Tour de France: stage 13 Individual TT 37.5Km **Spoilers**

neris

So after the pandemonium in Provence its on to the race of truth, 37.5km from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc. Some of the biggest names in Time Trialing will line up including past & present world champs Tony Martins (etixx) & Vasil Kiryienka aswell other noteables such as Fabian Cancellara. Race leader Chris Froome has excelled in previous tour TTs, could he RUN away with this one?

More often than not, time trials are not the most compelling television. What will be compelling today, however, are the TV pictures of the spectacular Gorges de l’Ardèche. This 37km time trial from the banks of the Rhône, west to the cutaway cliffs of the gorge and the cave paintings in the grotto of the Caverne du Pont-d’Arc will provide a visual feast.

Don’t let the scenery obscure the action entirely in this case – it could be a belter. The parcours starts with a gradual 7km climb up onto the Plateau du Laoul before descending into the gorge via the Col du Serre to Tourre. It’s technical, with a couple of switchbacks which riders who are on the limit will have to be wary of. The race exits the climb at the town of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc and there is 5km of gradual ascent to the finish at the cavern. All told, it’s a testing TT: not as testing as Embrun-Chorges in 2014 but something akin to the helter skelter Besancon TT in 2012, which Bradley Wiggins won by 35 seconds as he started to build a big margin on his rivals.

This is no drag race, so the out-and-out testers like Tony Martin are disadvantaged and we can expect the GC contenders to do well – could this be Tejay van Garderen’s moment to confirm his promise?

More importantly, performances will have to be seen through the prism of what happened the day before on Mont Ventoux. It’s unlikely riders vying for yellow will have spared themselves the day before, where the opportunity to land big blows would have been very obvious. Yet riders who went too deep on the bald mountain may find their Tour hopes cut to ribbons here. Who comes out of this brace of stages with their GC hopes the least damaged will head to the Alps full of confidence.

Bernard Thevenet: A hard time trial, which will suit the rouleurs more than the climbers but a special kind of rouleur. The pure rouleur can hold a very high rhythm for
a long time but this time trial is held on smaller roads, with ups and downs and lots of changes of rhythm. The winner will be somebody who can keep adjusting to those changes. These days, TT time gaps can be bigger than the mountain gaps, so today will be a very important day for the yellow jersey.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-13/

Useless finish town fact nicked from Wikipedia: The Caverne du Pont-d'Arc is a replica of the Chauvet Cave in the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the department of Ardèche and in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. Construction began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015

Lusk_Doyle

One for Valverde here maybe???

Burial.

Luke Durbridge

I'm gonna go for Dumoulin. He's been taking it relatively handy this Tour and I know he has his brilliant stage win already but I'm sure he's going to give it everything in the TT.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Cancellara hasn't done a huge amount in this tour so far so I'm expecting a good performance from him.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if Froome wins.

Inquitus

Vasil Kiryienka

Dumoulin, Martin would be my picks. I see the bookies have it thus:

Dumoulin 2/1
Froome 3/1
Martin 9/2
Rohan Dennis 12/1
Lil Richie 14/1
Spartacus 18/1
Kiryienka 20/1

WinnyThePoo

I'll take a pint on dumoloin . In form.

velo.2010

I think the stage may be cancelled in light of the tragic events in Nice this evening.

mloc123

velo.2010 wrote: »

I think the stage may be cancelled in light of the tragic events in Nice this evening.

Was thinking the same this morning when I heard the news.

Melodeon

Just heard on RTE that the stage WILL proceed today.

gordongekko

It's only ever stopped for the 2 world wars. Isis would have loved it if it was stopped.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/753862388823252992

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Sam is first off down the ramp around about now.

Taxuser1

Vasil Kiryienka

Think the wind is worse for Froome later than Kiriyenka, Cancellara, Martin and Dennis earlier so I'll side with them ahead of Froome.

Think Martin 6/1 might have more in the tank than others and have backed him with a sneaky point on Cancellara for TOP 3 4/1

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/753864117291782144

mloc123

dastardly00 wrote: »

Cancellara hasn't done a huge amount in this tour so far so I'm expecting a good performance from him.

Too busy acting as shop steward, slowing and stopping the peloton for Sky.

68 lost souls

Dennis 39 seconds to the good through the first split out of the first 39 riders

Thud

Tony Martins

Thibaut Pinot out of the tour with bronchitis

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Trek-Segafredo rider Edward Theuns was involved in a crash has been taken to the hospital.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Movistar rider Nelson Oliveira is currently the leader.

1. Nelson Oliveira (Mov) 51'46"
2. Rohan Dennis (BMC) +0'10"
2. Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) +0'53"

~90 riders left to start.

cunavalos

Live timing including all 3 intermediate time checks available here

http://racecenter.letour.fr/#/timetrial

The wind is going to play a major factor. Lars Bak switched to road bike after 22km due to handling issues and Edward Theuns (Trek) has been taken to hospital after crashing.

The really light guys may struggle a bit more than expected

neris

Greg Le Mond is doing a stage preview from a car following Sam Bennett earlier, bit blowy today and the disc wheels are slowing them down

irishrover99

Tony Martins

I reckon Froome leads by 3 mins after today, maybe from Mollema. The smaller guys are gonna suffer today

Mint Sauce

Just seen Portes crash again from yesterday, this time with sound. Any how, enough of yesterday. ITV4s coverage of todays TT just starting.

