Coming to week two after nine stages of fairly flat roads, the riders would be starting stage 10 either with a feeling of excitement or a feeling of dread. The GC riders and the climbers would be looking forward to a chance to make their mark on a race that had, so far, been utterly dominated by the sprinters and all-rounders – stage wins and creating time gaps would be their aim. For those who had taken centre stage last week, the mountains would be hellishly difficult, and simply getting through the day inside the time cut would be a relief. After a hard day and some difficult climbs, Rafał Majka looked ahead to the other mountain stages to make an impact after losing some time on the final climb, while the UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, increased his lead in the points contest after taking all 20 points in the intermediate sprint.
The Stage
Waking up today in the French Alps, the difference between this week’s and last week’s terrain was like night and day. Gone were the flat stages with a few rolling hills – they had been replaced with the kind of alpine scenery the Tour de France is famous for. Today’s stage saw five categorised climbs, and just to make it clear to the peloton that this 158.5km stage was indeed in the mountains, there was the race’s first Hors Catégorie climb, and what a climb it was. At 6km in length, the Montée du Plateau des Glières might be considered short by HC standards, but the average gradient was an eye-watering 11.2%., and from the start to the finish, not a metre was below 9.8%. After such a painful climb, it would be easy to forget that there were two more first category climbs to round off the day – averaging 8.9% and 8.5% respectively. The day’s final climb could act as a springboard for a late attack before the descent into Le Grand-Bornand for the finale.
The Team Tactics
For the first day in the mountains, the team would be gauging everyone’s form for the days to come. Going off too hard too early could ruin the team’s chances later in the race, and so it was important to stay calm and to keep a collective clear head. With the day’s intermediate sprint at 29km and with only a fourth category climb to climb before this, Peter Sagan would aim to take some points here, but after this, it was all for Rafał Majka. While aiming to ride conservatively and following the wheels of the other GC teams, if an opportunity presented itself the team would try and see what happens, but it would be easier to take advantage in the days to come when the other riders are more tired, rather than to try today when riders would be fresh after the rest day.
The Race
From the start of the day, the UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, had his eye on the points available at the intermediate sprint, and so the Slovak rider jumped in a break of 21 riders before taking the full 20 points. The Austrian National Champion, Lukas Pöstlberger, took second spot in order to increase Peter’s buffer at the top of the Maillot Vert standings. With the Col de la Croix Fry shortly after the sprint, much of this sizeable group dropped off, and the number of riders remaining on the front rose and fell just as the road did, settling at fifteen riders with 70km remaining, holding an advantage of seven minutes over the peloton. With two first category climbs ahead, this lead was set to fall as the peloton worked to catch up, but with both the break and the peloton splitting into four groups on the road, the main bunch was still almost six minutes behind as the final 15km came into view. Staying in the bunch with the main GC contenders, Rafał stayed safe as the other teams pushed hard to reduce the time gaps, knowing there were more days to come in the mountains and plenty of opportunities to make an impact. The Polish rider knew he wasn’t at his best after the first rest day, and so rather than go further into the red, rode conservatively to avoid losing too much time.
From the Finish Line
“Today was the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour, so our main goal was to defend Rafał’s GC chances. Together with Lukas, I went into the breakaway to contest the intermediate sprint. I took the sprint and increased my lead by 20 points. We went back to the peloton to work for Rafał and help him. There are another 11 stages and we will fight for our chances every day.” – Peter Sagan, UCI World Champion
“I suffered a lot today. I never really found my rhythm on the last two climbs when Sky raised the pace. I tried everything to follow their wheels but on the last 500m on the Colombière I couldn’t keep up anymore. Sometimes after a rest day, I have some troubles like today. Fortunately, I didn’t lose too much time, so still, everything is possible. There are another two hard stages in the Alps, and afterwards, we‘ll know where we are.” – Rafał Majka
“Well, what can you do? Sometimes, riders have a bad day after a rest day and, unfortunately, that happened to Rafa today. Still, we remain positive as he looked strong the whole first week. On the other hand, everything worked as planned today. Peter and Lukas went in the break to catch some more points in the sprint and Peter extended his lead to 111 points now. I think the team did a good job again and now we already look forward to tomorrow.” – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director
