Chris Froome. Alternatively it might be an opportunity for Froome to distance his rivals a little more. Apart from the last short ramp up to Peyragudes, these climbs are not as steep as those that featured on Sunday's stage. However, the distance may well take its toll on some riders, especially those who like Bardet, Jakob Fulsang and Contador, who crashed during yesterday's stage. Unfortunately Fulsang has a couple of fractures in his hand.

I expect that unlike the two previous stages when there was no enthusiasm to get in the break, there will be many looking to get away. It may be many kilometres before a break is established. It is 100 kms before the 2nd Cat Col des Ares is reached, which only has an average gradient of 4.6%. I can see Michael Matthews trying to get away again to pick up Intermediate Sprint points but this may well not be easy as the first part of this stage is not difficult.

The forecast is for showers later on in the stage, which could again make the descents dangerous. Hopefully there won't be any serious crashes. It will also be relatively cool. 

Update: raining in Pau at the start. Sunny at the finish for the moment.       

2017 Tour de France: after the rest day – Stage 10 preview

Stage 10: Périgueux to Bergerac: 178 kms

 

Last few kilometres: flat to the line 

Today the depleted peloton starts racing again after the first rest day with the first of two stages likely to finish in a sprint. The stage makes a twisting circuit through the Dordogne. 

I expect the usual pattern an early break that gets caught not long before the Bergerac with a sprint at the end. Marcel Kittlel must be favourite to add to his already stage wins. Can Michael Matthews continue to mount a challenge to Kittel for the Green Jersey? How much have the two tough mountain stages taken out of the sprinters?

Green Jersey standings: Kittel 212 points, Michael Matthews 160 points 

Yellow: Chris Froome leads with Fabio Aru 18 seconds behind 

It is unlikely that there will be any change to the Yellow Overall positions until the race reaches the Pyrénées on Thursday. There are now six stages until the second rest day. 

2017 Tour de France: carnage on stage 9 – Uran wins, Froome still in Yellow

As I feared very steep descents on wet roads brought carnage to the Tour yesterday with Geraint Thomas and then Richie Porte the headline riders who crashed out. Other riders out include Robert Gesink (crash), Arnaud Démare along with three team mates, Mark Renshaw, Matteo Trentin and Peter Sagan's brother – Juraj – all were outside the time limit for yesterday's brutal stage.

  

Despite a damaged bike – unable to change gear from the top 11 sprocket with only the option of moving from the big ring to the small, Rigoberto Uran just managed to hold off Warren Bargueil to win the stage – his first ever TdF stage win. Bargueil, who rode very well, has the compensation of being in the climbers' jersey with a healthy 30 point lead plus several days to recover before the next set of mountains. 

Chris Froome came through this tough test showing on the final climb Mont du Chat that he was the strongest climber on the day. The Yellow Jersey overall classification is now clearer with now only three riders – Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran within a minute of Froome. Nairo Quintana faded on the last climb and is now at 2.13 while Alberto Contador had a terrible time and is now 12th overall at 5.15 down. 

Sprinter Michael Matthews did an amazing ride to get over two HC climbs to pick up maximum points in the Intermediate Sprint. With Démare out – not sure why FDJ sacrificed three team mates to assist the clearly ill and weak Démare – Matthews looks to be Marcel Kittel's only serious challenger for the Green Jersey. However, he is still 52 points behind Kittel with several sprinters' stages still to come. Kittel must be the favourite for Green. 

Today is a very welcome rest day to be followed by a couple of likely sprint stages. 

 

2016 Tour de France – sprint in Montpellier, Ventoux awaits

Michael Matthews won his first Tour de France stage yesterday beating Peter Sagan and Evald Boasson Hagen in the sprint. However, this was another success Green jersey raid by Sagan who picked up maximum points at the intermediate sprint and took over the Green Jersey from Mark Cavendish. Sagan has 242 points to Cavendish's 204. 

 

No change overall as the peloton had another quiet day after the initial climb out of Andorra. 

Stage 11: Carcassonne to Montpellier 

 

I expect a big bunch sprint in Montpellier, which has a flat and wide finish. Another win for Cav or Marcel Kittel or a first win in this edition for André Griepel? I fancy the GC contenders will continue to rest up for tomorrow's stage finish on the top of Ventoux.