Tour de France stage 20 – Megève / Morzine – in the tour, anything can happen

Morning campers, well, after yesterday’s fun and games, what have we got today?

In recent years, the Tour de France has had a grand finale like at L’Alpe d’Huez last year on the eve of the Parisian parade. The novelty of 2016 is a downhill grand finale! Joux-Plane isn’t just another climb. It’s one of the Alpine passes the riders fear the most. Even Lance Armstrong was afraid of that one… It’s the last of four climbs featured in a relatively short stage (146.5km). Everything can happen, say Romain Bardet and Chris Froome, among others. They know the history and the characteristics of both uphill and downhill. Nairo Quintana know it well too. In the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné, the Colombian claimed his first victory at WorldTour level as he descended at perfection after he rode away up to Joux-Plane. Since the Tour de France launch in October last year, he awaits this moment. However he would have enjoyed a better form but he’s still up there, third on GC and likely to move up one spot… or two if anything can happen. Bardet, Quintana, Adam Yates, Richie Porte, Fabio Aru and Alejandro Valverde are within 2.09. It ain’t over til it’s over, the proverb says.

And, as ever, the contenders.

Richie Porte crashed yesterday but this didn’t stop him trying attacks in the finish only these were, appropriately enough, boomerang moves and he lost time. The podium is still possible for him and if that doesn’t work out then the act of trying could bring the stage win.
For Chris Froome the stage win is immaterial, he simply needs to finish within reach of his rival to sew up the race. If he looked sore and slower yesterday how much of this was down to his replacement bike with the wrong chainrings? Still if he’s feeling better then why not have a go on the Joux Plane and collect another win?

Romain Bardet has a mountain to climb. Ok four but a metaphorical one too, the prospect of winning the Tour de France. Slim, but what if he went to bed last night wondering of Chris Froome was injured, weak and prey? Yet sitting second overall is an awkward position, Nairo Quintana, Adam Yates and Richie Porte are all within one minute of him and surely he’s woken up with sore legs. Still he’s climbing well and descending even better.

Team Sky sets the pace, nobody can escape. It’s been a familiar theme ever since the 2012 Critérium du Dauphine, arguably the first time at the team strangled the life out of a race. Only back then one rider did escape the grip and it was Nairo Quintana who skipped away over the Joux Plane that year to win. So far, so prosaic but in reality Quintana’s looking better in the cooler weather. His problem is that he’s not looking that much better than everyone else. Alejandro Valverde is good for the flat finish in Morzine.

Astana did so much work yesterday and what did they get to show for it? Fabio Aru took back eight seconds and moved up one place overall. Still his surging attacks on the road to Le Bettex were something to behold after near invisibility prior to now in this race, in fact in this season. He’s on the up and could finally shake off his rivals. If you like omens then Samoëns, the town at the start of the final climb, is twinned with a place only a short spin away from the Aru family home in in Sardinia.

Did Adam Yates have an off-day? If he’s back to normal then he’s a pick to snip the stage win in a sprint among the main contenders.

Richie Porte crashed yesterday but this didn’t stop him trying attacks in the finish only these were, appropriately enough, boomerang moves and he lost time. The podium is still possible for him and if that doesn’t work out then the act of trying could bring the stage win.

For Chris Froome the stage win is immaterial, he simply needs to finish within reach of his rival to sew up the race. If he looked sore and slower yesterday how much of this was down to his replacement bike with the wrong chainrings? Still if he’s feeling better then why not have a go on the Joux Plane and collect another win?

Romain Bardet has a mountain to climb. Ok four but a metaphorical one too, the prospect of winning the Tour de France. Slim, but what if he went to bed last night wondering of Chris Froome was injured, weak and prey? Yet sitting second overall is an awkward position, Nairo Quintana, Adam Yates and Richie Porte are all within one minute of him and surely he’s woken up with sore legs. Still he’s climbing well and descending even better.

