2016 Tour de France: Amazing descent by Froome + uphill shootout today?

Yesterday was hot and tough over four climbs including the Tourmalet. It was made special by Chris Froome's amazing descent into Bagnères-de-Luchon to take both the stage and the Yellow Jersey. It featured a brave but quixotic attack by Thibaut Pinot at the base of the Tourmalet that ended any chance of him achieving a high overall placing – he is now 19'44 down on Chris Froome. Furthermore he missed out on the Polka Dot Mountains Jersey by one point to Rafa Majka, Majka grabbing the winning six points at the top of the Val Louron-Azet climb after Pinot blew up on the lower slopes of this climb.

Sky rode on the front of the leading peloton for all of the day. The Yellow Jersey Greg Van Avermaet was dropped on the lower slopes of the Tourmalet and came in 25'54 behind Froome. Nairo Quintana was undone by a moment of hesitation on the top of the Peyresourde, which was compounded by the other riders leaving it up to Valverde to close the gap on Froome.       

Overall Chris Froome has a narrow lead of 16 seconds over Adam Yates, who has the White Jersey as best Young Rider, 19 over Dan Martin and 23 over Quintana. Roman Kreuziger is Tinkoff's leading rider after Alberto Contador was dropped on last climb and now lies 3'12 behind Froome and still suffering from his crashes on the first two stages. 

Of France's Tour hopefuls only Romain Bardet is still fully in touch – just 23 seconds down, although Warren Barguil is at 1'51 and Pierre Rolland at 1'55. 

The UK may have stupidly voted to leave the EU by Brits are still very much in the Tour winning five of the eight stages to date and holding the Yellow (Froome), Green (Cavendish) and White (Yates) Jerseys. 

Stage 9: Vielha Val d'Aran to Andorre Arcalis 184.5 km 

This is truly a brutal stage, especially after yesterday's very hard stage run in hot conditions. Currently there are still 13 riders grouped within 34 seconds at the top of the overall standings. With this stage being a mountain top finish this will surely change and is likely to feature a battle between Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana. 

I expect surprises given the heat and the affects of yesterday's tough stage.    

2016 Tour de France: great brave solo win by Steve Cummings + 'Circle of Death' awaits

Yesterday's stage was a treat because of Steve Cummings' brilliant solo attack and well deserved win along with Greg Van Avermaet's refusal to read the script and actually extend his lead to nearly six minutes over Adam Yates – now best placed Young Rider. 

I once rode the Col d'Aspin many years ago and it is more a steady climb than really steep, so it suited a powerful rider like Cummings. Interesting to see that Nibali couldn't make any impression on him and indeed in the second half of the climb Steve extended his lead over the chasers to over a minute. Unclear whether Nibali is riding this Tour for himself or actually to support Fabio Aru.... Will be interesting to see how Nibali goes today.    

The finish for the GC contenders was complicated because of the collapse of the one-kilometre-to-go inflatable banner. Apparently a spectator accidentally caught the plug and pulled it out, so the banner immediately started to deflate. Unfortunately it collapsed on top of Adam Yates, who had attacked at the top of the d'Aspin and gained a few seconds. Rightly the organisers credited Adam and moved him into second place and the Best Young Riders' Jersey.  

Of the GC contenders, only Thibaut Pinot lost significant time yesterday on the climb. He is at 9.12 on Avermaet, while the other GC contenders are at 5.57. 

Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon – 'Circle of Death'

Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon is one of the great classic stages of Le Tour. Today's stage is a variation on the classic route as this misses out the customary first col – d'Aubisque – and instead starts with the giant Col de Tourmalet (2115 m) and leaves out the western side of the Col d'Aspin, which is more gentle than the side they climbed yesterday. Instead the riders climb Hourquette d'Ancizan (2) and Col de Val Louron-Azet (1) before rejoining the classic route with the Col de Peyresourde and the descent into Bagnères-de-Luchon. Scottish climber Robert Millar is one of the past winners into Bagnères winning in 1983 ahead of Pedro Delgado, his fellow escapee and who he dropped on the Peyresourde.

In contrast to yesterday, today's stage should see a shake-up of the GC contenders and the end of Greg Van Avermaet's stay in Yellow.
 

