Cycling: how time flies. The first week of the 2015 Tour de France is already history. We would like to use today's rest day to look back on the past eight days. From a German point of view there was a lot to celebrate, but also a major setback, the fight for yellow is already in full swing and there were all sorts of highlights.
Battle for yellow – Froome on pole position
In the race for the Maillot Jaune and thus the overall victory, Chris Froome from Team Sky will certainly be the favorite in the difficult Pyrenees stages that are now to come. The tour winner of 2013 makes the currently best and strongest impression of the ranking riders and consequently also drives in the yellow jersey. His helpers are all in excellent form too – Richie Porte, who was so disappointing at the Giro, works a lot and veteran Geraint Thomas is also wearing himself out for his team and captain. But time and time again over the past few days it has been obvious that Froome did not let his helpers pull him to the finish line and relied solely on the strength of the team. Again and again he assumed responsibility, gave instructions and pushed his colleagues forward.
A big disappointment so far is the performance of last year's winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). However, his rather weak performance so far is not too big a surprise, because his season so far has been rather mixed so far and there was more than just a question mark behind his form. But last year he started the tour with similar signs and ultimately triumphed in Paris.
This year, however, it seems as if he won't be able to find his legs in time to make a decisive contribution to the overall standings. Not only the more than two minutes behind the leader Froome should make him and his team think, but especially his problems on the difficult stages to Huy or to the Mur de Bretagne. While he was still able to keep up with the leading group in Huy an der Mur, he had to let his fellow competitors go in the last few kilometers at the end of the eighth stage on the Mur de Bretagne. Not a good omen for Nibali now that the really tough mountain stages are yet to come.
The Velomotion Favorites Watch
1. | Fabio Arau | 85:36:13 |
2. | Joaquim Rodríguez | 00:0:57 |
3. | Rafal Mayka | 00:01:09 |
4. | Nairo Quintana | 00:01:42 |
5. | Stephen Chaves | 00:03:10 |
6. | Tom Dumoulin | 00:03:46 |
7. | Alejandro Valverde | 00:06:47 |
8. | Mikel Nieve | 00:07:06 |
9. | Daniel Moreno | 00:07:12 |
10. | louis meintjes | 0:10:26 |
The other favorites will also have to stretch themselves enormously in the coming days in order to be able to pose a threat to Froome again. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) is just over a minute behind, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) just under two. The latter could perhaps play his strengths in the Pyrenees and get close to Froome. BMC's Tejay van Garderen may be just 12 seconds behind the Brit at the front, but the high mountains have never been the terrain where the American was most comfortable. It is likely that he will retire from the title race in the coming days.
Joy and sorrow for the German drivers
From a German point of view, the first week of the tour actually went quite well. The bottom line is three stage victories - twice by André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), once by Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) - and in the meantime Martin and Greipel have been yellow and green for several days. John Degenkolb also got off to a good start, even if he is still missing the big successes (so far). But the last four days caused some setbacks from a German point of view.
The German roller coaster at this year's Tour de France began with the individual time trial at the start of the tour. Tony Martin started as the freshly crowned German time trial champion and was also internationally considered a favourite. The 30-year-old showed a strong performance, but was beaten by the once again very strong Australian and former hour record holder Rohan Dennis - the disappointment was correspondingly great. The first big success came on the second day: André Greipel sprinted confidently to his first stage win in Zelande in front of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek). The next setback came on day three when Tony Martin lost the yellow jersey to Fabian Cancellara in the very last second on the Mur de Huy. But the day after that, the big moment for the German Etixx professional came: In the final of the difficult stage with many pavés, he flew solo to win the day and took over the yellow jersey.
Martin confidently defended the coveted jersey in the fifth stage - Greipel, who was driving in green, also won his second stage. For a long time now, cycling headlines dealing with the sport itself have been emblazoned on the front pages of the German newspaper forest. But the following days showed how quickly the mood can change: Tony Martin made a driving mistake in the stage final in Le Havre on the sixth day and retired from this year's tour with a broken collarbone. On the following day, Greipel also lost the reason jersey to Sagan, who was getting stronger and stronger. Two sensitive dampers, but they shouldn't hide the German drivers' overall really good performance.
The big moment of shock
The worst and probably most momentous moment of the tour so far was the bad mass fall during the third stage to Huy. On a gently sloping road, William Bonnet (FDJ) lost control of his front wheel and fell at a speed of over 60km/h.
Several dozen other drivers could not avoid and slammed onto the hard asphalt with full force. Bonnet broke a cervical vertebra, but has since had surgery and will survive the injury without long-term consequences. For many other riders, this crash marked the early end of this year's tour. Among them also Fabian Cancellara, Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge).
Victims of the third stage mass fall
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