The Benefit of the Doubt: Another tour, and winner, worth believing in

My last article that looked back on the tour had the following paragraph inserted into it:

And it was again a Tour that looked normal...something we're forced to analyse in this post-EPO-crazy era. The champion was simply better than the remaining contenders but far from unworldly, and the return of the French to the podium for the first time post-Festina affair '98 was a welcome sight. If you still cannot give the benefit of the doubt to the bulk of what you seen in this Tour, especially after what has been a handful of promising years now, then I'm not sure what it will take, outside of your own participation.

Well, against my own urges, I thought I'd expand a little and do the very thing that I said we're now forced to do and analyse this tour from the perspective of the dark (yet receding, I like to think) shadow that lurks near the bright lights of the Tour. 'The Darkness on the Edge of Town' as Bruce Springsteen might call the subject of drugs in cycling...always out there and occasionally in need of addressing.

Thankfully, in recent years, it looks as though analysing a Tour from the perspective of drug use is giving us a healthy outcome if done objectively and the hope is that if it continues this way then we'll eventually reach a point where it won't require much scrutiny at all. We all know that some people will always try to cheat, regardless of the environment around them, but seeing the pendulum swing from the majority in a broken culture to a minority in a working system culture suggests that at last the sports appears to be getting on top of the battle against drugs and the riders are not feeling that it is a requirement to success.

A different Tour but the same old magic

There's no such thing as a bad Tour. Every Tour is a good Tour, maybe even a great Tour...at least that's what I think. So this years was no different despite the winner coming home almost eight minutes ahead of the next man. There's way too much goes on over the three week Tour de France...so many stages, too much drama, all kids of terrain, and plenty of competitions beyond the yellow jersey for the whole thing to ever be written off as not good.

We had everything once again: Rolling stages in front of mammoth crowds in England, sprint stages in sunshine and rain, tribute stages going through old battle fields 100 years on from the start of that horrific war, a mini-Paris-Roubaix stage on the cobbles, four mountain ranges of stages in the Jura, Vogues, Alps and Pyrenees all with their own unique style and all bringing a different context to the outcome of the race, a crucial time-trial stage for French cycling, and the traditional crit in Paris stage.

We had crashes that eliminated contenders, crashes that made hero's out of those that continued, good weather, bad weather, sprint victories, individual stage glory, individual stage heart-break, long exploits and suffering in the mountains.

We had a points competition dominated by a consistently brilliant yet stage starved Peter Sagan; a mountains prize that went back and forth and came down to the final big climb; a young riders prize fought out between two young men who became the toast of their nation; a yellow jersey contest that may have been all but won halfway through, but by a champion that continued to attack and prove himself as worthy a champion as you'll ever seen; and a podium consisting of a Frenchman for the first time since '97 and Frenchmen for the first time since '84.

And it was again a Tour that looked normal...something we're forced to analyse in this post-EPO-crazy era. The champion was simply better than the remaining contenders but far from unworldly while the return of the French to the podium for the first time post-Festina affair '98 was a welcome sight. If you still cannot give the benefit of the doubt to the bulk of what you seen in this Tour, especially after what has been a handful of promising years now, then I'm not sure what it will take, outside of your own participation.

It's OK for some people to defy our own limited potential with their own superb performances and cycling brings this out in athletes like no other sport. The Tour de France, on a global stage, simply magnifies it.

But this was no normal tour from the perspective of the script. The typical script of the tour would suggest that the first week belonged to the sprinters and that the favorites would keep their powder dry until the high mountains and time trials. The first of the high mountains, either the Alps or Pyrenees would sort the men from the boys and the second of the two ranges would find us our winner.

This year was very different.

We'd the rolling dales of Yorkshire for a start and had one of the big contenders, Vincenzo Nibali, with a stage win and yellow on his back by the second day, but it was stage five on the cobbles of the Paris-Roubaix that truly changed the normal order, and it was Nibali who shone brightest.

An epic ride on an epic day of mud, blood and big time-gaps put Nibali further into yellow and all his rivals (with the exception of Chris Froome who crashed out) minutes in arrears. It was a stage in which many felt you couldn't win the tour but you could lose it. Nibali however may have proved that wrong. He never looked back.

