2016 Tour de France – Griepel wins sprint - Froome joins the greats

André Griepel won the sprint in Paris, so he finally got a stage win in the 2016 edition. This is now back to back victories in Paris as Griepel won here last year. He has now ridden six TDFs and won at least a stage in each edition. Griepel now has 11 TDF stage victories – two more than Marcel Kittel. This makes him the second most successful current sprinter in the TDF after Mark Cavendish and his 30 wins. Griepel is now 34, which underlines that sprinters can continue to win well into their 30s.
 

Peter Sagan come very close to taking the victory yesterday with a late surge but needed a few more metres. You have to wonder whether, if Sagan hadn't done all that work for Romain Kreuzinger on Saturday's final Alpine stage, he might have won this sprint. Just shows how phenomenally strong Sagan is!

Marcel Kittel, my pick for yesterday's winner, had mechanical problems and curiously without a team mate to pace him back into the pack spent too much energy in returning to have any left for the sprint. He finished in 61st position. Still I did pick Griepel for second spot.    

With just one stage win – Limoges – this will have been a disappointing TDF for Kittel having missed last year due to injury. This appears to suggest that Etixx-Quickstep might be a graveyard for successful sprinters. Cav won only three TDF stages in his three seasons with with Omega Pharma–Quick-Step (now Etixx-Quickstep). Still impressive, especially as he crashed out of the 2014 TDF on Stage 1, but way down on his previous results. Kittel won four stages in both 2013 and 2014, so just one in 2016 due to the Cav's renaissance will hurt. Still at 28 he has time on his side.

Many congratulations to Chris Froome on winning his third Tour de France and joining the greats, who have won three TDFs or more. He joins five times winners Jacques Anquetil Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx plus Lucien Bobet, Greg Lemond and Philippe Thys, who also won three editions.   

Of the GC contenders Froome was clearly the most aggressive taking the most risks as demonstrated by his descent of the Peyresoudre to take Yellow. In Sky, of course, Froome had a superb and very focused team.  

Apart from a brief try on the Ventoux Nairo Quintana's challenge never materialised. The exciting young rider of 2013, who attacked in the Pyrénées and on the Ventoux, now appears to be a distant memory. Sky's strength appeared to intimidate the other contenders and only Romain Bardet, Dan Martin, Bauke Mollema, Alejandro Valverde and Adam Yates made attacks. Unfortunately Yates's attack off the Col d'Aspin was nullified by the collapsing Flamme Rouge banner. This was the stage that Steve Cummings took with a typically, fine solo ride. It was good to see Bardet's brave attack  on Stage 19 bring him second place on the podium. Will he be able to test Froome more fully in 2017?

Other Jerseys

Congratulations to Peter Sagan on winning the Green Jersey by a mile for the 5th time. He also took two stage victories. In his second TDF Adam Yates impressed winning the White Jersey as the best young rider, while Rafa Majka took the Polka Dot climbers' jersey for the second time. 

Cav's Renaissance 

It was great to see Mark Cavendish back to best winning four stages including Stage 1 so getting the Yellow Jersey for the first time. He now has an amazing 30 TDF stage wins only four behind that of the great Eddy Merckx. Although nothing is even given in the Tour it must now be possible that Cav at 31 years old can match or even eclipse Eddy's record. 

In 24 year-old Dan McLay we have a new promising sprinter. He was placed in the 10 top on three stages in this year's Tour.      

UK's progression since 2007 
The 2007 Tour de France started in London with the Prologue. It was the first Tour that a young sprinter called Mark Cavendish rode. After a couple of top 10 placings and two crashes, Mark pulled out on Stage 8. Although there was a growing interest in cycling and the Tour attracted good crowds, no British rider had come close to winning the Tour and Barry Hoban held the stage wins total with 8.   

Who would have thought that nine years on that Mark Cavendish would have racked up 30 TDF stage wins and have won the Green Jersey in 2011, that British riders would have won four of the last five Tours – 2012 (Bradley Wiggins), 2013, 2015 and 2016 (all Chris Froome), and that Adam Yates would be the first UK rider to win the White Jersey. Remarkable!   

2016 Tour de France: Chris Froome wins TT – now untouchable?

Chris Froome produced a champion's ride yesterday in the mountain time trial beating second placed Tom Dumoulin by 21 second and taking more time on all of his GC rivals. Froome judged his effort perfectly by riding the first part relatively conservatively – down 23 seconds on Tom Dumoulin at the first time check. That reduced to 10 seconds at the 2nd check, while by the 3rd Chris was 13 seconds up. A swift descent into Mégeve extended his advantage to 21 seconds. 

