Stretching Legs and Changing Jerseys

Stage 2: Bastia - Ajaccio

The Tour served up another dramatic stage today, on the road between Bastia and Ajaccio. It was always set to be a challenging day in the tour, with undulating terrain and some tough mountains. It certainly wasn't one for the sprinters, and offered an early opportunity for the overall contenders to stretch their legs and test their opponents' strength. As was expected, the yellow jersey changed hands, but its recipient could not have been predicted. Indeed, it was somewhat of a shock to me so see Tour debutant Jan Bakelants claim the coveted maillot jaune.

It was a day that favoured a breakaway, with 3 category 3 climbs and one category 2. The last climb being the short, but very sharp Cote du Salario just 13 kilometres from the finish. It was a stage that would be won by aggressive cycling and would only come down to a bunch sprint if the breakaway failed to work together. Naturally, a breakaway did form, consisting of four riders including the aggressive Blel Kadri and Lars Boom. The leaders built their lead over the flatlands but lost a lot of their time over the peloton whilst climbing the first climb of the day. At the summit they held a tenuous lead of around a minute.

At the base of the following climb, the Col de la Serra, a steep category 3 climb, Kadri and Team Europcar rider, David Veilleux attacked the lead group and rode away. It was a move that ensured that this particular breakaway would fail. Neither of the two leading riders could turn their small gap over the peloton into a stage victory. But the move from Veilleux was shown to be what seemed to be a deliberate team tactic from Team Europcar just a few moments later. Voeckler, Veilleux's teammate, attacked the peloton and began to chase the lead riders. Voeckler's attack caused the peloton to accelerate ever so slightly and Marcel Kittel, the wearer of the maillot jaune, dropped off the back with green jersey contenders Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.

Voeckler's attack faltered just short of the summit of the climb as he was caught by a peloton led by  Francais des Jeux. Veilleux was caught moments later. The attacks from Europcar were thrown into perspective when their team leader, Pierre Rolland, attacked on the slopes of the category 2 Col de Vizzavona. It appears that the tactics of Europcar were to send riders further up the road to support Pierre Rolland on is way to a stage victory and possibly a yellow jersey. As a contender for the top 10 in the general classsification, it was an early show of strength. However, since the riders up the road weren't able to stay clear of the peloton, Rolland didn't have enough support and would have to settle for claiming the polka-dot jersey as he claimed maximum points by passing Kadri on the way to the summit.

Rolland was caught by the peloton on the descent from the summit and the main body of riders began to organise itself for the run in to the finish. Team BMC and Sky came to the front to try to set something up for their riders Phillippe Gilbert and Edvald Boassen-Hagen respectively. A break could still win the stage if it could jump clear of the peloton on the final climb of the day, and such a maneuver favoured riders like Gilbert, Boassen-Hagen and Sylvain Chavanel.

At the base of the final climb, Cyril Gautier and Juan Antonio Flecha attacked the peloton and rode clear. However, their efforts were overshadowed by the attack from Chris Froome just moments later. It was the first real show of power from the Tour contenders and it showed that he is willing to cycle aggressively to win this Tour. The first few mountain stages this year might very well see a battle amongst the favourites.

Froome, Gautier and Flecha were all caught and it seemed that this undulating stage would end in a bunch sprint despite the best effort of a number of breakaways. However, this was not to be as Sylvain Chavanel attacked with 6 kilometres to go and brought five riders with him. Amongst these riders was Jan Bakelants. The Belgian rider from Team Radioshack-Leopard attacked the breakaway under the flamme rouge and held a lead with the peloton bearing down upon him. The peloton began the sprint, but it came a moment too late; Bakelants crossed the finish line merely one second ahead of the sprinting Peter Sagan. It was enough to claim the yellow jersey from Marcel Kittel, who, at the end of the stage, had lost almost 17 minutes to the new maillot jaune.

Tomorrow's Predictions

It's another tough day in the Tour tomorrow with a category 4 climb, two category 3 climbs and the very steep category 2 Col de Marsolino coming just 13 kilometres from the finish. I expect that tomorrow's stage will follow a similar pattern to the stage today. A breakaway will try to get clear of the peloton early and consolidate a lead. I think it'll need more than just four riders if it is to have any hope of succeeding, but the Tour never ceases to surprise me.

After some aggression today, Sylvain Chavanel must be itching to get in the break and ride towards a stage win. It seemed that Philippe Gilbert was being set up for a break by team BMC towards the end of today's stage, so I think he'll be eyeing a breakaway tomorrow. The last climb of the day may very well be the platform he needs to bolt clear of the lead group or peloton. Pierre Rolland will probably want to defend his polka-dot jersey on the climbs tomorrow, so he will either send a teammate up the road or try to jump from the peloton to clean up the points behind the breakaway. I don't think he will be given much room to maneuver by the likes of Schleck, Froome and Contador.