Borderfox

Luke Durbridge

Nelson Oliveira looks like a little Indurain!! Fast too

That Astana gear is so bad, looks like they are sitting on two maxi pads :-(

RobertKK

Tony Martin sounding like how a person should feel after two weeks on the TDF, said he was tired and didn't have the power output.

Eamonnator

Tony Martins

Tom Dumoulin's socks are well dodgy.

dahat

GAA Style socks he has on!

RobertKK

It looks like a beautiful part of the world.

dastardly00

Nairo Quinatna

Dumoulin is absolutely smashing this course. 54 second lead at the third time check. And he's passed his four minute man LL Sanchez, who is a very good TT'er as well.

Burial.

Luke Durbridge

Dumoulin beats Oliveira by 1:31. That's an insane performance.

Itziger

dastardly00 wrote: »

Dumoulin is absolutely smashing this course. 54 second lead at the third time check. And he's passed his four minute man LL Sanchez, who is a very good TT'er as well.

Not today he's not. 4 mins over 30 or so kms?

Itziger

What would be a good time for Dan today. 90 seconds lost to Froome? Or is that being optimistic?

What's the young fella Yates like as TTer?

Itziger

42km Headwind. Ouch.

Pudsy33

Itziger wrote: »

What would be a good time for Dan today. 90 seconds lost to Froome? Or is that being optimistic?

What's the young fella Yates like as TTer?

I'd be delighted were it only 90 seconds! Yates is good, one of the stronger TTs of the climbers.

retalivity

If martin is within 3 mins of froome today id be surprised

RobertKK

Surely Froome should be tired after his recent efforts, or will he be unbelievable?

neris

where do they get all the polka dot tshirts from? is it the publicity caravan?

donfers

Porte flying

joey100

Maybe all Porte needed all along was a smack in the face?! Or maybe it's like one of them movies and him and Froome have swapped bodies after the crash into each other and the motorbike yesterday and they will need to re-create the crash to swap back and normality to return.....

donfers

good start for Dan

retalivity

neris wrote: »

where do they get all the polka dot tshirts from? is it the publicity caravan?

Yup, when i was there years ago i got 2 and a few hats handed out free

Lusk_Doyle

retalivity wrote: »

If martin is within 3 mins of froome today id be surprised

And the rest. He'll be doing well to be within 5 mins of him I'd say.

Lusk_Doyle

I can see Froome really challenging Dumolin for the win.

cunavalos

Dan through the first time point 50 seconds down on Dumoulin (40 on Porte) but has put time into Aru, Meintjes, Rodriguez and Kreuziger.
Solid enough start

The second intermediate time check is not working so we will waiting 20 minutes for an accurate update on Dan

donfers

For Dan to get into the top 20 would be a good result although he did put in a lot of work yesterday to try to limit his losses to the main GC group so we'll see - hopefully he is feeling strong

ThisRegard

Still chasing the tour lads with my dodgy TV and internet access, what was the Yates crash that affected everyone that was mentioned in yesterday's thread?

By the way, I don't think I'll complain about the Eurosport ads again. Thought I got lucky this morning when I stumbled across yesterday's highlights, they broke for an ad with 8k to go (UK Eurosport coverage). That's great, I'll get the run in to the finish while eating breakfast. Another ad at 5k to go. Mmm, cutting it tight but they done it to cover the whole drama I thought to myself.

Another ad just after the first lot finished but before the fun. You bastards, out the door I had to go.

joey100

Looks a little like Froome only has front derailleur shifting on his base bars and not on the extensions. Hasn't really come off the bars either so is moving around to change on the front.

Froome and Quintana both using round bottles on their frames too, for all the talk about marginal gains it seems obvious enough to use an aero shape bottle, even if they hold less. Probably won't stay on the bike for the whole TT though. More than likely won't make a difference to overall results though.

Thud

Tony Martins

ThisRegard wrote: »

Still chasing the tour lads with my dodgy TV and internet access, what was the Yates crash that affected everyone that was mentioned in yesterday's thread?

By the way, I don't think I'll complain about the Eurosport ads again. Thought I got lucky this morning when I stumbled across yesterday's highlights, they broke for an ad with 8k to go (UK Eurosport coverage). That's great, I'll get the run in to the finish while eating breakfast. Another ad at 5k to go. Mmm, cutting it tight but they done it to cover the whole drama I thought to myself.

Another ad just after the first lot finished but before the fun. You bastards, out the door I had to go.

Yates crash:
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-was-flamme-rouge-sabotaged-to-bring-down-yates-watch-this/

ThisRegard

Weepsie wrote: »

It was when the Flamme Rouge deflated last week and took him down.

Cheers. Actually saw that on a local news bulletins sport round up, didn't catch what riders were affected.

Edit, just checked out Thud's link, wow, didn't think anyone got hit like that, thought they were all just delayed as it was down before they got to it.

retalivity

- - - awaiting crushing froome split check - - -

Edit 17s down, not that crushing

Lusk_Doyle

retalivity wrote: »

- - - awaiting crushing froome split check - - -

Edit 17s down, not that crushing

Yet...