[mp417]

Stage 19 – 24th July 2015

Stage Profile



Stage Map



Summary of today's stage

Now or Never

Today's stage is just 138 kms as compared to the other big stages. However let's not get fooled by the distance because this stage has two first category climbs, one second category and one massive hors category climb.

This stage provides the perfect opportunity to all the GC contenders to attack Froome's yellow jersey. Team Movistar of Quintana has tried everything in last few stages but unable to make any dent in the 3+ minutes advantage of Froome. It's Now or Never for Quintana, Valverde, Contador. With the only mountain stage remaining at Alp-de-Huaz tomorrow, this really is the final chance for everyone. Froome still has good margin and should not do anything stupid.

Recently Team sky openly shared some technical data of Froome's 10th stage win (e.g. power output). Whenever any non French rider wears yellow jersey it's bound to raise many questions. With this move, Sky team has ensured to answer all the questions being raised about Froome's performance

Start City/Location: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France

End City/Location: La Toussuire - Les Sybelles, France

Local start time: 1:25 pm (5:50 pm IST)

Total Distance: 138 kms

Type of stage: Mountain (total 5 massive climbs)

Km 15.5 - Col du Chaussy (1 533 m) (D77-VC) - 15.4 kilometre-long climb at 6.3% - category 1
Km 83.0 - Col de la Croix de Fer (2 067 m) - 22.4 kilometre-long climb at 6.9% - category H
Km 103.0 - Col du Mollard (1 638 m) - 5.7 kilometre-long climb at 6.8% - category 2
Km 138.0 - LA TOUSSUIRE (1 705 m) - 18 kilometre-long climb at 6.1% - category 1


TV Schedule for India
7:05 pm Live on Ten Sports.

[NaviRai12]

Richie Porte cracked in yesterday's climb. Hence Geraint Thomas is the only trusted lieutnant that Froome can rely on and Geraint has been proving his worth in all of the mountain stages. Similarly Quintana has Valverde alongside him and these 4 are holding the top four slots. It will be interesting to see the attacks and counter attacks today.

By the way both Geraint Thomas and Alejandro Valverde have the potential for tour wins in general classification and this year they are in better form than Nibali or Contador! Wish they were in different teams than teamsky and movistar, it would have been a thriller of a race!

[mp417]

Stage 19 Results

The Shark is back in business

With an attack in the ascent to the col de la Croix-de-Fer, 59km before the finish at La Toussuire, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali made it up for his disillusion of the first week of the Tour de France as he bounced back to brilliantly win the Alpine queen stage. With this win, Nibali jumped to 4th place overall. He was a determined man yesterday and it was evident the way he celebrated his victory. Well done.

Quintana attacks with 6 kms to go was the other big news

Nairo Quintana attacked late on the final climb to la Toussuire and succeeded in distancing Froome and gained whopping 30 seconds.
But the biggest tactical move on the day was that Froome was able to surf on top of the fray as other teams fought amongst themselves for stage glory or other positions on the overall.

Nibali finally showing his true class





Quintana attacking Froome



Froome was unable to respond to the attack and lost 30 seconds. Though he was able to limit the damage.





Best of the rest. It's now the fight between only two for the overall win. Other riders will have to fight for 3rd, 4th places.

[mp417]

Originally Posted by NaviRai12

Richie Porte cracked in yesterday's climb. Hence Geraint Thomas is the only trusted lieutnant that Froome can rely on and Geraint has been proving his worth in all of the mountain stages. Similarly Quintana has Valverde alongside him and these 4 are holding the top four slots. It will be interesting to see the attacks and counter attacks today.

By the way both Geraint Thomas and Alejandro Valverde have the potential for tour wins in general classification and this year they are in better form than Nibali or Contador! Wish they were in different teams than teamsky and movistar, it would have been a thriller of a race!

Geraint Thomas lost lot of time yesterday. I think he was suffering due to his recent accident. So Froome's trusted lieutenant was not available for such a crucial stage. Wouter Pouls was there to help Froome and he hanged on almost till the last few kms.

