2017 Tour de France: Bauke Mollema's solo win + Froome's scare

Bauke Mollema's brave and deserved stage win at Le Puy

Chris Froome still in Yellow despite scare

 Mountain jersey: Warren Barguil 

leads by a comfortable 78 points

Green: Michael Matthews has closed 

the gap on Marcel Kittel to 79 points

The difficult Stage 15 to Le Puy was won by Bauke Mollema, who bravely soloed away from his breakaway companions with 29 kilometres to go. He managed to win with a gap of 19 seconds to chalk up his first Tour de France stage win. 

Apart from Nairo Quintana blowing up on the second 1st Category Col de Peyra Taillade and losing some four minutes and dropping out of the Top 10 overall, there were no significant changes to the overall classification. However, there might well have been as Chris Froome had a mechanical problem just at the start of the Col de Peyra and had to make up 50 seconds to get back onto the peloton of flying leaders. Fortunately he had enough team mates around to make this possible. 

Dan Martin gained 14 seconds by riding away in the last few kilometres – he now sits 1.12 back from Froome. Fabio Aru at 18", Romain Bardet at 23" and Rigoberto Uran at 29". 

Warren Barguil has a very firm grasp of the Climbers' Jersey, while Marcel Kittel should hold onto Green as there are still some sprinters' stages left, although Michael Matthews has reduced the deficit considerably since Pau.

Today is the second and last rest day. Wednesday and Thursday in the Alps will be the crucial stages along with Saturday's Time Trial in Marseille. At this stage this is the closest Tour de France ever. Promises to be a gripping finale!      

 

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!

Loire cycle ride for cancer: good and bad moments

Attractive château just to the north of Le Puy en Vélay

Much of the Loire Valley is beautiful, although there are times when its flatness becomes a little monotonous. I didn't have much time to stop to take photos, although I did take a few.   

 The Loire just to the north of Le Puy en Vélay

 The bridge – Pont des Droits de l'Homme (Human Rights Bridge) -

@Retournac

 The Loire@Retournac

 Retournac: a business that has seen better days

 Close to the Bec-Allier, where the Allier joins the Loire@Cuffy

(above and below)

 The Loire@Ancenis

 Not the best moment!: at the top of the climb over the 

Saint-Nazaire Bridge over the Loire.

Narrow, unguarded cycle lane some heavy traffic

Good when you get sucked along but not so good 

if you get sucked under the wheels! 
(photo: Charles Éric Pasquiers)

Having a Baule@journey's end