Tour de France Stage 12 Recap: How the Day Was Won
Are attacks ever permitted or is the 2017 Tour de France a comedy of manners? Froome fumbles and the peloton waits; will his rivals regret their hesitation?
Twelve kilometers from the finish, Steve Cummings led the race with a strong advantage. After winning the hardest climb of the day, hors categorie ranked Port de Balès, the Englishman ditched his breakaway companions and the gap grew to two minutes.
Michal Kwiatkowski and Team Sky led the chase. Behind Kwiatkowski were Mikel Nieve, Mikel Landa, and their captain, Froome. It was a routine setup, with rivals Fabio Aru, Rigoberto Uran, Daniel Martin, and Romain Bardet all marking the race leader.
And then the fumble
On an easy, generous curve, Landa failed to turn. The third man in the train led Froome and Aru with him, riding off-road between two camper vans. They all remained upright, but it was a rookie mistake that could have ended their tour. If none of the rivals attacked, they’d be able to rejoin the race and keep their standings.
And they found everyone waiting for them
After the fiasco in stage 9, fans might think the race is required to wait for the leader; not so. The unwritten rules apply to mechanical problems and no-fault crashes, but never to human error. This was a moment where Bardet, Martin, or Uran could have made a significant gain, and rightly so, but the three soft-pedaled and awaited Froome’s return.
Yesterday, I rolled my eyes at Greg LeMond’s hot take on stage nine; today, I concede his point. Uran and Bardet gave up a massive opportunity on the day when they needed it most.
Bardet in particular could have won the yellow jersey, and Martin needs to make up a lost minute from the stage nine crash. It looked like neither man had the killer instinct of a Tour winner.
Which gives Aru a shot at the summit
Kwiatkowski knew that Aru was hoping to repeat his stage 5 victory, and Team Sky had come up with a boring but reliable tactic to prevent an attack. By keeping their strongest riders at the front, pushing an unsustainable tempo, they’d keep the speed so high that no one could possibly attack.
It can be a risky gamble, and utterly boring to watch, but when you have three general classification contenders on your side, you can sacrifice them one-by-one to keep everyone else from breaking away. The risk lies in giving up your support squad; if they’re all too tired to defend you, someone who has hung in and made a late attack might gain time.
Of the favorite rivals, one couldn’t even hang on though; Nairo Quintana, once a promising contender, cracked again. The former podium finisher may not even make it into the top ten.
Back to Cummings!
Despite the delay, Cummings couldn’t keep his lead. Five kilometers from the summit of the Peyresourde, Kwiatkowski had cut the gap to one minute and held it, then rolled off, job done. As the jury announced Cummings the most aggressive rider of the day, Nieve took over and increased the pace again.
The catch came in sixty seconds. Cummings, a former member of Team Sky, sat up and waved cheerfully to his friends as he rolled back. With the pace this fast on the penultimate ascent, another contender would crack and join him shortly; Spanish rider Alberto Contador, a two-time Tour winner, was unable to follow the group led by Nieve.
At the summit, Nieve relinquished his duties to Landa, rolling off and drifting away. With 1.5 kilometers remaining, the last two Sky men were in a very dangerous group. Just behind Froome were his top contenders: Aru, Bardet, Uran, and Martin. Beside them rode Kiwi rider George Bennett, in tenth, and young riders Simon Yates in seventh and Louis Meintjes in eleventh.
One of these men was going to attack
With only a kilometer remaining, a well-timed attack could earn half a minute with time bonuses included. The first to go would be Bennett, a surprising move by a quiet rider.
Over 200 meters of hard-fought asphalt, Landa would catch Bennett, bringing the group back together. It’s at the 343 meter mark that the winning move begins. Landa and Froome are at the front, and they’re looking at their stems, distracted. Aru is just behind them watching; he sees the chance, glances over his left shoulder, and sprints into the start of a wall-like 16% grade.
