As the rate of attrition stepped up, Geraint Thomas moved a step closer to a podium position despite losing time on Chris Froome. With Tejay van Garderen abandoning in tears due to illness and Alberto Contador dropping over two minutes after a crash on the final descent, the Welshman will start today's Alpine stage in fourth overall. Bradley Wiggins, Froome, Tom Simpson and Robert Millar are the only British cyclists to have enjoyed such a position this late in the Tour.
Sky were again put under pressure, this time from relatively early on, in an absorbing game of tactics about 10 minutes behind the fight for the stage, won by the German Simon Geschke. Contador made a speculative move with 74km remaining, well before the field arrived at the Col d'Allos, the key strategic point in the stage, where Vincenzo Nibali's Astana began forcing the pace to set up an attack from the Italian on the descent to the foot of the relatively brief climb to the finish. Thomas was dislodged here but the Cardiff rider limited his losses to just over one minute on Froome and his nearest challenger, Nairo Quintana.
Thomas has said that he expects to lose time at some point in these four days simply because the work he did for Froome in the opening week of the Tour should catch up with him. But all those around him are becoming increasingly fatigued, overall contenders and back markers alike. “Everyone is thinking really hard about where to spend their energy,” noted Froome. “Everyone is riding in slow motion compared to the first week.” Apart from on the downhills, obviously, where it is the same madness as usual, spaghetti hairpins, vertical rock faces and sheer drop-offs notwithstanding.
The final contest for the podium places began to take shape with Quintana's Movistar and Contador's Tinkoff-Saxo placing riders in the early escape, together, more surprisingly, with a brace from Froome's Sky. The value of having team-mates ahead so that their leaders can catch them from behind was shown when Contador received a spare bike after his crash from the points leader, Peter Sagan, while Froome's team-mate Richie Porte apparated like a wizard from Harry Potter into the lead group at the top of the Allos.
He appeared from in front just after Quintana and Nibali had begun to make their moves, when Thomas had been left behind and Froome was potentially isolated and vulnerable. It was a tactical masterstroke and you could almost sense the heads of Froome’s rivals dip a little. With the Cols du Glandon and Croix de Fer to come - the latter twice from different directions in two days - more such moments await before the decisive climb to l’Alpe d’Huez on Saturday.
On the final climb a ceremonial arch commemorated Bernard Thevenet's victory here ahead of Eddy Merckx 40 years ago, which began 10 years of French domination. The route of this stage was identical to that day's and the obvious subtext when this was announced at October's route launch was that France expected its stunning progress of 2014 to continue. Sadly, however, this has not been the case and the home nation's fortunes - high expectations brought low - were mirrored by the fate of Thibaut Pinot.
The Alsatian came third overall last year but is desperately attempting to salvage something from this year’s race after losing time hand over fist in the first week. Pinot came close on Saturday in Mende and surged out of the day’s escape midway up the Col d’Allos in pursuit of the bearded Geschke, crossing the summit a minute behind, with victory beckoning. Both men are regulars in the giant escapes that have decided several recent stages but Pinot is by far the better climber.
In 2013, however, the Frenchman struggled with descending and the seemingly never-ending succession of ever tighter bends spinning from the Allos summit did for him. He misjudged a left-hander, lost control of his back wheel and fell, enough to leave him winded and unwilling to take further risks. He never looked like getting on terms with Geschke, who handled the constant changes of trajectory with aplomb, and was overtaken by three of the men he had left for dead on the ascent, including the American Andrew Talansky and the young Briton Adam Yates.
Talansky came closest to overhauling Geschke but he ended up 32 seconds adrift as Germany registered its fifth stage win out of 17 to date. The Giant-Alpecin team had been empty-handed until Geschke made his move; with a dozen teams still in that position and four chances remaining, an increasingly desperate battle for each stage awaits.
(Guardian Service)