On stage 10, Contador crashed out and Nibali attacked the rest to win his second stage and cement his lead. It was another crucial stage -- one that seen the top six overall come Paris all finish in the top six on this day (albeit with Péraud behind Pinot and Valverde) -- and we still hadn't reached the Alps or the Pyrenees. By the time we did hit the high mountains it was less about Nibali trying to defend or indeed those around him trying to pull back time and more about Nibali attacking. A victory in each of those high mountain stages weren't the decisive ones that won him the tour as the script dictated they ought to have been, but merely further acts of dominance.

The Tour was won on the cobbles and sealed in the Vogues. The rest was a race for the final spots on the podium and the minor jersey prizes. And yet it was still fantastic to watch.

This Tour probably won't go down in the top five of all time (though I have to think that fifth stage across the Pave of Northern France will go down as one of the great stages in Tour history), but as I said at the top...there's no such thing as bad tours, only good, and this one was very good with a superb champion.

A look back at how wrong my Tour de France predictions were

Before the Tour started I climbed off the fence once again to give my predictions on how I felt the race would unfold and once again I proved that you shouldn't put your money were my mouth is! Below is a look at how things panned out...

Overall Classification prediction (In brackets their actual finishing place)
1. Alberto Contador (DNF)
2. Chris Froome (DNF)
3. Vincenzo Nibali (1st)
4. Andrew Talansky (DNF)
5. Rui Costa (DNF)
6. Alejandro Valverde (4th)
7. Thibaut Pinot (2nd)
8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (13th)
9. Bauke Mollema (10th)
10. Romain Bardet (6th)

So not a single one correct. I was closest with Mollema in 10th instead of 9th while the French duo of Pinot and Bardet, along with Valverde, did better than I expected though that is in part due to the number of DNF's in my top five: Four of them!

Points: Peter Sagan (1st), Mark Cavendish (DNF), Marcel Kittel (4th).

Correct on first but then again the odds on him retaining his green jersey title were good...it's hardly a coup to have predicted that! And who knew Cav wouldn't make it to the finish of the first stage?

Mountains: Pierre Rolland (20th), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Did not place), Joaqium Rodriguez (3rd).

Only Rodriguez out of the three put his hat in the ring for this competition. Rolland was too tired after the Giro and Van den Broeck was virtually invisible for the three weeks and didn't score a single mountain point. Rodriguez coming back from a serious injury suffered at the Giro had a go for it but was no match for young Rafal Majka.

White: Andrew Talansky (DNF), Thibaut Pinot (1st), Romain Bardet (2nd).

Close enough, and had he not crashed out, Talansky would very much have been in the mix. Got to think however that Pinot and Bardet will stake a claim to win it again next year.

Team: Tinkoff-Saxo (11th)

Tinkoff lost Contador and as a result their targets for the tour changed to stage wins. It meant some of their better riders losing big time one day in order to get in on breaks the next. Ag2R La Mondiale came as a bit of a surprise winning it, but should they have? With Jean-Christophe Péraud, Romain Bardet and Ben Gastauer (21st overall) all on the team it's little wonder they ended up at the top.

Most stage wins: Mark Cavendish (0)

Cav didn't even finish the first stage and so the duel between himself and Kittel was taken away with us leaving Kittel to sweep up 4 stage victories. Nibali also came through with four wins, a dominance I doubt anyone forseen even if they felt he could have still pipped Froome and Contador to the yellow jersey.

Stages: (In brackets is the actual winner)
1 - Mark Cavendish (Marcel Kittel)
2 - Alejandro Valverde (Vincenzo Nibali)
3 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)
4 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)
5 - Peter Sagan (Lars Boom)
6 - Sylvian Chavanel (André Greipel)
7 - Peter Sagan (Matteo Trentin)
8 - Rui Costa (Blel Kadri)
9 - Joaquim Rodriguez (Tony Martin)
10 - Alberto Contador (Vincenzo Nibali)
11 - Peter Sagan (Tony Gallopin)
12 - Jérémy Roy (Alexander Kristoff)
13 - Pierre Rolland (Vincenzo Nibali)
14 - Joaqium Rodriguez (Rafal Majka)
15 - Marcel Kittel (Alexander Kristoff)
16 - Nicolas Roche (Michael Rogers)
17 - Vincenzo Nibali (Rafal Majka)
18 - Vincenzo Nibali (Vincenzo Nibali)
19 - Peter Sagan (Ramunas Navardauskas)
20 - Tony Martin (Tony Martin)
21 - Marcel Kittel (Marcel Kittel)

