Morning all, so that’s it, done and dusted, the race over? I’m not so sure. I do love a TT day though, cycling equivalent to test cricket, something purists enjoy whilst others only want to see mountains/Twenty20. Anyway, I digress…

Three riders are in contention for the overall victory: Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran are separated by less than thirty seconds ahead of the 22.5km individual time trial in the streets of Marseille. Suspense is high! Froome is the favourite. But once upon a time, Uran can race amazingly against the clock and Bardet is extremely motivated. The venue is unique: never before a Tour de France stage started and finished in a stadium. This one has a great name for a bike race: Orange Vélodrome. The last time it hosted a Tour de France stage finish was fifty years ago, the day before the tragic death of Tom Simpson. The cycling track has been partly destroyed in 1971, so it’s mainly a football stadium since then but Canadian singer Céline Dion was last to perform there on Tuesday this week. More than 60.000 spectators are expected to fill up the grandstands. The whole course is in the city centre on a scenic route via the Vieux-Port (the old harbor) and Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the chapel that overlooks France’s second metropolis. France’s national anthem is called La Marseillaise. That’s what locals would like to hear in Paris looking at Bardet in the yellow jersey but it’s a pretty big call…

The Route: a very different route to the usual time courses, this 22.5km is an urban course that twists around the city of Marseille like a sight-seeing tour. The first novelty is the start in the Orange Vélodrome, better known as le Stade Vélodrome but re-branded in the name of the French telecoms operator. Despite the name it’s a football stadium and one of France’s largest and over 60,000 free tickets have been made available.

It’s out along the Prado, a big shady boulevard and then along the coast and corniche to the first time check at 12.3km before they ride around the Vieux Port and a U-turn at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations then it’s back around the port and then the main feature of the course, the climb to the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde.

The climb starts with a tight turn and a bend up a ramp and then a turn onto a 300m long steep ramp, then a right turn onto an evener steeper ramp, a left turn onto another ramp and onwards still towards the foot of the basilica and the second time check. It’s just 780m uphill but close to an 11% gradient on average and with some sustained 13-14% parts.

After a climb defined by rectilinear ramps comes the opposite, a snaking descent that will see those hunting every second taking risks while team cars will be screeching around the corners especially on the first part of the descent. The descent is longer than the climb and the further down they go they more the slope evens out, as do the corners. The lower points will see riders in an aero tuck working the biggest gear they’ve got. Then it’s back along the coast and back up the Prado to the stadium on flat roads to finish in front of the waiting crowds in the stade.

Who to back?

Chris Froome has won time trial stages before and the course suits him, he can hold his own on the flat boulevards but it’s the sharp climb to the city’s Bonne Mère that can see him take time on the specialists. Team mate Micha? Kwiatkowski could be close too and Vasil Kiryienka was close in the opening stage too.

What can Rigoberto Urán do? Applying the logic that Froome a strong pick for the stage win and that Urán has beaten Froome before in a time trial then this makes the Colombian a pick too. It’s hard to see him winning but who envisaged he’d be starting today to secure a podium finish and with a short at the yellow jersey? In the famous words of Greg LeMond in 1989 “if he has a bad day and I have a good day then anything’s possible“. Still the evidence points to Froome’s superiority against the clock.

Tony Martin‘s just not the safe pick for a time trial that he used to be. He’s good at hilly courses though and if he’d surely prefer not to have the climb it’s short rather than Alpine so he can limit his losses and turn that giant 58T chainring on the rest of the course.

Primož Rogli? is versatile, able on short to mid-length courses and good on the climbs. As such he might not be the fastest up the hill nor the fastest on the flat but he’ll be close on both sections and this makes him a pick for the stage win, especially as Lotto-Jumbo have worked hard on the time trials and unlike “Drizzledorf” they won’t be slip-sliding all over the road. Win and he can make a name for himself as double Tour de France stage winner rather than junior ski jumper.

Stefan Küng (BMC Racing) is a TT specialist and he was second in Düsseldorf. He’s had the chance to rest relative to others but the hill doesn’t suit him, Google says he was 83kg and even if he’s lighter today that’s a lot of bulk to take uphill. Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) is a time trial specialist who is very good on courses with lots of corners like this. A win would be an upset but it’s within his range. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) did a great ride in Paris-Nice’s Mont Brouilly time trial and can use his power to sprint out of all these corners.

Want to watch it? times below in CEST, 1 hour earlier for those of us in the UK (I think).

16h46 Alberto Contador (ESP/Trek-Segafredo)
16h48 Warren Barguil (FRA/Sunweb)
16h50 Louis Meintjes (AFS/UAE Emirates)
16h52 Simon Yates (GBR/Orica-Scott)
16h54 Dan Martin (IRL/Quick-Step Floors)
16h56 Fabio Aru (ITA/Astana)
16h58 Mikel Landa (ESP/Sky)
17h00 Rigoberto Uran (COL/Cannondale-Drapac)
17h02 Romain Bardet (FRA/AG2R La Mondiale)
17h04 Chris Froome (GBR/Sky)

Customary glance back at yesterday? or course.
France really is rather stunning isn’t it?
[img]http://[/img]

Cracking to see EBH take the win.

Cheers, Lunge. These threads have been great fun.

So what will Rigo do? A time trialling enigma, will he beat Froome or lose out to Bardet? Who knows.

Advantage is certainly with Froome. Is in yellow (though not his favoured Castelli skin suit) so has time in hand and he starts last so will be getting time checks on Rigo and Bardet. Course seems to suit too. And he’s not one to crack under pressure. But all it would take is an ill timed puncture or a tumble on one of the tight corners.

