TDF Stage 20 146.5km Megève-Morzine-Avoriaz

neris

So the penultimate day of the tour and the last day of real proper racing. Froome leads by over 4 minutes. 2nd place Bardet is as close to the podium as any French man has been for the last 30 years but did a stage win take too much out of him? Quintana has a foot on the podium aswell but will he try one more all out attack in hope of glory? Here hoping. The weather at the finish tomorrow is forecasting wet and thundery just to add some spice to the mix.

This year, the mountains end as they start: with a tricky descent. Just as at Lac de Payolle, this final stage into Morzine makes a virtue of a technical descent off the Joux-Plane, which hasn’t been used in the Tour since 2006. Back then it was the set for Floyd Landis’s testosterone-fuelled rampage through the Alps – no one can deny ASO has a black sense of humour.

If the green jersey competition is tight, the more able climbers among the sprinters may try and crest the Aravis ahead of their rivals. By now it’s gamble or die for pursuants in the GC, so there’s value for them in trying to get team-mates up the road to lend a hand on the way up the Joux-Plane. But this deep into the race, who has those kind of resources left? The Joux-Plane’s opening touches almost 10 per cent before levelling off for the next 5km. However, the following 6km lurches up again and provides the perfect setting for a late ambush. The parcours crosses a false flat to the Col du Ranfolly and the technical descent begins. But it will only really be in play if the yellow jersey is cast as the chaser; it’s not that technical that a downhill attack from the yellow jersey would be anything other than valedictory.

Robert Millar: Four cols in 140 kilometres equals fireworks for the GC and complete misery if you are in the gruppetto. Aravis and the Colombière aren’t too bad if things stay sensible but the Ramaz is hard at any speed and it’s where the first serious attacks will come. The final climb of the Joux-Plane was one I never ever mastered. Training or racing it always hurt me and then there’s the dodgy descent into Morzine. Survival will be the word of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZCpldJ6qNg

I hope this is a video of the right side of the climb




Big Tom joins the list of casualties and wounded

Abandons Stage 19:
DNF: DUMOULIN, Tom (Team Giant - Alpecin) - crash, broken radius bone
DNF: NAVARRO, Daniel (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) - crash

irishrover99

Steeper climbs

They really need to blow this to pieces from the start. Nothing else to loose for the top 5. No point in letting sky control it in case Froome is injured. If they don't try anything it will be a big let down. Today showed how good cycling can and hopefully tomorrow will be as good.

Inquitus

irishrover99 wrote: »

They really need to blow this to pieces from the start. Nothing else to loose for the top 5. No point in letting sky control it in case Froome is injured. If they don't try anything it will be a big let down. Today showed how good cycling can and hopefully tomorrow will be as good.

You really need Froome to be super weak to put serious time into him though, you need to be able to drop him with enough of your own Doms still around to drive it on the subsequent descents and valleys, to increase the gap and win the race. That's easy to do against Chaves in the Giro or Dumoulin in the Vuelta when they have no team around them, but Froome will have 6 lads with him able to work on limiting the losses and closing gaps. That's a different ballgame, in order to loose this tour, Froome would have to crack in a massive way tomorrow, far worse than what happened to Chaves or Dumoulin.

Tigerandahalf

Just a quick thanks to everyone who started these threads. Nice read.

Looks like Froome has it wrapped up but today showed how quickly it can all change. Again though Sky's strengths came to the fore having riders up beside Froome when he crashed. It is those occasions that you benefit most from having a good team. If it happened to Dan today he was goosed.

JK.BMC

It ain't over till its over.
Something is going to happen in this stage.
Hopefully.. ....

retalivity

JK.BMC wrote: »

It ain't over till its over.
Something is going to happen in this stage.
Hopefully.. ....

I bet you one of my hard earned euros donated to the only non- corrupt charity in ireland (answers on a postcard) that nothing of gc note happens tmoro, and froome pisses in at least 4 mins clear of 2nd on gc.

I hope i lose my euro...

greedygoblin

The weather could again have a big impact on the race tomorrow. A risk of thunderstorms in the Morzine area in the afternoon.

Here's hoping someone can make a race of it tomorrow. Though I suspect Sky will be too strong and Froomes lead over the rest of the GC contenders is too much to overcome.

pelevin

Shorter stages

Inquitus wrote: »

You really need Froome to be super weak to put serious time into him though, you need to be able to drop him with enough of your own Doms still around to drive it on the subsequent descents and valleys, to increase the gap and win the race. That's easy to do against Chaves in the Giro or Dumoulin in the Vuelta when they have no team around them, but Froome will have 6 lads with him able to work on limiting the losses and closing gaps. That's a different ballgame, in order to loose this tour, Froome would have to crack in a massive way tomorrow, far worse than what happened to Chaves or Dumoulin.

