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Wednesday 23 July 2014

2014 Tour de France Stage 17 Report

Saint Gaudens - Saint-Lary Pla d'Adet 124.5km

Like stage 16 there were two non-starters, Simon Gerrans and Reto Hollenstein. There was 8 men in the breakaway including Jens Voigt and Cyril Gautier. Simon Spilak abandoned from the Tour. Blel Kadri took €1500 at the intermediate sprint beating Martin Elmiger and Sergio Paulinho. The race then briefly entered Spain. On the Col du Portillon, TJ Slagter was dropped by the breakaway and several riders including Joaquim Rodriguez, Bauke Mollema and Rafal Majka bridged the gap to the breakaway. Mollema was only 11 minutes back and tried to get himself back in contention Six men broke clear of the breakaway, they were: Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Nico Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff), David Lopez (Sky), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) and Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida). Rodriguez took 10 points at the Portillion in Spain, and became the virtual King of the Mountains leader. Meanwhile in the peloton, Luke Durbridge was taken out by a Movistar Soigner.

On the descent the breakaway caught the 6 riders up front to make a group of 22. Kiryienka attacked from the breakaway on the descent, he had a lead of one minute over the break after leading for 10 minutes. Roche and Herrada attacked on the Peyresourde to go 30 secs clear of the Mollema group. Kiryienka took 10 points on the Col de Peyresourde from Roche with 8 and Herrada with 6; Rodriguez beat Majka in the sprint for fourth and as many points. The AG2R/FDJ.fr led peloton lowered the gap between the peloton and the Mollema group to three minutes and the gap to Kiryienka was a minute more. Kiryienka was caught 500m from the summit of the Col de Val Louron-Azet and Joaquim Rodriguez beat Majka by a hair to take 10 points and extend his lead in KOM competition to 11 points. Jurgen Van den Broeck was dropped on the climb but caught back 20 seconds on the descent to rejoin the breakaway.

Romain Bardet attacked the peloton on the descent as he knew that Pinot was vulnerable on the descent. He exploited it and took a 30 seconds lead. In the basement, each of the escapees were constantly attacking each other before they got to the climb. Four riders broke clear of the Mollema Group, they were Nico Roche, Pierre Rolland, Giovanni Visconti and Amaél Moinard. The two French riders were dropped with 9km to go. Visconti unhitched Roche with 7.5km to go. The other three escapees were caught by Majka but not Rodriguez and the two Tinkoff riders decided to chase Visconti. Majka attacked from the chasing group. Meanwhile, Valverde was dropped by the yellow jersey group. Bardet was caught with 5km to go  and swiftly afterwards JC Peraud attacked and was joined by Nibali. Majka joined Visconti with 4km to go, two make two leaders at the head of the race.  Nibali attacked with 3km to go but Peraud joined him. At the front, with 2000m left Majka attacked in an attempt to keep his polka-dot jersey. Rafal Majka held on to win his second stage of this years' tour but he keeps his polka-dot jersey.

Stage 17 Result:

1.POLMAJKA Rafal34TINKOFF-SAXO03h 35' 23'' 
2.ITAVISCONTI Giovanni19MOVISTAR TEAM03h 35' 52''+ 00' 29''
3.ITANIBALI Vincenzo41ASTANA PRO TEAM03h 36' 09''+ 00' 46''
4.FRAPÉRAUD Jean-Christophe81AG2R LA MONDIALE03h 36' 09''+ 00' 46''
5.ITADE MARCHI Alessandro53CANNONDALE03h 36' 12''+ 00' 49''
6.FRAROLLAND Pierre151TEAM EUROPCAR03h 36' 15''+ 00' 52''
7.LUXSCHLECK Frank161TREK FACTORY RACING03h 36' 35''+ 01' 12''
8.NEDMOLLEMA Bauke61BELKIN PRO CYCLING03h 36' 35''+ 01' 12''
9.IRLROCHE Nicolas37TINKOFF-SAXO03h 36' 48''+ 01' 25''
10.ESPVALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro11MOVISTAR TEAM03h 36' 58''+ 01' 35''
11.FRAPINOT Thibaut127FDJ.FR03h 37' 03''+ 01' 40''
12.FRABARDET Romain82AG2R LA MONDIALE03h 37' 03''+ 01' 40''
13.USAVAN GARDEREN Tejay141BMC RACING TEAM03h 37' 03''+ 01' 40''
14.NEDTEN DAM Laurens67BELKIN PRO CYCLING03h 37' 13''+ 01' 50''
15.ESPIZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Jon16MOVISTAR TEAM03h 37' 13''+ 01' 50''


