Stage 14 -- July 15: Limoux to Foix, 191 km (118.7 mi)
Cadel Evans finally gets some help after picking up a tack. Photograph: AFP Photo
It was a stage with a final climb that promised so much, but in the end delivered little, but only in terms of a challenge to Bradley Wiggins's Yellow jersey. Other than that there was endless talking points on a day when the battle for the stage win was as hotly contested as you could hope for, and the drama at the summit of the final climb was as surreal as it gets in a Tour de France.
The image of the day wasn't that of Luis Leon Sanchez coming up the final straight with his arms in the air after a fantastic solo victory in which he managed to get away from the grasp of fast men Peter Sagan and Philippe Gilbert, but of Cadel Evans screaming at his team-mate and super domestique, Tejay Van Garderen, that he had punctured only for him not to hear leaving him standing at the top of the Mur de Péguère on his own with a flat tire, waiting for what seemed like forever for a spare wheel to be brought to him.
At first it seemed like your typical bad luck puncture but as the camera flicked back from the lead riders it seemed to return to the sight of another rider standing at the side of the road with a flat until at which point Bradley Wiggins himself pulled over for a bike change. It was clear then that someone had sabotaged the race in the most evil of ways. Tacks had been thrown onto the course at the top of the second of the days two category one climbs and it had caused carnage. Thirty riders were effected and it threatened to destroy the race for a number of riders.
What it did do was spoil the race for the fans, as team Sky made a sporting decision to slow down and wait for Evans rather than race on costing him any shot at the Tour. The last thing Wiggins needed was for Evans to have a good day later in the week and win the race off the back of this kind of bad luck to his rival. Let's not give anyone any excuse for why they lost, would have been Wiggins's thoughts before slowing the main field down.
All but Pierre Rolland appeared to be in on the good gesture. The young Frenchman seen it as a chance to get back into this Tour and took off up the road. At one point he had gained two minutes before the Wiggins group, thanks to those sitting around Rolland in the GC, were forced to take up the chance. Evans, who had punctured a remarkable two more times, was still chasing and only when Rolland was brought back could they slow down once more to let the entire race come together. The result was a GC that remained the same, but not without some serious panic.
How Rolland will be treated should he attack again the rest of this Tour remains to be seen, but you could argue that one mans bad luck is another's opportunity and he went for it.
What we had hoped for was a climb that seen attacks from every angle and a peloton split to pieces with the fastest of descenders reigning terror into the field as riders came into the finish in Foix in small groups with a GC turned upside down. As a fan of Wiggins of course I hoped he might find a way to keep close but ideally I wanted to see attacking, not tacks.
It must be noted though that this lack of action was not entirely the fault of the tacks and the idiots who poured them onto the course. This happened at the top of the climb and by then any uphill drama had already expired and all the big names were still together, content to follow the pace setting lead of Team Sky. What some of these men are waiting for I'm not quite sure, but following a flat stage tomorrow and a rest day on Tuesday, we have just two mountain stages before another individual time-trial which will once again suit Wiggins and Chris Froome.
That isn't to make light of what the tack throwers did. They should be rounded up, tied to a post at the side of the road on tomorrow's stage for the peloton to throw at them what they please as they speed past. Sadly, it seems unlikely anyone will be held accountable unless you think it was Sanchez himself!
Sanchez avoids the tacks and gets clear of Sagan to win. Photograph: Bettini Photo
Speaking of which, the Spaniard far from had it easy just because he avoided the punctures. Actually, the entire leading group avoided them making you wonder if they came sometime after and perhaps by a fan of one of those in the lead?
Sanchez had set the pace up the final climb trying hard to drop Sagan. It was clear that if Sagan made it over with the front group he would be a huge threat at the finish and this appeared the best chance to get rid of him. It seemed to be working for the Slovak was going off the back thanks to Sanchez's effort. The others in the group -- Sandy Casar (FDJ-Big Mat), Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) -- were likewise finding it tough but Sagan soon showed why with a slight alteration to his training style he could transform himself into a GC contender someday. He didn't panic, and instead clawed his way back up towards the front. Casar had attacked but Sagan managed to catch and drop Paulinho, Sanchez and Gilbert to crest the climb in third.
“We tried to attack Sagan on the last climb because we knew he was the fastest, but in the end Luis Leon made his jump and we just had nothing left to respond,” Casar said after the stage. “I'm very disappointed. I really wanted to win today.” Sagan “is incredible – we tried on the climb but we couldn't shake him off.”
On the descent he brought back Casar and by the bottom Casar, Izagirre, Sagan and Gilbert were together. Given his struggles at the top of the climb and the finishing ability of Sagan -- even Gilbert -- nobody would have given the Spaniard a chance. He had to attack before the finish and he did.
"Sagan can win any sprint in the Tour, so today, in a break with so few people, he would have won easily. I attacked from far out and everything went right," said and emotional Sanchez after the stage. Nobody wanted to pace Sagan across to him and so he was allowed to ride clear and eventually, when it was too late for the others, he could ride up to the finish celebrating a huge win for Rabobank.
Thanks to the tack throwing, tire blowing, mayhem going on behind and the resulting slowdown, it was as comfortable a break will have it in this Tour. The large field came in over 18 minutes behind Sanchez. And sadly for Sanchez the day will be remembered for that incident on the Mur de Péguère and what it could have done to Evans but instead has done to the popularity of Brad Wiggins for playing the good sport.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Sky immediately stopped the pack so that everyone could finish in the best conditions. Sky were very sporting, they slowed things down and everything returned to order.” -- Race director Jean-Francois Pescheux
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QUOTE OF THE DAY 2
"There are enough policemen on the course to round them up and send them to a football match of something." -- He of frequent Quote-of-the-day appearances, Brad Wiggins has a good idea.
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FAKE TWEET OF THE DAY
@tvangarderen88 I swear I thought Cadel shouted "Attack, Attack", not "A tack, A tack" at me.
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ABANDONMENT'S
Robert Kiserlovsk of Astana was the only man not to finish today after he was injured in a crash brought about by a puncture brought about by the tacks thrown on the course. A terrible way to have your Tour come to an end. You work like a dog to get through two weeks of the race only to have some low-life destroy your dream of a Paris finish like this.
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STAGE 14 RESULT
1. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank in 4-50-29
2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale at 47 sec
3. Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
4. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing
5. Gorka Iziguirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi all at st.
6. Sergio Paulinho (Por) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank at 2-51
Others
15. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky at 18-15
16. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at st.
17. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at st.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 14
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky in 64-41-16
2. Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 2-05
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 2-23
4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 3-19
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 4-48
6. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan at 6-15
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THE RACE FOR THE LANTERNE ROUGE
After another tough stage today the American, Tyler Farrar has extended his lead in the Lanternre Rouge classification by over three minutes, though with some hard stages to come a half decent day could see such an advantage wiped out in the blink of an eye.162. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp 67-28-45
161. Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur-Sojasun at 3-43
160. Johan Vansummersen (Bel) Garmin-Sharp at 6-42
159. Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Cofidis at 9-13
158. Albert Timmer (Ned) Argos-Shimano at 9-25
157. Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Katusha at 12-44
