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1 day ago
11
Key events
124 km to go Two becomes ten. Oliveira, Matthews, Schmid, A. Johannessen, Skaarseth, Van Dijke, Garcia Pierna and Izagirre have joined Arensman and Azparren up at the front. They’ve got nine seconds on the peloton.
Philip Terry has been wrapping his head around Sunday afternoon speculation. “What if…Pogi wins today and puts more time between himself and Jonas then turns superdomestique to ensure second place for Del Toro? Well, it’s a hot lazy afternoon in France and time for an after lunch ponder!”
132km to go Arensman and Azparren hold onto their pocket lead. Time for a little rest and some freewheeling with fields stretching out on either side.
139km to go Seixas le GOAT reads a banner. On the Decathalon radio, he says he feels “super good.” The peloton are strung out in one long snake now, with 30k of descent, and undulating uphills, ahead. Arensman and Azparren still have ten seconds on the pack.
142km to go Arensman and Azparren have the most successful break attempt of the day so far, currently 14 seconds ahead of the peloton. They’re currently passing a ski-jump to the right on a road lined by pines.
147km to go Paret-Peintre, wearing the polka-dot jersey hits the front in search of KOM points, but Carapaz is on his wheel. They battle but Paret-Peintre finds some extra zip to cross first and capture two points, Carapaz must be content with one. Seixas is back with the peloton, and he pats his teammate on the back to say thank you for the help.
149km to go Shuffle, shuffle. Carapaz is caught, Seixas works to rejoin the peloton and Azparren has a shimmy up front.
150km to go Seixas pulls over to the side of the road and gets a rapid rear wheel change.
151km to go The vibrant riding and sherbert pink jersey of Carapaz accelerates to chiming cow bells and soon has a six second lead on the peloton.
152km to go Break hoovered up. Lots of jostling for position.
153km to go The ascent has started, and there’s a break of sorts, – Mohoric, Alaphilippe, Delbove, Turgis and Degenkolb have a seven second lead over the peloton.
160 km to go At 96km an hour, the peloton zips down to to the bottom of the Cote des Rousses, a category three climb of 6.7km at 5.2 per cent.
Another email drops, hello David Sheidlower! “Just speculation from a data geek: we know that previous dominant riders when the field was this strong relied on technical and tactical improvements that were not widely used yet. For Pogacar and Del Toro (the young Mexican is having such a good tour- it’s great to see him) perhaps the team has come up with a new algorithm that lets them make adjustments by the rider during the race based on the power meter readings they see on the handlebars.
“With a rider as strong as Pogacar finding that extra power to solo up mountains is clearly making a difference and since it is his own power either way, it is totally legit if he is doing better math than his rivals.”
162km to go An attack forms, burns briefly, but is caught. There are a few mechanicals off the back of the peloton, including Del Toro.
Philipsen wins the intermediate sprint
165km to go Off they go – bustling and motoring. Philipsen crosses first, Pedersen second and Kanter third.
168km to go Nothing much to report. A waiting game, with 1.3km to go till the sprint.
And hello Gwyn Williams. “As the pros get underway in the Jura, spare a thought for the more than 17,000 amateur riders from around the world tackling this year’s l’Etape de Tour de France.
“Riders have been out since early this morning, riding the exact same route that will be Stage 20 of the Tour in just a few days - Le Bourg d’Oisan to Alpe d’Huez. While a few will post times not all that far off what the pros will do, the vast majority of the riders are doing it just for the sake of the accomplishment. Many are using the race to raise money for charities, others just for the love of the sport.
“Some will struggle to meet the time cutoffs on the road, but finish the whole route or not, everyone taking part should be very proud of themselves for even attempting 170 km with 5400 m of elevation gain and some of the most iconic Tour climbs. I know I’m certainly very proud of my son (Jack Kreisler) who is currently about two-thirds of the way through the Etape.”
Thank you Gwyn. Best of luck to Jack and everyone else out on the winding roads. I am full of admiration and awe. My cycling holidays go only as far as a few days toddling past sunflowers in the Loire valley.
173km to go Lidl-Trek’s Toms Skujins makes a little break for freedom before Alpecin gobble up the gap.
174km to go Eight km to go until the sprint, with the white socks and boots of Alpecin still leading, three in a line, followed by Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek, controlling the peloton until the sprint.
178 km to go The gorgeous greens of the trees, burnt yellow of the fields, colour the scenery as the pelaton makes steady progress upwards, bobbing helmets and shifting shoulder blades.
182km to go The royal blue jerseys of Alpecin dominate the front of the peloton at this tentative stage, with early eyes on the intermediate sprint, just over 17km into the race.
A stat, courtesy of TNT: Paul Seixas is the youngest rider ever to wear a leader’s jersey at the TdF.
Kilometre zero
No rain today as the race director gives the flag a vigorous wave, and they’re off! The Alps await.
We’re just a km before the flag drop. Nice and easy at the moment, swarming like lazy summer bees.