#TDF2015: winning Pinot on L'Alpe d'Huez, Froome wins Tour + Cav or Griepel today?

 Stage 20: the top 23 headed by Thibaut Pinot

Stage 20: Chris Froome wins 2015 Tour – the top 23 overall
Nairo Quintana 2nd, Alejandro Valverde 3rd

Yesterday was an exciting stage with Chris Froome really pushed by Nairo Quintana. Apparently Froome has been suffering from a chesty cold since the rest day in Gap, so the climb up to L'Alpe d'Huez trying to limit his time loss to Quintana was really hard. With a great attack Quintana managed to reduce his deficit to Froome to 1.12. He couldn't, however, prevent Chris Froome from winning the Tour for a second time as today's stage will be a procession into Paris with only the sprinters involved in a final gallop up the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. 

Thibaut Pinot rescued his Tour with a fine stage win on top of L'Alpe d'Huez to make up for his disappointing showing earlier on in the Tour. Vincenzo Nibali was very unlucky to get a puncture at the base of the climb up the Alpe, which meant that his chance to get on the podium in Paris disappeared.  

The other jersey competitions have also now been decided: 

Mountains – Polka Dot: Chris Froome 

There is one point available on Stage 21 into Paris but this will change nothing as Chris Froome leads Nairo Quintana by 11 points.   

Points – Green: Peter Sagan 

Peter Sagan has again dominated the Points Competition, especially in the latter stages of the race. He leads André Griepel by over 100 points and cannot be caught even if he scores no points today. 

Young Rider: Nairo Quintana 

Nairo Quintana has a comfortable lead of 14.48 over Romain Bardet, the leading French rider. Although overall the French riders have not finished as high up the General Classification as they did last year, there is hope for the future with three French riders in the top four of this competition albeit that Warren Barguil and Thibaut Pinot are over 37 minutes down on Quintana.  

 

Stage 21: Sèvres-Gpso to Paris Champs-Élysées 109.5 kms

   

Today's stage will be a procession until the peloton reaches the Champs-Élysées when the sprinters will come out to play. The question will be how much did the mountains take out of them?

Although both André Griepel and Mark Cavendish both have weakened lead out teams, I still expect it will be between these two for the victory. Although Cav has lost Mark Renshaw, his lead out man, Mark is adept at going freestyle and knows the finish well having won here four times. Furthermore he has won here before without Renshaw. Peter Sagan will be up there but it would be a major surprise if he manages to win in Paris.  

#TDF2015 Stage 4 Triumph for determined Tony Martin – Noir day for Pinot!

 Top 21 finishers : Tony Martin takes Stage and Yellow

Overall after Stage 4: Tony Martin 

has a 12 seconds lead from Chris Froome

Despite having a puncture just before the last section of cobbles and swopping his bike for that of his teammate Matteo Trentin, Tony Martin was still able to launch a solo attack from the leading group three kilometres from the finish. Helped by hesitation amongst the group Martin managed to stay away to win by three seconds and take the Yellow Jersey from Chris Froome by 12 seconds. His victory is his 5th TdF stage and the first time he has worn Yellow. This has made up for the disappointments of the first three stages where Tony missed out on winning the time trial by five seconds and then for the next two stages missing Yellow by just a second.

Although a supreme time triallist Martin's feat was all the more impressive because of the long chase to get back to the leading group following his puncture and that Trentin's bike was set up differently from his – higher saddle and brakes differently arranged. 

Tony Martin should be able to hold the Yellow Jersey for the next few days and possibly until next Tuesday's first stage in the Pyrénnées. The leading GC contenders are likely be happy to see Martin in Yellow as he is no overall threat.

The good thing from yesterday's stage is that all of the leading contenders came through the cobbled stage without injury or losing time.

The list of all time Tour de France stage winners has been updated here to include Tony Martin's stage win yesterday.   

••

Noir day for Pinot 

In marked contrast to Martin, Thibaut Pinot had another nightmare day. Having a mechanical probem at the same time as Martin, he declined the offer of a teammate's bike and waiting for the team car, which inevitably took a while to come. The wait caused Pinot to lose his cool as he did again a bit further on when had further mechanical problems – a puncture. Overall he lost 3.23 on the stage.