Team Sky sets the pace, nobody can escape. It’s been a familiar theme ever since the 2012 Critérium du Dauphine, arguably the first time at the team strangled the life out of a race. Only back then one rider did escape the grip and it was Nairo Quintana who skipped away over the Joux Plane that year to win. So far, so prosaic but in reality Quintana’s looking better in the cooler weather. His problem is that he’s not looking that much better than everyone else. Alejandro Valverde is good for the flat finish in Morzine.

Astana did so much work yesterday and what did they get to show for it? Fabio Aru took back eight seconds and moved up one place overall. Still his surging attacks on the road to Le Bettex were something to behold after near invisibility prior to now in this race, in fact in this season. He’s on the up and could finally shake off his rivals. If you like omens then Samoëns, the town at the start of the final climb, is twinned with a place only a short spin away from the Aru family home in in Sardinia.

Did Adam Yates have an off-day? If he’s back to normal then he’s a pick to snip the stage win in a sprint among the main contenders.

Among the breakaway picks Rafa? Majka could still try again despite yesterday’s efforts, after all he doesn’t have to collect any more mountain points and what better way to prove he’s the real monarch of the mountains than to win a stage? Ilnur Zakarin didn’t try yesterday, was he saving himself for today? If so he’ll need to go clear early on the Joux Plane as his descending skills are still a big weakness. Jarlinson Pantano by contrast is an excellent descender, his problem is the climb but he can afford to lose 40 seconds on the climb before chasing on the descent and using his sprint to win. Let’s add Stephen Cummings too, out of the action yesterday but too dangerous to ignore.

And finally, a couple of pics from yesterday. Err, or not, can’t get them to work from a smart phone, sorry!

Stray space after jpg was responsible – your text is duplicated but not an issue. Thanks as always. Its going to be quite a day 🙂

Thanks Jamba. Posting pics and long posts from an iPhone is, to be polite, a challenge!

Yes selection does work as well as it used to

It’s a fresh morning here in Morzine. Clouds, patches of blue sky and forecast of heavy showers this afternoon.

Family Stoner are going to be watching the descent here above le grand pre

Dropped pin

https://goo.gl/maps/WLJHEvY4i2s

I’m hoping for a great Yates day, and possibly to see this famed quintana descent. We’ll be heading through town and the finish line in an hour or so, so will have a go at putting some pics up a bit later.

We’re going up the plenney and then stroll along the ridge. Team ready

Yesterday’s crashes make it all a bit less predictable. Who knows who is hurting and how much? Someone’s bound to be feeling the after-effects.

Have a great day Stoner ! Post us a photo later when you are in situ, I was just checking meteo france and its “mixed” all depends on the timing I guess, they could get to the finish before the worst of the forecast.

Morning lunge, well it all went a bit mad yesterday. Am fairly sure Froome has it baring accident. Still believe Quintana has a chance to do something if he can. Would really like to see Yates get back up there on that podium.

Big day this, very big. Is imagine Sky would prefer to defend an up hill as its controllable, downhill is more difficult as proved yesterday. Add some crap weather in and it could get very interesting.

And please keep this thread updated, I’m at the anniversary games in London watching athletics so won’t be watching, this thread will be my saviour!

London 2017 World Athletics Championships tickets go on sale 1-August fyi

That’s a kicker at Morzine right? Will there be whips?

chances are there’ll be a no hander over the finish line, but that your limit 😆

can’t wait for this 🙂

This was the stage I rode a couple of weeks ago in the Etape except we missed out Ramaz as it was still being fixed after landslides. Brutal day but it was well over 30°C all day. I took 5hrs (inc feed station stops) to do it so let’s see how long it takes them. I’m reckoning about 4hrs even though they have one more hill and 25km more than we had!

The descent into Morzine is one that favours a lone attacker as it’s very technical. Remember Virenque and Landis both winning solo here (both while doped to the eyeballs admittedly!)