Among the other GC contenders Fabio Aru and Romain Bardet rode very good TTs conceding only 33 and 42 seconds respectively. Richie Porte also reclaimed time from his rivals, although he probably started out too fast. Nairo Quintana looked to be losing quite a lot of time initially but limited his losses toward the end of his ride, while closing up a little on Adam Yates and Bauke Mollema. However, Quintana still conceded a further 1'10 to Froome.   

 

Froome now leads Bauke Mollema by 3'52, Adam Yates by 4'16 and Quintana by 4'37. He now has a comfortable lead and short of crashing or falling ill will wrap up his third Tour de France victory in Paris on Sunday. What remains is the fight for a place on the podium and positions within the top 10. Only 2'08 separates Mollema (3'52) in 2nd place from Aru (6'08) in 7th place. 

Stage 19: Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc 146 kms

Only two really racing stages remain for the GC contenders – today and tomorrow. Both are short, tough Alpine stages, which I assume will continue to be controlled by Sky making it difficult for the other GC riders to gain time on each other. Today's stage is the race's last mountain top finish, so it may turn out to be a war of attrition as Sky are very unlikely to permit Froome's rivals to escape. Although, nearly four minutes is a reasonable cushion it could still disappear in these two hard days that remain.  

2016 Tour de France: Chris Froome tightens grip – uphill TT today

Ilnur Zaharin won yesterday's steep climb to Finaut-Emosson to take his first Tour de France stage, while Rafa Majka strengthened his position in the Polka Dot jersey. Majka has 173 points to Thomas de Gendt on 90 and Zaharin on 78. As usual Peter Sagan got into the break to snaffle maximum points from the intermediate sprint and then did a club run ride to the finish. Sagan has 425 points to Marcel Kittel's 228, so Green is his unless he crashes out.      

In the last kilometre Chris Froome gained time on all of his GC rivals apart from Richie Porte when Richie attacked. Of Chris' closest rivals the biggest losers were Nairo Quintana (28 seconds) and Bauke Mollema (40 seconds).  Alejandro Valverde and Dan Martin, who made an unsuccessful attack on the final climb, also lost significant time. Adam Yates put in another fine performance coming in just 8 seconds after Froome and Porte.

Once again the Sky train proved to be utterly dominant, although Astana did take to the front for a while with Vincenzo Nibali and Diego Rosa. Was the plan for Fabio Aru to attack? If it was nothing happened apart from first Nibali and then Rosa burning themselves out. 

Once again Tejay Van Garderen showed that he doesn't last the three weeks of the Tour when he blew up on the penultimate climb and lost nearly 20 minutes to Froome. This leaves Porte as the undisputed BMC leader.  

 

Stage 18: Sallanches to Megève – 17 km mountain time trial 

Today's mountain time trial is a tribute to Bernard Hinault's World Championship win here in 1980. I expect that Chris Froome will put further time into his GC rivals. It is now going to take a real disaster to stop Froome winning his third TDF. He deserves to win as to date he has shown himself to be the dominant rider. 

2016 Tour de France: Peter Sagan third stage win – Chris Froome still comfortable

Yesterday Peter Sagan racked up his third 2016 TDF stage win beating Alexander Kristoff, who appeared confused about where the finishing line was, by just a few centimetres. This win takes Sagan's overall total of Tour de France stage wins to seven. 

 

Despite the tricky and hectic finish into Bern, there were no changes to the overall times of the GC contenders. 

Rest Day: Bern 

Today is the second rest day in the Tour – a time to relax and prepare for four tough, crucial Alpine stages, which will decide the winner. 

Chris Froome with a lead of 1'.47 over Bauke Mollema, his nearest rival, and a very strong team remains handily placed. He has nearly three minutes over Nairo Quintana seen as his biggest rival and only eight riders are within five minutes. Froome has yet to show any weakness. However, in 2013 and 2015 when he won  the Tour he was not at his best in the final week.  

Peter Sagan looks to have won the Green Jersey for the 5th time as he now has 405 points to Mark Cavendish's 291. Rafa Majka leads the Polka Dot with 127 points to Thomas de Gendt's 90. This is a decent lead but there are still plenty of mountain points to come, so it is not yet decisive. Adam Yates continues to hold the White Jersey (best young rider) with 3'03 over Louis Meintjes. Meintjes is his only serious rival as third placed, Warren Barguil, is at 16'30.   

2016 Tour de France: chaos on Ventoux – 37.5 TT today

Results of Stage 12 to the Ventoux

Unfortunately yesterday's stage on Mont Ventoux, which should have been one of the high points of the Tour, descended into farce and chaos yesterday because the organisers failed to provide proper crowd control close to the shortened finish at Chalet Reynard. Richie Porte, Chris Froome and Bauke Mollema all crashed into a motorbike that appeared to have had to stop suddenly because of the crowds of people on the road. A following motorbike ran into Froome's bike breaking the frame. Fortunately it didn't run over any of the three riders. Had the provisional results of the stage been allowed to stand Froome would have lost a chunk of time as well as the Yellow Jersey. 

