This year’s Tour de France was billed as an epic with four serious contenders locked in a colossal struggle for the yellow jersey. Unfortunately, it hasn’t exactly panned out that way.
With five stages remaining Chris Froome has a stranglehold on the race. The 30-year-old Brit maintains a lead of three minutes and 10 seconds over his nearest rival and has yet to show any vulnerability in the mountains.
Young challenger Nairo Quintana is sure to launch some explosive attacks on the Alpine climbs to come, but barring a disaster for Froome he will be wearing yellow in Paris.
While the general classification is nearly decided, the Tour remains filled with noteworthy performances and races within the race.
Here’s a brief summary of whose stocks are making the biggest moves heading into final stages:
STOCK UP: MTN-Qhubeka
MTN-Qhubeka hasn’t just been a great story at this year’s Tour, they’ve also been very effective. Not much was expected of the first African-registered team in the race’s history, but this wild card squad has been rock-solid.
They scored their first victory on Stage 6 as Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot became the first African to claim the King of the Mountains jersey in Tour history.
More impressively, the group managed a stage victory on Saturday with Steve Cummings bringing home the win for his South African team on Nelson Mandela’s birthday.
Wild card teams rarely make much noise at the Tour de France, but MTN-Qhubeka has been quite the exception.
STOCK UP: André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal)
When it was revealed that Marcus Kittel was going to miss the Tour, it was unclear who the fastest man in the bunch sprints would be.
Alexander Kristoff had the most momentum coming into the race and Mark Cavendish had the longest track record of success. However, Greipel has emerged as the quickest man to the line.
Not only has he shown excellent acceleration, but his timing and placement in the peloton has been perfect. During his Stage 5 victory, the 33-year old (seen below in the green jersey) waited behind his rivals until the last possible moment before exploding into action for the win.
With three stage wins under his belt the veteran German rider has established his dominance. A victory at the Champs-Élysées on Sunday will be his final target.
STOCK UP: Joachim Rodriguez (Team Katusha)
At 36-years old, Rodriguez is in the twilight of his career, but he keeps on producing. The Spaniard already has won two stages this year and currently sits in the polka-dot jersey for his work in the mountains.
Team Katusha’s leader turned heads by besting Froome up to the finish on Stage 3 and rode away from his breakaway group on Stage 12. Given his age and unorthodox riding style he tends not to get his due, but he’s one of the most dynamic climbers in the business when his form is right.
STOCK DOWN: FDJ
FDJ headed into the Tour with a team built around last year’s third-place finisher Thibault Pinot. Unfortunately for the French team, this year has been a nightmare for Pinot who currently sits in 19th.
They appear to have put all of their eggs in one basket, including a major move on Stage 14 that put multiple riders ahead of the peloton to launch Pinot, who came up just short in second place. FDJ does not have a stage win to its name yet and their best chances on the breakaways have come and gone.
STOCK DOWN: Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step)
It’s hard to knock a rider with a stage victory, but the cycling world has come to expect so much more from Cavendish. The British sprinter came into the race with 25 career stage wins at the Tour de France, and Kittel’s absence seemed to create an opportunity.
While he did manage to win Stage 7, he’s never finished a Tour with fewer than two wins and has piled up as many as six.
Cavendish also created a stir on Stage 2 when he eased up near the line to finish fourth when a third place would have kept a time bonus away from Fabian Cancellara and given his teammate Tony Martin the yellow jersey.
He wound up taking to Twitter in an attempt to set the record straight:
STOCK DOWN: Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
Contador, arguably the biggest name in the sport, has not looked himself. The winner of the last two Grand Tours has been a timid rival to Froome throughout, never finishing higher than eighth place on any individual stage.
While many riders would be happy to be riding in fifth position, it is undoubtedly a disappointment for the prolific stage-race champion. Contador may have a trick or two left up his sleeve, but his showing has not been one to remember so far.