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: Mark Cavendish wins 29th – the Pyrénées loom

Another amazing win for Mark Cavendish in Montauban, the third of this year and his 29th Tour de France stage win – just a breathtaking achievement. Once again Mark won through a combination of his speed and tactical nous – knowing just where to be and whose wheels to follow – doing this in Montauban without his lead-out men. 

This latest win moves Mark into second place on the overall list of stage winners of the Tour de France – a list that starts with the first edition of this great race in 1903. Now on 29 wins, Cav moves one ahead of the great Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour in 1985. He is now five stage wins away from matching the legendary Eddy Merckx. 

At the end of the 2015 Tour, when Cav won just one stage, it looked as though he might never threaten to catch Eddy Merckx's total. However, this year's work on the track for the Rio Olympics and moving to a new team – Dimension Data – has seen a return to Cav's old dominance taking three stage wins in the first week – a feat he has never managed before.   

Mark won his first Tour de France stage win in 2008 in Châteauroux and went on to win three more that year. 

The 29 stage wins: 2008 – 4, 2009 – 6, 2010 – 5, 2011 – 5, 2012 – 3, 2013 – 2, 2014 – crashed out 1st stage, 2015 – 1, 2016 – 3 to date.   

Mark now has a chance to equal or even surpass Merckx. But even winning a stage on the Tour is a remarkable achievement, so winning another five to reach Eddy's total of 34 will not be easy. This is underlined by looking at the riders who have five stage wins to their name including Chris Froome, Sean Kelly and Tony Martin.           

 

Greg Van Avermaet enjoyed a trouble-free day on his first day in the Yellow Jersey and there were no changes overall.  

Stage 7: L'Isle-Jourdan – Luc de Payrolle 162.5k

Today is the first of three days in the Pyrénées and with only one major climb – Col d'Aspin – it should be the easiest. Saturday and Sunday's stages will surely be very tough. I fancy Greg Van Avermaet may still be in Yellow tonight but will lose a chunk of his over 5 minute lead. 

Will Moviestar attempt to soften up the other GC contenders on the approach and up the Col d'Aspin? What will the tactics of Sky be and how will the chances of France's promising clutch of young riders look after today's stage? Will Alberto Contador lose more time today. If he does lose time his chances of winning this Tour, already slim, will surely disappear. 

I expect some shake-up to the overall lead but anticipate that Saturday and Sunday's stages will be the ones that really show the handful of real contenders for victory this year. 

Until now all the 2016 stage winners – Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel and Gre Van Avermaet – have all won stages on previous TDFs, will there be a first time stage winner today? 
 

#TDF2015: Sky smother attacks on Plâteau de Beille + lumpy finish in Rodez

 Top 21 from yesterday's stage won in fine style by Joachim Rodriguez

Overall after Stage 12 

Mirroring the weather yesterday's stage turned out to be a damp squib failing to live up to expectations as far as the anticipated shake up of the GC contenders was concerned.  

Joachim 'Purito' Rodriguez produced a fine ride to win the stage from Jakob Fuglsang and Romain Bardet. In the Yellow Jersey peloton there were attacks on the final climb from Valverde, Quintana, Contador and Contador. All appeared to be half-hearted. None of these riders appeared to have an real zip in their legs. Down to the conditions – very hot initially and the cooler later in the rain – or are they just disheartened by the dominance of Sky? The effectiveness of Sky was highlighted by the presence of Richie Porte, almost all the way up the climb, and Geraint Thomas right to the finish protecting Chris Froome. All are now hoping that Froome asa bad time in the Alps.

Several riders, however, will have taken some encouragement from their performance yesterday. For once Nibali wasn't dropped and neither was Thibault Pinot. Romain Bardet had a good day coming in third. Others went backwards – Bauke Mollema, Tony Gallopin and Warren Barguil. Nibali's preformance has moved him up to 9th overtaking Bauke Mollema and Warren Barguil.

In the very early intermediate sprint André Griepel took the maximum points and closed to with two on current leader Peter Sagan. 

Chris Froome's electrifying performance on Stage 10 continues to attract controversy. Some of the French press and people on social media appear to have forgotten how dominant some the performances of France's last Tour winner – Bernard Hinault – were. I well remember being on the Alpe d'Huez in 1986 when Hinault and Greg Lemond came up together well ahead of the rest of the field. Equally consider Eddy Merckx's career.

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Stage 13: Muret to Rodez 198.5 kms 

  

This stage takes the Tour into the southern part of France's Massif Central. The first part of the stage is relatively flat, particularly after three days in the Pyrénées. The Intermediate Sprint comes at 92.5 kms by which time a break will surely have gone, so there may be limited points available for the leading Green Jersey contenders unless someone like Sagan manages to get into the break.

There are three categorised climbs in the second part of the stage and for the finish there is a sharp 570 metre long climb at 9.6%, so surely not a day for the sprinters. Will it be one for John Degenkolb or Peter Sagan? I suspect it will be difficult for Sagan as he is unlikely to get much team support. The victory may again go to someone in the breakaway. 

Sometimes these transitional stages that are supposed to be relatively easy for the GC contenders can be deceptive. Sky will need to be attentive. Also some GC riders could lose a little time on the final climb.      

2013 Tour de France – just a week to go!

Le Tour@Pauillac 2010

This time next week the 100th edition of Le Tour de France will be underway. For the first time ever the Tour starts in Corsica, where it spends the first three days before moving to Nice for the short 25 kilometre time trial.

There is a good chance that next Saturday evening will see Mark Cavendish in Yellow after winning the sprint for the first stage from Porto Vecchio north for 213 kms to Bastia. The stage is very flat and must be virtually certain to end in a bunch sprint. Mark will be determined to win the stage and wear the leader's Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career. If he succeeds he will have worn the leader's jersey in the three major Tours. Winning in Bastia would take his all time T de F stage wins to 24 – only 10 behind the legendary Eddy Merckx, the longtime holder of the most stage wins. Currently Mark needs just five more stage wins before he matches second placed Bernard Hainault.     

When Cav sets his sights on a win he normally makes it. However, the first stage of the Tour can be very nervous with the likelihood of crashes, so good positioning – certainly – and luck – possibly – may well play their part. At this year's Giro d'Italia Mark won five stages plus the Red Points Jersey, so he is just as fast as ever. But for the Tour the competition in the sprints is going to be intense. Among Mark challengers will be Tyler Farrar, Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb, Peter Sagan, Nacer Bouhanni, Matthew Goss, Edvard Boassen Hagen and André Griepel. 

Can't wait for the off! Further Tour posts during this week.    

Follow the Tour on Steephill-TV also the Tour's official site.   

All time stage winners now complete from 1903 to 1975 plus most of the recent winners.