Ryder Hesjedal has been largely forgotten in the middle of the bunch, but if some of the overall contenders decide to attack, we might get to see how well he's prepared for the Tour this year. His teammate, Christian Vandevelde, could provide some much-needed support in the tough mountains.

The wildcard team Sojasun has been showing some intent, with their sights set on a stage win. Their team leader, Brice Feillu, may fancy his chances if he is able to get himself into a breakaway. The attack from Froome today is probably unlikely to be repeated tomorrow. I feel it was more of a test of his opponents' awareness and readiness to respond to his attacks. I think he's more likely to save himself for the high mountains and time trials.

Today's stage showed that the sprinters will struggle with the course tomorrow. Kittel, Cavendish and Greipel will probably lose more time to the yellow jersey and not be involved in the sprint for the finish. However, Sagan proved that he has the legs to take points on these hilly stages and will most probably do the same tomorrow. He said earlier today that he wants to be wearing the yellow jersey when he leaves Corisca, and he could very well do so - he only needs to gain two seconds. Even if he doesn't  claim the yellow jersey, he will probably get his hands on the the green jersey. Needing only 5 points to grab the green jersey, it's hard to picture a scenario in which he won't be awarded at least one jersey when the stage finishes tomorrow. 

Teams Astana, Cofidis and Lampre have been rather quiet in the first two stages of the Tour. I wouldn't be surprised to see riders from these teams trying to get into the breakaway to get some much needed exposure. As always with the Tour, it's very difficult to predict exactly who will find themselves in the breakaways. I can only identify some riders who I think are suited to the stage. In a race that features 198 cyclists, highlighting just 5 or 6 riders means that the chances of me being correct are rather slim. However, these are the riders I think will be looking to make something happen on the stage, they are the riders I think one should look out for.

I've also added some new features to my blog. There's a bit about me and why I chose to write the blog in the 'About' tab. In the 'Tour Speak' tab I've highlighted some of the Tour jargon that I use, often unwittingly, throughout my blog. If you want to know the distinction between the flamme rouge and the lanterne rouge then click the tab beneath the blog title.

Corsican Chaos: A Dramatic Start to the Tour

I've been meaning to write a blog about the Tour de France for the past couple of years, but simply never got around to doing it. I liked to blame the event itself, saying that it is too engrossing and exciting to do anything else but sit in awe and spectate, but it is I - not the race - that is to blame. Call it laziness, or perhaps fear, because the reason I never got around to writing a Tour blog is simply because it seemed like a massive task and I was afraid of writing something  that could turn out completely wrong (as a person who prides himself on not being wrong about things Tour-related, this is the real reason I held myself back. How could I possibly dangle my predictions out there with the possibility of them being wrong?). But predictions are almost futile in this grand tour of France because the event is, by its nature, unpredictable. Crashes happen, mistakes are made, riders rise and fall on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the fear persisted.

Thankfully, timing and a little bit of bravery intervened and here I am, writing this blog that seems to me to be long overdue. I've been utterly captivated by this beautiful race for about 10 years now, since I first saw Lance Armstrong assert his dominance over the peloton and claim his record-equaling 5th Tour victory. I have watched the Tour religiously ever since. Every year, at this time, I get to watch the three week drama unfold, I get to know the characters and their ambitions. I get to watch dreams fulfilled and hopes shattered on a tumultuous journey through France. I love this race and I want to try and capture a little bit of its essence here, if not for anybody else but myself.

And so it begins...

The hundredth running of the Tour de France served up a plateful of drama on stage one. The Tour traveled, for the first time ever, to the island of Corsica for a flat stage between Porto-Vecchio and Bastia. With no prologue to start the Tour off this year, the first wearer of the coveted maillot jaune would likely be a sprinter. It appeared to be the perfect opportunity for Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan or Andre Greipel to claim and wear the yellow jersey for the first time in their careers. My money was on Cavendish to win a bunch sprint for the finish, but the Tour showed me once again why such predictions can be so easily shattered.

A five-man breakaway led the race for most of the stage, but was comfortably reeled in with about 40 kilometres to go. It was around this time that I heard Phil Liggett mention a bus stuck on the finish line. However, that comment went largely unnoticed as Alberto Contador's team - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - surprisingly moved to the front of the peloton, took control, and increased the pace. It was an early show of strength, only time will tell if it was actually a bluff, that showed that they were here to push the riders on the other teams, and indeed on their own team, to their limits. From the reaction of the peloton it was easy to see what they were trying to do. With the wind picking up, and only 40km to go, they wanted to try to split the peloton and perhaps catch out some of Contador's rivals, chief amongst them Chris Froome and Andy Schleck. It was a bit of a hopeful maneuver, but many tour contenders in the past have been caught out by similar moves and recovering from time lost on the first day can often prove to be an insurmountable task.