Fortunately after an hour's deliberation the Race Jury gave Froome and Porte the same time as Mollema (5'.05), which was surely the only decision they could have made. On the climb Nairo Quintana finally launched a couple of attacks that were swiftly countered by Sky. Soon after Froome attacked and soon dropped Quintana, who appeared not to be at his best yesterday. 

The chaos overshadowed a fine first TDF stage win by Thomas de Gendt, who grabbed the Polka Dot Jersey off the shoulders of Thibaut Pinot, who is reported to have abandoned the Tour today.  

Clearly the Tour organisers will have to rethink crowd security on the Tours major climbs like Ventoux and the Alpe d'Huez.

 

The revised results now give Chris Froome a 47 second lead over the impressive Adam Yates, Nairo Quintana at 54" and Mollema (56"). They are now the only riders with a minute of Froome. Romain Bardet (1'15") is now the only Frenchman in real contention. Among those losing time yesterday were abio Aru and Dan Martin.

Stage 13: Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont d'Arc 37.5 kms

Todays TT is a tough test, which should significantly shake up the Overall Standings. Will Chris Froome extend his lead? Will Nairo Quintana shine or fade further? Will be surprised if Froome doesn't consolidate his position.

2016 Tour de France: Sagan wins, Froome gains seconds – Ventoux shortened

 Peter Sagan wins in Montpellier, Chris Froome gains 12 seconds on rivals 

Wind played an important part in yesterday's stage causing several gaps in the peloton and making it a hectic day. Peter Sagan along with his team mate – Maciej Bodnar – made the decisive break some 12k before the finish. Only Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas were able to get onto their wheels. The quartet raced flat out – at one time gaining a little over 20 seconds on their rivals. Sagan won the sprint, while Froome finished six seconds ahead + a six second time bonus. This now puts him 28 seconds ahead of Adam Yates, who has extended his lead in the White Jersey competition to 1'.42 over Louis Meintjes, who had presumably got caught out by the wind. Peter Sagan has further cemented his hold on the Green Jersey, especially as Cav had a mechanical problem.      

Stage 12: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux  – Chalet ReynardHigh winds has caused this stage to be shortened with the finish at Chalet Reynard rather than on the mountain top because of the forecast of winds over 100kms at the summit and on 4˚C. It will still be a steep climb up to the finish but will be protected by the trees. There should still be some gaps between the GC riders. High winds may also play a part before the Ventoux is reached.  

2016 Tour de France: Fine win by Tom Dumoulin lights up dull Queen's stage

 

What was billed as the Queen Stage of the Tour turned out to be a stately procession through majestic scenery. Apart from the last few kilometres of the Arcalis climb when the GC contenders started to attack and the initial climb of the day, no-one was prepared to attack Sky and Chris Froome so they naturally rode tempo for much of the day allowing the break to build up a huge gap. 

The stage began climbing from the very start up to the Port de la Bonaigua. There were attacks all the way up including Peter Sagan going for a long foray to pick up intermediate sprint points along with Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde racing clear of the peloton. For a moment the stage looked to be about to live up to its billing. 

Contador soon faded and later retired from the race suffering both from his crash wounds and a fever. Valverde carried on caught the breakaway. They crested the Bonaigua and hurtled down the descent. On the flat, however, the Sky train started to catch up rapidly. Not long after Valverde eased up and waited for the peloton, who then let the large break of 20 riders or so disappear into the distance. Did Peter Sagan persuade Valverde to leave the break, so he could pick up sprint points? If Valverde had stayed in the break would certainly have been caught.

Both Thibaut Pinot and Rafa Majka were in the break. This time Pinot was the stronger and picked up enough points to take the climber's jersey off Majka's shoulders. Then just before the start of the final climb up to Arcalis Tom Dumoulin took off and remained in front to take his first Tour de France stage win. The excellent Dumoulin is the first new rider to be added to the list of stage winners this year.     

 

Overall there were a few changes but nothing like what one might have expected. Now there are only eight riders within a minute of Chris Froome. Tejay Van Garderen, Fabio Aru and Warren Bargueil lost a little time along with Pierre Rolland, who is now four minutes behind Froome.

White Jersey holder, Adam Yates, has extended his lead over Louis Meintjes a little. Mark Cavendish holds onto the Green Jersey but Sagan is only seven points behind now. Unfortunately Mark lost his lead out man – Mark Renshaw, who fell ill overnight and had to abandon.

Today is a rest day. Hopefully in the second week GC contenders will show more ambition and attack Chris Froome and Sky.  

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.