The final climb was so difficult that almost all the riders had already lost the gas and were just surviving for the day. Only Quintana had the legs to put the hammer down. It was awesome

I was expecting counter attacks by Valverde and Contador on Nibali, but the climb was too difficult for these guys. Contador lost a place to Nibali and Valverde is just hanging on with a minute's gap.

[mp417]

Stage 20 – 25th July 2015

Stage Profile



Stage Map



Summary of today's stage

Last opportunity

At 110.5 kms, Stage 20 is even shorter than Stage 19. But with two HC climbs including the legendary ascent of Alpe d’Huez, this penultimate stage is the last chance for any change to the Tour’s general classification. After a gentle 25km descent to the base of the day’s first climb, the riders climb back over the Col de la Croix de Fer. A long descent and 10km of flat roads take them to the bottom of Alpe d’Huez and its 21 hairpin turns.

Froome: he still has 2+ minutes advantage. However he has shown some weakness yesterday. This must be concerning for Team Sky.

Quintana: he is in good form. With yesterday's successful attack he must be eager to go our today and attack and attack and attack again.

Other favorites will be fighting for remaining places but you never know, there could be surprises.

Start City/Location: Modane Valfrejus, France

End City/Location: Alpe d'Huez, France

Local start time: 1:15 pm (5:40 pm IST)

Total Distance: 110.5 kms

Type of stage: Mountain (total 2 Hors Category climbs)

Km 56.0 - Col de la Croix de Fer (2 067 m) - 29 kilometre-long climb at 5.2% - category H
Km 110.5 - ALPE D'HUEZ - 13.8 kilometre-long climb at 8.1% - category H

The famous ALPE D'HUEZ and 21 hair-pin bends




TV Schedule for India
6:30 pm Live on Ten Sports & Ten HD.

[mp417]

Stage 20 Results

Fight between two tigers

It was a nail biting finish and at one point it looked as if Quintana may win the Tour in a dramatic fashion. Haven't seen such a close contest in recent years Quintana gave everything to dethrone Froome from top spot but Froome somehow managed to lose only 1 min 20 seconds. Thus he virtually sealed his second Tour's win in four appearances.

Thibaut Pinot claimed his second stage win at the Tour de France in the mythical Alpe d'Huez. It was brilliant win built collectively by FDJ with Alexandre Geniez attacking from the start. Pinot resisted to the return of Nairo Quintana who attacked Chris Froome just as he promised to do but the Kenyan-born rider kept an advantage of 1.12 over his arch-rival in the overall classification on the eve of the conclusive stage in Paris.

Froome looked vulnerable in the race’s third week, but refused to panic when under attack (though he did look frustrated at times with the aggressive racing). His pacing plan limited the time loss, and as the contenders fell away the race simplified for him to the point where Quintana became the only rider he needed to focus on.

Pinot won the iconic stage



I tried everything.





Survived multiple attacks today.

[mp417]

Stage 21 – 26th July 2015 - THE FINALE

Stage Profile



Stage Map



Summary of today's stage

Froome can start enjoying his champagne.

Paris awaits Chris Froome for his second coronation. The start proper of the conclusive stage of the 102nd Tour de France will take place in Ville-d'Avray where the very first Tour de France officially finished in 1903 before the final parade to Paris. Unless an accident occurs, the results are known: Chris Froome will be crowned for the second time on the Champs-Elysées with Nairo Quintana accompanying him on stage like two years ago and Alejandro Valverde occupying the third spot this time. The Kenyan-born rider is also the King of the Mountains. Like two years ago, Quintana is the best young rider.

Last chance for Peter Sagan to win a stage.

Peter Sagan will receive the green jersey for the fourth consecutive time since he has sufficient points gap to Greipel. There'll probably a bunch sprint on France's famous avenue. André Greipel, Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff, Arnaud Démare, Bryan Coquard, Michael Matthews, John Degenkolb and co have courageously fought in the Alps only with this grand finale in sight.

Start City/Location: Sèvres - Grand Paris Seine Ouest, France

End City/Location: Paris Champs-Élysées, France

Local start time: 16:35 pm (9:00 pm IST)

Total Distance: 109.5 kms

Type of stage: Flat

TV Schedule for India

9:30 pm Live on Ten Sports


The famous Champs-Élysées from my first post of this thread

[NaviRai12]

Finally one more edition of Tour de France has ended with Froome winning it for second time, 3 tour wins for TeamSky in last 4 editions if the race.