5 correct out of 21, or 24%! It should be noted that I made these predictions on the morning of each stage hence why I didn't have Cavendish winning a stage beyond the first one despite prior to the tour picking him to win the most stages. But let's be honest, taking Kittel to win stages 3, 4 and the final one into Paris with Cavendish gone and his dominance apparent, was hardly a coup, and likewise taking Tony Martin to win the time-trial. In the mountains, the way he was riding, taking Nibali to win the queen stage on Hautacam was far from pushing the boat out either!

So keep this in mind when I return with picks for next years Tour.

The predictable final day

Stage 21: Évry to Paris Champs-Élysées, 137.5km. Flat.

The slow procession of bikes with hand shakes and clinks of champagne glasses followed by a ramping up of the speed onto the streets of Pairs and the final bunch sprint was inevitable, it always is. The closing ceremony of the big event with a little bit of fun at the end; like a Sunday club run in which a few lads have a dig at the speed signs before rolling home.

And yet a magical day anyway...the Eiffel Tower,  Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre; all as the backdrop for the greatest crit on earth. A few protagonists will try and get away to spice things up before the fastest men in the world get their reward for hauling their big frames over the mountains.

It all started three weeks ago on the dales of Yorkshire, England and ended on the smooth cobbles of the  Champs-Élysées. So different in many ways, and yet the result was still the same: A sprint victory for Marcel Kittel, the nailed on fastest man in the world now.

It's a day the rest of the bunch get to celebrate their completion of the tour. Stay upright and don't make some catastrophic mistake that will end all your hard work now. Lieuwe Westra knows this all too well having abandoned in Paris in last years Tour and second place man, Jean-Christophe Peraud almost came to the same fate when he crashed today only for Nibali to control the bunch and let him back on again. Nobody would want to see him lose his podium position in that manor.

Rather it is a day to enjoy the sights and the sounds and roll over the line after the sprinters with a satisfied look on your face or even your hands in the air. Vincenzo Nibali didn't even raise his arms as you thought he might. Instead his Astana team-mates patted him on the back, finally free of the burden of looking after their leader in this rolling pack of 164 that made it home to Paris.

Then there is the endless parade of riders to the podium. Not everyone gets to go up there and collect their completion medal, but it's not far off it. The stage winner, all the jersey winners, the most combatitive rider prize (Alessandro De Marchi), the winning team, and then the podium finishers. Lots of flowers, lots of podium girls, loads of Bernard Hinault, and plenty of cheers.

Nibali was the happiest man of the lot, no doubt, but the proudest? Well how do you measure such an individual accolade? Something tells me Cheng Ji, the first Chinese man ever to ride the Tour, and as such the first to finish it, will be just as proud as Nibali tonight despite finishing 6 hours, 2 minutes and 24 seconds behind him as Lanterne Rouge in dead last.

And then it's all over. Like a three week Christmas Day that suddenly ends on New Years morning and the realisation that the fun is all over, that it's back to the real world again for another year. Sure there's the Vuelta, the Worlds, the Giro di Lombardia and then, next spring, the Spring Classics and the Giro, but what's that old stupid cliche: The tour's the tour?

I'll now go and try throw together some review of the whole thing, some thoughts on it all and try put it into some kind of context with which to look back on...or at the very least give some favorite moments! Then it'll be the next stage of the tour: Tour withdrawal. Into the decompression chamber once more to help with my integration back into regular society!

