[mp417]

Stage 12 Results

Boy oh boy, stage 12 lived up to all the expectations. The race has suddenly opened up.
Some highlights of the stage:
1. Stage 12 posed treacherous conditions once again for riders. Rain and Fog made life even more difficult
2. The three climbs were really difficult. Last climb of the day was extremely brutal.
3. Though Team Sky held their nerves, Team AG2R looks more threatening
4. Yellow Jersey (Froome) cracked on the final 100 kms losing valuable second and yellow jersey as well. How close can it get.
5. Aru and Bardet seems to getting better on mountains. Superb attack by Aru in final 200 meters and Bardet responded well.
6. Bardet was able to beat Uran and Aru to the finish line thus winning first stage this year


Chris Froome loses yellow jersey to Fabio Aru as Romain Bardet wins Tour de France summit finish

Fabio Aru (Astana) has moved into the lead of the Tour de France by six seconds after Chris Froome (Team Sky) lost time on the race’s second summit finish

At the end of a long mountain stage which came down to a final sprint for the line in Peyragudes, Aru accelerated with around 300m to go, instantly putting the yellow jersey of Froome in trouble.

Aru’s burst for the line was followed by Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) on the 16 per cent slopes of the ski resort’s airstrip, with Bardet coming through in the final 50m to take the stage win.

Meanwhile Froome struggled with the explosive effort required for the final sprint, swerving across the road as he eventually finished in seventh place, 22 seconds behind Bardet and 20 seconds behind Aru.

That result meant that Froome slipped to second in GC, six seconds behind Aru, with Bardet now just 25 seconds back in third.










Look at the climb at finish





Things are really getting interesting at the top of GC classification

[mp417]

In the News

Chris Froome: ‘No excuses’ for losing Tour de France lead on stage 12 summit finish

Froome conceded the yellow jersey to Fabio Aru despite his Sky team-mates pacing him perfectly through to the summit finish of stage 12 of the Tour de France at Peyragudes
Team Sky’s Chris Froome says that he has “no excuses” for slipping behind on the Peyragudes finish on stage 12 and losing the Tour de France‘s yellow leader’s jersey, saying that he just lacked the power.

Froome slipped behind by 22 seconds when arriving at the summit finish and with the time bonuses lost, moved to second overall at six seconds behind Fabio Aru (Astana).

“It was certainly a tough day for me in the final,” Froome said. “My team-mates did such an amazing job for me today, but I didn’t have the legs to finish it of.

“No excuses, I just didn’t have the legs on the final kick.”

Froome had his team work over the Port de Balès and Col de Peyresourde climbs. Michal Kwiatkowski pulled with a huge effort, Mikel Nieve and Mikel Landa followed.

Sky appeared in control, not even a little slip on the descent when Nieve went off road and Froome and Aru followed could disrupt Froome’s yellow run.

“There was a bit of a tight turn at the bottom of the climb, a couple of us just overshot the corner,” said Froome. “I just had to go onto the grass, and turn around and come back on.”

“It’s brutal. Ramps of over 20 per cent, that’s a really hard, hard finish,” Froome continued. “I can only say congratulations to Romain Bardet for winning the stage and also to Fabio Aru for taking the jersey. The race is certainly on, now.”




Romain Bardet: ‘Team Sky are not happy, they will battle to regain lead tomorrow’

Frenchman expects British team to come back fighting on stage 13
Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) might have taken his first win of the season on stage 12 of the Tour de France to Peyragudes, but the Frenchman is worried about how Team Sky will react on Friday after Chris Froome lost his yellow jersey.

Bardet countered a move by George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Fabio Aru (Astana) in the final kilometre today. The uphill kick with gradients of 16 per cent saw Froome quickly slip behind by 22 seconds and out of the yellow jersey.

“It’s a short stage of only 101km and it’s obvious that the organisers want to have a crazy day tomorrow. We have also previewed tomorrow’s stage and I expect a battle,” Bardet said.

“It might be harder than today’s stage. I believe that Sky are not happy with today’s outcome. They are proud and they will focus on getting the lead back.




