Gerardmer La Mauselaine, 12th of July – 2014
It’s not that this year’s Tour de France hasn’t offered drama and GC casualties already but today’s 161 kilometer long 8th stage from Tomblaine to Gérardmer, La Mauselaine offered the first uphill finish and the big question was whether or not, it was steep and long enough to cause time gaps between the GC favorites.
However, a breakaway consisting of Niki Terpstra (OPQS), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM), Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) was allowed a big gap while the GC riders in the peloton were getting ready for the fireworks in the finale where three mountains inside the final 25 kilometers created the perfect scene for ambitious strikers.
With 50 kilometers to go, rain started pouring down on the riders and the wet surface and the fast descents in the finale were a hazardous cocktail in the expectedly festive finale. Closing in on the foot of the first of three climbs, the battle for position increased the pace of the pack and the gap to the escapees was brought down significantly.
On the first kilometer of the initial climb, Chavanel launched his attack from the break and was followed by Kadri and at the same time, Tinkoff-Saxo took control of the pace in the pack and put severe pressure on the field forcing riders out the backdoor – including Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Soon Kadri parked Chavanel on the mountainside to continue alone on his big rim.
Then Rafal Majka took over the pacesetting and clutches of riders were distanced minimizing the group of favorites and the powerful Polish rider tenaciously insisted on giving everything and put the hammer down until halfway up the second climb leaving the reigns to teammate, Michael Rogers who put the hurt on the group and Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang was dropped.
In the front, Kadri soloed his way to a memorable stage win. Behind, Nicolas Roche opened up completely on the final climb before captain, Alberto Contador launched a stinging attack, which only Nibali was able to respond to while Riche Porte desperately hung on 50 meters behind the duo.
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Contador managed to drop Nibali with a few seconds on the final hundred meters and finished second today but mentally won a big victory distancing several GC contenders on a short climb and is now 6th overall.
“In the first week of the race, Matteo, Michael and Daniele have done a very good job on the flat stretches and today, Sergio, Rafal, Nicolas and Michael demonstrated that they are ready for the mountains. Alberto didn’t go 100% but tested his rivals and Nibali who seems like the strongest. We gained a few seconds on Nibali but there’s more to come. We’re looking forward to Alps and Pyreness but don’t underestimate tomorrow’s and Monday’s stages either,” said Philippe Mauduit after today’s mountain finish.
