Maybe it's just perception, but every time I watch the Tour go up the slopes of Alpe d'Huez, and aside from promise that next time I'll be there, I could swear the crowds are bigger than ever before. Often it maybe just seems that way, but this year I think it genuinely was. When it came down to deciding which mountain stage people would take in I think they quickly settled with this one given that the entire days wait to see the race arrive would be worth it because they'd get to see them all twice. It was a stroke of genius by the race organisors and give its success I think it's something we might see again in the future.
The crowds packed in. There was the famous Dutch corner, and to rival it the newly founded Irish corner, and with everyone else standing ten deep with a gap wide enough for the riders to move through in single file only, it was everything you imagine about the Tour. Yes there was the idiots who felt the need to run along side the riders and on some occasions almost knock them off, but let's face it ... nobody was knocked off and that running is just another part of the Tour's special culture.
The stage began where it finished on Tuesday in Gap and right away the attacks came. A hot pace was set on the hill out of Gap and it quickly isolated Chris Froome. It only turned out to be a prelude to what might lie ahead because the pace soon settled as the typical break of non-general classification names established a lead, but it hinted that maybe Sky could be put under pressure. Short climbs came and went and unfortunately nobody elected to go on a suicide mission. Saxo-Tinkoff sent two men up the road in the hopes that later Alberto Contador might bridge across but that move came too early and they were soon swept up by a surging bunch on the first trip up the Alpe. By then the leading break was splintering apart and it became obvious that only three men might survive. Tejay Van Garderen -- a fifth place finisher in last years Tour and a man tipped by some to perhaps move onto the podium this year but who has been having an off Tour in 2013 -- looked the strongest, Moreno Moser was riding inspired, and Riblon was riding for the French.
The three hit the chaotic descent back down to the bottom of Alpe d'Huez together -- a descent best described as a paved goats path -- but Van Garderen soon ran into a mechanical issue and dropped back. Then as the peloton followed them down, Alberto Contador made his first move. It's the move we had been waiting for. There was a little second category climb just after Alp d'Huez called the Col de Sarenne and I thought Contador might try attack then to establish a lead to take into the descent, but he elected to wait until the tricky road down to try tempt Froome to go with him and perhaps into a mistake.
Froome played it smart though, he let Contador go, aware that the best Contador could hope for was thirty or forty seconds over him at the bottom, something he must have felt he could make up on the way back towards the sun. As it turned out Contador didn't get anywhere near the gap he needed despite his team-mate Roman Kreuziger joining him and even fell back to the team-car to change his bike upon being swept up. I can only assume he was hoping to get a big enough gap so that the team-car would be able to come through and when that didn't happen he made the change behind. It was Contador's second change of the day and it briefly sparked rumours that news of bikes being weighed by the race referees after the race had leaked out and Contador was making a correction. The reality was that Contador was merely shifting back to the bike better geared for climbing having used a different bike that would allow him to speed on the descent. Simply put, the gamble didn't work.
Back on the final assult on Alpe d'Huez it was clear the drunken masses gathered on the side of the hill had spent the time waiting on the race to come around again drinking a few more beers and were rowdier still on the second pass. Van Garderen was able to chase onto his two rivals and drop them in what looked to be an epic solo ride to glory on the most famous climb in cycling. The only clock that we thought mattered was the one between him and the GC bunch that were beginning to gain ground him with a long way still to go. Could he hold on we wondered?
The pace in that peloton had been forced by Froome who decided to stretch his legs and leave the rest behind. Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez quickly bridged across to him but Contador was left reeling. Saying that, Froome's attack was nothing like we'd seen earlier in the Tour and the gap only went out slowly. Froome didn't look his usual self and Quintana and Rodriguez were able to distance him when they did what the purest of climbers do best and attack with speed. Froome didn't need to worry about them too much, he sat in his own rhythm and gradually pulled both of them back.
