Cap Fréhel is a small peninsula, a cape, on the coast of Brittany with only 1,600 inhabitants and the actual finish location is the village of Pléhérel. The arrival of the race today will probably be the biggest thing to happen in the village’s history. It’s a unique setting with tall cliffs above the sea, heathland and salty air.
It’s Philippe Gilbert’s birthday today. He won the opening stage of the Tour on the day of his wife’s birthday and everything points to a repeat today. Almost.
The first climb La Côte de Laz is 1.6km at 5.9%, big ring territory and only one point on offer as it’s a fourth category climb.
“We’d fixed the goal of finishing between twelfth and fourteenth place and we’re right on cue because we finished thirteenth! The result on the day was rather satisfying”
That’s Ag2r-La Mondiale’s team manager Vincent Lavenu speaking after yesterday’s team time trial. Homer, not the ancient Greek but the Simpson, said the secret to happiness was low expectations so their must be smiles all round with Ag2r yesterday. Aiming for 12th-14th spot, the team hit the mark for sure. In fairness, the team does not have many rouleurs and the goal was realistic rather than romantic.
There’s a mini-fuss at the moment over some of the UCI rules. Specifically rule 1.3.014 requires the saddle to be level:
1.3.014 The saddle support shall be horizontal. The length of the saddle shall be 24 cm minimum and 30 cm maximum.
Only during the season some riders have been using a tilt on their saddle. Some prefer this position naturally but there are biomechanical gains possible for a time trial where the rider tips the nose of the saddle down. When turning a big gear they can push against the saddle as they push down on the pedals. If it helps, think of it like doing a leg press when you’re seated, if you want to push big weights whilst seated then it helps to do it with your back against something. In years past some riders have gone to extreme examples which have since been banned.
The race leaves the Vendée region to head into Brittany, passing through the heartlands of French cycling. There are more amateur races organised in this area than anywhere else in France. The course is flat if there’s a single categorised climb on the day, it is not a hill but a bridge (Cat 4, 1.1km at 4.9%). This is a day for the sprinters.
My second piece for cyclingnews.com is now online. I wanted to take a look at what happens when the riders cross the line because if the race is over for the day, the work is not done. In particular, riders can face a long drive to get to their hotel and the stop for the night varies, it might be luxury but more often than not it’s a chain hotel.
The profile says it all: 23km and it’s flat. The course is not as technical as the last time the Tour included a team time trial when several teams were blown to pieces by hills and corners. Bbox lost several riders in one go but that can’t happen this time since the team, now known as Europcar, has its HQ and service course in Les Essarts.
In the event that a rider or riders suffer a fall, puncture or mechanical incident in the last 3 kilometres and such an incident is duly recognised, the rider or riders involved are credited with the same finishing time of the rider or riders they were with at the time of the incident.
They are attributed this ranking only upon crossing the finish line. If after a fall, it is impossible for a rider to cross the finish line, he is given the ranking of last in the stage and credited with the time of the rider or riders he was with at the time of the incident. For exceptional cases, the decision taken by the stewards committee is final.
This measure does not apply to:
• finishes of the 2nd stage, which is a team time trial and of the 20th stage which is an individual time trial;
• summit finishes of the 4th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 18th and 19th stages.
That’s Article 20 copied and pasted from the 2011 Tour de France rulebook. It means that following today’s Tour de France stage, both Alberto Contador and Samuel Sanchez lose time to the other race favourites.
Each morning during the Tour de France I will preview the day’s stage. It’s hard to predict a winner but there are some certainties about the course and conditions that can help give us some insight into what might happen.
So here goes, here’s The Spin on Stage 1.
The race might start on the slippery submarine Passage du Gois road and then take an exposed coast route for a while but it’s the closing moments of the stage should be the key. The seaside part of the race should see ideal weather, the forecast says no crosswinds meaning reduced danger that the race splits up early on.
Green jersey
The intermediate sprint in Avrillé after 87km is literally straightforward, on a long wide road with a very mild uphill gradient, it’s for the proper sprinters if their teams can contain the breakaways.
The start sheet with rider numbers is now available. A quick glance reveals 30 different nationalities: