Tour de France Rest Day 1: State of the Race

David Streever
Jul 10, 2017 · 5 min read

They get to sleep in a little, but after that, it’s back on the bike — yes, even on their off day!

For this rest day, let’s look at the state of the race and what comes next. The riders have crossed some 1,596.5 kilometers, and they’ll be back on their bikes for a few hours of easy recovery riding around the lovely Dordogne region.

An all-expenses paid trip to the most beautiful regions in France — the only catch? You have to race bikes the whole time.

We have a clear favorite for the overall winner’s yellow jersey in Chris Froome. The three-time Tour de France champion is so confident that he’s already looking ahead to a fifth victory next year. In second place by eighteen seconds is Fabio Aru, the Italian champion, followed by Frenchman Romain Bardet, with a deficit of fifty-one seconds.

“At the moment I just want to go down the pub.” — Sky’s Geraint Thomas post-collarbone fracture

Froome’s Team Sky is dominant, but weaker than previous years. His teammate Geraint Thomas, in the lead until stage 4, has withdrawn after crashing on stage 9 and breaking his collarbone. Froome also lost his chief rival and close friend, Richie Porte, who was in fourth overall and an early favorite for bet makers.

How are Porte and Thomas doing now?

Porte broke his pelvis and collarbone; he’ll be off the bike for some time, and seems happy to recover. Thomas will have a quick bounce back, and is hoping to resume racing this season.

This race sounds dangerous!

It is! Sixteen riders have had to abandon this year, many due to injuries. Seven were eliminated from the time cut, finishing too late in the day; most of these were members of FDJ, riding for sprinter Arnaud Demare, who seemed to be struggling with illness. Like most years, many riders are questioning the safety of the Tour and raising doubts about the route.

And they really don’t let the riders just rest today?

‘Fraid not. For the most part, rest days are similar to race days. They get a short nap and a slightly later wakeup, but otherwise, they eat the same diet and spend the rest of the day riding, stretching, and doing physical therapy. The riders need to keep using their muscles and maintain a similar sleep schedule in order to keep racing tomorrow.

How hard has it been?

I’ll let this tweet from Nathan Brown answer your question….

Is Marcel Kittel going to win the green jersey?

You heard it here: Yes! The big German and fastest sprinter in the world has a commanding lead in the sprint points. Sprinters may win several stages per Tour, and they rack up big points on flat stages. The rider with the majority of points from finishes and the single daily intermediate sprint wins the green jersey.

Pure sprinters usually don’t win the green jersey, though, because of guys like Peter Sagan. His strategy involves capitalizing on intermediate sprints and taking consistent second and third places in the sprint finishes. Because of the point distribution, consistency is more important than individual victories. Sprinters like Kittel usually just focus on stage wins instead, but with Sagan out, it’s become a possible victory.

If anyone beats Kittel, it’ll be Michael Matthews, in a fashion similar to Sagan. I still tip Kittel the edge, because despite his team failing to lead him out, he’s still managed to win three stages and kept with the peloton through some brutal mountain climbs. He’s in great form and may be in contention for the only time in his career.

You promised us some Taylor Phinney

I can’t tell if his teammates are thinking, “Stop being naked on the bus” or “I’m too tired for an interview”

This video features a (supposedly) nude Taylor Phinney introducing the riders of Cannondale-Drapac. The team has been a real surprise this year, earning the polka-dot jersey and winning stage 9. Phinney and teammate Nathan Brown are great ambassadors for American cycling, especially after the Lance Armstrong/Floyd Landis years.

What happens next?

Back-to-back sprint stages, incredibly flat and possibly incredibly boring, will bring the cyclists to the Pyrenees. I’m predicting a victory each for Kittel and Andre Greipel, who has not won a stage this year. Some are questioning these long, fairly boring stages this year — this blog has seen traffic dip dramatically for each of them so far — but they’re part of a grand tour even if they don’t make for thrilling watching.

Stage 12 provides our next general classification battle, with Froome, Bardet, and Aru all looking for a chance to gain time over 214.5 KM in the mountains. It doesn’t look as challenging as Sunday’s race, but will end with a real showdown on a 16% incline.

This steep finish has to be part of Aru’s strategy if he hopes to beat Froome

If Aru wants to win the Tour, he’ll need to make a move here. If he doesn’t gain time on Froome, he’ll finish 3rd or worse in Paris. Bardet has another option, though. If his AG2R la Mondiale team can reproduce the form they showed on Sunday, he has a shot at beating Froome even without these steep finishes. Incredibly, the Frenchman’s team put Sky into serious difficulty, leaving Froome isolated and alone and unable to keep up with Bardet on the descent.

The most likely finish in Paris looks like Froome, Bardet, then Aru. Bardet is my strong second pick, followed by Aru as a long shot victor.

Speaking of Aru…

Aru claims he didn’t see that Froome had a mechanical, and notes that he stopped his attack when he learned about it. He seemed to see it, just as Froome seemed to give him a body check in retaliation a few minutes later, but we’ll never know. Froome denies the body check, and claims he didn’t even realize Aru attacked, thanks to Porte’s work shutting down the move.

Who knows what really happened? Furthermore, who cares? The peloton is self-regulating, as we saw. Showing the leaders courtesy is an unwritten rule, enforced by a social compact among the riders. Let’s all save our outrage and indignation for something more important, like the fact that the Tour still doesn’t have a comparable race for women.


Thanks for reading! I write about cycling and am currently blogging the 2017 Tour de France here on Medium.

Visit my personal website at davidstreever.com.

Did you miss yesterday’s recap? Find out who withdrew and who moved up the ranks when the race climbed through the Jura mountains.

Tour de France recaps 2017

Daily recaps of the 2017 Tour de France. Please see my cycling books for Falcon Guides: Best Bike Rides Connecticut (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KITFT6W) and Best Bike Rides Long Island (https://www.amazon.com/dp/149300736X)

David Streever

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David Streever is an author. You can find his travel books Best Bike Rides Connecticut and Best Bike Rides Long Island in local stores or on Amazon.

Tour de France recaps 2017

Daily recaps of the 2017 Tour de France. Please see my cycling books for Falcon Guides: Best Bike Rides Connecticut (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KITFT6W) and Best Bike Rides Long Island (https://www.amazon.com/dp/149300736X)

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