Le Tour Dispatch: Stage 17

You couldn’t find a starker contrast between two days of bike racing than stage 16 and stage 17 of this year’s Tour de France.

The all-or-nothing motto of this race was once again borne out today, as after yesterday’s void of activity, today brought a flurry of non-stop, relentless savagery in the saddle. Yesterday, I was scraping words together to try and form a coherent sentence that would adequately convey the turgid lack of even a flicker of hope for some racing, and today, I’m wondering if there are enough words available to do this stage justice.

So let’s begin at the beginning. And take it piece by piece, as it was a stage of chapters.

Chapter 1: 100% Echelons

Right from the off, the nerves were high, and the tempo matched the tension, with the GC teams in close attendance at the front of the bunch and no early attempts at breakaway formation. Yes, after a few near misses, it appeared the crosswinds would finally come out to play, as on race radio one team DS reassured his riders 'it's echelons today, 100%' though after recent near misses, you could almost hear the echoed responses of 'ARE YOU SURE?' that might have crackled back down the wire.

But lo, thusly, the crosswinds did bloweth, and the echelons did indeed 100% occur, triggering a relentless early pace, driven by Visma-Lease A Bike who seemed to have received the memo on weather conditions, unlike UAE Team Emirates, who were caught out. The race leader was left riding alone at the front of the melee as the bunch split, at least two of his teammates stranded behind, and there was a frantic chase back on for the dropped riders, who were finally able to use a sheltered section through a town to re-establish contact with the main group, having expended a great deal of energy in the process.

And lo, the crosswinds section was complete-th.

Chapter 2: The Great Escape

After the crosswinds, the breakaway formation began, and it was just as relentless, and ate up the lion’s share of the central portion of the race. It took no prisoners, the road steadily rising, the pace unrelenting, sprinters dropping off and casualties clocking out as riders stepped off the race: first Alexey Lutsenko, then Fernando Gaviria, then Sam Bennett stepping off the bike.

145 riders remain (31 have departed) and UAE appeared to be losing the battle of the teams, with both Adam Yates and Tim Wellens apparently struggling with illness and unable to be of service to their leader in the early part of the day. Visma-Lease A Bike on the other hand were playing a very different game, sending riders up to attack, Wout van Aert making at least three attempts, and he wasn’t alone in repeatedly jumping away from the ever-evolving bunch – Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) all desperate to be a part of the move that stuck.

And it took a long time to stick. It was an oily, slippery thing that didn’t want to stick to anything. Even when a group of four got away, it was far from over. The peloton reduced in size and once again Tadej Pogačar found himself with only one teammate, and absolutely no control over the race at all, policing moves himself at times. The barrage of attacks was unending, with certain teams (cough - EF - cough) desperate to make sure they were a part of anything decisive that may have happened. It was aggressive, savage, all-out racing with no let-up – even the intermediate sprint proved to be  just a brief distraction despite the pre-race hype, Philipsen and Girmay springing into action to reprise their rivalry one more time in the midst of the chaos. Girmay put to bed any doubts about his physical shape following yesterday’s late crash and secured another win over Philipsen who must now surely concede the green jersey battle is all but over.

The intensity continued with wave after wave of attacks, Visma all going for it and throwing any possibility for a ceasefire into disarray, as no easement of the GC group could take place while they were still pledging most of their resources into breaking free of the bunch. The various competing goals meant the day was incredibly complicated and it spoke to a deep belief among the collective that even with Pogačar present within the group, the endless attacking with just 50km to go would be worth it in the end.

Chapter 3: Entente Cordiale

And so it proved. Under the sustained pressure from the numerous attacks the peloton split into two, and with the top three GC leaders in the second group, a gap opened up – a big chase group with plenty of hopefuls including Carapaz and Van Aert finally had some space and it was a white flag raised, with just 43km or so left to race, there was at last, peace.

The GC group rested, rehydrated and regrouped, and the giant chase group had their freedom, and three climbs to try and chase down the leaders.