Should Romain Bardet have been penalised 20 seconds for taking illegal feed at Tour de France?

Video footage appears to show Frenchman taking bottle at same time as George Bennett, who was docked 20 seconds

Cannondale-Drapac general manager Jonathan Vaughters has cried foul after Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) escaped punishment for taking a drink from a spectator late on stage 12 of the Tour de France, while Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) were docked 20 seconds for the same offence.

While Uran was punished for taking a bottle from a Cannondale employee at the top of the Col de Peyresourde with five kilometres remaining, Bennett was punished for an infringement with 6.4km to go.

However video footage of Bennett taking the drink from the spectator also appears to show eventual stage winner Bardet taking a bottle of water from a fan, taking a swig, then throwing it away.

[amitoj]

Wow. Did not expect to see Froome crack like that! The Sky train was in total control of the race till the last 500 meters.
Quintana also cracked in the last 10 kms. At the point where Froome and Aru went off the road at the end of a descent, someone in the leading pack (maybe it was Bardait) seemed to ask Quintana if they should take advantage and attack. Quintana shook his head and pointed to his throat, indicating he has no energy left.

It is interesting how in Tour de France the group or the peloton will slow down for the yellow jersey whenever the yellow jersey is involved in a mishap or has to stop for any reason. They say this is the gentlemen's agreement.

Incidentally, I found this cute animation that explains the tour. The French accented commentary is amusing

The Tour De France Explained in Animation

Originally Posted by mp417

Video footage appears to show Frenchman taking bottle at same time as George Bennett, who was docked 20 seconds

UCI seems to be quite erratic in handing out penalties. Or is it that everyone except the French will be punished for the slightest of violations?

[mp417]

Stage 13 : 14-July-2017

Stage Map



Stage Profile



Start City/Location: Saint-Girons, France

End City/Location: Foix, France

Local start time: NA

Total Distance: 101 kms

Type of stage: Mountain

Mountain passes

• At Km 31.0 - Col de Latrape (1 110 m) 5.6 kilometre-long climb at 7.3% - category 1
• At Km 46.5 - Col d'Agnes (1 570 m) 10 kilometre-long climb at 8.2% - category 1
• At Km 74.0 - Mur de Péguère (1 375 m) 9.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.9% - category 1

TV Schedule for India: Not available

Live streaming (free): http://tiz-cycling.racing/stream/

Stage Summary

Fireworks expected on Bastille Day

Some observers might have felt 213.2 kilometres of boredom and 300 metres of excitement in stage 12 but it's set to be the opposite on stage 13. It's the shortest of the 104th Tour de France, time trials excluded but it's a brutal one with three category 1 climbs on the menu, one of them being the Mur de Péguère with sections at 18%. It's really steep. Fabio Aru and Romain Bardet have an occasion to distance Chris Froome because they might have unexpectedly dethroned the Brit, nothing is lost for the defending champion although it's something new to him to lose the yellow jersey in the mountains. Time cut is tight, attacks will take place from the beginning, the show must go on!

My take:
Astana will provide all the support to Aru to retain the yellow.
AG2R will play it safe today.
Team Sky tactics will be interesting to watch. Expect the team to be most aggressive.

I don't think we'll see any reshuffle at the top 10. Unless there is crash on the decent. Hope that everyone makes it safely to finish line
Also the distance is a bit tricky with 100 kms and it may play major role for team's strategies.

Originally Posted by amitoj

UCI seems to be quite erratic in handing out penalties. Or is it that everyone except the French will be punished for the slightest of violations?

Exactly. British and Germans have done well in recent years. Haven't seen a frenchman with such caliber to win the tour. Having said that it may happen this year, you never know.

Loved the video

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by mp417

Exactly. British and Germans have done well in recent years. Haven't seen a frenchman with such caliber to win the tour. Having said that it may happen this year, you never know.