All hail Lunge for these threads!

Martin FTW, Froome to ride a very calculated race to second and the yellow jumper.

Also, rather good read here – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/21/allez-allez-le-tour-de-france-a-photo-essay

I hope it’s settled with legs and not mechanicals/crashes/dodgy motorbikes etc..I think Froome has done enough to deserve the win.

Got to like Rigo…

Probably not one for the Panzerwaggen today with the hill and the twisty course, though Katusha do need a result in this Tour. My money’s predictably on Roglic or Froome. Will Froome continue the theme of this Tour though and just do enough to stay in yellow or will he let it all hang out and go for the stage win?

Boooooooorrrrrrrring TT’s.

Betterer things to do today, enjoy the snooze fest lads.

Barguil FTW.

See y’as t’moz.

A major upset would be quite entertaining.
Primoz Roglic for the win, then Steve Cummings 😉

Actually what will be interesting is seeing what bikes they’re all on. I’d say this is actually a course for a decent crit racer. Tight and technical means handling skills rather than pure aerodynamics and power.

Women’s race at midday might be good too although I’m not especially a fan of trial format racing on this level, I’d rather they’d have stuck with a crit race. Hopefully it’ll work out well though.

Love TTs! I’ve seen 5 or 6 stages live in France and TT in the fields near Bordeaux was my favourite. (year of chaingate). Wine was involved and I got an aero water bottle chucked at me.

interesting is seeing what bikes they’re all on

Really? No question anyone at the sharp end will be on TT bikes.

Marseille Cathedral looks stunning.
Less stunning is this new format but that might be down to Rochelle Gilmore’s annoying commentary. Such a jarring change from the excellent Millar/Boulting discussions and punditry, this is just “she’s SUCH a strong rider, she’s having a fantastic ride…”

Utterly worthless in terms of actually describing tactics or the race.

tactical error by Lizzie D to wait for the group? Could she have closed the 40-odd seconds by going full gas and then sat on VV to try and recover? Quite like the format concept but it hasn’t really worked out to make it exciting – at least not for the win.

To be fair though, AVV did put in one hell of a ride there. Wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t crashed in the Olympics cos that is dominance in the style of Marianne Vos.

Lunge thanks.

@ctk 8)

Looking forward to today, Marseilles is pretty scenic. Cool city too.

Don’t think the Lizzie group ever fully committed. They weren’t making much effort to get aero when pulling on the front, and didn’t give the appearance of doing full gas pulls either.

An ideal course for Michal Kwiatkowski; it’d be nice to see him take the stage after his big efforts over the last few weeks.

Not seen it yet. What happened to Lizzy? Did the group not work well enough together or not big enough to drag back VV?

@mrblobby
Lizzie sat up from the start to wait for the two behind, so basically a group of 3 starting 1:30 down over 20k.
But once they got together they appeared to be taking pulls at their individual TT pace rather than properly hard pulls. End result, the group of 3 actually lost time to AVV.

In Lizzy’s interview beforehand she was asked what tactic will she go with. She said something along the lines of…

Not being a great time triallist so the 43 seconds would be difficult to catch up, where as waiting for a group might work. She added something like… if I TT it I’ll finish second, if I sit up and try and work with a group we might make the catch and I could win. Worst case I’ll still finish second. Alluding to her having a better sprint than any of those around her.

Sounds like she was just being completely realistic.

I currently have Jonathon Vaughters baffling me with science. Bloody vortex whadjamacallit.

Really? No question anyone at the sharp end will be on TT bikes.

Yep, my mistake, the description of the course made me think it was more technical than it actually is.

Sounds like she was just being completely realistic

Realistic but then didn’t even seem to try on the road?

Shame they don’t ditch TT stages.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=STj894Ex2Z8[/video]

Cheers, Lunge. These threads have been great fun.

Agreed – my first port of call each morning to check out what the score is for each day’s stage. Big thanks to Lunge.

I reckon whoever set out that time trial has a similar sense of humour to the guy who does our club ones, considering how hilly it is.

Zen assed dued

Sounds like she was just being completely realistic
Realistic but then didn’t even seem to try on the road?

If the group isn’t working then why would you work? They dropped Meghan Guarneri quite easily on the climb which suggests they were working at a reasonable rate.

Surprised to see Roglic not go quicker (edit… ah missed the mechanical.) Having seen the course and times so far this is definitely one for Froome if he goes for it.

Great photo on the cyclingnews feed…

I’d never ridden a TT, so inspired by today’s stage, I headed to the Velo park in Buenos Aires to ride a 22.5km TT!! 1.1 km circuit with a little hill in the middle of each lap. I managed the 22.5k in 38 min, averaging 34.5kph. As a 13st8 mtb’er im happy with that!

Lovely to see Barguil smile as he left the ramp.

Good Lad.

What a noise for Bardet:) wonderful

Yes, quite the cheer! Boos for Froome?

sounded like it 🙁

Not a surprise, not the first time in this Tour either

Splits at first time check pretty much as expected. Surprisingly steep ramp that.

So far, so predictable.

Awww, poor Bardet 🙁

Argh Bardet losing a lot of time, might lose his podium here. Froome flying, 3s back on Kwiatkowski at the 2nd check. Will he play it safe?

Wow, Bardet totally cooked and dribbling all over himself

dribbling all over himself

At least he’s mastered that part of time trialling 🙂

Oooh Rigo into the barrier! Back on his way. 2nd place looks safe.