Tour de France 2012: Stage 17 Bagnères de Luchon to Peyragudes

Nibali being pulled back by the last two men from the peleton.

Hear ye, hear ye. The King is dead long live the new King.

Cadel Evans (BMC) was dropped once against yesterday and this time there was no truce and no limiting of losses, nor was Tejay van Garderen required to hang back with the rest of the team to help the team leader.

But who is the new King. It should be Bradley Wiggins. But if some misfortune overcomes the Maillot Jaune today Sky still have the fall back of Chris Froome. Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) tried again yesterday to break the Sky one-two but if Froome wasn't pacing Brad back to his wheel, Wiggo was doing the same for Chris. The stage yesterday saw the three of the them locked together taking time out of all the other contenders. Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT), Haimar Zubeldia (RNT) and van Garderen were in the group 58 seconds down lead across the line by Nico Roche (AGM).

Early on there were 38 of the 152 riders still left in the Tour in a breakaway up the field. That is 25% of the race, just not any of the 10% that matter. In that Group was Thomas Voeckler (EUR) who ended up taking the top spot on both of the Hors Catégorie Climbs of the day and both the 1st Category Climbs. On the Col d'Aubisque second over the top were the Polka Dots on the back of Fredrik Kessiakoff, who was 4th over the Tourmalet but was outside the top 6 for the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Peyresourde, with only 34 points on the day Kessiakoff ended the day with 4 points less than Voeckler in the King of the Mountains.

Voeckler who attacked alone for the last climb and with only Brice Feillu for the one before that was not surprisingly the comabtive rider of the day as well as winning the stage by 1'40".

Today's stage in the final Mountain stage of the Tour. It is over 143km not all of them new to this years race as once the road circles around to Saint Aventin it is back up the Peyresourde in the reverse direction to yesterday before a short part of the descent before turning off the the left for the climb to Peyragudes.

After 17km of today's loop though the road starts to go up with the first category Col de Menté, the 15th time this has been a mountain in le Tour. In 1971 it was tackled in the direction we are going today on the way to Bagnères de Luchon during stage 14. Eddy Merckx was 7 minutes behind Luis Ocaña in yellow at the time and on the decent both men were taking risks, Merckx fell on a bend into a retaining wall, Ocaña following close behind could not avoid him and crashed himself. Although Merckx was up and off again quickly Ocaña's couldn't release his toe clips quickly and Joop Zoetemelk collided with the prostrate Ocaña. The Spaniard was helicoptered off the mountain his Tour over and the following day Merckx refused to wear the Maillot Jaune as a mark of respect.

Without that crash, which is marked by a memorial on the spot as they came down it is possible that Merckx may not have been one of the five time winners of Le Tour. But it is a constant reminder to all leaders that the race is not won until all the corners on all the descents are negotiated.

After the Col de Menté there is a relatively flat section of today's race. Although the category 2 Col de Ares and Category 3 Côte de Burs do intervene. Then at 95 km into the stage the climbing resumes again in earnest. 


First up is the 11.7km climb up the Port de Balès which is only in it's 3rd Tour having featured in 2007 and 2010 previously it is the day's only Hor Catégorie climb. The Average gradient is 7.7% but there is a three km section that averages over 9% 5km from the end. If Vincenzo Nibali still has any designs on winning this Tour it is likely to be at that point that he is going to have to attack. The descent is not likely to allow him to pull out a gap on Wiggins and it is doubtful that the gentler climb of the Peyresourde before taking the addition to Peyragude is going to going to offer him much opportunity to gain enough time.

After 16.5km of descending the Tour will find itself on familiar roads as for the next 12.5km they are going back the way they came yesterday. As they summit the Peyresourde and take part of the descent before turning off up to the Peyragudes ski station. The final climb itself is less than 3km, but along with the Peyresourde it is counting as a 1st category climb. There is a km of flt racing at the top and if Nibali reaches the plateau with Wiggins and/or Froome in close attendance his Tour is over and he will only have a podium position.

