Sam and DQS v Bora, battle for the Green, Stage 19

Inquitus

Transitional stage time. Normally this would be the last chance for a breakaway... now it's probably the last chance for Sagan (and Trentin) to keep the green jersey battle alive.

I expect Bora to go ballistic and the chances of dropping Sam are quite high, just depends how much they can cash in with breaks the finish etc. It could bring all this down to the Champs D'Elysee

Allez Sam, and qudos to his main man!



Map



Profile




Timetable -Local Times

Neutralised start: 13:30
Start: 13:45
Côte de Château-Chalon: 15:34/15:39/15:45
Intermediate sprint: 16:22/16:29/16:37
Finish: 17:27/17:37/17:48

Climbs

There's a false-flat ramp just after the start of which I don't have a profile, it should be a bit over 2k at 3-4%. Aside from that, the opening half of the stage is mostly flat, until the only categorised climb of the day, the cat. 4 Côte de Château-Chalon.



The second half of the stage is a rolling loop around Champagnole, and most of it is on narrow roads. Once again, the intermediate sprint comes just after an easy (although very much categorisable) climb.



Shortly after, the route climbs to reach the highest point of the day.



Finish

A tricky, and arguably dangerous, finish. There's a steep dig that tops out with about 18k to go, although the highest point of the finale comes 1.5k later. From here, it's mostly a narrow, sinuous descent all the way until 3.5k to go. It's decent terrain for attackers, but also a less-than-safe environment to set up a sprint if it comes to that. Let's hope we don't get a big crash this late in the Tour.






General classification after Stage 18

Primoz Roglic
Tadej Pogacar + 0.57
Miguel Ángel López + 1.27
Richie Porte + 3.06
Mikel Landa + 3.28
Enric Mas + 4.19
Adam Yates + 5.55
Rigoberto Uran + 6.05
Tom Dumoulin + 7.24
Alejandro Valverde + 12.12

Points classification after Stage 18

Sam Bennett 298
Peter Sagan 246
Matteo Trentin 235
Bryan Coquard 171
Caleb Ewan 158

Mountains classification after Stage 18

Richard Carapaz 74
Tadej Pogacar 72
Primoz Roglic 67
Marc Hirschi 62
Miguel Ángel López 51

Young riders classification after Stage 18

Tadej Pogacar
Enric Mas + 3.22
Valentin Madouas + 1.35.35
Daniel Felipe Martinez + 1.51.32
Lennard Kämna + 2.10.21

Steve SilverMint

Green Jersey fight has been such a bonus this year. Sagan having such a strangle hold on the Green for so many years. We had a few days that might not normally have been that interesting were suddenly being brought to life watching it unfold.

Bring it home Sam.

Inquitus

Steve SilverMint wrote: »

Green Jersey fight has been such a bonus this year. Sagan having such a strangle hold on the Green for so many years. We had a few days that might not normally have been that interesting were suddenly being brought to life watching it unfold.

Bring it home Sam.

Agreed, best Jersey contest by far. Yellow was sewn up before the start, Mountains is just an excuse for a team who's GC contenders fail, Young Rider is always a good one, just one sided this year.

griffin100

This is going to be the make or break stage for Sam. There’s every chance Sagan will be there or thereabouts at the finish unless a breakaway gets away.

Inquitus

griffin100 wrote: »

This is going to be the make or break stage for Sam. There’s every chance Sagan will be there or thereabouts at the finish unless a breakaway gets away.

As Kamna said, Bora are all in for Sagan tomorrow, will make for an interesting day!

Paddigol

Will the fact that there's renewed interest in the Polka Dots (Ineos/ Sunweb in particular) have any bearing on today's stage?

Inquitus

Paddigol wrote: »

Will the fact that there's renewed interest in the Polka Dots (Ineos/ Sunweb in particular) have any bearing on today's stage?

Only one cat 4 today, the ITT holds the key to the Mountains Classification.

CrowdedHouse

Feck this - win the stage and put this to bed Sam!

Macy0161

Cycling News podcast (Daniel Benson and Ed Pickering), recorded yesterday, reckon this is a breakaway day - one of those with half the peloton up the road! I'd settle for that tbh!

Inquitus

Macy0161 wrote: »

Cycling News podcast (Daniel Benson and Ed Pickering), recorded yesterday, reckon this is a breakaway day - one of those with half the peloton up the road! I'd settle for that tbh!

Minus Sagan ofc!

Macy0161

Inquitus wrote: »

Minus Sagan ofc!

Sam in it too fwiw.

Richard Hillman

If my maths are correct. If Bennett comes second to Sagan on the intermediate and Wins the stage, even with Sagan as second, he is as good as unassailable.


That's assuming that neither get Time Trial Points.

MPFGLB

Today will be a mega stage in so many ways

Everyone and their mother will be in the break and every sprint team (not there ) will be chasing

Brora and DQS will be in the battle ...watch the marking


Maybe this stage might have an impact of GC ...alot of tired legs out there

Tim76

Richard Hillman wrote: »

That's assuming that neither get Time Trial Points.