Tuesday 22 July 2014

2014 Tour de France Stage 16 Report

Carcassonne - Bagneres-de-Luchon 237.5km

There were two abandonments on the rest day, Simon Yates of Orica-GreenEDGE and the world champion Rui Costa of Lampre-Merida. There was a breakaway of 21 riders that included Michal Kwiatkowski, Tony Gallopin, Thomas Voeckler and Bernie Eisel. Rafal Majka took the first categorised climb (Cat 4), which put him in the virtual polka-dot jersey and Montaguti took the second category 4 climb. Kluge beat Van Avermaet at the intermediate sprint, in which all the points were taken by the break. It was on the infamous 2nd Category, Col de Portet-d'Aspet, 19 years ago, where Fabio Casartelli died on the race after a horrific crash on the descent. The race paid its respects as Christian Prudhomme, Bernard Hinault and Bernard Thévenet all laid flowers at his memorial. Thomas Voeckler took 5 points at the top of the climb, Michael Rodgers took 3 points and Bakelants with TJ Slagter taking the minor points. At the summit their lead over the peloton was 10 minutes and 10 seconds. On the 3rd Category Col des Ares, Thomas Voeckler pipped Jose Serpa to take 2 points at the summit. Roger Kluge, Bernie Eisel, Samuel Dumoulin, Jeremy Roy and Florian Vachon were all dropped on the lower slopes of the Supr-category Port de Balés. Richie Porte was dropped by the peloton on the climb. Tommy Voeckler attacked from the front group but was joined by Jose Serpa. Cyril Gautier attacked from the group of 4 at the front. Jurgen van den Broeck, Fulsang and Rolland and Rodriguez were the next ones to be dropped by the peloton. Frank Schleck and Tejay Van Garderen were dropped to lower the number of riders in the yellow jersey group to just 13. Meanwhile, a tired, exhausted and pain soaked, Cyril Gautier was dropped by the front group but kept them in his sight. The home favourite Thibaut Pinot attacked with Valverde and Nibali. However, Romain Bardet was dropped and his 16 second lead over Pinot was in jeopardy. Serpa beat Voeckler and Rodgers to take  25 points at the summit, Kiryienka and Gautier went over in fourth and fifth. Thibaut Pinot distanced himself from Nibali, Valverde and Péraud. Gautier attacked on the descent but was caught and passed  by Mick Rodgers with a mere 4km to go. Kiryienka attacked with 1500m to go as he was 10 seconds behind Rodgers. Mick Rodgers held on to win the stage from Voeckler and Kiryenkia, 9 seconds back. In the GC, Romain Bardet and Tejay Van Garderen were both unhitched by the yellow jersey group. Pinot moved up to third, past Bardet.

Stage 16 Result:

1.AUSROGERS Michael38TINKOFF-SAXO06h 07' 10'' 
2.FRAVOECKLER Thomas159TEAM EUROPCAR06h 07' 19''+ 00' 09''
3.BLRKIRYIENKA Vasili3TEAM SKY06h 07' 19''+ 00' 09''
4.COLSERPA José118LAMPRE - MERIDA06h 07' 19''+ 00' 09''
5.FRAGAUTIER Cyril154TEAM EUROPCAR06h 07' 19''+ 00' 09''
6.BELVAN AVERMAET Greg148BMC RACING TEAM06h 07' 23''+ 00' 13''
7.POLKWIATKOWSKI Michal74OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP06h 07' 46''+ 00' 36''
8.ITAMONTAGUTI Matteo88AG2R LA MONDIALE06h 08' 00''+ 00' 50''
9.NEDSLAGTER Tom Jelte98GARMIN - SHARP06h 09' 21''+ 02' 11''
10.FRAGALLOPIN Tony134LOTTO-BELISOL06h 09' 21''+ 02' 11''
Selected Other Groups:
16.FRAROY Jérémy128FDJ.FR06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
17.FRAPINOT Thibaut127FDJ.FR06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
18.ESPVALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro11MOVISTAR TEAM06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
19.FRAPÉRAUD Jean-Christophe81AG2R LA MONDIALE06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
20.ITANIBALI Vincenzo41ASTANA PRO TEAM06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
21.CZEKONIG Leopold201TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA06h 15' 42''+ 08' 32''
30.FRABARDET Romain82AG2R LA MONDIALE06h 17' 32''+ 10' 22''
31.FRAROLLAND Pierre151TEAM EUROPCAR06h 18' 03''+ 10' 53''
32.BELVAN DEN BROECK Jurgen131LOTTO-BELISOL06h 18' 42''+ 11' 32''
33.NEDMOLLEMA Bauke61BELKIN PRO CYCLING06h 18' 42''+ 11' 32''
34.LUXSCHLECK Frank161TREK FACTORY RACING06h 18' 42''+ 11' 32''
35.FRAMOINARD Amaël144BMC RACING TEAM06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
36.SVKVELITS Peter149BMC RACING TEAM06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
37.USAVAN GARDEREN Tejay141BMC RACING TEAM06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
38.USAHORNER Christopher114LAMPRE - MERIDA06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
39.GBRTHOMAS Geraint8TEAM SKY06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
40.ESPMATE MARDONES Luis Angel175COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''
41.FRARIBLON Christophe89AG2R LA MONDIALE06h 19' 18''+ 12' 08''