Category: Tour de France
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Marcel Kittel proves himself the best sprinter at the 2013 Tour de France
The points competition is geared towards the sprinters, but it isn’t the sprint competition. If it were, Marcel Kittel would have been the one with the green beard, not Peter Sagan. Kittel won four stages in all, including the biggest sprint of all on the Champs Élysées, breaking Mark Cavendish’s winning run there. I’m a…
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Nairo Quintana wins stage, runner-up spot, mountains competition and white jersey
What an excellent finish to the general classification. The final climb of the 2013 Tour saw the peloton whittled down to pretty much the top 10 riders and this then became the eventual podium – Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and the better-late-than-never Joaquim Rodriguez. It was almost as if the top three riders were leading…
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Rui Costa shows even more fight
Rui Costa took a second win of this year’s Tour on stage 19 in much the same style as he’d won his first. He got in the break and eventually left everyone behind, cycling alone for the final 60-odd kilometres. 38-year-old Andreas Kloden came second which is probably as close as we’ll get to a…
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Christophe Riblon triumphs on Alpe Twoez
There were two races on Alpe d’Huez (scaled twice – Alpe Twoez?). I’m therefore going to separate this update into the stage and the general classification, because each half was complicated enough in its own right without having to link the two together. The stage Quite a few riders broke from the pack, but the…
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Saxo-Tinkoff invade the podium
You probably think that podiums (podia?) are there to be clambered onto. You’re wrong. They’re there to be invaded. Just ask Team Saxo-Tinkoff directeur sportif, Fabrizio Guidi, now that the team has riders in second and third place. “I’m very happy to see that both Roman Kreuziger and Alberto Contador are doing such a stunning…
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Rui Costa records a real win
Every stage is important in the Tour de France, even if it doesn’t affect the overall race. Rui Costa won stage 16 after spending the day in the break and many would argue it was a more significant victory than his two Tour de Suisse titles. I would be one of those people. In the…
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Marcel Kittel’s haircut and other rest day news
I cycled up steep hills in the heat yesterday and have reaffirmed my awe for all professional cyclists. Steep hills are nothing new, but heat is a rarity in Britain, so it was something of a novel experience. A mere 10 minutes of climbing pushed my body to overheating, so I can only imagine how…
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Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana on Mont Ventoux
On stage 15, Chris Froome won cycling. I don’t mean he won at cycling, as in winning a race. I mean that even if he doesn’t go on to win the Tour, he won the sport of cycling. The longest stage for 13 years, the 100th Tour de France, a stage finish atop Mont Ventoux,…
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Matteo Trentin wins one for the breakaway
Riders are part of teams, but unofficial alliances form on the road and the most obvious of these is the breakaway. I like to think of the breakaway as being a team in its own right – even if it’s one where in-fighting becomes torrid as the finishing line approaches. Matteo Trentin racked up what…
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Taking advantage of echelons
There was plenty going on in stage 13 and I’m going to struggle to get it all down without boring people, so bear with me if I omit details or include too many or waffle on in the opening sentence making excuses for myself in advance. Fighting back This was the theme of the stage.…