Latest news is that penalties have been overturned by UCI. This is even more funny. Rather than punish a French racer too, they decided to revoke the penalties on the other two riders

George Bennett's time penalty overturned by UCI

[mp417]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Latest news is that penalties have been overturned by UCI. This is even more funny. Rather than punish a French racer too, they decided to revoke the penalties on the other two riders

George Bennett's time penalty overturned by UCI

This is really hilarious



Stage 13 is underway.
Multiple riders have tried to breakaway (including polka dots jersey) but peloton is really choppy today and all the initial attacks have been brought back

Today's 100 kms stage is going to really test everyone. With last few stage with 200+ kms, riders will face challenge to adjust to shorter distance.

Edit 1: Mathews wins the intermediate sprint points ahead of Kittel.

[mp417]

Stage 13 Results

The short stage surprised everyone. There were three category 1 climbs. Though the overall GC remained as is, there are few changes.

Aru retains yellow with Warren Barguil winning the mountain stage on Bastille day.

Here are the highlights
1. Hero of the day - Team Sky. They played their cards perfectly. Their cat and mouse tactics were mental blow to Aru. Sky had three riders in the final 40 kms where as all the other gc favourites were isolated including Aru. 6 seconds gap to Aru is not much for Froome.
2. Mikel Landa. Hero for team sky from stage 12. At one point he was better than froome. Remember Wiggings and Froome. In stage 13 Landa joined Contador and finished 1:40 ahead of the yellow. He is now in the thick of things by moving to 5th place overall.
3. Contador and Quintana: Contador attacked the peloton on 2 climb and no one responded except Landa. Quintana and Barguil followed soon and caught up to leaders on the final climb of the day. Good to see both showing some legs today.
4. Warren Barguil: It was easy Sprint to finish for Barguil.

[mp417]

Stage 14 : 15-July-2017

Stage Map



Stage Profile



Start City/Location: Blagnac, France

End City/Location: Rodez, France

Local start time: NA

Total Distance: 181.5 kms

Type of stage: Mountain

Mountain passes

• At Km 131.0 - Côte du viaduc du Viaur 2.3 kilometre-long climb at 7% - category 3
• At Km 145.0 - Côte de Centrès 2.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.7% - category 3

TV Schedule for India: Not available

Live streaming (free): http://tiz-cycling.racing/stream/

Stage Results

Chris Froome sensationally retakes Tour de France race lead as Matthews wins stage 14

Chris Froome (Team Sky) turned the tables on Tour de France general classification rival Fabio Aru (Astana) on Saturday, finishing what should have been a relatively innocuous day 24 seconds ahead of Aru to regain the yellow jersey of race leader.

Aru looked as though he was out of position, struggling and crucially without team support on stage 14’s hilly final kilometres, and came across the line well down on Froome.

Froome started the day six seconds behind Aru, but the 24-seconds difference on the line saw the British rider leap 19 seconds ahead of Italian Aru overall. Romain Bardet (Ag2r) retained his third spot overall, at 23 seconds.

In the battle for stage honours, Australian Michael Matthews capitalised from solid work by the Sunweb team throughout the day to take the victory in Rodez by over a bike length. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) took second with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) in third.

After a relatively flat first half, the stage became hillier and featuring two category three climbs, Côte du viaduc du Viaur and Côte de Centrès, with a further uncategorised climb nearer the finish and a rise to the line. Many of the teams had their eye on the stage as the final 30km were identical to the stage to Rodez in 2015, won by Van Avermaet.

On the twisting roads into the finish, Maurits Lammertink (Katusha) launched an attack followed by Damiano Caruso (BMC), Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb) and Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortuneo-Oscaro).

Team Sky and Quick-Step Floors riders joined the chase at the front of the peloton and the late attack was reeled in.

As Van Avermaet, Matthews, Boasson Hagen and Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) battled for the stage honours on the final climb, Froome and fellow GC contenders Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) were right behind them.

As the lead group crossed the line, the clock started ticking down… 10 seconds… 20 seconds and no sign of Aru. The Italian looked to be struggling, and came in 24 seconds adrift of Froome, his time in the yellow jersey over… for now.