Result:
1. Kittel (GIA) in 3h20'50"
2. Kristoff (KAT)
3. Navardauskas (GRS)
4. Greipel (LTB)
5. Renshaw (OPQ)
6. Eisel (SKY) all s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 89h59'06"
2. Peraud (ALM) +7'37"
3. Pinot (FDJ) +8'15"
4. Valverde (MOV) +9'40"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +11'24"
6. Bardet (ALM) +11'26"
7. Konig (TNE) +14'32"
8. Zubeldia (TFR) +17'57"
9. Ten Dam (BEL) +18'11"
10. Mollema (BEL) +21'15"

Points:
1. Sagan (CAN) 431 pts
2. Kristoff (KAT) 282 pts
3. Coquard (EUC) 271 pts

King of the Mountains:
1. Majka (TCS) 181 pts
2. Nibali (AST) 168 pts
3. Rodriguez (KAT) 112 pts

Yong rider:
1. Pinot (FDJ) in 90h07'21"
2. Bardet (ALM) +3'11"
3. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +1h13'40"

Teams:
1. AG2R La Mondiale in 270h27'02"
2. Belkin Pro Cycling +34'46"
3. Movistar Team +1h06'10"

Combatitive:
De Marchi (CAN)

Martin blizes time-trial; Nibali honours yellow; Frenchman sweep remainder of podium

Stage 20: Bergerac to Périgueux, 54km individual time-trial.

The man expected to win, did win and, thanks to his position in the general classification, had completed the job long before the battle that would garner all the attention got under way: The fight for the final podium positions. Tony Martin could well have gone back to his hotel, had a shower, a bite to eat and returned to the podium such was the certainty of his ride that nobody to come after would beat it, but instead he was made to sit beside the finishing line, watching various riders come up to the line and fall well short of his mark.

As a result however he got to enjoy the exciting climax to this years tour podium. Coming in, Vincenzo Nibali held such a lead that nothing short of a disaster would have put his Tour into jeopardy, but rather than play it safe and coast around, Nibali still went out hard, determined to honour the yellow jersey. The effort put him into fourth for the stage and resulted in him taking yet further time from those around him in the overall standings.

Nibali will ride into Paris with a 7minute, 52 second lead over the nearest man, the biggest winning margin in the Tour since Jan Ullrich beat Richard Virenque in 1997 by 9 minutes, 9 seconds. Thinking back to that day who would have though it would be the last (and only) time the then 23 year old Jan Ullrich would win the Tour de France and also the last time a Frenchman would stand on the podium...until now.

At least one podium spot was all but guaranteed between second place Thibaut Pinot and third place Jean-Christophe Péraud with Spaniard Aljeandro Valverde the only one who could potentially strip one place away from them, but it became evident early that Valverde wasn't going to be doing that. Valverde was the slowest of the top six and it soon became a battle between Pinot and Péraud to sort out which order they would stand on the podium. Pinot came in with a 13 second lead over his fellow countryman, but Péraud stormed off the starting ramp and had overturned the entire defect plus a further 12 seconds by the first time check at 19 kilometres.

Indeed, Péraud was the fastest of the main contenders at the first check taking 5 seconds from Tejay Van Garderen and 6 seconds from Nibali, but a bike change slowed his progress and he himself began to lose ground on that pair as the course wore on. By the second check Péraud was now well behind Nibali and Van Garderen and 24 seconds up on Pinot who had matched Péraud for pace, shy a single second.

By the third check Péraud had studied himself and put 36 seconds into Pinot's time and it was clear the elder statesman of the pair at 37 years of age would not only live out his dream by finishing on the podium but would do so in second place. He hit the line with the seventh best time on the day, 45 seconds better than the young Pinot.

Péraud broke down crying after the finish and Pinot will be satisfied with a top three. The French waited 17 years for someone to do this and two have come along at once. It's the first time two Frenchmen have finished on the podium since Laurent Fignon and Bernard Hinault in 1984.

It also had the potential to be the first time three Frenchmen finished in the top five since Charly Mottet, Luc Leblanc and Fignon in the 1991, but Romain Bardet struggled almost as badly as Valverde and, like his teammate, was forced to make a bike change. Unlike Péraud however, Bardet's change cost him: Van Garderen, who required 2'07" coming into the stage, put 2'09" into the youngster and took fifth place by a mere 2 seconds. It was like a miniature version of Fignon vs. LeMond all over again...the Frenchman losing out right on the final stretch to the American, albeit for minor placings this time.