The Col du Boyard was up first, and the breakaway quartet (Grégoire, Cort, Jungels and Benoot – remember their names, for they were valiant warriors) made steady progress up the climb. A category 1 climb, the Col du Noyer, remained, followed by a category 3 summit finish.

Chapter 4: The Foothills

The big group (‘giga breakaway’ as it was foreseen by Stine Agerbæk in yesterday's predictions) was too big to survive intact, and two French hopefuls launched away in search of breakaway glory – let’s not forget, the three previous breakaway winners at this race - Bardet, Vauquelin, Turgis - have all been French. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) both had points to prove for their teams, and they used the first climb to eat into the gap to the lead group, and the second one to close them down. By that point, they weren’t alone, as the too-big-break broke, more riders pouring forth to bridge to the front for their shot at glory.

The gap to the GC group had stretched out to seven minutes, and there was a sense of calm within it, a little too much calm, perhaps?

Simon Yates! He appeared! The Jayco-Alula man was flying in the hunt for the front of the race, and serial breakaway botherer and former maillot jaune Richard Carapaz couldn’t wait a moment longer, he struck out after Yates, taking Israel-Premier Tech’s Stevie Williams along for the ride. Yates chewed up the original breakaway and spat them out in his wake, and Carapaz dropped Williams as quickly, catching Yates as the climb progressed. The pair of them had attacked together as part of the very early breakaway formation about 100 kilometres - and what felt like several weeks - earlier, and it turned out to be a little glimpse into the future, a foreshadowing of what was to come.

A chase group formed, apparently mostly featuring riders whose names were closest together in the alphabet (Madouas, Martin, Mas, Magnus… Cort) but they were never seen again, aside from Enric Mas who extricated himself from the tired legs of the band formerly known as the breakaway and edged into third position on the road.

The GC group – remember them? VERY relaxed, so much chill. Absolutely nothing to see here. So much so, the grupetto was only about a minute behind them at one point, and of course it was fine for us all to look away and not pay them any mind as Carapaz attacked Yates and distanced him, in what would prove to be the race-winning move.

Carapaz crested the climb and was magnificent on the descent and with Yates unable to make any impression on the Ecuadorian’s advantage, EF would have their day. A brave, doggedly determined and patient race from the former winner of the Giro d’Italia, and he completes his Grand Tour hat-trick, with a victory that his team have worked tirelessly for, and a fitting conclusion to their Tour campaign, one bookended by the first Ecuadorian ever to wear the yellow jersey, and the first Ecuadorian ever to win a stage at the Tour.

Chapter 5: ‘More about egos than seconds.’

Meanwhile, back on a sleepy climb about nine minutes back from the race for the stage, a surprise attack shook the sparse remnants of the GC group into life. It came from Giulio Ciccone and his Lidl-Trek teammate Carlos Verona, and though it was quickly closed down by the riders closest to him on GC, it seemed to reanimate the rest of the somnambulant race leaders. Lucky really, as when Pogačar sprung out of the small group, it was mere seconds before his two rivals attempted to close him down. But contrary to the received wisdom, it was Vingegaard who was the first to crack, unable to go with the Slovenian, where Evenepoel could, well... almost. It was the kind of outcome Pogačar could only have dreamed of, but as they crested the climb and Pogi attacked the descent like a man possessed, the first benefit of satellite riders paid off for Vingegaard, as he found Christophe Laporte, who steadied him, and paced him back first to the Belgian, then the Slovenian.

So back to stalemate for a while, until the final climb began, and it was Evenepoel who chose to attack, then – he was met with no resistance, as the top two only had eyes for each other. It was his turn to enjoy the benefits of a satellite, with Jan Hirt cleverly placed in the break, and ready to tow his teammate for a while.