There are 62 King of the Mountains points on offer today, twenty of them for the mountain finish and I doubt that either Voeckler nor Kessiakoff will be there to pick up those. With Chris Anke Sorenson 40 points behind Voeckler and with only a maximum 7 more KoM points available between Peyragudes and Paris today should be the day that the Polka Dot Jersey finds it final recipient. if neither Voeckler nor Kessiakoff pick up any early points from a break away though it may come down to who if either can get into a break tomorrow. Voekler really only needs to secure 4 points more than Kessiakoff today to be sure. 9th on the Port de Balès or 4th on the Col de Menté or 10th on the Peyragudes if Kessiakoff fails to score.

If Peter Sagan (LIQ) gets through this final mountain stage his 102 point lead should be enough for him to be riding the green jersey into Paris and all the way to the line. Seeing as he has worn it since the start of Stage 2 and as of right since the start of Stage 3 his dominance in that competition has been almost absolute.

Yesterday Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was given the nod by Cadel Evans to race on for the White Jersey as best young rider and not come back to support the defending champion who said later that he was suffering from stomach pains. If he stays in contact or ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) who lost a little time to now be 3'48" back in that competition he should also be wearing that jersey all the way to Paris. However, Pinot along with Pierre Rolland (EUC) are both on track to be in the Top 10. If they do, after last year it will only be the second time since 2000 that more than one French cyclist has filled spots in the top 10, but with both in the early days of their careers rather than experienced men it holds the greatest hope for France to end the home Grand Tour drought since Bernhard Hinault.

And finally... today could be the day that means Bradley Wiggins takes the Maillot Jaune into the start box in last place for the Time Trial. With a Time Trailer like him that would be hard to make up by anyone, and with Fabian Cancellera nursing his new daughter and Tony Martin nursing his fractured wrist there isn't any obvious winner of the stage on Saturday so here is a good luck song from a fellow fan.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 16 Pau to Bagnères de Luchon

The Top Four

When those two towns are at either end of a stage it can only mean one thing. The classic Pyrénée's climbs of the Col d'Aubisque, Col du Tormalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde. Indeed the last time those two towns were the start and finish locations was only in 2010 when the route was reversed. The winner then was Pierrick Fédrigo who won the stage into Pau before yesterday's rest day.

First up today is the 46th climb of the Col d'Aubisque in Tour history. Jérémy Roy climbed this first on what was an easier stage in the Pyrénees with just the one major climb on the road from Pau to Lourdes. The descent to the finish produced Thor Hushovd as a rather surprising winner of a mountain stage.

Climbed in the this direction the ascent starts as Laruns at 499m before over the next 16.4km reaching the peak at 1709m. An average gradient of 7.1%. The first steep ramp is at the Cascade de Valentin which is 13% before an 8km section of steady 8% average toward the summit. Normally I'd expect all the GC riders to stay together on this climb, but remembering how Andy Schleck went out to attack on stage 18 last year you cannot tell. Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans both need a big chunk of time somewhere over the next two days. Will either of them be brave enough to go alone from a long way out, even from the first climb?

Next up is the Col du Tourmalet with the €5000 Souvenir Jacques Goddet for the climber who reaches the summit first.

Last year Jérémy Roy was again in the lead over this famous Col, and it appeared as if Geraint Thomas wasn't aware of the prize money at the top as he didn't contest for it. This is the 79th time that the Tour has visited Tourmalet the most of any mountain.

From Luz Saint Sauveur where the climbs starts at 711m there is 19km still to go to the 2115m summit at an average of 7.4%.

In 2010 when Pierrick Fédrigo won this stage in reverse Christophe Moreau reached the summit first. There are a number of easing sections on this long climb with a ramp about 3km from the summit. Depending on how the GC riders are racing today either Sky will be riding a tempo of possibly Nibali (most likely) will be trying to get away and both Sky and BMC riders will be working to keep Bradley Wiggins and Evans in pursuit.

