After Chris Froome abandoned, the situation was presented by Sky as being an opportunity for Richie Porte to show what he can do. What Porte can do is have at least one really bad day during every Grand Tour.
This seems to be a theme with Porte: un jour sans – a day without. Yesterday’s final climb purportedly suited him, but he didn’t attack. He didn’t even hang around long enough to see other people attack. Instead, he drifted off the back very early on and lost almost nine minutes. He’s out of the running.
Isn’t everyone bar Nibali out of the running?
Pretty much. He won the stage and took time out of everyone again. I guess other riders could be peaking later in the race and he could fade a bit, but it really doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. We’re probably going to have to look for intrigue elsewhere.
One cause for celebration was the performance of Laurens Ten Dam. I love Laurens Ten Dam. I like that he’s determined but not spectacularly good to the extent that he rides time trials so hard that he ends up with his beard laminated with a thick layer of spittle. It’s disgustingly admirable. Ten Dam came eighth yesterday and is bearing down on the top ten, gnashing and drooling with every pedal stroke.
Stage 14
Very hard. Here’s the profile.
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