This edition was better than previous 2 atleast with the General Category winner was not decided till the penultimate stage. Quintana is a very bright prospect, safe to assume that he can win the tour in coming years.

[ebonho]

Froome won on the back of one single brilliant stage in the Pyrenees is the early stages of the race and the team time trial performance of a very strong team. He was significantly fading in the Alps and fighting a holding fight. He is most definitely the most unattractive rider I have seen winning the Tour and this tour has made me a fan of Sagan. I look forward to him developing as a all round racer fighting for the GC in the coming years. He is supremely fit, strong, talented and a real character. And you should see some of his videos on You Tube. Pretty amazing bike control and equally at home off road, downhill, on trails, in sprint, as well as on multi week Tours. This Tour I think should have seeded greater belief and ambition in his head.

[NaviRai12]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Froome won on the back of one single brilliant stage in the Pyrenees is the early stages of the race and the team time trial performance of a very strong team. He was significantly fading in the Alps and fighting a holding fight. He is most definitely the most unattractive rider I have seen winning the Tour and this tour has made me a fan of Sagan. I look forward to him developing as a all round racer fighting for the GC in the coming years.

He is supremely fit, strong, talented and a real character. And you should see some of his videos on You Tube. Pretty amazing bike control and equally at home off road, downhill, on trails, in sprint, as well as on multi week Tours. This Tour I think should have seeded greater belief and ambition in his head.

I do agree with you here. He is quite an all-rounder, with age on his side as well. Never seen any sprinter as competitive as Sagan in mountain stages, infact with proper training, he can be a GC contender as well. Somehow I felt that he should have been given the most aggressive award in this edition.

One person who was completely out of form in this edition was Mark Cavendish. He has completely lost his pace and timing.

[mp417]

Stage 21 Results

Froome wins the Tour second time

Froome crossed the line arm-in-arm with his Sky teammates to clinch a second Tour following his 2013 success. Colombian Nairo Quintana finished second overall with his Spanish Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde taking third, his best finish at the Tour at the age of 35.

Greipel makes it four

Katusha led Alexander Kristoff from far out but André Greipel managed to win his fourth stage of this year's Tour de France (ten in total) despite Bryan Coquard's final rush. It was a typical sprint finish with all the top sprinters gunning for the glory.

Chris Froome was declared the overall winner of the 102nd Tour de France and the King of the Mountains.

Peter Sagan the points competition winner for the fourth straight time.

Nairo Quintana the best young rider, Movistar the champions of the teams classification.

Romain Bardet the most aggressive rider of the whole race.

This year's race was more closely fought with no clear winner till the penultimate stage. All the stages provided all the excitement and were thoroughly enjoyed. This year's tour will be remembered for all types of Drama...from victories, heroism, attacks, counter attacks, scary crashes, withdrawals, technology and what not.

Thanks all for reading the updates and contributing to the wonderful information on T-BHP

At the start of the stage



It was raining yesterday





The Famous Champs Elysee



Monster Greipel makes it 4th stage win this year



The winner





Team Sky





The Jersey winners



Top three in GC on the podium

[ebonho]

@mp417

I really appreciate your individual photo blog of the entire event from day 1 (and even the runup to it) all the way to the end.

Fantastic compilation, and the perfect leadup and dissection of each evening's racing.

Cheers!

[mp417]

Originally Posted by NaviRai12

Finally one more edition of Tour de France has ended with Froome winning it for second time, 3 tour wins for TeamSky in last 4 editions if the race.

This edition was better than previous 2 atleast with the General Category winner was not decided till the penultimate stage. Quintana is a very bright prospect, safe to assume that he can win the tour in coming years.

That little kid Quintana is a great cyclist. He came so close to win the Tour this year and he ensured to keep the uncertainty till the last stage.

Both Quintana and Froome are from different countries originally (columbia and africa) not famous for cyclist. But these guys are different.