It looks like Thibaut has found being one of the big French hopes too much and hasn't been able to handle the pressure. After a good opening time trial he was caught out by the wind and the splits in the peloton on Stage 2 and then didn't have the legs for Stage 3 and the climb of Le Mur de Huy. He is now 6.30 down on Chris Froome, so his hopes of a podium place must have evaporated. 

•••

Stage 5: Arras to Amiens 189.5 kms

 

A sprint to Amiens 

Provided cross winds don't play a part, this should end up a mass bunch sprint with these riders amongst the favourites: André Griepel, Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff, Bryam Coquard and Nacer Bouhanni. Peter Sagan will be up there but it would be a surprise if he won this bunch sprint.           

 

2014 Tour de France: Kittel wins Parisian King Sprint – Nibali crowned

Marcel Kittel won his second successive stage on the Champs Elysée having won last year. This time he beat Alexander Kristoff into second place. Kristoff was in the lead as the line approached by Kittel had his characteristic strength to put in a last spurt in the fianl 50 metres or so that moved him clear and won the stage. This takes Marcel Kittel's overall stage total to 8 – 4 wins in 2013 and 4 this year, so he is beginning to move into exalted company!

 

Vincenzo Nibali was duly crowned as the 2014 Tour de France winner. There was no change overall, although the time gaps have changed as little as Nibali made sure he rode over the finishing line with his team, so Jean-Christophe Peraud, for instance, gained a few seconds. When you are leading by well over seven minutes a few seconds lost on the final stage changes nothing.

Nibali has now won all three Grand Tours – France, Italy and Spain. He joins only five other riders who have managed this feat: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault and Alberto Contador.  

Nibali is a very worthy winner – he has clearly been the best rider in this year's Tour. You can speculate what would have happened if Chris Froome and Alberto Contador hadn't crashed out of this year's Tour but what is important is that Nibali finished and they didn't. I fancy that if Froome hadn't crashed and injured himself on Stage 4 from Le Touquet to Lille, it is very likely that he would have lost considerable time to Nibali on the cobbles the next day.

Le Tour 2014 has been great for France with two French riders on the podium – Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot along with Romain Bardet in sixth. Of course, Pinot also has the White Jersey as the best young rider. 

The Tour de France continues to become increasingly global with Ramunas Navardauskas as the first Lithuanian stage winner and Rafa Majka as Poland's first winner of the Climbers' Jersey. Ji Cheng, clear winner of La Lanterne Rouge at 6.02:24 down on Nibali, is the first Chinese rider to compete in the Tour and the first to finish. 

•••

Earlier in the day Marianne Vos deservedly won the first La Course - the race on the Champs Elysée for women. See details here. Unfortunately, Lizzie Armistead crashed out.

2014 Tour de France: Tony Martin's crushing win + 2 French riders on podium

As expected Tony Martin dominated today's time trial winning by 1:39 from Tom Demoulin and with only two other riders within two minutes of him. One of these being Vincenzo Nibali, who rode conservatively at the beginning speeding up in the second part of the course. As I rather suspected Jean-Christophe Peraud took the second place from Thibaut Pinot despite a puncture, although Pinot did a good ride. AGR2R Le Mondial had bad luck having two punctures. The second cost young Romain Bardet his fifth place as Tejay Van Garderen moved ahead of him by just two seconds. Even so it has been a great Tour de France for the French. The big disappointment today was Alejandro Valverde who lost a lot of time to both Peraud and Pinot, although he does keep his 4th place.  

This afternoon's victory takes Tony Martin's Tour stage wins to four. See updated list of stage winners from 1903 to 2014 here.
 

Vincenzo Nibali extended his lead to 7:58 – it is a long time since a Tour winner has had such a margin. It is also 30 years since there have been two French riders – Peraud and Pinot – on the podium in Paris, barring accidents during the last stage. The last time was in 1984 when Laurent Fignon won the Tour with Bernard Hinault in second and Greg Lemond in third. Of course Pinot has the white jersey as the Best Young Rider.  

2014 Tour de France: race of truth from Bergerac to Perigueux

Stage 20: Bergerac to Perigueux 54 km time trial

Today's 54-kilometre time trial is the last crucial Tour stage for the overall contenders and it is a tough one. The course undulates throughout with very few flat sections, so it will suit a powerful time triallist. World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin is the clear favourite. He has no problem climbing as his long solo victory in the Vosges showed.

