Tour de France Stage 14: Wherefore Art Thou, Fabio?
The break stands a chance today, but even the yellow jersey is in contention in this too close to call Tour de France
Today was called for Michael Matthews, a puncheur who contends with Peter Sagan on hilly stages and currently challenges sprinter Marcel Kittel for the green jersey. To win the stage and a small 30 point increase toward Kittel’s lead, he’d have to defeat Greg Van Avermaet, Thomas de Gendt, and Edvald Boasson Hagen.
The race began on the outskirts of Toulouse, heralded by Thomas Voeckler’s daily attack at the line. De Gendt and others would join him shortly, and they’d find a gap of more than two minutes to the peloton. It was a slim advantage before the real climbs began on a day hot in contention.
Before Matthews or van Avermaet could win, though, they’d have to stop the break by de Gendt and Voeckler. Matthews rides with Warren Barguil, who won the stage yesterday and wears the King of the Mountain jersey, for Team Sunweb; van Avermaet for BMC. The two squads controlled the peloton, driving the pace high and shelling first Kittel and then Andre Greipel and the other pure sprinters.
Voeckler gave up the ghost first, shortly after the summit on the Cote de Centres. The two men were all that remained of the breakaway after 145 kilometers of racing. De Gendt has been on the break more than any other rider this year for a grueling 566 km spent out of the peloton. He’s also a contender for the King of the Mountain title, now trailing Barguil by 36 points after winning the 4 points available today.
De Gendt moved up the saddle into a time trial position and fought to hold on to a nearly two minute lead with 32 kilometers left to Rodez. The Belgian would not manage the feat. Inch by inch Sunweb and BMC reeled him in, and with 12 km remaining, time trial champion Tony Martin went to the front and landed de Gendt. He’d be awarded the prize for most aggressive, a small consolation after working so hard for a stage win.
So it’s down to the sprinters?
Almost. Another attack failed as the peloton approached the finish, and the general classification riders came to the front. But not Fabio Aru. The yellow jersey rider was near the very back, far from the front of the race and sure to lose time. Chris Froome and Sky stepped into the lead, looking for even a second gain over Aru.
What happened to Aru?
“It was totally foreseeable and his team failed to foresee it.”
— Chris Boardman, ITV
It’s his team. Astana wasn’t competitive before they lost Jakob Fuglsang to injury, and they’re even weaker now. Aru is one of the few riders without a signed contract for next year, and I suspect he’ll be announcing a move to another team after this Tour. Rumors say he wants a bigger salary, but I think individual pay probably takes second to wanting a team that can defend the yellow jersey. Between today and yesterday, Astana have shown they either can not or will not.
This is why I’m still leaning towards a yellow jersey victory for Romain Bardet, who has individually outperformed the others, and rides with the much stronger AG2R La Mondiale.
Back to the race!
Despite the GC drama, it all came down to the expected end: Matthews, van Avermaet, Boasson Hagen, and John Degenkolb lined up for a sprint just behind Philippe Gilbert of Kittel’s Quicksteap team. In the end, none of the others could hold a candle to Matthews, who sailed across the line with his arms outstretched in victory.
A front on view made it look competitive, but the overhead supported his confidence. He blew past van Avermaet and opened a long gap behind to a sagging van Avermaet, opened the arms, and just rolled to a stage win.
Froome finished in seventh directly ahead of Daniel Martin and Rigoberto Uran, who all gain time on the rest of the GC field. Bardet lost a small 4 seconds on Froome, but Aru was the big loser of the day, coming in 25 seconds after Matthews.
The GC shake up has brought Chris Froome back into first place, 19 seconds ahead of Aru, who sits only 4 seconds in front of Bardet in third.
What about Matthews?
The plan was always for Matthews to win this stage, and a big return to form from his previous ride in Rodez in 2015. That year was marked by crashes which saw him struggle over the line with broken ribs. He won his first stage in 2016, out-sprinting Sagan, Boasson Hagen, and van Avermaet in a similar finish. He is unlikely to win the green jersey over Kittel, although he’s cut into the big German’s 128 point lead, and now trails by 99 points.
I said Sagan was the likely winner yesterday, but I’ve revised that after re-watching last year’s win by Matthews. Today was always his day, and he would have won no matter who was there.
Anything else go wrong today?
Just the audio, which sounded like a numbers station at the opening. Loops, crackles, and fade-outs would cut into Matthew Keenan and Robbie McEwen’s expert commentary routinely, especially when the race heated up. Near the end, it cut completely, replaced by official chatter. After a long stretch of occasional French transmissions someone fixed something, and the Australians came back, minus the background noises.
I’m not sure what’s going on, but it seems like a problem with NBC Sports, which is who I pay for the feed. It would be nice to see some statement on the problems from the broadcasters. Let me know if you’re having similar issues.
Who’s going to win?
Froome looks back on form, and there are rumors that Aru wasn’t just let down by his team but by his health. Hopefully he regains his form for tomorrow and can continue to compete.
Outside of Froome’s comeback, though, it’s Uran who looks best. He made no mistakes, lost no time, and is only 29" behind Froome. One good turn in the mountains will bring him into yellow, and he’s won a time trial before in the 2014 Giro d’Italia.
And tomorrow?
If Froome has sorted himself out, he’s going for it. I think it’ll be down to him, Bardet, and Uran tomorrow, even if Aru is in great shape. Team Sky will take control up the first climb, a brutal 1st category starting at the 17 km mark, and they’ll battle AG2R on the second 1st category climb, starting at the 148.5 km mark. After that, it’s a mostly downhill ride to the finish in Le Puy-En-Velay, and it’s going to be a major showdown.
Aru might not make it to the Col de Peyra Taillade summit with them if Sky can keep him on the defense, and I don’t see him catching up if Bardet and Uran attack on the descent.
What about Team Sky and Mikel Landa?
“If you think Landa betrayed Froome you don’t actually understand bike racing.” — Facebook post
The best thing about following bike racing is having opinions! The friend who shared the post above is certainly better at racing than I am, but I couldn’t disagree more. Between Landa’s lack of work on stage five, his rumored Movistar contract, and the video of him defending himself to his team, it seems clear that he’s riding his own race. I agree with Jens Voigt, who described Landa in his usual poetic style.
“Landa is a bad apple in the basket” — Jens Vogt
If Sky wanted Landa to win yellow, they wouldn’t have put the screws to the other GC contenders yesterday. Kwiatkowski wouldn’t have been seen on a lengthy radio call just before he left the front group to rejoin Froome. What Sky wants is the same thing they wanted when Froome raced for Bradley Wiggins: Loyalty and a singular team goal in putting the man wearing “1” in the yellow jersey.
Landa may realize the error of his ways before Sky has to make a statement, but Froome’s victory speech today putting team first should remind Landa why they’re all there. If he ever doubts it, he can just rewind the tape and look at Froome’s frustration in delivering Wiggins to his 2012 win.
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 read yesterday’s recap? Check out Warren Barguil’s big win on stage 13, below!