Up ahead the time was falling fast but suddenly nobody was thinking about whether Van Gardern would be caught by the Quintana, Rodriguez, Froome trio, but rather if he could hold off one of his earlier compatriots in Riblon. Suddenly it became obvious that the Frenchman had timed it far better, he hadn't panicked when Van Gardern attacked earlier, but set his own tempo and now it was the American who was beginning to struggle and the Frenchman who was growing in strength. At last the tables were turning for the French and before long Riblon had Van Gardern in his sights. A big effort and he had him. He steadied himself only briefly before pressing on much to the devistation of Van Garderen who in that moment must have seen his hopes, dreams and the legendary status as a winner on Alpe d'Huez slip through his fingers and past his exhausted legs.
Riblon, as Phil Liggett loves to say, was free to fly and by the time he approached that final left hand turn -- the one that Marco Pantani almost missed way back in 1995 -- he had time to raise his arms and begin the celebration. The crowds were cheering and you couldn't have scriped it better for the home nation. With Van Garderen cracked, Riblon had the final straight all to himself and crossed the line with his arms in the air for a famous French victory.
Yet the drama didn't finish there. Further down the mountain Froome was talking on the radio. He was talking to Richie Porte and then he signalled for the team-car. Froome was in trouble. Forget stage 13 when he missed the split in the echelon's, this truly was the first time we'd seen Froome on the ropes and exactly why he has continued to go for added time in two mountain stages and two time-trials so far in this Tour. Quintana and Rodriguez spotting the trouble attacked and left him behind. There was 3 kilometres to go, but he was inside the limit for taking on food from the car and a food bonk is the worst kind of bonk and a potential disaster for Sky. So Porte went to the car, grabbed an energy bar much to the anger of the referees and took it up to Froome. Technically Froome hadn't taken something from the car but it was clear what Sky were doing. With that little energy gel inside him, Froome only lost 1 minute, 7 seconds on the line to Quintana and was able to keep Contador 57 seconds behind him.
After the finish the bikes were weighed and as far as I'm aware nobody got in trouble. The trouble was spared for Froome for taking on that energy gel. Both himself and Porte were docked 20 seconds, but I have to think Froome will accept that without much complaint. Without that energy gel he could well have lost much more. Sky love their calculated risks, especially Froome who at times seems glued to his ear piece awaiting instructional tactics from the team-car behind, and this was one calculated risk that certainly paid off. Foome had his worst day yet Contador was worse again and so Froome still came away with an even bigger lead on second place than what he went into the stage with.
Tomorrow they have even more climbing to do and it's going to be very interesting to see who has recovered. Is Quintana going from strength to strength, up to third overall now and thinking about going higher? Can Contador bounce back and still try something dramatic in the hopes that Froome himself won't recover from today and will have another bad day? Watching Froome struggle today will give the rest hope that he's maybe hit his limit three days too early, but it's more likely that with a proper feed tonight, a good sleep and better distribution of the energy bars he will recover. Whether we see him go out on the attack again will depend on how much today put the frighteners into him. He may elect to follow wheels into Paris now. Let's hope not though ... the rest attacking Froome and Froome attacking back is making this Tour fantastic even if he's had a very comfortable lead for over a week now.
As for today's stage. Well, we wont forget it in a hurry. Unless something very dramatic happens in the next two days -- and I wouldn't rule it out -- then this, along with perhaps that trip up Mont Ventoux, will be the ones we look back on with wonder in years to come.
Stage 18 result
1. Riblon in 4h 51' 32''
2. Van Garderen + 59''
3. Moser + 1'27''
4. Quintana + 2'12''
5. Rodriguez + 2'15''
6. Porte + 3'18''
7. Froome s.t.
8. Valverde + 3'22''
Others:
11. Contador +4'15''
12. Kreuziger +4'31''
26. Mollema +6'13''
37. Ten Dam +9'54''
General classification after stage 18
1. Froome in 71h 2'19"
2. Contador + 5'11"
3. Quintana + 5'32''
4. Kreuziger + 5'44''
5. Rodriguez + 5'58''
6. Mollema 8'58''