There's time trial points?

Mefistofelino

Tim76 wrote: »

There's time trial points?

Yes (unless they've changed from last years system) - same points as the intermediate sprints, 20 for the win down to 1 point for 15th

obriendj

Question about the last stage.

I thought that once you were in the yellow jersey going into the last day, it would be unchallenged, and that the last stage was more of neutralized race. Granted someone wants to win the stage but attacking was frowned upon

Is this wrong? and if not, is it the same for the Green jersey?

Inquitus

Mefistofelino wrote: »

Yes (unless they've changed from last years system) - same points as the intermediate sprints, 20 for the win down to 1 point for 15th

Can't see Sam or Sagan troubling the scorers on an ITT which ends on La Planche de Belles Filles lol!

Inquitus

obriendj wrote: »

Question about the last stage.

I thought that once you were in the yellow jersey going into the last day, it would be unchallenged, and that the last stage was more of neutralized race. Granted someone wants to win the stage but attacking was frowned upon

Is this wrong? and if not, is it the same for the Green jersey?

It's wrong the only thing contested is the sprint at the end.

REBELSAFC

Inquitus wrote: »

It's wrong the only thing contested is the sprint at the end.

And it is probably the most prestigious stage for any sprinter to win in all the GTs

mcgratheoin

Inquitus wrote: »

It's wrong the only thing contested is the sprint at the end.

And the intermediate sprint.

The Green jersey has significant points available in Paris, none of the other classifications have the potential for significant change (you're not going to pull much time out over a 120k flat stage).

It's considered bad form to attack for GC but having said that, it's been a long time since there has been a small enough gap towards the top of the GC where it could potentially be overhauled.

Attacking to win the stage from a breakaway is perfectly fine and a regular occurrence.

JazzyJ

I'm giddy for today's stage. :pac::pac::pac:

Macy0161

obriendj wrote: »

Is this wrong? and if not, is it the same for the Green jersey?

It's changed hands a few times on the final stage.

Also, a couple of years ago in Vuelta, Valverde won that points jersey from Rodriguez by taking an intermediate sprint in the Madrid stage.

Dodge

I think if some one had a lead of 2-3 seconds in GC, we’d see attacks in Paris. I don’t think people see it as ‘bad form’ as much as they know it’s futile on a short flat stage to think they can make up a chunk of time

Anyway, all aboard the DQT train today...

mcgratheoin

Mefistofelino wrote: »

Yes (unless they've changed from last years system) - same points as the intermediate sprints, 20 for the win down to 1 point for 15th

Type 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th
Flat 50 30 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Hilly Finish/Medium Mountain 30 25 22 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 6 5 4 3 2
High mountain 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Individual Time Trial 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Intermediate Sprint 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Macy0161

mcgratheoin wrote: »

It's considered bad form to attack for GC but having said that, it's been a long time since there has been a small enough gap towards the top of the GC where it could potentially be overhauled.

Even that's a recent thing. Roche did a deal in 87 with Jean Paul Van Poppel that he wouldn't contest the sprint (Roche was second in the Green jersey), if Van Poppels team helped control the race/ GC.

mcgratheoin

Dodge wrote: »

I think if some one had a lead of 2-3 seconds in GC, we’d see attacks in Paris. I don’t think people see it as ‘bad form’ as much as they know it’s futile on a short flat stage to think they can make up a chunk of time

True - Hasn't happened yet but it would have been interesting if Lemond/Fignon had finished in Paris in 1989 instead of with a final stage ITT. 8 seconds might have been enough for an attempt.

REBELSAFC

mcgratheoin wrote: »

True - Hasn't happened yet but it would have been interesting if Lemond/Fignon had finished in Paris in 1989 instead of with a final stage ITT. 8 seconds might have been enough for an attempt.

LeMond was 50secs down at the start of that stage though.That wouldn't have been recuperated over a flat stage.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLzpYRQvJe8

mcgratheoin

REBELSAFC wrote: »

LeMond was 50secs down at the start of that stage though.That wouldn't have been recuperated over a flat stage.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLzpYRQvJe8

I assume that in a modern tour the ITT would have been followed by an additional stage to Paris though.

Gallant_JJ

I think the 2017 Giro that Tom Domoulin won finished with an ITT

no_4

Bora will go balls out for the win today , their only card to play really, Sam and dqs need to mark them tightly , sprint is 112 km in Today whereas yesterday was only 14 km in

Mefistofelino

Macy0161 wrote: »

Even that's a recent thing. Roche did a deal in 87 with Jean Paul Van Poppel that he wouldn't contest the sprint (Roche was second in the Green jersey), if Van Poppels team helped control the race/ GC.

Kelly lost the green jersey to Frank Hoste in the final sprint in the '84 Tour