Any early signs of weakness though & I imagine every team with any GC involvement would feel serious common interest in driving things home. However justified the feeling, I doubt there'd be much sympathy for Sky being in trouble & that there's be alot of inner hurt to pay back. Also simply in terms of business is business like Dumoulin on the final real stage of the Vuelta, I think everyone would jump in on pushing any advantage home on flat or climb. That weakness though would obviously have to manifest itself pretty early on for that kind of time gap to come tumbling but it's a chink of light for the rest that wasn't going to appear any other way.

Burial.

Steeper climbs

What's the logic behind a downhill finish? This could have been a mighty stage if it finished on the summit of such an iconic climb like the Joux Plane. The Tour organisers would badly need to take some advice from the Vuelta.

letape

Shorter stages

JK.BMC wrote: »

It ain't over till its over.
Something is going to happen in this stage.
Hopefully.. ....

You don't sound convinced!

dastardly00

Burial. wrote: »

What's the logic behind a downhill finish? This could have been a mighty stage if it finished on the summit of such an iconic climb like the Joux Plane. The Tour organisers would badly need to take some advice from the Vuelta.

Well what was the most exciting part of Friday's stage.... the descent of a climb.

And the descent into Morzine is quite technical.

And it could be raining.

Sounds like it could be exciting to me.

And just to add, the penultimate stage of the 2015 Vuelta was a high mountainous stage that finished with a descent!

godtabh

What time is due to finish at? Minding the kids today but will try and get Col de Joux Plane

MPFGLB

No going to be popular this but I said at the beginning and I still stand by it that I wished Dan Martin did nor ride GC ...I wanted him to go stage hunting

This Tour as it turned out has been a god send for breakaways with the same few riders Majka, De Gendt, Pantano, Zakarin in the break every day and many stages won by brekaways

I am sure Dan wanted to know his GC potentail but as it turns out his TT and robustness on the higher stages shows that he can do a top 10 but not podium in my book...but how much better 2 stage wins ...he could have done that no problem ...may have been in the running for KOM too as better rider than Majka for me

As for his Vuelta I am not sure he can do 2 GTs in a row and not get sick...maybe a stage or 2 ealry on. I just want him to keep it easy after today till Saturday week when there is a good possibility of an Irish medal in the Olympic road race

P.S.to make the Tour more exciting /better ban power metres..No SKY dom will be able to look down and ride within their capability based on a metre when attacked ...even Froome may once in a while go into the red..can still record data withut displaying it

AlreadyHome

No radio communications between riders and cars

Pinning my hopes on Porte to do something special - can't imagine he'll be happy to pootle in at 5th in the GC. Equally, I imagine Dan will be eyeing up Meintjes' 8 second advantage.

If Froome feels like he wants to finish with authority and attacks, you could see serious time being won and lost by the rest of the top 10...though after his fall yesterday perhaps this isn't at the forefront of his mind.

EDIT: +1 for thanks to all stage thread contributors. Enjoyed checking in before, during and after watching.

terrydel

Shorter stages

Love Morzine, my fb profile pic is me next to a sign for the cycle up Montee D'Avoriaz :P
Hope that today is a stage that rescues a bit of respectability for this year's tour.

Itziger

My theory............

Sky show a little frailness, like last year, and remind us that they're human. But of course Froome still wins!!

Someone takes 90 seconds on him. Could be Porte, could be Aru, it doesn't matter. If we forget about first then today could be fantastic. Anyone from the top ten could be podium in Paris.

pelevin

Shorter stages

MPFGLB wrote: »

No going to be popular this but I said at the beginning and I still stand by it that I wished Dan Martin did nor ride GC ...I wanted him to go stage hunting

This Tour as it turned out has been a god send for breakaways with the same few riders Majka, De Gendt, Pantano, Zakarin in the break every day and many stages won by brekaways

I am sure Dan wanted to know his GC potentail but as it turns out his TT and robustness on the higher stages shows that he can do a top 10 but not podium in my book...but how much better 2 stage wins ...he could have done that no problem ...may have been in the running for KOM too as better rider than Majka for me

As for his Vuelta I am not sure he can do 2 GTs in a row and not get sick...maybe a stage or 2 ealry on. I just want him to keep it easy after today till Saturday week when there is a good possibility of an Irish medal in the Olympic road race

P.S.to make the Tour more exciting /better ban power metres..No SKY dom will be able to look down and ride within their capability based on a metre when attacked ...even Froome may once in a while go into the red..can still record data withut displaying it

I certainly can see the strength of that argument of stage hunting which of course yields more glory - as well as very possibly the KOM. Otoh though it could be said to be a less manly approach to the race to do it that way rather than man-to-man against the big guns.