London 2017 World Athletics Championships tickets go on sale 1-August fyi

Unless you get access to priority tickets, in which case they were on sale in March! Smug face engaged.

boo hiss – I imagine that means all cheaper decent session tickets are gone 😐

Stoner challenge, I dropped the google man onto your pin and there’s no one there yet 😉 !!
Look at pic, what will it look like later?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Kf4XjW]Tour view[/url] by Sand Aire, on Flickr

Enjoy

The TdF boys ride the Samoans – Lac Joux Plane climb faster than I ride the MTB descent 😳

Well getting ready, decided a spare bottle of wine was needed 😉 Heaters on, snow falling outside and scenes of a wet Morzine to follow – very confusing. Now the only thing that can go wrong is the app crapping itself….

Local media was hoping for a all or nothing attack from Porte on the start of the Joux Plan, he said himself in this ESPN column that attacking that decent in the wet would be a risk too big especially with Rio around the corner. So I’m hoping for something big on the up and then off we go to Paris

and we go for a break from the white flag, go on Rolland

That road was lovely to ride. 🙂

I’m just going to be watching this going “yep, remember that!”, “ooh, that bit was nice!”

They do seem to be riding a bit faster than I was though… 😳

Did TJ make it clear?

Break still hasn’t settled, there are riders all over the place. Big break so far, they won’t let that many people go clear.

Weather looks shit further into the stage. Columbiere is shrouded in cloud.

36 riders in the break now, 45″.

Rolland seems to be in it, good to see he’s recovered! Sagan is there, Thomas de Gendt, most of Cannondale Drapac, Sergio Henao for Sky….

Still seems to be settling down, there’s riders being shelled out already on Aravis.

Thomas de Gendt trying to sort the break out and take some climbers over the top

Moist Morzine…. what a surprise

They’re taking it VERY carefully down there!
Weird weather, some parts soaking wet, other bits seem pretty dry.

So is this the first ever Sky man in a break??

Right, this descent will be interesting; it was crashfest central in the Etape in perfect weather – it’s pouring with rain now…

lots of lovely thick, fresh paint on those wet corners

Couldn’t see Froome at first – black gillet

@scardy I thought the corner Froome fell on yesterday looked freshly painted – seems daft to me

Tactically, this is fascinating – Kreuziger, by being in the break has suddenly gone from 12th to 2nd on the road so AG2R, Movistar and Orica will need to start riding hard. Flat section for a bit now they’re off Columbiere and before Ramaz starts.

Sagan is a machine though, look at the split he’s forced!

Surely the other teams have to do something as a result of the kreutziger attack

Pissing it down here. Had a lovely lunch though.
We’re set up at the 5km banner on a hairpin.

Shed in the left of this pic is the one on Google Street View but with new roof.

Surely the other teams have to do something as a result of the kreutziger attack

Even Sky are going to have to do something soon, Kreuziger is well within striking distance of yellow now. One crash or mechanical for CF and there won’t be much of a buffer at all.

@scardy I thought the corner Froome fell on yesterday looked freshly painted – seems daft to me

The surface was new from what the local commentary said hence no choice but put new lines on it. Often said best way to get potholes fixed if get the TdF round

True. 3:40 is a fair bit though.
They should get a fair bit of help once the other teams wake up

I thought the corner Froome fell on yesterday looked freshly painted – seems daft to me

The surface was new from what the local commentary said hence no choice but put new lines on it. Often said best way to get potholes fixed if get the TdF round
Yeh, fresh smooth tarmac’s bad enough, and the normal road markings also a bit of extra “challenge” (on a narrow mountain road I’m not sure a central line really means much anyway does it?) but I was really talking about the fans writing names all over several downhill corners

Absolutely lashing down on the break 🙁

but I was really talking about the fans writing names all over several downhill corners

Absolutely lashing down on the break

Who would have thought it could/would rain in Morzine, in other shock news Bear found in woods taking a dump and Pope still not Jewish….

Break is now dangerous for the GC field so I hope for some acceleration before the wet sections

Stoner, spot on, just need Jamie to add the blue sky;)
Time gap coming down, getting interesting, weather may play a part on descent.