After the decsent to Sainte Marie de Campan it is straight into the climb of the Col d'Aspin.

Of all today;s climbs this is the easiest, but that still makes it a Category 1. There is 570m of ascent to the 1489 summit spread over 12.4km at a mere 4.8% gradient. It is unlikely to be a climb that will put any of the GC contenders into difficulty so I'd expect them, if they are together here, to ride this together.

The 6% gradient of the descent over 12km on the other side might however be an opportunity for Nibali to try and get ahead if he has not tried already before the start of the final climb of the day.

Which leads us into the Col de Peyresourde which is being climbs from its toughest direction unlike the Col d'Aspin.

The climb from Arreaux is 9.5km at an average of 6.7% but there are three distinct steep sections on the way including the final one 1.5km from the end.

If Wiggins, Evans and Nibali are still together here I'd expect one of the latter two to have to try and do something here on one of the ramps. They will have to try and put in an explosive burst when the road goes sharply uphill to try and test the Maillot Jaune. If Wiggins still has Richie Porte and Michael Rogers with him at the start of this climb alongside Chris Froome the other two are going to find it tough. Which is why I suspect they might have tried something on the Tourmalet to reduce the amount of support riding with the yellow jersey. Even if it is left to just Froome and Wiggins it may well still be too late.

However, after the summit there are 937m of descent at an average of 6.1% though some sections do reach 9.8% in which they might be able to open up some time over Wiggins.

If Wiggins gets to the line marking both Evans and Nibali there is just one more day for fireworks on the Pryénées tomorrow. I do expect someone however to test the post rest day legs of Wiggins and his team today and not to let them settle into their routine of riding tempo for everyone from the start.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 14 Limoux to Foix

Yesterday's stage did see a break away, and then saw Michael Morkov trying to honour his father who had died five years before try to break away from that. But the 9% short climb of the Mont Saint Clair was what decided just how this race would turn out.

On that short climb three things happened, the escapees were all caught, many of the sprinters were dropped, plus the GC contenders were racing. It was Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT) who made a move on the slopes to be pursued by Cadel Evans (BMC). When the rest of his team didn't seem able to respond the Maillot Jaune did the pulling back of that duo himself. With the race split up with 23km to go the leading group were going to be racing flat out. Lotto Belisol took up the pace at the front, but Alexandre Vinokourov (AST) and Michael Albasini (OGE) managed to get ahead of the group with the cross winds.

Lotto kept up their pursuit because André Greipel was still there but was marked by the Green Jersey of Peter Sagan (LIQ). The pursuit was so intense that the main group developed a split in the winds. Although in the lead group were Sky's Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Edvald Boasson Hagen, the GC contenders Evans, van den Broeck and Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ), as well as Sagan and Greipel.

The Wiggins lead out

After over 12km in the front eventually Albasini and Vinokourov were captured 2.5km from the end. But then Leon Luis Sanchez (RAB) made a bid for the line he was joined by Matthieu Sprick (ARS) behind them now the yellow jersey was at the front of the race. Coming into the final bend 300m from the end it was the Maillot Jaune that brought them back together but was doing more than that he was leading out his team mate Boasson Hagen.

With less than 200m left Wiggins pulled over but had to keep pedaling to keep safe, he ended up finishing 12th. But Edvald couldn't hold off Greipel and Sagan. The two of them came past in the final metres and Griepel took the line from Sagan. In the process overtaking Goss in the contest for the Green Jersey, but Sagan looks almost set to win that providing he gets to Paris.

Today's stage takes us into the Pyrénées with two 1st Category climbs of the Port de Lers and Mur de Péguère. 


The Port de Lers is being taken from a different approach than in its three previous appearances since 1995. The approach from Vicdessos is harder though shorter than the approach from the other side. At 11.5km the climb of only 805m at 7% is shorter and sharper than the other slope. It has raised the category of this climb to a 1st Category.

