Each week of the Tour de France has been defined by a key stage. In Corsica, the team time trial set the stage for a banner performance for the Orica-GreenEDGE team. Moving into the Pyrenees, Chris Froome and Richie Porte stunned the competition and took control of the race. Now, in the Alps, the two passes of the Alpe d’Huez have defined how the final stages of the 2013 Tour de France will play out.
Two days of steep climbs remain before the finale in Paris on Sunday. It was on Thursday’s stage where race leader Chris Froome seemed at his weakest, a sign of hope for challengers to the title. The day was so hard that Froome took a late — and illegal — feeding that appear to have cost the leader 20 seconds in penalties.
Chris Froome penalised 20 seconds for illegally taking an energy gel inside the final 20km #TDF
— Team Sky Pro Cycling (@TeamSkyFanpage) July 18, 2013
Froome ultimately extended his lead heading into Friday, but it was an inability to respond to the final attack of Nairo Quintana that should concern the rider in the yellow jersey. Froome and his key supporter Richie Porte have not been pushed this hard through the Tour so far. The pair need to recover – and indeed the whole team – in time for the five categorized climbs of tomorrow’s stage.
Sky and Froome will need to stay with any challengers through the first two stages tomorrow; the 21 kilometre Col du Glandon and the 19 km Col de la Madeleine. Though three climbs remain on Friday’s stages, and a handful will need to be conquered on Saturday, none compare with the early climbs on stage 19.
As teams rest and review today, the lesson for rivals will be that Froome is human after all, and can perhaps be pressured enough to lose the yellow jersey. Much like the second day in the Pyrenees, teams will attack often and early in an effort to blow apart team support for Froome as quickly as possible.
Expect Quintana and his Movistar team to apply pressure early. Quintana has a comfortable lead in the Young rider classification, and is close to taking the King of the Mountain title from Froome. Following his attack on the Alpe d’Huez, Quintana has moved into third place overall, and may just feel encouraged to make a final attempt at unseating the Sky rider.
Quintana will need to find nearly six minutes to take the yellow jersey, but less than 30 second to move into second place overall. The margin to Froome will require both a massive effort from the young Colombian rider, and some mishap from Froome.
Spanish rider Joaquin Rodriguez may also be up to a challenge. Ranked fifth overall, the Katusha cyclist is just 47 seconds back from second place, and rode to the finish with Quintana atop the finish of the second Alpe d’Huez.
Second and fourth place racers Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger were among the hardest hit of the top group, unable to match the pace of the rest. Both riders lost approximately a minute to Froome. The Saxo-Tinkoff teammates may find they are subject to team orders in the final days of the Tour if management have any concerns that allowing both to compete for a podium finish might risk a team finish in the top five. Any such direction will be apparent during Friday’s stage.
French fans will party tonight, as finally a French rider — Christophe Riblon of AG2R La Mondiale — has claimed a stage victory at the 100th edition of le Tour. The solo victory resulted from a final thrash for the finish, eclipsing stage leader TeJay Van Garderen in the final kilometres of the climb. That Riblon won on a stage as unprecedented as a double pass of the Alpe d’Huez during the 100th edition of the Tour ensures a vaunted spot for the rider in national sporting history.
@BMCProTeam Heart goes out to TJ. What an incredible ride #TDF #Unlucky
— Sonny Williams (@Sonny__Williams) July 18, 2013
Christophe Riblon, in front of the cameras! #TDF https://t.co/HMEH46ca3y
— Le Tour De France (@letour) July 18, 2013
At 204.5 km, Friday’s stage features five climbs. The first two are ranked HC, the highest category of severity for any climb. Following an intermediate sprint in Albertville – mostly a formality as Peter Sagan is secure in the green jersey – the race continues up a category two climb. Two category one climbs remain before the finish in Le Grand-Bornand.
I can't wait for tomorrow.
— David Millar (@millarmind) July 18, 2013
If riders are successful in cutting down Froome’s lead, expect more of the same on Saturday, where six climbs punctuate the 125 km stage. The finale, an HC category climb starts with 11km remaining.
The final stage of the Tour starts in Versailles and finishes at the traditional Arc-de-Triomphe in Paris. Rarely does a change in the overall standings take place on the final day. Instead, the race focuses on the sprinters one final time. The finish line will fall after the race circles the famous landmark, and takes place at dusk, under the glow of Parisian streetlamps. Mark Cavendish has suffered at this year’s tour, even getting doused with urine by angry fans who feel the Briton caused a crash earlier in the Tour. While the green jersey is out of reach, a victory on the final day for Cavendish would mark his fifth consecutive victory at the Tour finale.
Bold moves will make all the difference in the closing days of the Tour de France. Froome’s lead is strong, but not a foregone conclusion. It will be up to Movistar and Katusha to change things in the closing days to see a different rider in yellow on the final day.