And so Tony Martin could finally move away from the waiting area and onto the podium and head back to his hotel for a long overdue lie down. His ride was on another level to the rest. He beat Tom Dumoulin by 1 minute, 39 seconds, Jan Barta by 1'47" and was two seconds shy of putting two minutes into the yellow jersey. Still, Nibali won't mind; he proved himself the strongest over the three weeks as a whole and further illustrated that against his rivals today. He will coast into Paris tomorrow to win the Tour de France.

Result:
1. Martin (OPQ) in 1h6'21"
2. Dumoulin (GIA) +1'39"
3. Barta (TNE) +1'47"
4. Nibali (AST) +1'58"
5. Konig (TNE) +2'02"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +2'08"
Others
7. Péraud (ALM) +2'27"
12. Pinot (FDJ) +3'12"
26. Bardet (ALM) +4'17"
28. Valverde (MOV) +4'28"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 86h37'52"
2. Péraud (ALM) +7'52"
3. Pinot (FDJ) +8'24"
4. Valverde (MOV) +9'55"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +11'44"
6. Bardet (ALM) +11'46"

Pinot v Péraud v Valverde in the time-trial

Forget Vinenzo Nibali. He's won the Tour now. Nothing shy of serious mechanical trouble or a crash is going to stop him and so with the points, king of the mountains, and team competitions all settled, attention turns to the rest of the podium; the battle for 2nd and 3rd, separated between three men by just 15 seconds and with a 54km time-trial set to decide it.

Here is the current General Classification between the three protagonists of Valverde looking for his first Tour de France podium in six attempts, and Péraud and Pinot looking to become the first Frenchmen since Richard Virenque in 1997 to finish in the top 3:

Pinot
Péraud +13"
Valverde +15"

So who is going to make the most of this time-trial and grab second, or at least third? It's extremely hard to say. None of the three are time-trial specialists, but all of them have shown an ability to do well against the clock when required. In particular Valverde and Péraud who have won their national time-trial champions, with Valverde doing just that this year.

It's difficult to say who will be feeling the best on the day, who the course will suit the best and who has come out of the mountains with the most in their legs. The Pyrenees would suggest Pinot is going the best and Valverde the worst but that rarely stacks up in an individual time-trial.

The only evidence we can really look at is their past head-to-head action, and even that is circumstantial at best. It turns out they've done three time-trials in the Tour de France against one another before; two in 2012, one in 2013. There was a second time-trial in 2013 but Pinot had abandoned by then and Péraud crashed out during the warm-up for it.

Here's how the three time-trials stacked up:

2012 TOUR, STAGE 9, 41.5KM
29. Péraud in 55'03"
34. Valverde +22"
59. Pinot +1'33"

2012 TOUR, STAGE 19, 53.5KM
41. Pinot in 1h09'44"
76. Péraud +1'07"
113. Valverde +3'05"

2013 TOUR, STAGE 11, 33KM
13. Valverde in 38'41"
19. Péraud +10"
55. Pinot +1'16"

Each one of them going the fastest in one of the three. But you have to factor in what was happening at that moment in the Tour. Was one of them a GC contender, was any of them saving energy for a potential stage win instead, were they all feeling at their best? It's unlikely they done any of those three time-trials with the same mentality that they'll do this one tomorrow.

Yet it does give an interesting look and it is clear that they're all pretty close...exactly what we want given how close they also are on GC in this Tour.

There is one other benchmark with which to draw it again. A race far from the prestige of the Tour and a time-trial in which none of them stood to win a podium place but which all three competed as recently as this season: The Tour of the Basque country. It sorted itself as follows:

2014 TOUR OF BASQUE COUNTRY, 25.9KM
5. Péraud in 39'08"
8. Valverde +27"
10. Pinot +50"

Once again, there wasn't much between them.

It really is up for grabs, though if I had to come down off the fence for just a moment I'd stick my neck out and say Péraud will do enough to grab second and Valverde might do enough to take the third overall place. Or maybe they'll all finish on the exact same time and we'll wonder what a scenario that might have been had Nibali not been there!

Ramunas Navardauskas pulls out a result for desperate Garmin

Stage 19: Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour to Bergerac, 208.5km. Flat.