As is I'd say he & EQS are very happy with how he's performed. Obviously if he managed to nab a stage win, & today sounds a possibility, then his Tour would go way up as a success. And I certainly agree about the power metres. Seems such an obvious change to make.

Eamonnator

Steeper climbs

There is so much going on in the top ten, that Froome could have a relatively easy day.
Bardet, in 2nd, is ecstatic with his position and will do his utmost to defend it and doesn't care about Froome.
Quintana is on the podium and his team is in 1st place in Team G.C., but by a very small margin. He's not going to do anything to jeopardise that.
Yates is only concerned about his jersey, he'll only be watching Meinjes.
Porte is 50 seconds off a podium place, he'll be in fighting form, I hope.
Aru might try something.
Valverde, like Quintana, will be on orders to mind the team prize.
Dan Martin is in the top ten my a margin of 42 seconds. He'll need to be careful. If he tries something rash, it could go terribly wrong for him.
And Sky, hopefully will keep Froome safe. They have the numbers.

Burial.

Steeper climbs

The breakaway is absolutely stacked:

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) climbs to the col des Aravais with 22 seconds of an advantage over Sergio Henao (Sky), Ion Izagirre and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Peter Sagan and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff), Ben Gastauer, Cyril Gautier and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Wilco Kelderman and George Bennett (Lotto-Jumbo), Frank Schleck and Jasper Stuyven (Trek), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Pierre Rolland, Tom-Jelte Slagter and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale), Patrick Konrad (Bora), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Sylvain Chavanel and Fabrice Jeandesbosz (Direct Energie), Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Chris Juul-Jensen and Michael Matthews (Orica).

dastardly00

Stop the presses lads.... Frank Schleck is in the break! :eek: :pac:

Waitsian

godtabh wrote:

What time is due to finish at? Minding the kids today but will try and get Col de Joux Plane

Anywhere between 16.45 and 17.15, depending on speed, incidents etc.

dastardly00

They are on the first descent and it's started to rain.

Tigerandahalf

mod9maple wrote: »

Anywhere between 16.45 and 17.15, depending on speed, incidents etc.

Tv coverage finishes at 4.30pm.
You might have GMT +1.

dastardly00

Kreuziger is up to second place on the virtual GC.

Chapeau to Peter Sagan. You would expect him to take it easy today because of the sprint on the Champs-Élysées tomorrow. But no, he's in breakaway and working seriously hard for Kreuziger. As I said, chapeau.

dastardly00

Nibali leading the breakaway...
Tiralongo leading the peloton....

Huh?!

at1withmyself

A break in the break:

SAGAN, Peter (TNK),
KREUZIGER, Roman (TNK),
PANTANO, Jarlinson (IAM),
NIBALI, Vincenzo (AST),
ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (EQS),
IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOV),
FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAM),
GOUGEARD, Alexis (ALM)

dastardly00

Okay that latest ad is the straw that's broken the camel's back...
I'm booking the holiday to Tel Aviv & Jerusalem now

REBELSAFC

Shorter stages

It isn't often you see the green jersey dragging a group of climbers up a mountain!!!!!!

Eamonnator

Steeper climbs

terrydel wrote: »

Love Morzine, my fb profile pic is me next to a sign for the cycle up Montee D'Avoriaz :P
Hope that today is a stage that rescues a bit of respectability for this year's tour.

The area around Morzine/Les Gets is lovely., great spot for mountain biking.

at1withmyself

From Le Tour:

The former Liquigas team...
The three most active riders in that lead group of eight are Peter Sagan, Roman Kreuziger and Vincenzo Nibali. They're all former members of the last top Italian team Liquigas. Nibali and Kreuziger rode their first Tour de France together in 2008, fighting against Andy Schleck for the white jersey. Nibali and Sagan were team-mates for Sagan's first Tour de France in 2012. Nibali finished third overall and Sagan won three stages and the green jersey. They've remained friends.

xxyyzz

Eamonnator wrote: »

terrydel wrote: »

Love Morzine, my fb profile pic is me next to a sign for the cycle up Montee D'Avoriaz :P
Hope that today is a stage that rescues a bit of respectability for this year's tour.

The area around Morzine/Les Gets is lovely., great spot for mountain biking.

Yeah, I spent a week there downhilling a few years back. It's a fabulous place.