Tour de France: stage 13 Individual TT 37.5Km **Spoilers**

neris

So after the pandemonium in Provence its on to the race of truth, 37.5km from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc. Some of the biggest names in Time Trialing will line up including past & present world champs Tony Martins (etixx) & Vasil Kiryienka aswell other noteables such as Fabian Cancellara. Race leader Chris Froome has excelled in previous tour TTs, could he RUN away with this one?

More often than not, time trials are not the most compelling television. What will be compelling today, however, are the TV pictures of the spectacular Gorges de l’Ardèche. This 37km time trial from the banks of the Rhône, west to the cutaway cliffs of the gorge and the cave paintings in the grotto of the Caverne du Pont-d’Arc will provide a visual feast.

Don’t let the scenery obscure the action entirely in this case – it could be a belter. The parcours starts with a gradual 7km climb up onto the Plateau du Laoul before descending into the gorge via the Col du Serre to Tourre. It’s technical, with a couple of switchbacks which riders who are on the limit will have to be wary of. The race exits the climb at the town of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc and there is 5km of gradual ascent to the finish at the cavern. All told, it’s a testing TT: not as testing as Embrun-Chorges in 2014 but something akin to the helter skelter Besancon TT in 2012, which Bradley Wiggins won by 35 seconds as he started to build a big margin on his rivals.

This is no drag race, so the out-and-out testers like Tony Martin are disadvantaged and we can expect the GC contenders to do well – could this be Tejay van Garderen’s moment to confirm his promise?

More importantly, performances will have to be seen through the prism of what happened the day before on Mont Ventoux. It’s unlikely riders vying for yellow will have spared themselves the day before, where the opportunity to land big blows would have been very obvious. Yet riders who went too deep on the bald mountain may find their Tour hopes cut to ribbons here. Who comes out of this brace of stages with their GC hopes the least damaged will head to the Alps full of confidence.

Bernard Thevenet: A hard time trial, which will suit the rouleurs more than the climbers but a special kind of rouleur. The pure rouleur can hold a very high rhythm for
a long time but this time trial is held on smaller roads, with ups and downs and lots of changes of rhythm. The winner will be somebody who can keep adjusting to those changes. These days, TT time gaps can be bigger than the mountain gaps, so today will be a very important day for the yellow jersey.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-13/

Useless finish town fact nicked from Wikipedia: The Caverne du Pont-d'Arc is a replica of the Chauvet Cave in the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the department of Ardèche and in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. Construction began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015

Lusk_Doyle

One for Valverde here maybe???

Burial.

Luke Durbridge

I'm gonna go for Dumoulin. He's been taking it relatively handy this Tour and I know he has his brilliant stage win already but I'm sure he's going to give it everything in the TT.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Cancellara hasn't done a huge amount in this tour so far so I'm expecting a good performance from him.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if Froome wins.

Weepsie

Those times have been adjusted again for Quintana at least. He's at 54 seconds on the website

Inquitus

Vasil Kiryienka

Dumoulin, Martin would be my picks. I see the bookies have it thus:

Dumoulin 2/1
Froome 3/1
Martin 9/2
Rohan Dennis 12/1
Lil Richie 14/1
Spartacus 18/1
Kiryienka 20/1

WinnyThePoo

I'll take a pint on dumoloin . In form.

velo.2010

I think the stage may be cancelled in light of the tragic events in Nice this evening.

mloc123

velo.2010 wrote: »

I think the stage may be cancelled in light of the tragic events in Nice this evening.

Was thinking the same this morning when I heard the news.

Melodeon

Just heard on RTE that the stage WILL proceed today.

gordongekko

It's only ever stopped for the 2 world wars. Isis would have loved it if it was stopped.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/753862388823252992

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Sam is first off down the ramp around about now.

Taxuser1

Vasil Kiryienka

Think the wind is worse for Froome later than Kiriyenka, Cancellara, Martin and Dennis earlier so I'll side with them ahead of Froome.

Think Martin 6/1 might have more in the tank than others and have backed him with a sneaky point on Cancellara for TOP 3 4/1

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/753864117291782144

mloc123

dastardly00 wrote: »

Cancellara hasn't done a huge amount in this tour so far so I'm expecting a good performance from him.

Too busy acting as shop steward, slowing and stopping the peloton for Sky.

68 lost souls

Dennis 39 seconds to the good through the first split out of the first 39 riders

Thud

Tony Martins

Thibaut Pinot out of the tour with bronchitis

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Trek-Segafredo rider Edward Theuns was involved in a crash has been taken to the hospital.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Movistar rider Nelson Oliveira is currently the leader.

1. Nelson Oliveira (Mov) 51'46"
2. Rohan Dennis (BMC) +0'10"
2. Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) +0'53"

~90 riders left to start.

cunavalos

Live timing including all 3 intermediate time checks available here

http://racecenter.letour.fr/#/timetrial

The wind is going to play a major factor. Lars Bak switched to road bike after 22km due to handling issues and Edward Theuns (Trek) has been taken to hospital after crashing.

The really light guys may struggle a bit more than expected

neris

Greg Le Mond is doing a stage preview from a car following Sam Bennett earlier, bit blowy today and the disc wheels are slowing them down

irishrover99

Tony Martins

I reckon Froome leads by 3 mins after today, maybe from Mollema. The smaller guys are gonna suffer today

Mint Sauce

Just seen Portes crash again from yesterday, this time with sound. Any how, enough of yesterday. ITV4s coverage of todays TT just starting.

Borderfox

Luke Durbridge

Nelson Oliveira looks like a little Indurain!! Fast too

That Astana gear is so bad, looks like they are sitting on two maxi pads :-(

RobertKK

Tony Martin sounding like how a person should feel after two weeks on the TDF, said he was tired and didn't have the power output.

Eamonnator

Tony Martins

Tom Dumoulin's socks are well dodgy.

dahat

GAA Style socks he has on!

RobertKK

It looks like a beautiful part of the world.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Dumoulin is absolutely smashing this course. 54 second lead at the third time check. And he's passed his four minute man LL Sanchez, who is a very good TT'er as well.

Burial.

Luke Durbridge

Dumoulin beats Oliveira by 1:31. That's an insane performance.