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2014 Tour de France: Nibali strikes on first summit finish to take back yellow, Contador crashes out

July 14, 2014
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Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) won Monday’s first high mountain summit finish of the 2014 Tour de France to retake the yellow jersey after a day on loan to Tony Gallopin (France/Lotto-Belisol). It was a dramatic stage before the first rest day, as Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) became the second pre-race favourite to crash out after Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) on Stage 5.

There were seven climbs spread out over 161 km from Mulhouse to La Planche Des Belles Filles, four of them Cat. 1’s. Serial escapist Thomas Voeckler (France/Europcar) led a breakaway of seven riders in an escape but Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Cannondale), Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) and Giovanni Visconti (Italy/Movistar) bridged over to make it ten.

Voeckler took the maximum KOM points in the pouring rain, but on the next ascent the breakaway began to crumble. Back in the peloton, yesterday’s winner Tony Martin (Germany/Omega Pharma-QuickStep) instigated a small bridging move that included Polish teammate Michal Kwiatkowski; the junction was made before the Cat. 1 Col du Platzerwasel.

Then the day’s crash drama unfolded. First, third place Thiago Machado (Portugal/Net App) crashed, was reported to have abandoned, but in fact carried on. Then Contador hit something in the road and crashed before the Platzerwasel, badly hurting his knee. The peloton hesitated at first, but realizing the Kwiatkowski was a serious threat up ahead and hearing that Contador was far behind, it pressed on. After five kilometres of trying to catch up with his teammates, Contador accepted an embrace from Australian teammate Michael Rogers and climbed off the bike.

With Contador’s abandonment, the race set into a pattern: Martin turning himself inside out to drive the breakaway, Rodriguez summiting ahead of Voeckler on each mountain and the peloton struggling to make inroads on the gap, with Astana, Lotto-Belisol and Movistar taking turns on the front.

The day ended with two Cat. 1 climbs, the 3.5 km Col des Chevreres, with an average grade of 9.5%, and the summit finish of La Planche Des Belles Filles, 5.9 km of 8.5%. Martin popped audibly on the Chevreres. Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski and Visconti surged ahead of their breakmates, with Rodriguez cresting alone. Astana’s pace in the peloton shook a lot of riders off the back, including Gallopin.

Kwiatkowski, Rodriguez, Visconti re-formed on the descent but once the Belles Filles kicked up, El Purito bolted again. Far behind on GC, the Spaniard’s new target is the KOM jersey in Paris, and he has a 17-point lead on Voeckler.

Nibali attacked the peloton with 2.7 km remaining and quickly pulled out a gap, soon showing Kwiatkowski a clean set of wheels. Nibali caught Rodriguez with 1.2 km to go and at first the Spaniard was able to hold the Italian’s wheel, but the Shark of Messina was too strong. In fact, Rodriguez was too exhausted to prevent several riders passing him before the line.

After ten straight days of racing through three countries, the riders take a rest day on Tuesday.

2014 Tour de France Stage 10
1) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) 4:27:26
2) Thibault Pinot (France/FDJ) +0:15
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +0:20
109) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +28:40
166) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +32:29

2014 Tour de France GC
1) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) 42:33:38
2) Richie Porte (Australia/Sky) +2:23
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +2:47
131) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +1:30:43
140) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +1:33:51

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