Originally Posted by ebonho

Froome won on the back of one single brilliant stage in the Pyrenees is the early stages of the race and the team time trial performance of a very strong team. He was significantly fading in the Alps and fighting a holding fight. He is most definitely the most unattractive rider I have seen winning the Tour and this tour has made me a fan of Sagan. I look forward to him developing as a all round racer fighting for the GC in the coming years. He is supremely fit, strong, talented and a real character. And you should see some of his videos on You Tube. Pretty amazing bike control and equally at home off road, downhill, on trails, in sprint, as well as on multi week Tours. This Tour I think should have seeded greater belief and ambition in his head.

Yeah. Froome's initial stage win at Pyrenees made all the difference.
He has a very different style of bike riding. Looks out of place Just look at how he holds the handle with elbows pointing out and his face looking down with head tilted. You will never come to know whether he is in pain or he is normal

4th consecutive green jersey for Sagan. He is a true entertainer. He must be frustrated for not winning a stage this year.

[reverse_gear]

Originally Posted by mp417

Thanks all for reading the updates and contributing to the wonderful information on T-BHP

Kudos to you, mp417, for meticulously chronicling the event every single day. Great effort, mate!

As for the last stage, it turned to be a little low key compared to previous years. Maybe the teams and the sprinters were a little exhausted coming directly after 4 big Alpine stages. None of the teams seemed to have good organisation of lead-out going into the final corner and it just came down to Griepel being able to use his power to hold off the others just long enough.

Having said that, the 3 weeks provided enough thrills and spills to keep us engaged throughout. The number of solo and breakaway wins from non-GC riders was one of the highest I can remember.

Can't wait for next year, already!

[mp417]

Originally Posted by ebonho

@mp417

I really appreciate your individual photo blog of the entire event from day 1 (and even the runup to it) all the way to the end.

Fantastic compilation, and the perfect leadup and dissection of each evening's racing.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by reverse_gear

Kudos to you, mp417, for meticulously chronicling the event every single day. Great effort, mate!

Thank you guys for the appreciation

After the Tour was over, I was going through the Froome's Power Data of stage 10 released by Team Sky. See the details below.

Source: www.teamsky.com

Analysis of final 15.3 km of the stage

Time: 41:28
Average power: 414w
VAM: 1602
Chris's weight: 67.5kg

Corrected power/weight for the whole climb: 5.78w/kg

When used in conjunction with osymetric chainrings, power meters over-report power by approximately 6%. The above figure of 5.78 w/kg is corrected to take this into account. Without making this correction, the power/weight would be 6.13w/kg. All other power values stated here are the actual reported power values - i.e. not corrected.

(To go from this value to estimates of physiology (e.g. VO2max) requires assumptions about relative aerobic and anaerobic contribution, sustainable percentage of VO2max for the duration of the climb, and efficiency and economy of the rider. There is significant margin for compounding error in making these such assumptions.)
Gearing:​ 52-38 / 11-28
Average Cadence:​ 97rpm
Average HR: 158
Maximum HR: 174

This is a very high heart rate for Chris suggesting that he has reached the second week of the Tour/bottom of the climb in a relatively fresh state. By comparison, Chris's maximum HR in the second week of the Tour in 2013 was 168. In the Vuelta 2014, it was 171.

"The Attack"

Duration:​ 24s
Average Power: 556w
Peak power: 929w
10s power: 652w​
Average Cadence: 102rpm
Average Speed:​ 25.3kph
Maximum Speed:​ 27.7kph
Power for the 4 minutes before the attack: 449w (18.2kph, 1777VAM, 9.8% gradient, 94 rpm)
Power for the 4 minutes after the attack: 435w (20.4kph, 1718VAM, 8.4% gradient, 103 rpm)
After the initial attack, when Chris continued to ride away from the field, his power and climbing speed (VAM) were lower than before the attack.
Comparisons with Chris's performance in the past:
30min power: 419w

Chris has exceeded this level (by as much as 10%) on 16 occasions over the past 4 years in racing and training
60min power (run-in plus climb): 366w

Chris has exceeded this level on 15 occasions over the past 4 years in racing and training
Comparison with Stage 12 - Plateau de Beille - where there was a front group of 9 riders:
30min power: 414w​ (5 watts less)
60min power: 373w ​(7 watts more)

I am trying to map this with the details available on Strava. Any comments are welcome.

May be I should enjoy my ride rather than looking at these numbers