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Woods still second in the Tour’s mountains competition after another wet day in the Alps

Australian Ben O'Connor moves up to second with stage triumph

Photo by: Sirotti
July 4, 2021
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For the second Tour de France stage in a row, Michael Woods was in the day’s breakaway earning King of the Mountains points on a rainy day in the Alps. Woods was second to Wout Poels in the mountains classification overnight and after Sunday he was second to Nairo Quintana in the polka dot jersey race. Australian Ben O’Connor of AG2R-Citroën won atop the Montée de Tignes and slotted into second place on the GC. “Tornado” Tadej Pogačar kept yellow and put time into a few of his closest rivals.

You can watch the 108th Tour de France at FloBikes.

The Aftermath of Saturday

Pogacar was in the catbird seat after Saturday, and it will only take a disaster to tip him off the throne. However, the King of the Mountains competition was just hitting its stride. Michael Woods trailed Wout Poels by seven points, and there were two of Poels’ teammates just behind the Canadian.

The other competition that became more fully formed on Saturday was the podium battle. You could throw a lasso around Alexey Lutsenko, Rigoberto Uran, Jonas Vingegaard, Richard Carapaz, Wilco Kelderman, Enric Mas and David Gaudu—only 1:14 separated third from ninth.

After losing even more time on Saturday, Primož Roglič decided to climb off his bike and regroup to defend his Vuelta a España title. Mathieu van der Poel withdrew to get ready for the Olympic Games.

Sunday’s Course

Sunday’s route contained five climbs including the race’s first HC-rated ascent and two Cat. 1’s. The summit “finish” on Tignes was almost 21 km long at 5.5 percent. After the peak there was 1.9 km of flat to the line. Again, the riders were pelted with rain.

There was a short but steep climb soon after the gun that elicited abundant moves. Michael Woods scored a single Cat. 2 Côte de Domancy to bring him level with Wout Poels on KOM points. Woods and Poels were part of another enormous breakaway.

On the Cat. 1 Col des Saisies Poels went solo. Nairo Quintana caught Poels before the summit but the man in the polka dot jersey snatched the maximum points. Woods was third and now trailed by four points. Quintana was up to third place in the competition.

Quintana dropped away from Poels on the descent, so the KOM leader joined Woods, Sergio Higuita, Ben O’Connor and Lucas Hamilton as the closest chase. Before the HC Col du Pré, the six riders came together, but Woods and Poels quickly fell away. On the opening slopes, Woods made it back.

With Poels making a leading sextet once more, the gap back to the 28-rider chase increased. Nearly 7:30 behind the Woods group, second-place Wout Van Aert fell away from the peloton.

After Poels and Hamilton went backwards, Quintana attacked 2 km from the peak and crested solo. Woods was third over the top, taking 12 points for a total of 41 to Quintana’s 44.

There was only a short descent and false flat before the start of the Cat. 2 Cormet de Roselend and there Higuita and O’Connor came back to the front but Woods couldn’t return. With 56 km remaining, O’Connor was the virtual leader of the race. At the peak, Quintana reinforced his polka dot lead by peaking first.

Once he took the final KOM point, Woods went back to the chase containing Guillaume Martin, who, like O’Connor was rocketing up the GC. Woods would eventually cross the line over 25 minutes after the day’s winner, dropping three spots on GC.

The Colombians dropped O’Connor the descent of the Roseland but the Australian hooked up again before the Montée de Tignes.

Montée de Tignes

As soon as the climb began Quintana faded. UAE-Emirates started to drive the yellow jersey group so that Pogačar could keep the race lead going into the first rest day. O’Connor wasn’t going to seize the yellow, but he was marching up the GC and contending for the day’s victory. With 17 km to climb, the Australian attacked and dropped Higuita.

Would anyone make a surge in the yellow jersey group? Ineos grabbed the reins with 7 km to climb. Carapaz made a dig that Pogačar met and then counterattacked. With the yellow jersey 20 seconds ahead, the podium aspirants started to make moves.

Pogačar placed sixth, 32 seconds ahead of Carapaz, Uran, Vingegaard and Mas. Uran moved onto the podium at the expense of Lutsenko.

Monday is the first well-deserved rest day after a hectic opening week.

2021 Tour de France Stage 9
1) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) 4:26:43
2) Mattia Cattaneo (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +5:07
3) Sonny Colbrelli (Italy/Bahrain-Victorious) +5:34
45) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +25:27
52) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +25:55
72) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +31:37

2021 Tour de France GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 34:11:10
2) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) +2:01
3) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/EF Education-Nippo) +5:18
36) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +46:26
50) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +57:54
95) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:23:37