The Giant of Provence

Stage 15: Givors - Mont Ventoux

The entrance to the Alps could not have been more spectacular. Bastille Day presented the longest day in the Tour this year, an incredible 242 kilometres with a summit finish on the Mont Ventoux - the hors categorie climb that is as legendary as it is infamous. The Tour contenders once again came to the fore, and in yet another dominant performance, Chris Froome rode clear to take the stage win and stretch the lead over his opponents.

A breakaway led for most of the stage - a flat run to the base of Mont Ventoux - with Peter Sagan along for the ride, and looking for the points at the intermediate sprint. The sprint point came as the race was approaching the base of the Mont Ventoux and Sagan was able to secure himself the 20 points on offer - securing the green jersey win in Paris. With his work done, he was able to coast along with the breakaway and wait to be caught on the early slopes of the Ventoux.

The same, however, was not true for his companions in the breakaway. When the breakaway neared the base of the 20 kilometre giant, Sylvain Chavanel attacked and escaped in an attempt to take a stage win for France on Bastille Day. Bastille Day is typically a day for the French riders, who all seem to be at their most aggressive - constantly on the attack in search of a stage win. It was no surprise to see Chavanel go on the attack. He rode powerfully, but his breakaway attempt was destined to fail, as the peloton was charging up the road to set up the attacks on the final climb. 

The pace set by the peloton was too much for some of the riders, and as the peloton neared the climb some of the riders started to fall off the back of the bunch. It was a peloton led by Sky and Movistar, with each team trying to set their contenders up as well as possible. The main field was cracking even before the peloton had reached the Mont Ventoux, and it simply exploded when the riders reached the steeper parts of the climb. When the climb truly set in the cameras shifted to the back of the peloton, where the lone figure of Andy Schleck was seen slipping off the pace. He cracked early on, the length of the stage and the pace proving too much for the Radioshack rider who has been struggling for form. As he slipped backwards any hope of a high overall finish seemed to disappear.

Not long after Schleck was seen to be faltering, the expected attack of the day happened. Nairo Quintana accelerated off the front of the peloton and quickly caught up to the remaining riders in the breakaway. Their pace wasn't fast enough for Quintana, and he rode clear of them taking Mikel Nieve with him. The two riders led the race and increased the gap to the peloton to 45 seconds. The peloton was being led by riders from Sky who were holding a steady, but powerful tempo (a tempo that proved too much for Cadel Evans, who was dropped just after Quintana's acceleration). They held the gap at 45 seconds for what seemed like an age. The race was seemingly in a state of equilibrium - the leaders were not gaining any more time on the yellow jersey, but nor was the yellow jersey responding. And then Richie Porte came to the fore.

Porte accelerated the peloton's pace and absolutely decimated the main field. Valverde was dropped along with Mollema and Laurens ten Dam. Kreuziger also couldn't hold the pace, and the yellow jersey group was reduced to just three riders - Froome, Porte and Contador. The acceleration from Porte shattered the lead that Quintana had managed to build, reducing it to just 15 seconds. With 7 kilometres to go to the summit and the stage finish, Porte's acceleration was over. The Sky rider had done everything possible to set Foome up, and as soon as he had swung off the front of the yellow jersey group, Froome attacked. Contador was left stranded, and Froome powered up road to join Quintana.

Quintana had dropped Nieve just moments before, and when Froome was joining him at the front of the race, Contador was joining Nieve 15 seconds back. Froome immediately attacked, but Quintana responded and was able to hold his wheel. The riders, who have proven to be two of the Tour's best climbers, started to extend their lead over the rest of the field, and with three kilometres to go they had built a lead of a minute over Contador and Nieve.

With just over a kilometre to go, and with Froome doing all the work at the front of the race, it appeared that Quintana might have the legs to ride to the finish with Froome and take the stage win. But Froome was not to be outdone, he attacked and opened a gap between himself and the Colombian. The acceleration from Froome cracked the young rider, and in the last kilometre he lost 29 seconds to Froome. Froome's final acceleration secured another stage win for him in the Tour and gave him a more commanding lead in the race for the yellow jersey.

None of Froome's competitors could match him today, and it seems that he is building an almost unassailable lead in the overall race. At the end of the stage he had almost doubled the gap between him and second-placed Bauke Mollema. Contador seemingly cracked in the last kilometre and the lead he had built over Mollema, and his own teammate, Kreuziger, had completely diminished. Contador gained only 6 seconds on Mollema on the day, and actually finished on the wheel of Kreuziger. He had lost 1 minute and 40 seconds to Froome, and a little over a minute to Quintana.

The maillot jaune is now just over 4 minutes clear of Mollema and Contador. Froome's performances in the mountains and time trials are rapidly turning the race into a race for second, but the last week of the Tour is unforgiving and large chunks of time can be lost. Froome could yet surrender the yellow jersey to another rider, but performances like today's make that seem less and less likely. Quintana's white jersey seems secure after today's performance. He put over two minutes into Michal Kwiatkowski, and with more mountains to come, that lead is set to grow by the time the race reaches Paris.

Rest Day

I haven't written my blog in the last couple of days. If you were anticipating it, then I apologise. I missed a cracker of a day on Friday, and didn't have time to blog about yesterday's stage. I'm back at university this week, and will be trying to keep the blog posts coming, but bear with me if they're a little later than normal.

Tomorrow is a rest day, which means I get to do another recap and a preview of the stages to come. The last week in the tour is absolutely incredible, and I can't wait for it to begin. A double summit of the Alpe d'Huez and the second last stage finishing on an hors categorie climb. This race may not look like it, but it's still wide open. 4 minutes can easily be gained or lost in this last week, and if the Tour has proven anything, it's proven that nothing is certain until you wear that beautiful jersey into Paris.