With the pace increasing, reactions came from Team Sky, Radioshack and BMC to secure their leaders' positions at the front end of the peloton and show that they were up to the challenge leveled by Saxo-Tinkoff. The peloton became a long train of riders until the calm figure of Jens Voigt appeared at the front of the peloton and brought the pace back under control. This stage was always meant to be one for the sprinters, and so their teams would have to take control if they wanted the win.

And so they did, the teams of Cavendish, Greipel, Sagan and Kittel moved to the front and cranked the pace up, wanting to take control of the peloton and catapult their sprinters into the yellow jersey. And then the bus was mentioned again, still stuck at the finish line. The riders were due to arrive at the finish in about 5 minutes and team Orica Greenedge's bus was stuck under the finishing line's banner. It couldn't move and chaos ensued. The peloton was bearing down on a finish line that had no space for them. Tour officials began to discuss what to do and it was decided that the race would finish at the 3km-to-go point. A snapshot of that point made this seem like an impossibility, directly after the 3km banner the road turned sharply to the left - it could not facilitate a bunch sprint. And still the peloton bore down on the finish. Somehow, with the peloton a mere 6km from the finish, the bus was moved out of the way and the finish line was cleared. This information was relayed to the teams and the finish line was altered once again from the 3km-to-go mark to the actual finish line. And then there was a crash.

Right at the front of the peloton a rider went down. Most of the peloton ground to a halt, and as a small bunch pedaled clear of the wreckage it became apparent that none of the favourites for the stage would be winning. Cavendish, Greipel and Sagan had all be taken out in the crash, along with Alberto Contador and Phillipe Gilbert. With less than a kilometre to go Matt Goss crashed around a bend, leaving Marcel Kittel and JJ Flecha as the only two powerhouse sprinters left in the leading group. After a scrappy lead-out, Kittel jumped from the bunch and snuck his front wheel ahead of that of Alexander Kristoff to claim the stage win, and three jerseys - yellow, green and white.

It was a remarkable start to the 2013 Tour de France. Chaos, crashes and drama. A fitting beginning to a race that has given its spectators plenty of the above throughout its history.

What's in store for us tomorrow?

I've come to the part of my blog that scares me most. What do I think will happen in the next installment of the Tour? Well, the Tour organisers have strayed a little bit from tradition this year, and changed the look of the first week. Generally, the first week is a flat ride to the foothills of the big mountains - the green jersey competition is most contested in this phase of the tour and the overall contenders take a back seat and wait to fight it out in the high mountains.

Tomorrow is a little different. It is not a flat stage, sporting 3 category 3 climbs and one category 2 over 156km. It definitely doesn't appear to suit the sprinters. It doesn't really suit the overall contenders either, as it is too early to make any really aggressive moves on the slopes. The main contenders for the yellow jersey will be watching each other closely, and might throw a few cautious attacks to test the legs of their competitors but I doubt they will attempt anything too drastic. The Tour can't be won tomorrow, but it most certainly can be lost

No, tomorrow is a stage that suits the likes of Philippe Gilbert and Thomas Voeckler. I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them trying to get into the breakaway early on (that is if Gilbert is not hurt from his crash today). From the French contingent, Sammy Dumoulin and Jeremy Roy stick out as riders who might like to take a crack at a stage win by jumping into the breakaway. Since it wouldn't really be a breakaway without a rider from Euskaltel-Euskadi, I suspect our polka-dot jersey wearer, Juan Jose Lobato, will find himself in the breakaway, if just to attempt to defend his jersey. Really, tomorrow's stage is one for the riders who are prepared to grab a lead and hold it. The peloton may well chase them down, but it seems unlikely that it will end in a bunch sprint with the main sprinters in contention. However, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Peter Sagan tried to get himself into the breakaway. Out of all the contenders for the green jersey, Sagan is most capable of surviving this stage. If he can get himself into the break, and get the break to the finish then he could very well don the green jersey tomorrow evening.

Who will wear the maillot jaune after tomorrow? Who knows, but it's very likely that it will change hands. Kittel will have a tough time on the climbs tomorrow and may very well relinquish the jersey to a rider from the breakaway. Or if it comes down to a bunch sprint, he may not be there. The climbs in the middle of the stage might cause the creation of the first autobus of this year's Tour, and if it forms, Kittel is likely to be in it.