The real battle is going to be for the final placings in the Top 10, especially the remaining two places on the podium in Paris with only fifteen seconds between Thibaut Pinot in 2nd place, Jean-Christophe Peraud (3rd) and Alejandro Valverde in 4th. It would be good to see both Frenchmen Pinot and Peraud on the podium but it is very difficult to call who will be on the steps. It is also possible that if some of them have a really bad day that Tejay Van Garderen on a good ride could move further up the order than imagined.  

Météo France is forecasting sunshine with some clouds, although some previews are suggesting rain in the morning with the weather clearing up in the afternoon. 

Overall standings after Stage 19 

Detailed review of the course and the contenders here.

2014 Tour de France: Nibali stamps his authority on race

In a demonstration of great strength on the final big climb of this year's Tour Vincenzo Nibali rode away from his rivals winning the stage by 1:10 from Thibaut Pinot. This is Nibali's fourth stage victory this year and it is the first time since Eddy Merckx that the winner of the Tour has won four stages.  

 

Nibali has extended his overall lead to 7:10 with Pinot taking second place from Alejandro Valverde, who was the big loser today and dropped to fourth. With his third place on the stage Rafal Majka secured his win in the King of the Mountains competition. However, there is only 15 seconds separating Pinot, Peraud and Valverde in the fight for the two remaining podium places. The Bergerac time trial on Saturday will be exciting.     

2014 Tour de France: Stage 18 – last mountain battle

Stage 18: Pau to Hautacam 145.5km 

Today's relatively short but tough stage with the climbs of the famous Tourmalet and to the finish atop Hautacam is the last mountain stage in this year's Tour. It would not be a surprise to see Nibali further cement his position as Tour leader by winning this stage. The real battle will be for the podium places with Valverde and Pinot keen to strengthen their positions before the time trial on Saturday and the threat from Jean-Christophe Peraud. Pinot's FDR probably made a mistake yesterday by going hard on the penultimate climb, leaving Pinot without enough teammates for the final climb. 

The Hautacam was the springboard for Lance Armstrong's doped up Tour victory in 2000. 

Should be another exciting stage to watch. 

2014 Tour de France: Tough mountain stage – big battle for podium

As expected today's stage produced another exciting race with Rafal Majka taking his second stage win this Tour and consolidating his hold on the Climbers Jersey. He now has 149 points to Vinzenzo Nibali's 118. Its a healthy but not invincible lead. There was a further shake up of the Overall Classification with AG2R coming off best in the Podium Stakes, while Vincenzo Nibali further tightened his hold on the Yellow Jersey. He is now 5:26 ahead of Alejandro Valverde and is clearly a level above everyone else in the race.   

 

Romain Bardet's successful attack on the last descent forced Thibaut Pinot to chase on the ascent of Pla d'Adet, which then allowed Jean-Christophe Peraud to follow Nibali's attack and Pinot lost some ground with Peraud only 8 seconds behind him. Valverde looked to be in trouble but recovered, caught and overtook Pinot and gained 5 seconds. Because of his time trialling ability Peraud is looking good for a podium place but there is still, of course, the last mountain stage to come tomorrow. Expect further changes!  

2014 Tour de France: short killer day in Pyrénées

Stage  17: Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d'Adet 124.5km

Although, with the exception of the sole time trial, this is the shortest stage (124.5km) it will also be one of the toughest. There are four categorised climbs crammed into the second half with little if any respite between them. The first three climbs are 1st Cat, while the Pla d'Adet is an HC. Being a short stage with a mountain top finish the racing is likely to be fast. I expect further shifts in the overall classification.

The impressive Thibaut Pinot (now wearing the White Jesey for best young rider) will be looking to put more time into those who can time trial better than he, in particular Jean-Christophe Peraud who is just over a minute behind. Pinot would also love to move into second above Alejandro Valverde, who is only 49 seconds ahead and who has looked uncomfortably at the top of the climbs. He was briefly dropped by Pinot yesterday but recovered on the final descent.  Today there is no final descent, so any gaps made on the final climb will stick!

