2014 Tour de France: First rest-day analysis
After 10 straight days of racing across three countries, the cyclists of the Tour de France have their first rest day on Tuesday. It has been chaotic and wonderful, often at the same time. Let’s take a look at some of the main themes of the race so far.
Crashes The 101st edition of the Tour can be described accurately as one “marred by crashes”. Two of the three GC favourites have retired from injuries suffered in wrecks. Mark Cavendish crashed out on the very first stage in the surge to the line, leaving the sprint glories open to his German rivals. There have been plenty of Tours with casualty lists including team leaders, but none in recent memory that have been so effectively decapitated.
No Default For Nibali Some pundits and Twitterati have suggested that Vincenzo Nibali might get an asterisk beside his first Tour win if he keeps his lead until Paris. But one would have to discount his Stage 2 triumph to take his first yellow jersey, his sublime performance on Stage 5’s cobbles and his never putting a foot wrong to win two of the first ten stages. Nibali’s victory will come from his superiority, not from a lack of powerful GC rivals.
Plan B Sky’s Richie Porte is Nibali’s closest rival and will be in the thick of the thrilling Push For the Podium that will play out between 12 riders over the second half of the race. Omega Pharma-QuickStep filled the Cav void with two stage wins and two Tony Martin shows. Michal Kwiatkowski is in the podium fight and in the battle for the white jersey. We should see Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche or Michael Rogers hunt for a stage win as well.
The Polka Dot Race Joaquim Rodriguez had to come up with a Plan B almost immediately. El Purito arrived at the Tour simply looking to get in shape for a run at the Vuelta a España and looked fragile right from Stage 2. But Katusha’s Spaniard has come good in the Tour’s second week and is likely to hold his ground in the King of the Mountains scrap. I anticipate a ding-dong duel between Rodriguez and Thomas Voeckler, with Tony Martin in the mix just because he’s superhuman. However, Nibali might spoil everyone’s party.
The French Last year, Romain Bardet of Ag2r was the highest placed Frenchman at 15th. After ten stages, there are four French riders in the top ten, with Bardet leading the way in fourth, and six in the top twenty. Fifth place Tony Gallopin wore yellow on Bastille Day and Blel Kadri won a stage. Voeckler is in the KOM race while Bardet and sixth place Thibault Pinot are battling for the white jersey. The French Ag2r squad leads the team competition. A Frenchman hasn’t been on the Paris podium since 1997, but things look promising.
Peter Sagan The Slovakian has a huge lead in the green jersey competition, but looks a little sad to pull it on at the end of sprint stages as he’s winless so far. However, his no-hands wheelie at the line of Monday’s steep La Planche des Belles Filles finish shows that he’s not joyless. If he keeps the green jersey it will be his third consecutive points title.
The Canadians Orica-GreenEdge announced its line up only four days before the Grand Départ, and Canadians/hardmen enthusiasts were pleased to see that Svein Tuft would start his second consecutive Tour. Then Christian Meier received a last minute call up after Michael Matthews crashed in training. There hasn’t been much to separate the two of them; in fact, they have been within 10 GC places of each other for several stages. Tuft has occasionally been on the front of the peloton driving the pace in hopes of Simon Gerrans taking a win, while Meier was in Stage 9’s breakaway. Right now Meier leads the Canucks.
1) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) 42:33:38
2) Richie Porte (Australia/Sky) +2:23
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +2:47
4) Romain Bardet (France/Ag2r) +3:01
5) Tony Gallopin (France/Lotto-Belisol) +3:12
6) Thibault Pinot (France/FDJ) +3:47
7) Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) +3:56
8) Jean-Christophe Peraud (France/Ag2r) +3:57
9) Rui Costa (Portugal/Lampre) +3:58
10) Bauke Mollema (The Netherlands/Belkin) +4:08
131) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +1:30:43
140) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +1:33:51
