Tour de France

The race heads into the Pyrenees but as with past stages this year, a visit to the mountains doesn’t always mean a decisive stage even if it includes some steep slopes. This is still a very hard day that should offer action instead of siesta.

But the final climb, as hard as it might be, is still some way from the finish. Expect big crowds on this tiny road.

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The prince owns everything in the kingdom, except the wind.
Victor Hugo, La légende des siècles

An air of summer holidays as the race heads across the south of France on the 14 July, the French national day. Whilst those in Paris are treated to a North Korean style military parade, the south should see a hard day’s racing. At first glance this looks like a day for the sprinters. But there are two surprises waiting for the riders in the final 40km: the Mont St Clair and a crosswind.

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The longest stage of the race, when the route was unveiled last October I was disappointed with the choice. It starts with some exciting climbs but then leaves the Alps behind for a more gentle finish.

That said, we had a summit finish yesterday and there’s no need to repeat this and today’s route should offer a good battle for the stage win.

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This is a French documentary on the one day race Paris-Roubaix but skip to 1m45s you can see some FDJ riders on a cyclo-cross trainig camp. Team manager Marc Madiot always makes his riders do this so they can improve their handling skills and bond during the off-season and watch whilst manager Martial Gayant is talking and the group approaches. It’s Wiggins who wipes out.

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The first mountain stage of the race, some have dismissed today’s route as the main climb is too far from the finish, meaning there’s time for riders to regroup and recover instead of allowing an attacker to power to the finish. That’s true, but only just as the climb is so big that time taken isn’t easy to pull back.

The Tour’s handbook lists this as one of only three étapes de grande difficulté or “stages of great difficulty” owing to the climbing and the distance.

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In the Dauphiné race back in June Bradley Wiggins beat Cadel Evans in the time trial stage by a margin of 103 seconds. He did the same again yesterday, but on a course that was over 10km shorter; far from peaking too soon, Wiggins’ performance advantage over Cadel Evans seems to have grown, although take care not to extrapolate one day’s racing too far. Still, Wiggins’ background is on the track and taking almost two minutes in a time trial is the equivalent of catching your rival in the pursuit race.

But all is not lost for the others. The race is still not at the halfway point and all the media like to say anything can happen. There’s an element of desperation, a message of “don’t touch that dial” in case the audience begins to switch off. But it is also true, there are random events, the errant spectator who knocks Wiggins off his bike, the hairpin bend on a wet day or the tiny shard of glass that lies waiting somewhere on a French road. But there are also tactical considerations, the events that riders can shape.

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If the race so far has been like a murder-mystery novel with clues as to the rider with killer form, today should reveal their identity, leaving the others to work on their plans to entrap the best rider in the coming days.

A 41.5km time trial, the stage is more technical and hilly than the profile above suggests, although it remains a test for the specialists.

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