Le Tour 100 – Stage 17

Embrun to Chorges

Distance: 32 kilometers.

This is the second individual time trial, but it isn’t anything like the flat speed course of the first one.

Right at the start you begin the category 2 climb to the top of Côte de Puy-Sanières, then you swoop down the other side to find the climb up the category 2 Côte de Réallon. The last ten kilometers are downhill to the finish.

You also need to keep in mind as you pedal that tomorrow will be a really nasty day in the Alps, so you don’t want to tire yourself out.

While rain was thrown in to make the day more exciting, Chris Froome took the stage and extended his leads for both the Yellow and Polka Dot Jerseys. Alberto Contador lost less time than Bauke Mollema, so he is now in second, and his team, Saxo-Tinkoff, moved into the Yellow Numbers.

Gorka Izaguirre didn’t start today. That was a better deal than the one dealt to Jean-Christophe Péraud, who crashed, possibly breaking his collarbone, during a trial run, but started anyway and crashed again ending his Tour.

Red Numbers are not awarded for Time Trials.

Now it’s on to the Alps.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 66h 07′ 09″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 377 points
Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) [Polka Dot] 88 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 5 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 04′ 34″
3 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 04′ 51″
4 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 06′ 23″
5 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 06′ 58″
6 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 07′ 21″
7 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 08′ 23″
8 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 08′ 56″
9 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 11′ 10″
10 Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 ) + 12′ 50″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Michael Rogers ( Aus – TST – 098 ) + 13′ 19″
12 Alejandro Valverde ( Esp – MOV – 121 ) + 15′ 12″
13 Andrew Talansky ( USA – GRS – 178 ) + 15′ 13″
14 Daniel Navarro ( Esp – COF – 139 ) + 16′ 43″
15 Maxime Monfort ( Bel – RLT – 047 ) + 17′ 04″
16 Andy Schleck ( Lux – RLT – 041 ) + 23′ 34″
17 Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) + 23′ 36″
18 Cadel Evans ( Aus – BMC – 031 ) + 24′ 44″
19 Daniel Moreno Fernandez ( Esp – KAT – 106 ) + 27′ 35″
20 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) + 28′ 43″
21 Rui Alberto Costa ( Por – MOV – 124 ) + 29′ 24″
22 Steve Morabito ( Sui – BMC – 036 ) + 34′ 39″
23 Sylvain Chavanel ( Fra – OPQ – 152 ) + 35′ 17″
24 Jan Bakelants ( Bel – RLT – 042 ) + 37′ 01″
25 Peter Velits ( Svk – OPQ – 159 ) + 37′ 09″
26 Andreas Klöden ( Ger – RLT – 046 ) + 37′ 15″
27 Richie Porte ( Aus – SKY – 006 ) + 37′ 42″
28 José Serpa ( Col – LAM – 149 ) + 39′ 25″
29 Igor Anton ( Esp – EUS – 111 ) + 40′ 07″
30 Robert Gesink ( Ned – BEL – 162 ) + 41′ 13″

Did not start:

Gorka Izaguirre Insausti ( Esp – EUS – 113 )

Did not finish:

Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 )

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

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