08-07-2017, 20:41
Now that was a real day's racing, full of attacks, counter attacks, solo breakaways, breakaway riders dropping back to pace their GC riders, even peloton riders dropping back to keep their top man in the Tour. Exactly the type of day the Tour needed.
What surprised me was that the big performers were relatively unknown. 24 year old Lilian Calmejane went on a long run, suffering from an attack of cramp near the finish, but still won by 37 seconds from Robert Gesink, with Martin Guillaime leading home most of the GC riders a further 13 seconds behind. Steve Cummings showed near the front of the peloton for a few minutes but fell back, seemingly feeling that any effort wasn't worth it - tomorrow, perhaps? Pierre Rolland did finish with the GC contenders 50 seconds behind, but never posed a threat to the lead, and Thibault Pinot finished 15m 14s behind the winner. The sprinters took a real hammering after the early intermediate sprint and Green Jersey wearer on Thursday, Arnaud Demare, needed to be shepherded home by two team-mates to limit the damage to 37m 33s and live to fight another day.
That day won't be tomorrow, where the 181.5km stage from Nantua to Chambery starts off with a Category 2 climb after 3.5km and a Category 3 climb after 11km, just to soften everyone up. Then there's a chance of a rest before another Category 3 climb and two HC climbs before halfway. (HC climbs are the toughest of the tough, just think Hellish Conditions and multiply by 10 and you'll get the idea). The organisers then have the cheek to have a sprint before the Category 4 climb and a final HC climb. The second HC climb (Grand Colombier) is 8.5km long at an average of 9.9% and features a 22% section and the third one is Mont du Chat, 8.7km long at 10.3% with a 15% section in the middle. The close contenders in the GC will surely make some effort to unsettle Team Sky and Froome/Thomas, perhaps not on the climbs but on the hair-raising descents. Unfortunately for them, Chris Froome is a master descender, but he has made mistakes in the past and might do so again. The rewards are there to be taken and we'll find out who really wants to win the Yellow Jersey. For me, the likely lads would be Romain Bardet and Rafel Majka, perhaps Fabio Aru, if not winning the stage, at least gaining King Of The Mountains points. For the rest, it'll be a matter of survival.
Thankfully for all the riders, there is a rest day on Monday, with the Tour getting back to normal on Tuesday with a nice little run from Perigueux to Bergerac.
What surprised me was that the big performers were relatively unknown. 24 year old Lilian Calmejane went on a long run, suffering from an attack of cramp near the finish, but still won by 37 seconds from Robert Gesink, with Martin Guillaime leading home most of the GC riders a further 13 seconds behind. Steve Cummings showed near the front of the peloton for a few minutes but fell back, seemingly feeling that any effort wasn't worth it - tomorrow, perhaps? Pierre Rolland did finish with the GC contenders 50 seconds behind, but never posed a threat to the lead, and Thibault Pinot finished 15m 14s behind the winner. The sprinters took a real hammering after the early intermediate sprint and Green Jersey wearer on Thursday, Arnaud Demare, needed to be shepherded home by two team-mates to limit the damage to 37m 33s and live to fight another day.
That day won't be tomorrow, where the 181.5km stage from Nantua to Chambery starts off with a Category 2 climb after 3.5km and a Category 3 climb after 11km, just to soften everyone up. Then there's a chance of a rest before another Category 3 climb and two HC climbs before halfway. (HC climbs are the toughest of the tough, just think Hellish Conditions and multiply by 10 and you'll get the idea). The organisers then have the cheek to have a sprint before the Category 4 climb and a final HC climb. The second HC climb (Grand Colombier) is 8.5km long at an average of 9.9% and features a 22% section and the third one is Mont du Chat, 8.7km long at 10.3% with a 15% section in the middle. The close contenders in the GC will surely make some effort to unsettle Team Sky and Froome/Thomas, perhaps not on the climbs but on the hair-raising descents. Unfortunately for them, Chris Froome is a master descender, but he has made mistakes in the past and might do so again. The rewards are there to be taken and we'll find out who really wants to win the Yellow Jersey. For me, the likely lads would be Romain Bardet and Rafel Majka, perhaps Fabio Aru, if not winning the stage, at least gaining King Of The Mountains points. For the rest, it'll be a matter of survival.
Thankfully for all the riders, there is a rest day on Monday, with the Tour getting back to normal on Tuesday with a nice little run from Perigueux to Bergerac.
Cabbage is still good for you