But after a 16km descent we come upon the even tougher Mur de Péguère. It may be shorter than the Port de Lers at only 9.3km but the average gradient is 7.9% and the last 3.5km really ramps up including two ramps of 18% and 16%.


It was due to debut in 1973 from the Foix side but the riders protested that the descent, today's ascent was too dangerous. The road has since then been resurfaced and in 2008 the col was crossed as part of the descent from the Col de Portel but was not categorised.

Today with 38.5km descending to the Foix at the end might see an attack from someone who can descend well like Vincenzo Nibali or Cadel Evans. If they use an explosive turn of speed at the right point they might be able to break the elastic to the way Bradley Wiggins likes to climb. The question of course is how much do either of those two have in the tank. There has just been one real rest day for the mountain legs, stage 12's gentle roll after two peaks not withstanding. 

So Wiggins and his Sky Team will have to be alert I think towards the end of this stage as Nibali and Evans will try and gain back any time that they are capable of. Tomorrow's stage isn't that severe before Tuesday's final rest day in Pau before two more days in the Pyrénées. This may been seen as some as a chance to attack knowing there is time to recover.

Bradley today sets a new British record simply by turning up at the start line. He will surpass Chris Boardman's record for most days in the Maillot Jaune. The fact that Boardman did it over 3 Tours and Wiggins only took it off the departed Fabian Cancellera now the proud father of Elina born on Friday. Jean Christophe Peraud who came second to David Millar in that stage on Friday also became a father to a new daughter yesterday. Although he was on the road racing when Valentine was born.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 12 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay Davézieux

Yesterday was the toughest mountain stage is this year's Tour and you could see it as everyone of the top contenders suffered at least for some part of it.

Early on a large break got up the road, with the first slope the Col de la Madeleine starting just 14.5km from the start of the race they wanted away. Liquigas, BMC and Radioshack were amongst the teams they put men into a 31 men breakaway in the hope that these men would be able to help Nibali, Evans and Zubeldia respectively when the going got tough later on. It meant that Sky were forced to ride at tempo on the front from the early part of the race something that they looked set to have to do all day to defend the Maillot Jaune. One of the first riders to exit the back of the peleton was Mark Cavendish along with Bernie Eisel therefore meaning that Sky would only have 5 men at the front to help Bradley Wiggins. At the start of the day the only other man to have worn yellow in this Tour, Fabian Cancellera, did not start, returning to Switzerland to be with his wife who is about to give birth.

In the lead group lost and gained members on the slope of the Madeleine but in it were a number of riders who wouldn't normally be allowed to go like Robert Gesink (RAB) Vino Vinokourov (AST), Ivan Basso (LIQ), Michele Scarponi (LAM) Levi Leipheimer (OPQ) and Dan Martin (GRS) but because of time they had already lost they were not a real threat to the GC contenders. Also up the road were riders like Pierre Rolland (EUC) who last year won year on Alpe d'Huez, Frederik Keesiakoff (AST) who had lost the King of the Mountains to Rolland's team mate Thomas Voeckler the day before, Chris Anke Sorensen (STB) who is always a danger in a break in the Mountains.

At the top of the Col de la Madeleine Peter Velits (OPQ) took the maximum points but Kessiakoff going over second gave him the virtual lead in the KoM's once again. The Yellow Jersey Group reached the summit 2'55" after but Peter Sagan and Daniel Oss (LIQ) sprung from that group just before the summit, possibly in an attempt to get back to the lead group before the intermediate sprint in the valley below. In the end this attempt was no successful and Sagan failed to get there and rejoined that group before getting to the sprint point without adding to this points tally in the Green Jersey competition.

On the second climb the Col de la Croix de Fer there was a group of eight at the front Rolland, Alejandro Valverde & Vasili Kiryenka (MOV), Velits, Kessiakoff and team mate Kirserlovski, Yury Trofimov (KAT) but there were stragglers in the 3 minute gap back to the yellow jersey. Before some more including Leipheimer, Amael Moinard (BMC), Scarponi and Vinokourov got back onto their group on the ascent. Christophe Kern also got back into the lead group and he started to set the pace for his team mate Rolland.

