Stage 18 was a classic Tour de France stage. Breakaways, excitement, and plenty of plain good riding carried the Tour from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde as the race returns to Paris for the homecoming of the 99th edition of Le Tour.
Once again it took some time for the day’s breakaway to be established. Six riders jumped off the front of the peloton at the 23 kilometre mark, but were brought back to the peloton just 26 kilometres later. It wasn’t for another 10 kilometres that anyone tried again, 14 riders eventually bridging the gap to two escapees ahead to form the day’s successful break after 70 kilometres of racing. The two instigators, Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) and Nick Nuyens (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), had already claimed two sets of King of the Mountain points as they led their pursuers over the Category 3 Cote de Saint-Georges.
The peloton was 3’10” behind the 16 riders as they passed through the feedzone, and though that dipped to 2’45” a short while later due to the pace-making of BMC, the gap began ticking back upwards to 3’30” as the leaders neared the intermediate sprint. With no-one in the breakaway involved in the green jersey competition, and indeed the jersey securely ensconced on the shoulders of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), there was no serious contest for the intermediate sprint. The mountains were of more concern to them in ensuring the break stayed away from the peloton, Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) leading the his 15 breakmates over the next Category 4 climb.
The peloton was having yet another idiot fan moment just two minutes behind. An errant dog in the peloton had unseated 10 or so riders and dumped them unceremoniously on the ground. An involuntarily displaced Philippe Gilbert (BMC) felt the need to have several choice words with the miscreant pooch’s owner before remounting and riding on. Gilbert and the other crashed riders soon caught up with the peloton, which was riding at just over 40km/h in pursuit of the breakaway 2’40” ahead.
As a long, relatively flat stage the drama was chiefly in the stage win and, in a smaller way, the movements of the day’s breakaway. Both peloton and escapees continued to race along through south-eastern France at 45km/h, a little faster than the trio of donkeys dressed in yellow, green and polka-dot coats that watched them race by. Ahead in the breakaway the co-operation was beginning to fray, attacks starting and being pulled back in by the chasing group. As the gap reached 1’30”, the attacks were beginning to have an effect, the group starting to lose riders.
With 25 kilometres to go, that gap was down to just one minute, the heralded breakaway win looking ever less likely. An attack from the Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) finally did the job, imploding the escape group as breakaway specialist Jérémy Roy (FDJ-Bigmat) latched onto his wheel for the trip to the finish line. Two chase groups of three each formed behind them, the six riders a thin buffer between the leaders and the peloton 40 seconds behind. As the rearmost group was caught by the peloton, the middle group on the road caught the two in front, five riders now leading the stage by just a handful of seconds.
The breakaway imploded a second time, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) pulling Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Hansen away from the other two riders, who were quickly caught by the racing peloton. With just 12 kilometres left in the day’s race, a chase group of three which launched from the peloton caught the three stage leaders who were barely 10 seconds ahead, the six of whom were still trying to stay away for the victory. The chase continued through the final few kilometres, the peloton not quite able to catch the six stage leaders who were never more than 10 or 12 seconds away. The sprinters’ teams began rallying anyway, Orica-GreenEDGE, Liquigas-Cannondale and Sky manoeuvring their riders into position.
The six were still there with just 500 metres to go, Irishman Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) and Spaniard Luis Léon Sánchez (Rabobank) trying a desperate sprint for home. At 300 metres to go, the sprint teams had to take a risk. Edvald Boasson Hagen dropped Manx Missile Mark Cavendish off as the sprinters caught the break, leaving Cavendish much further to sprint than usual against the still-racing breakaway. Cavendish proved more convincingly than ever why he’s known as the fastest man in the world, sprinting almost double his usual distance to still come out on top over a bike length ahead of his rivals.
Tomorrow is Stage 19, the final time trial that precedes the last stage into Paris. In the absence of World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin and former World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara, both of whom have withdrawn, expect another 1-2 double from Sky teammates Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Keep an eye out also for BMC’s Tejay van Garderen, who may just be able to repeat his astounding and unexpected performance of Stage 9.
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