Bridging to satellite riders suddenly became very important to all of the top three, as previously alone with no support and a marauding Tadej Pogačar, Vingegaard now found himself catching up to Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot, and though Pogi had one rider with him, the combined power of the two classics machines prevented any further attacks until the dying seconds of the stage, as Pogačar launched up the final reaches of the climb to snatch two precious seconds on his rival.

As Dutch rider and journalist Thijs Zonneveld said later, today’s GC action ‘was more about egos than seconds’ and he has a point – it made little to no noticeable difference to the GC standings or even the time gaps, but today was all about exerting a presence on the race – for Pogačar, an attempt to put the race out of sight, followed later by a flex of his sprinting muscles ahead of the finish line, to right the wrongs of stage 11 and prove he has what it takes to overturn Vingegaard in an uphill sprint once again. And for Evenepoel, a statement of where he stands, not just in relation to the two imperious kings of the Tour, but also in terms of his own progression and development into arguably the undisputed third best GC rider on the planet. And with a final stage time trial still to come, he won't count himself out of deposing the Dane altogether.

Epilogue

And if that wasn't enough for you, may I also remind you that THERE WERE NO CRASHES! NOT ONE!

Praise be to the Cycling Gods, for they are great.

/fin

Stage 18 : Gap - Barcelonnette 

About tomorrow...

1-1-1 Things of the Tour de France

by Mathieu Fraisse

one food, one fact and one local rider, for every place on edition 111 of Le Tour

1 food: Tourtons

The Tourton is basically a salty donut filled with potato puree and fried. As simple as that!

You can eat it with salad or just a glass of rosé wine. Sometimes you don't really need anything else.

It's very easy to make and like most mountain meals, quite calorific. But aren't the most tasty foods calorific? That's what's good, am I right?!

1 rider: Rudy Molard

As no current or famous past rider is from the area, our pick for today's rider is Rudy Molard! But why?

Born near Lyon, Rudy is representing this area today as he’s almost a local! Now living near Nice, the roads of stage 18 are training roads for the Groupama rider. He even previewed the stage for the French newspaper “L’Equipe”.

Sadly, Rudy is not riding the Tour de France this year but he's slowly coming back to riding after a severe crash at the start of the year. Rest assured as we'll see good old Rudy back to his old self soon!

1 fact: a piece of Mexico in French mountains?

At the start of the 19th century, a lot of people from the Barcelonnette area emigrated to Mexico, looking for fortune and freedom in a foreign land.

But even if they left their home, they were still very much attached to it. So they eventually came back at some point, with money they made in Mexico. So they decided to build houses inspired by Mexican architecture.

Pretty odd link between these two you might say but if you're ever around Barcelonnette, just take a stroll around and discover these beautiful houses and their history. 

STAGE PREVIEW

Though stage 18 is listed as ‘hilly’, don’t be fooled – it packs in over 3,000m of altitude gain – more than today’s ‘mountain’ stage – and there’s no let-up all day, with constantly rolling terrain as the race heads back into the Alps for a second visit.

Another day that looks good for the breakaway on paper, it’s also a day that could see moves on the GC, as despite today’s modest losses in time, it’s to be expected that Visma-Lease A Bike may go on the offensive once again in a do-or-die attempt to somehow shake the iron grip of Tadej Pogačar on the race lead. That being said, it’s almost definitely the last chance for every other team bar those of the top three on GC, as it would be hard to envision any other outcome from the final two mountain stages than the latter day cannibal claiming both stage wins, with Evenepoel the favourite to add a second time trial victory on Sunday.

So - expect another long breakaway battle, and - hopefully - a thrilling fight to the finish. Because four breakaway wins in 17 stages isn't enough, and I demand another - 50% of the teams at this race have yet to take home a prize, and I am on their side tomorrow. Let's go!

WBR Team Predictions:

Mathieu: MVDP TDF redemption arc! (Mathieu van der Poel)

Sam: (Derek) Gee sneaks into a breakaway and breaks into top 5 on GC

Before you go...

The fans of Le Tour today...

And chapeau, Richie!

Until tomorrow, au revoir!