Equally Romain Bardet and Tejay Van Gardenen may well try to get back some of the time they lost yesterday – certainly not to lose anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vincenzo Nibali take another stage win today. Should be as exciting as yesterday!    

2012 Tour de France: a few reflections

Waterfront@Pauillac 2010 – does Latour 1982 make you go faster?

After just over three weeks spent following the Tour, I'm feeling a little bereft today now that it has finished. Time, then, for a few reflections on the 2012 edition. 

Some have suggested that this year's Tour was boring. I don't agree and not just because Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider ever to win the Tour plus Chris Froome's second place, seven stage wins by UK riders – three of them by Mark Cavendish. Although fewer than in previous years, Mark's stage wins take him to 23 in five years putting him in 4th place in the overall stage winners' ranking. Only Eddy Merckx (34), Bernard Hinault (28) and André Leducq (25) have won more. Mark Cavendish is now the most successful sprinter in the Tour's history.

Yes Alberto Contador was not present because of suspension. Nor was Andy Schleck due to injury. Would the outcome have been any different had they been competing? I have my doubts. Schleck surely would not have put enough time into either Wiggins or Froome in the mountains to have survived the two long time trials. Less certain with regard to Contador but he wasn't hugely impressive in the 2011 and 2010 editions. Wiggins beat Contador in the 2010 final time trial from Bordeaux to Pauillac and Wiggins' time trialling has improved considerably since then as his two stage victories this year showed. Indeed at one point Contador was even losing time to Andy Schleck. 

There were some thrilling victories by Peter Sagan – the first stage and the third into Boulogne – and by Thomas Voeckler at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, Pierre Rolland at La Toussuire, Thibaut Pinot at Porrentruy and Chris Froome at La Planche des Belles Filles to mention a few. Then there were the two mesmerising wins by Mark Cavendish first at Tournai and then stunningly at Brive.

The French had a good Tour with Thomas Voeckler winning the Mountain Jersey competition and two stages. Long-term, even better news may well be the emergence of Thibault Pinot and Pierre Rolland's fine ride. All in all, five stage victories to the host nation. Then, of course, there are more young stars – Peter Sagan, especially, and Tejay Van Garderen. 

No – not boring at all!  

  

   

2012 Tour de France: Thibaut Pinot wins stage for France in Switzerland

Much to the delight of the French, 22-year-old Thibaut Pinot gave France their first stage win in this year's Tour in Porrentruy with a brilliant ride through the Jura hills to finish 26 seconds ahead of a small group of the leading riders. Pinot just managed to stay ahead of the Yellow jersey group who closed up on the tough final climb of the day and then on the descent and flat section that followed. Pinot caught Fredrik Kessiakoff, the long time lone breakaway rider, at the top of the last climb. Great to see a young rider – the youngest in the Tour – to get a stage win like this!

Leading places to today's stage:

1. Thibaut Pinot 

2. Cadel Evans                26 secs

3. Tony Gallopin

4. Bradley Wiggins 

5: Vincenzo Nibali

6. Jurgen Van Broeck   

7. Chris Froome

8. Denis Menchov 

9 Haimar Zubeldia  

10. Frank Schleck           30 secs

11. Chris Horner  

The big loser today was Rein Taarmae, who did so well yesterday, but who came in today at 2.21 behind Pinot and lost 1.55 to Wiggins. 

Going into tomorrow's time trial Bradley Wiggins holds onto the Yellow Jersey and will have the advantage of starting last in the trial. There are now only four riders within a minute of Wiggins. Had Jurgen Van den Broeck not had his mechanical problem just before yesterday's main climb, he might well have been up there too. 

Overall - top 10:

1. Bradley Wiggins

2: Cadel Evans                      10 secs

3. Vincenzo Nibali                16  

4. Denis Menchov                 54

5. Haimar Zubeldia               59

6. Chris Froome                  1.32  

7. Maxime Monfort            2.08 

8. Jurgen Van den Broeck   2.11

9. Nicolas Roche                 2.21

10. Rein Taaramae              2.27 

Race standings here.


Sadly Samuel Sanchez, one of Spain's strongest riders and winner of the Mountains jersey last year, was forced to abandon the Tour today following a crash breaking his right wrist and left collarbone. Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui has also abandoned.