[mp417]

Stage 15 : 16-July-2017

Stage Map



Stage Profile



Start City/Location: Laissac Severac L'eglise, France

End City/Location: Le Puyen Velay, France

Local start time: NA

Total Distance: 189.5 kms

Type of stage: Mountain

Mountain passes

• At Km 28.5 - Montée de Naves d'Aubrac (1 058 m) 8.9 kilometre-long climb at 6.4% - category 1
• At Km 43.5 - Côte de Vieurals 3.3 kilometre-long climb at 5.9% - category 3
• At Km 158.0 - Col de Peyra Taillade (1 190 m) 8.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.4% - category 1
• At Km 176.5 - Côte de Saint-Vidal 1.9 kilometre-long climb at 6.8% - category 4

TV Schedule for India: Not available

Live streaming (free): http://tiz-cycling.racing/stream/

Stage Summary

A new climb to disturb the routine

Chris Froome is back in the yellow jersey. It probably takes the Tour de France back to a more standard kind of racing with Team Sky controlling the peloton from Laissac-Sévérac L'Eglise to Le Puy-en-Velay throughout a very scenic route in the Aubrac and a spectacular finale. But this is not a standard stage. The category 1 col de Peyra-Taillade is unprecedented on the route of the Tour de France. It's another brutal one with gradients up to 14% and a summit above 1000m of altitude with 31km to go. Romain Bardet is one of the few riders who know the lumpy terrain of the Auvergne at perfection. He's on home soil. French fans urge him to win the Tour but it might as well be the ideal day for attackers like Lilian Calmejane.

My take:
After yesterday's surprise by Froome, expect Team Sky to control things even better today. Aru was caught napping and he was at the wrong place in final kilometer.
With multiple climbs today expect to see few breakaways and attacks. The stage winner will be someone from top 5 GC favorites for sure. However there could be surprise element.
Tomorrow is a rest day so riders will give their 100%

[mp417]

Some snaps from Stage 13

[mp417]

Originally Posted by mp417

Stage 15 : 16-July-2017

Stage 15 Results

Stage highlights

1. Hero of the day: Team AG2R. They put pressure at the right time on Yellow Jersey and others during the last 40 kms. They came very close to taking away the yellow from Froome.

2. Bauke Mollema: he timed the final attack/breakaway perfectly. No one was able to catch him and he won the first stage for Trek team.

3. Warren Barguil: continues his great tour this year by gaining maximum KOM points

4. Team sky and Froome: They had the foot in the mouth moment on the final climb when Ag2r were pushing like crazy. The first set-back of the day for Froome came at 40km to go, as Ag2r hit the front of the peloton and opened up a gap. Froome and Sky were caught out and had to chase hard to regain contact. Then disaster struck again, when Froome had a mechanical and had to stop at the side of the road and swap rear wheels with Michal Kwiatkowski.












Today is the 2nd Rest day of the tour. Much needed break for the riders.

[mp417]

After the first 15 stages we have a very exciting situation at the top.

A look at the General Classification and some analysis



1. Less than 30 seconds covers the top 4. It cannot get closer than this
2. 1 min 17 seconds covers the top 6.
3. The top 5 are from different teams.
4. Only Team Sky has more than one rider in top 10 (Froome and Landa)
5. Possibility of Tour victory for Contador and Quintana is 0%
6. Only Aru, Bardet and Uran seems to be capable to challenging Froome in the remaining mountain stages. Bardet seems to be most threatening.
7. Dan Martin could have been in less than one minute gap. Very unlucky as he was involved in the Richie Porte crash.
8. We have few challenging mountain stage coming up next. See below.


Green Jersey
In the green jersey classification its a straight fight between Kittel (373) and Mathews (294). Looks like Kittel should wrap it up eventually.

Polka Dots Jersey
In the polka dots jersey classification there is no competition. Warren Barguil (116 points) should win the coveted KOM jersey. The next rider is at 38 points. This explains the dominance. I'm missing Rafael Majka this year.

White Jersey
In the white jersey classification its a fight between Simon Yates and Louise Meintjes. Yates has shown great legs so far.



A look at upcoming stages and possibility of things unfolding differently
Mark your calendar. Especially stage 17 and 18 should not be missed.