Ramunas Navardauskas, the man with the best sounding name in cycling, has ended the Garmin-Sharp teams miserable Tour by picking up a stage victory just three days from Paris. Things went south for Garmin when their team-leader on whom they had pinned all their hopes to the point that veteran team-member David Miller was not selected, abandoned the tour injured on stage 12. Attention turned to stage wins and no doubt the wish that Miller was present, but it was the man who was selected in his place, a potential domestique to Talansky, that came through and grabbed the win.

It was a miserable day all round. It should have been a day for bright faces and tired but happy bodies with the mountains now behind them for good, but the rain came hard and relentless to serve them a reminder as to the conditions they faced earlier in the race.

The tricky conditions as a result put everyone on high alert, nobody wanting to make a mistake now so close to completing the event. At first glance it appeared a stage made for the sprinters but the conditions offered hope to change that and there was also the caveat of a small category four climb close to the finish with which to hurt the already exhausted big sprinters.

That's where the pressure went on and quickly Marcel Kittel, the favorite to win had things all stayed together, lost contact. Peter Sagan immediately came to mind, but no matter what he has tried to do in this tour he's always fallen a little short. Today that happened again...though this time it was a literal fall about 3km from the finish that ended his hopes and now leaves the Slovak looking to a guaranteed pure sprinters day in Paris to come away with that illustrious stage win of this Tour to go with his green jersey.

The run-in to the finish and Navardauskas made his move, jumping off the front. He never gained a serious gap but his time-trialing ability was enough to throw the peloton into a panic and it didn't help them that many of the pure sprinters were no longer there. Leadout men had suddenly become the days stage contenders and the hesitation may have proven enough for Navardauskas to hold them off. One kilometre to go it remained touch and go but who wasn't willing him to hold on? And hold on he did...by seven good seconds.

Garmin, Tinkoff-Saxo and Sky all lost their main GC rider early in this Tour and all three eventually found themselves looking for stage wins to salvage something from it. Tinkoff came through in style in the mountains with three victories and today Garmin have got one for themselves. It's hard to see now, with just a time-trial and the sprint into Paris to come, where Sky are going to get that result.

Result:
1. Navardauskas (GRS) in 4h43'41"
2. Degenklob (GIA) +7"
3. Kristoff (KAT)
4. Renshaw (OPQ)
5. Bennati (TIN)
6. Petacchi (OPQ) all s.t.

Overall: No change.

Nibali rams home the final nail for fourth stage victory

Stage 18: Pau to Hautacam, 145.5km. High Mountains.

Nibali attacks on the lower slopes of Hautacam

Sunday, July 14, 1974 was the last time someone won four road stages in the Tour de France and went on to win the Yellow jersey. Indeed, only sprinters have done it since. That years Tour visited England also and a Frenchman, Raymond Poulidor, finished second. The winner that year was Eddy Merckx...this year, it's Vincenzo Nibali and once more it could be a Frenchman finishing in second.

Merckx ended up with eight stage victories that year including two time-trials and while that won't happen with Nibali the fact his victory today achieved something last seen 40 years ago only highlights how brilliant he has been in this years Tour.

Merckx beat Poulidor by a dominant 8 minutes, 4 seconds in '74 and today Nibali's stunning ride to win solo a-top Hautacam by a minute and ten seconds from Thibaut Pinot means he now carries a staggering 7 minutes, 10 seconds lead over the young Frenchman into the final two flat stages and individual time-trial.

It's set to become the largest winning margin (assuming you overlook Lance Armstrong's 7 minutes, 17 second victory over Joseba Beloki in 2002), since Jan Ullrich beat Richard Virenque by 9 minutes, 9 seconds in 1997, also the last time a Frenchman finished on the podium.

Baring an absolute disaster, Nibali is set to win this Tour and completing the triple crown of winning the Tour, Giro and Vuelta, joining just five men (Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault and Alberto Contador) to have done it. It will be the 9th top 10 finish in a Grand Tour for Nibali and at 29 years of age you figure it won't be the last.

But the celebration for those kinds of records can wait until Sunday for today it was all about ramming home the final nail into the coffin of everyone else's hopes with an attack on the lower slopes of Hautacam and a solo time-trial to the top. When Chris Horner, the man who beat Nibali to last years Vuelta crown by a handful of seconds, made his bid for a stage victory, Nibali jumped onto his wheel and eventually away from the aging American.

