Stage 14 - Sportsmanship In the Peleton

Four stories in today’s stage through the foothills of the Pyrénées. 1. Stage win by Luis-Leon Sanchez (Rabobank). 2. Sagan solidifies his choke-hold on the green jersey. 3. Cadel Evans among victims of sabotage! 4. Wiggins leads the peleton in waiting for Evans and others.

The win by Sanchez salvages some glory for the Rabobank team, which has lost 5 of its 9 riders. His teammate Steven Kruijswijk joined Sanchez in the breakaway, helped him over the two big climbs, and launched him on his attack. Don’t ask me how to pronounce his name! I can’t even type it the same each time. So, I’m going to do what reporters do with the impossible name of Duke’s basketball coach. I’m going to call this Rabobank rider "Mr. K." The reason I have to keep referring to him is that he reaped a bonus for his efforts: he moved into 4^th place for the youth riders’ white jersey. (See discussion later in this post.)

Sagan also joined the breakaway, leaving Greipel and Goss in the dust for green jersey points. By taking top points in the intermediate, and 2^nd place in the stage, he increased his magin over the two G’s by more than 30 points.

The big story was the sabotage. The race officials confirmed that someone intentionally spread tacks in the road, causing a flury of punctures for lots of riders, as well as the support motorcycles and cars. Cadel Evans was the highest-ranked GC rider affected, and the repair process turned into a nightmare. The team car could not reach him because of the narrow road and all of the other punctures, the first replacement wheel was not compatible, one of the mechanics slipped into a road-side ditch, then Evans discovered that his front tire was also flat. This fiasco threatened to eliminate any lingering hopes he had for defending his GC crown from last year.

Wiggins and the rest of the peleton were already 15 minutes behind the breakaway riders, and in their pursuit they were about to hang Evans out to dry! That is when Wiggins, exercising the leadership that comes with wearing the yellow jersey, called a halt to the peleton’s racing. Only one rider made a move to keep racing, but he was shamed into rejoining the peleton. In the end, the peleton (including Evans) arrived at the finish over 18 minutes behind Sanchez. Wiggins explained in interviews afterwards that it is part of the culture of the Tour to wait for a rival with even a normal puncture; and, where these punctures were caused by outside forces–sabotage–the decision to wait was all the more appropriate. The riders want to win on merit, not on someone else’s misfortune, and certainly not because of sabotage against a rival.

Another word or two on the white jersey: First, did you notice that Tejay Van Garderen’s initials-TVG–are almost the same as those of the French bullet trains? (TGV for Très Grande Vitesse–very great speed!) Well, I thought it was interesting. OK, back to the analysis: After stages 8 and 9, I predicted that only Rein Taaramae and Tony Gallopin would challenge Tejay for this prize. By stage 11, only Thibaut Pinot seemed in a position to challenge. After today’s stage, Pinot is still in 2^nd place, less than 2 minutes behind. Sagan has moved up to 3^rd place, followed by Mr. K and then Taaramae. (Gallopin has abandoned.)  These last three are all more than 40 minutes behind. But I wondered how each of the 4 challengers might be expected to fare in the time trial stage toward the end of this upcoming final week of the Tour. Tejay outclassed all 4 of his challengers at the time trial in Besançon (stage 9). If that stage is a guide to stage 19, TVG’s lead over Pinot is effectively 6 minutes, not just 2 minutes. And his lead over the other three is effectively 45 minutes or more. His hold on the white jersey is not yet guaranteed, but it is certainly very strong at this point. He cannot afford to let Pinot get into a breakaway with an 18-minute margin of victory like Sagan enjoyed today. But Sky (protecting Wiggins) will be just as defensive as BMC (protecting Tejay) about any such adventure by Pinot. The opportunities for Pinot to attack are quickly running out.

Foothills of the Pyrénées, as seen from Quéribus, one of many ancient Cathar fortresses which crown these hills.  (The Cathars were a religious group persecuted to extinction in this part of France hundreds of years ago.)  These are the hills through which today's stage 14 raced, with two category 1 climbs.  Just a warm-up for the real mountains in the far background. 

Gypsy van parked at the trail-head to the ruins of Quéribus.  Suzanne convinced me that we had seen enough of Quéribus, so we turned around and drove back down the mountain.