Stage 16: Tuesday, 18 July 2017




Stage 17: Wednesday, 19 July 2017




Stage 18: Thursday, 20 July 2017




Stage 19: Friday, 21 July 2017




Stage 20: Saturday, 22 July 2017
Individual Time Trial

[mp417]

Stage 16 : 18-July-2017

Stage Map




Stage Profile



Start City/Location: Le Puyen Velay, France

End City/Location: Romans Sur Isere, France

Local start time: NA

Total Distance: 165 kms

Type of stage: Mountain

Mountain passes

• At Km 20.5 - Côte de Boussoulet 4.5 kilometre-long climb at 6.3% - category 3
• At Km 65.0 - Col du Rouvey 2.8 kilometre-long climb at 5.6% - category 4

TV Schedule for India: Not available

Live streaming (free): http://tiz-cycling.racing/stream/

Stage Result

Tour de France peloton ripped to pieces in crosswinds as Michael Matthews wins stage 16

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) won his second stage of the 2017 Tour de France to cap a perfect performance by his team on a day where echelons tore the race to pieces.

Team Sunweb worked hard from the very start of the 165km stage from Le Puy en Velay to Romans sur Isère, dropping the green jersey of Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) on a third category climb after less than 20km.

The German team then worked tirelessly on the front of the bunch as they made sure that Kittel was out of contention for the stage, allowing Matthews to pick up maximum points at the intermediate sprint and be in with a shout for the stage win.

However with high winds whipping across the route for much of the day, there would also be an opportunity for the teams of the GC contenders to try and force a split, and with 16km to go Team Sky did exactly that.

With four riders in front of the yellow jersey of Chris Froome, the British team accelerated to cause panic in the group behind.

The results weren’t as spectacular as stage 11 of the 2016 race where Froome went off the front with Peter Sagan, but the move at least distanced Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), who ended up losing 48 seconds to the rest of the GC contenders, slipping from fifth to seventh overall.

In the front group Sunweb continued to work hard, shutting down a late attack by Daniele Bennati (Movstar) before putting Matthews in a perfect position in the wheel of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) with 300m remaining.

The Belgian opened his sprint from a long way out, but did not have the power to hold off Matthews, who came around the outside and held off the late charges of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) to win his second stage of the race.

[mp417]

Some random snaps

[mp417]

Stage 17 : 19-July-2017

Stage Map



Stage Profile



Start City/Location: La Mure, France

End City/Location: Serre Chevalier, France

Local start time: NA

Total Distance: 183 kms

Type of stage: Mountain

Mountain passes

• At Km 20.5 - Côte de Boussoulet 4.5 kilometre-long climb at 6.3% - category 3
• At Km 65.0 - Col du Rouvey 2.8 kilometre-long climb at 5.6% - category 4
• At Km 30.0 - Col d'Ornon 5.1 kilometre-long climb at 6.7% - category 2
• At Km 78.5 - Col de la Croix de Fer (2 067 m) 24 kilometre-long climb at 5.2% - category H
• At Km 132.5 - Col du Télégraphe (1 566 m) 11.9 kilometre-long climb at 7.1% - category 1
• At Km 155.0 - Col du Galibier (2 642 m) Souvenir Henri Desgrange 17.7 kilometre-long climb at 6.9% - category H

TV Schedule for India: Not available

Live streaming (free): http://tiz-cycling.racing/stream/

Stage Result

Five years after starting cycling at the age of 22, former ski jumper Primoz Roglic became the first Slovenian to win a Tour de France stage as he soloed to victory in Serre-Chevalier after riding Alberto Contador off with 6.5km left in the ascent to the col du Galibier. Chris Froome retained the overall lead but Fabio Aru lost his second place to Rigoberto Uran. The massive climbs delivered the exciting finish.

Marcel Kittel crashes and abandons

https://youtu.be/IOzDreFwmmM

Jersey wearer after stage 17



Yellow Jersey standing



Green Jersey standing. Mathews will wear it as Kittel has abandoned.



Polka dots Jersey standing