He hunted down the loan man still in the lead of the stage, Mikel Nieve of Sky, the team who would once again be denied a stage victory in a tour to forget for the British team, and ploughed on alone. Rafal Majka was forced to react because not only was Nibali ramming home his dominance in these mountain stages with another stage win and cementing his Tour success, he was also bidding to become the first man since Merckx, again, this time in 1970, to win the King of the Mountains title and the Yellow jersey title in the same year. Majka only needed to finish sixth and so relented in his pursuit once it became clear he wasn't going to catch Nibali and settled for third on the day behind Pinot who not only finished second but moved into second overall.

It was a big day for the French as not only did Alejandro Valverde squander his second place overall but he slipped off the podium with a bad final day in the high mountains. These Pyranees have proved to be a ridge too far for the Spaniard, despite their close proximity to his homeland, and the plucky French have worked him over.

After years of watching the Spanish soar ahead of their own to success in this race, the French will feel satisfied tonight. They wait 17 years for a Frenchman to finish on the podium again and it looks as though two may come along at once. Peraud is the other, the 36 year old former mountain biker turned roadie in only 2010 has seized the moment and given his time-trial ability may not be done with his rise up the standings.

A mere 15 seconds separate Pinot in second and Valverde in fourth with Peraud in the middle two seconds ahead of Valverde and it'll all come down to this 54 kilometre time-trial to officially sort them out. Peraud will likely be the favorite to take time on the other two, but how much remains to be seen. It'll be a real battle between Pinot and Valverde to grab that podium position and that drive may allow them to limit any potential loses.

One man who doesn't have to worry is Nibali though given the way he has rode this Tour from his victory on the rolling roads of England on stage 2, to his superb ride on the cobbles of stage 5, to his win in the medium mountains of the Vogues, to a solo win in the high Alps and another today in the high Pyrenees without putting a single foot wrong it has been one of the finest individual performances at the Tour in recent memory.

Part of me cannot help but think the loss of Froome and Contador has brought out this desire within him to show that he belongs where he is; that he has won this Tour de France regardless of whether they had been here or not. It's worth remembering that Nibali had a 2 minutes, 34 seconds lead on Contador the day he crashed out with all the mountains to come, and given the way he has continually attacked and never once looked in trouble, it's hard to see where he would have lost any of that time never mind some of it.

Nibali has shown himself to be a worthy champion the entire way around this three week race, aggressive yet classy; steeped in panache, and all he need do now is navigate his way safely into Paris in three days time to confirm it.

Result:
1. Nibali (AST) in 4h4'17"
2. Pinot (FDJ) +1'10"
3. Majka (TCS) +1'12"
4. Peraud (ALM) +1'15"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) s.t.
6. Bardet (ALM) +1'53"
Others:
10. Valverde (MOV) +1'59"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 80h45'45"
2. Pinot (FDJ) +7'10"
3. Peraud (ALM) +7'23"
4. Valverde (MOV) +7'25"
5. Bardet (ALM) +9'27"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +11'34"

Polka-Dot jersey wins in the high mountains

Stage 17: Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet 124.5km. High Mountains.

A Tour de France is always that little bit better when the Polka-Dot jersey wins a stage in the high mountains. I've memories of seeing Claudio Chiappucci and Richard Virenque doing it years ago and in recent years, Thomas Voeckler, so it was nice today to see Rafal Majka get clear of what was left over from the days early break to make it happen again. And how he needed his second stage win of this years Tour because for a while it looked as though Joaquim Rodriguez might take the jersey off his shoulders having took enough points to lead the competition on the road going onto the final climb.

The days break...or should I say, second break after the one that went before the climbing started was caught on the first climb thanks to a ferocious pace being set by the bunch right from the gun on a stage that only measured 124.5km in length but which had three category one and one Hors Category climb in which to crest.

It was virtually impossible to keep track of everything going on as they continued over each climb. Different riders would attack, some would then be caught, others would attack and the large group that once contained 22 riders including Pierre Rolland, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Frank Schleck, Jakob Fuglsang, Bauke Mollema, Nicolas Roche, Joaquim Rodriguez, Rafal Majka and Vasil Kiryienka, was soon scattered all across the Pyrenees.