About half way up the long climb however, Teejay van Garderen (BMC) made a break from the Wiggins Group followed a couple of minutes later by his team leader Cadel Evans. Wiggins still had Michael Rogers, Richie Porte and Chris Froome around him for protection and he asked Rogers to up the pace. Just up the road the BMC pair had got to the wheel of Moinard and so it became BMC v Sky in a team pursuit on a mountainside. Sky though didn't panic but over next mile or so whittled down what was a very big peleton into a select group. While up the road Evans showed the first signs that his legs weren't able to keep up with Teejay.

Eventually after about 20 minutes of steady climbing the Wiggins group (Roberts, Porte, Froome (all SKY), Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Jurgen van den Broeck (LOT) and Janez Brajkovic (AST) captured Evans once more while still on the climb.

At the top there is a photo finish for the King of the Mountians points as Rolland and Kessiakoff battle it out. The former is initially given it, then the latter is accused of using his elbows as a reason why he is denied, before finally being awarded the points. There is the matter of the Henri Legrande Prix on offer for the highest pass of this year's Tour so €5000 is not to be sniffed at, nor the extra points for the KoM.

After going over the Col du Mollard with no major incident to report all the groups continued their descent to the final climb of the day to the ski station at La Toussuire. The lead group is now down to just four Rolland,  Sorensen,  Kiserlovski, and Kiryenka. Sorensen would continue to drop off and get back on all the way up the climb. Behind them first Brajkovic, then van den Broeck attack off the Wiggins Group. Nibali waited to see if anyone followed before going after them himself. Chris Froome is the only support that Wiggins has left and he starts the work of clawing it back.

Up front Rolland makes a solo move to break away from the lead group, but there is still over 10km to go. Froome brings Wiggins up to Nibali and van den Broeck, this time it is Nibali's turn to stare at Wiggins who just looks ahead at the wheel of this team mate. However, shortly after that Froome appears to fade to the back of the group where he finds himself on the wheel of Frank Schleck! But he holds on. Meanwhile Nibali strikes out again and quickly catches Pinot and Brajkovic up the road. Wiggins it is who starts to close Nibali down, then Froome appears to have found his legs once more and returns to the front, Schleck and van Garderen going with the pace but Evans is struggling. A look over the shoulder from Tejay van Garderen confirms that his work is to help pace the defending champion his team mate to the finish.

The trio of men who have podiumed in Grand Tour Wiggins, Froome and Schleck did pull themselves back to Nibali, Pinot and Brajkovic and then Froome goes through the group to the front taking Pinot with him but it is too much for Wiggins! Froome's acceleration lead to Wiggins getting dropped off the wheel of Nibali. So after a conversation in his radio Froome sits up.

There are no more moves for today behind Rolland ride Wiggins, Froome, Nibali, van den Broeck and Pinot. Rolland takes his second Alpine stage in the Tour remaining 55 seconds clear at the end. Within sight of the line Froome was given his wings to open up a few seconds on Nibali who was now virtural third on the road, but Thibaut Pinot was having none of it and chased him down for a French 1-2. But there were also a British one two as historically Froome was now in second place in the race behind his team leader.

As Wiggins and Nibali crossed the line together was was a mutual sign of respect after what they had gone through and how both men had gone about the job they had had to do.

Kessiakoff returned the Polka Dots, Rolland took the combative prize as well as the stage win. Van Garderen remains in the White Jersey but is now contesting that with Pinot who

Today's stage is the last Alpine one and there are two category 1 climbs on the road to Annonay Davézieux. However they are both in the first 80km of a 226km stage. So there is unlikely to be any move from any GC contender. But Kessiakoff and Rolland may try to battle it out for King of the Mountains points. Peter Sagan also may try and get himself into a breakaway as it is unlikely that most of the sprinters are capable of getting over the two climbs before the long race to the line so a break away might just stay away at least as far as the intermediate sprint if not the whole way.

