Tour de France: grand finale over 110 kilometers. Thibaut Pinot wows the French with a big win at Alpe d'Huez and Nairo Quintana takes a good 80 seconds off Chris Froome. The diminutive Colombian shows great morale and attacks countless times, clearly putting Britain's Froome in trouble and making for one of the tightest overall Tournament decisions of all time.
It was too short for a royal stage and yet it was the stage of this year's tour that boasted the greatest renown for the day's winner. So the obligatory escape group formed again very early on, which was able to build up a decent lead, but it was clear that the peloton and most of the teams had other plans: waiting for the one chance to improve in the overall classification or like Sky - demonstratively control the field right at the beginning of the first climb. It was clear to everyone that an attack from Movistar was coming and it certainly wouldn't come with two kilometers to go. Valuable as that stage win is, 158 seconds down on the yellow jersey, there was no stone unturned.
And at Movistar, nothing was left unturned. The long ascent to the Croix de Fer seemed a bit disorganized and lacking in concept for all teams almost up to the summit. But the last few kilometers should be tough: A climb for the cycling textbook. Around four kilometers from the summit, Valverde attacked, and Sky did not respond to his attack. After he was able to pull away by almost 30 seconds, the second wave of Movistar attacks followed through Nairo Quintana, who ordered the field from Valverde. The two got together quickly, but couldn't break away any further. Chris Froome and his last teammate, Richie Porte, gave their all to keep the duo in sight. Bad for Quintana that oldie Valverde couldn't keep up his pace and he even had to pull out just before the summit to wait for him. Quintana knew he wouldn't stand a chance alone on the downhill. At the same time, Froome's new intimate enemy Vincenzo Nibali attacked in the chasing group, with which he managed to isolate the man in yellow, who pursued him and obviously didn't want to give Nibali a meter of space.
What briefly looked like a possible dramatic turn of events was neutralized again after a few kilometers on the descent. In one of the numerous counter climbs, the pace dropped so much that this group of the first four in the overall rankings became a huge top group again. Above all, Chris Froome benefited from this braking action. Within a few minutes he had four of his strong helpers with him again.
As a counter-movement, a small group formed with riders like Pierre Roland, Ryder Hesjedal and Thibaut Pinot, who didn't play along and went after the old leading group. Except for Geniez von FDJ, they also caught up with them up to the foot of the alp in Bourg d'Oissans. This resulted in two parallel scenes. The one for the stage win and the one for the overall ranking.
Quintana tried again and again, simply wanting to know. But the two helpers who steadfastly stayed by Froome's side tirelessly neutralized the Colombian. To make matters worse, quite early on in the climb, Astana captain Nibali suffered a rear wheel failure which knocked him off the main stage and left him behind the group of top guys. As a result, the Sicilian had to complete large parts of the climb alone.
Ten kilometers before the summit then duplication of events? Valverde attacks again. Quintana jumps after a few minutes later but can't get rid of the Sky helpers. But Froome seems to have difficulties. At the same time, teammates Pinot and Geniez meet at the front. 1:40 min is their lead over the GC drivers. Quintana catches up with teammate Anacona, who falls back from the top flight; Demolish opportunity for Valverde - job done - Anaconda takes over. Around 30 seconds have now come to Froome, who still has two helpers with him, but is clearly suffering.
The fight for the stage win rages at the very front. Hesjedal, who is weakening in between, demands Pinot, but has to let him go.
There are still 4,5 km to go when Quintana leaves his last helper behind. If not yellow, the stage win seems within reach for the little Colombian.
Froome loses every second; amazing to see how the Brit shows the human traits that the countless critics had so loudly missed for two weeks. He loses almost a minute and a half to the finish on Quintana – the lead for the yellow jersey is just over a minute. Rarely was the gap in Paris so small at the end. With all the superiority that many critics have seen on Sky and Froome for weeks, a lead that seems a bit strange. In the end, wasn't Froome that incredibly strong, but did his opponents gamble and/or prepare incorrectly? A question that we will explore in a more detailed tour analysis.
Not to be forgotten was the bravura Thibaut Pinot, who held off Quintana and clinched an extremely important and prestigious victory for the French.
Classification of the 20th stage
- Thibaut Pinot (Fra, FDJ.fr) 3:17:21
- Nairo Quintana (Col, Movistar Team) +0:18
- Ryder Hesjedal (Can, Cannondale) +0:41
- Alejandro Valverde (Esp, Movistar Team) +1:38
- Christopher Froome (GBr, Team Sky)
- Pierre Rolland (Ms., Team Europcar) +1:41
- Richie Porte (Aus, Team Sky) +2:11
- Winner Anacona (Col, Movistar Team) +2:32
- Wouter Poels (Ned, Team Sky) +2:50
- Ruben Plaza Molina (Esp, Lampre)
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