Froome almost catches his wheel, reacting seconds too late. Aru darts back and forth, and the gap opens, but Martin, Bardet, Uran, Mentjes, even Landa, all counter-attack. Froome cracks at the 104-meter mark.
And even Landa goes for the stage win
Teammate Landa jumps into an all-out sprint, and a visibly suffering Froome falls back almost to Bennett, who was dislodged in the initial attack. The man who instigated it, Italian champion Aru, can’t keep up the effort and sees first Bardet and then Uran surpass him.
But no one can catch Bardet. The second place finisher in the 2016 Tour wins a third stage for this year, finishing 2 seconds ahead of Uran and Aru, five seconds ahead of Landa, and twenty-two over former race leader Chris Froome.
His incredible sprint, at 17km/hour on a 16% grade, earns him a bonus of ten seconds in the general classification, and he retains his third place position with a time deficit of twenty-five seconds to new race leader Fabio Aru. Dimension Data reports that his average speed on the climbs was 20.45km/h
Finishing third, Aru won four bonus seconds to add to his time, netting twenty-four seconds over Chris Froome. He now wears the yellow jersey, and the race has been turned upside-down. It’s beginning to look like a possible upset for three-time winner Froome, in second by six seconds. The way he cracked under pressure yet again is unprecedented and does not bode well for the rest of this Tour.
Incredible. I never expected this. Anything else happen today?
It all pales in comparison, but it’s worth mentioning. Green jersey wearing Marcel Kittel was in the breakaway for 94 kilometers, and took second at the intermediate sprint today. His rival Michael Matthews was first, and nets three points in the sprinter classification, leaving him 130 shy of Kittel’s 352.
French hero Warren Barguil fought for the summits, supported by teammate Matthews, solidifying his lead in the polka-dot jersey King of the Mountain competition. He’s up to 70 points, a commanding lead over second place Thomas de Gendt, with 32, and third place climber Primoz Roglic, with 30. Barguil is far ahead in a still wide-open competition. He’s ridden inconsistently in previous years, but his form going into this Tour de France is the best it’s ever been.
That’s all great, but back to the GC! You really think Froome can lose?
It’s still a long way to Paris. If it was just the six seconds today, or being caught on the wrong foot, I’d place a bet on his victory today.
But it’s not just today, and it’s not just six seconds. It’s the second time Froome has cracked under pressure, and we haven’t seen the Alps yet. With nine days of racing yet to come, and both Bardet and Aru able to beat him on a summit, I’m wondering if we won’t see a third-place finish for Froome.
He looks off his form, and if he is, it’s almost impossible to recover in the middle of the Tour de France. If Bardet and Aru can keep up the pressure, I think it makes the Frenchman the most likely winner, followed closely by Aru and Froome in third.
Bardet seems stronger than Aru and more well-rounded, and his team, AG2R La Mondiale, is looking much stronger than the Astana squad. Aru’s best teammate, Jakob Fuglsang, is covered in bandages and limping along; he has hairline fractures and can’t support himself on the bike well. Aru will not keep his yellow jersey for long.
Wait — what about Uran?
Uran came in second today, but loses 20 points — a penalty applied because he took a bottle in the last 20 km of the stage. He retains fourth place, but is now at 55 seconds behind Aru instead of 35. It was a novice mistake, or the move of a man who desperately needed water. This isn’t an unwritten rule, but a well-defined one that also applied to Bennett and Serge Pauwels.
What happens next?
It’s Bastille Day, or French National Day, an important holiday and one that every French rider wants to win on. I’ll be watching Bardet, Barguil, and debut rider Lilian Calmejane for a move. This is a big year for France. French riders have won four stages this year, and many victories; Arnaud Demare was the first Frenchman to win a sprint since 2006, Barguil is in polka-dots, Bardet looks like a possible yellow jersey winner, and Calmejane won a stage.
We’ll have two hill stages this weekend, and then a much-needed rest on Monday, which I’ll take off, too! I’m starting to feel like I need a break as much as these guys.
Thanks for reading! I write about cycling and am currently blogging the 2017 Tour de France here on Medium.
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