Tour de France 2012: Stage 8 Belfort to Porrentruy

So the first mountain day and British riders ended up in two of the prestigious jerseys of the Tour. With Chris Froome taking his first Tour stage win came the 20 points and lead in the King of the Mountains competition. Two seconds back where the two big favourites Cadel Evans and the man who would slip into the Maillot Jaune Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins 10 second prologue advantage all that splits the two.

There may have been a breakaway of seven riders up the road at one point, but when it came to the slopes of La Planche des Belles Filles it was the black and blue colours of Team Sky that did all the work, pulling them back and then the leaders up the slopes. First Edvald Boasson Hagen, then Mick Rogers and Richie Porte before in the final mix up of five there was Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins. Indeed at one point on the climb those last four named were in a group of eleven and not a single other rider had a team mate present. Cadel Evan's BMC team was decimated and only he rode on alone. Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas-Cannondale who has said "Wiggins doesn't impress me. I'm better than him." ended up losing 5 seconds on the day unable to keep up with Froome, Evans and Wiggins on the final kick.

Frank Schleck who was left on the earlier slopes did find his legs again riding up with his Radioshack-Nissan team mate Maxime Monfort. But still ended up in 12th 1'09" back, only 5 seconds ahead of the second of Wiggins mountain domestiques Porte, who was a further 10 ahead of another Rogers. The Estonian young rider Rein Taaramae did impress as the fifth of that final group. He starts in white today having finished just 19 seconds back from Froome.

Overall in 4th place now behind Wiggins, Evans, Nibali and Taaramae is Denis Menchov who came 9th on the day losing 48 seconds on the top two 54" back. Then it is two of Schelck's team mates Haimar Zubeldia and Monfort at 59" and 1'09". Ireland's Nicolas Roche is next for AG2R-La Mondiale at 1'22", then the other two Sky boys Froome and Rogers round out the top 10. The man who has worn yellow since Liege, Fabian Cancellera is next.

So what of stage 8?

The number of climbs almost matches the number of the stage. There are 7 in all.

The first, a Category 4, the Côte de Bondeval will seem like nothing by the end of the day but happens after just 20 km. It is swiftly followed by the Côte du Passage de la Douleur which is a shorter but steeper Category 3 climb at 32km.


There then follow four category 2 climbs. Côte de Maison-Rouge at 50km 7.9km long with gradient average of 5%, before descending into Switzerland then Côte de Saignelégier at 73km 7.8km at 6.1% then Côte de Saulcy only 4.6km long but at 8.6% though reaching over 10% at 5 points along the ascent including 2 at 14%, the latter near the summit. Before you get to the last category 2 climb there is the small matter of the intermediate sprint at Les Genevev, don't expect to see any of the Green Jersey leaders up there to contest those points though. The Tour then descends for about 23km before climbing the final category 2 Côte de la Caquerelle at 130.5km it measures 4.3km but has a gradient of 7.6%

A swift descent of that and then it is back to climbing straight away for the final peak of the day Col de la Croix it may be only 3.7km of climbing to its 789m summit but there is a real sting in the tail as it ramps up to as much as 17%. The average gradient is 9.2% so once again expect to see the GC contenders up here. But judging on yesterday's form Team Sky will be doing all they can to break them down. Once at the top though there is 16km of downhill road to get to the finish of the stage. So anything could happen as the road twists down towards the valley below.


With 5 points on offer for each 2nd Category climb, plus the three for the first two climbs of the day it is possible that a rider in the breakaway could take away Froome's Polka Dot Jersey if they win them all. It is however, unlikely that the breakaway would be the ones to take the honours on the final climb and claim its 10 points top prize. So it will be interesting to see how the summits are contested today. If Evans is really to be able to contest his defense of the title his team may well have to offer some challenge to Team Sky which they failed to do yesterday, or he may have to try and do something himself, if not today at some other point in the mountains.