A quick word from Tadej Pogacar: “I got four hours of sleep today, couldn’t fall back to sleep [after doping], so have been chilling, listening to old Eminem hits and drinking coffee.”
And hello to Ger Nugent, whose email is the first to thump on the Guardian doormat.
“I realise there’s some disappointment (to be kind) regarding Pogacar’s dominance, but I for one am always really intrigued by his, and the team’s, tactics.
“No boos coming from me that’s a certainty. The sheer athleticism of the man is incredible and should, in my humble opinion, be shown the respect he justly deserves.”
The peloton will pedal away from Champagnole in about five minutes, with kilometre zero at 12.20.
Doping control have been visiting in the night – Pogacar at 5am and Vingegaard at 2am – he isn’t impressed.
If you’re watching at home, in France, or anywhere else, do email in with your thoughts on the Tour so far. I’d love hear from you.
There’s just one minute 20 seconds between second-placed Vingegaard and seventh-placed Del Toro. But disappearing into the distance is Pogacar.
Adam Blythe: “He’s not unbeatable but – it’s easier to find weaknesses in his team than in him.
Robbie McEwen: “I’ve run out of words of advice, we thought [the team] might be slightly depleted but they popped up again yesterday, they’ve got a stranglehold on the race, and it becomes a mental thing for the others.”
Matt Stephens:”We haven’t seen any sharp attacks from Jonus so far, what he lacks is that real punch. His favourite terrain is to come.”
Jeremy Whittle's report
Recap yesterday’s fascinating stage in the Voges.
White jersey standings
1. Paul Seixas (FRA) Decathlon CMA CGM Team 51:23:47
2. Juan Ayuso (ESP) Lidl - Trek +3
3. Isaac Del Toro (MEX) UAE Team Emirates - XRG +31
4. Lenny Martinez (FRA) Bahrain Victorious +3:06
5. Davide Piganzoli (ITA) Team Visma - Lease a Bike +13:56
Points standings
1. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Lidl - Trek 397
2. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin - Premier Tech 361
3. Biniam Girmay (ERI) NSN Cycling Team 347
4. Tim Merlier (BEL) Soudal Quick-Step 307
5. Max Kanter (GER) XDS Astana Team 255
6. Olav Kooij (NED) Decathlon CMA CGM Team 210
7. Søren Wærenskjold (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 159
8. Anthony Turgis (FRA) TotalEnergies 129
9. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - XRG 127
10. Milan Fretin (BEL) Cofidis 117
King of the Mountain standings
Paret_Peintre briefly held the virtual red-spotted jersey yesterday, before Pogacar’s final assault.
1 T. PogacarUAE Team Emirates - XRG 52
2 V. Paret-PeintreSoudal Quick-Step 43
3 R. CarapazEF Education - EasyPost 38
4 J. VingegaardTeam Visma-Lease a Bike 35
5 P. SeixasDecathlon CMA CGM Team 24
6 T. PidcockPinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 18
7 I. Del ToroUAE Team Emirates - XRG 18
8 N. ProdhommeDecathlon CMA CGM Team 17
9 A. BaudinEF Education - EasyPost 16
10 L. MartinezBahrain Victorious 16
GC standings
Yellow jersey standings.
1 T. PogacarUAE Team Emirates - XRG 51:18:28
2 J. VingegaardTeam Visma-Lease a Bike +4:30
3 R. EvenepoelRed Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +5:04
4 P. SeixasDecathlon CMA CGM Team +5:19
5 J. AyusoLidl Trek +5:22
6 F. LipowitzRed Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +5:44
7 I. Del ToroUAE Team Emirates - XRG +5:50
8 M. SkjelmoseLidl Trek +7:35
9 T. PidcockPinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team +7:59
10 L. MartinezBahrain Victorious +8:25
William Fotheringham's stage guide
Stage 15, Sunday 19 July: Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison, 183.9km
South east through the Jura flirting with the Swiss border for much of the stage and two horribly steep climbs in the final quarter: the first category Col de la Croisette is five kilometres at an average of 11% and the super-category finish ascent is 11km at 9%. This is a mountain stage where the break may stay away, as the overall contenders are unlikely to get moving until the Croisette, 131km into the stage. A pure climber who is not in contention overall should win: why not last year’s Mont Ventoux winner Valentin Paret-Peintre?
Preamble
Bonjour! Thanks for joining us for a second consecutive day in the mountains, this time darting along the border with Switzerland. The organisers are spoiling us with an uphill intermediate sprint at 17km, three categorised climbs followed by a half hour, hors catégorie, big bang of a finish.
If the yellow jersey is disappearing into the distance on the back of a skinny Slovenian, who picked up his fourth stage win of this Tour yesterday, there are still plenty of intriguing puzzle pieces to place – the green jersey, the white (all of France is behind young Paul Seixas), and the fight for the podium places behind the inevitable Pogacar.
There’s a rest day tomorrow for the riders, so it’s all in before the final week. And the Guardian sofa has plenty of space, so bring un café and drop by.