It was the later, Kiryienka who made his bid for glory, like yesterday, attempting to be the man to salvage something from this nightmare Tour for Team Sky, but the attempt came to nothing when he was later picked up by a charging Rodriguez and Majka, desperate for King of the Mountains points. Attacks continued but all eyes were by now on the men behind as Bardet made an attempt to get rid of Pinot on the final descent of the day. He gained about 30 seconds on the yellow jersey group but was swept up onto the final climb to the Pla d'Adet.

It was on this climb that Rafal Majka made his move. One of the remnants of the days break, he had managed to reel in efforts by Nicolas Roche and Giovanni Visconti and was soon riding solo to the finish once again. With a second place on stage 13 and a win on stage 14 already in the bag, Majka was sealing the Polka-Dot jersey and handing Tinkoff-Saxo their third individual stage victory of the Tour and second in as many days after Michael Rogers had won yesterday. Majka was only a last minute call-up to the team to replace Roman Kreuziger, and had been reluctant to go having had a big Giro back in May. It was evident early he wasn't there to contend as he lost a lot of time on the early stages but it was that time loss that perhaps secured him the freedom to go up the road as often as he has in the high mountains.

Behind the yellow jersey group was shrinking, but the main five protagonists as it has now become...or four if you discard Nibali from them as the shoe in winner come Paris. Valverde, Pinot, Peraud and Bardet, each watching the other with half an eye on Nibali. And it was Nibali who struck first. Only Peraud could follow and the rest once again went into loss limiting mode. Their biggest worry was Peraud who in recent days has looked the strongest of the three Frenchmen to perhaps grab a podium place behind Nibali and Valverde.

And that is assuming Valverde retains his second place. The Spaniard lost contact to Bardet and Pinot at one point though did come back strong in the final kilometre to pass them both and gain five seconds. But five seconds gained to them was 49 seconds lost to Peraud who finished on the wheel of the yellow jersey.

There was no change to the positioning of the top five overall, but Peraud pulled within 8 seconds of Pinot for that final podium placing and is now just 42 seconds from Valverde.

Valverde will have to do something on tomorrow's final mountain stage to Hautacam because Peraud is a strong time-trialist and could gain serious time. The Spaniard will have to attack tomorrow and hope that those behind him in the GC have a bad day. It'll make for an intriguing race and it should set up that time-trial nicely. Baring absolute disaster however Nibali is secure in first, though all those behind him have had their troubles through the mountains and he has not, yet!

The man of the day however was Majka. He timed his moves perfectly and he didn't panic when Rodriguez seemed to be taking control of the King of the Mountains contest out on the road; he took the big points where it mattered, he crossed the line in the high mountains with the mountains jersey on his back, and he only has one more big day to survive in order to win a jersey from a race he didn't think he'd even be riding a month ago.

Result:
1. Majka (TCS) in 3h35'23"
2. Visconti (MOV) +29"
3. Nibali (AST) +46"
4. Peraud (ALM) s.t.
5. De Marchi (CAN) +49"
6. Rolland (EUC) +52"
Others:
10. Valverde (MOV) +1'35"
11. Pinot (FDJ) +1'40"
12. Bardet (ALM) s.t.
13. Van Garderen (BMC) s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 76h41'28"
2. Valverde (MOV) +5'26"
3. Pinot (FDJ) +6'
4. Peraud (ALM) +6'08"
5. Bardet (ALM) +7'34"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +10'19"

Rogers gets his win at last

Stage 16: Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon, 237.5km. High Mountains.

It was the 15 July, 2007, stage 8 of the Tour de France on the road from Le-Grand-Bornand to Tignes and crossing the Cormet de Roselend among others. Michael Rogers was in the break, was bidding to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France and was looking for the first, of what would surely become many, stage wins in his career. He was 27 years of age; he was in the form of his life.

As anyone who followed the sport back then or has read about its history will have known, Rogers didn't win the Tour that year...he didn't win a stage that year, and hasn't won a stage any year. Any year that is, until this year...yesterday.

On that fateful day for the Australian seven years ago he crashed on the descent of the Roseland and had to abandon the Tour. When he crashed he was the virtual leader on the road, leading by more than the 4 minutes, 3 seconds he trailed his team-mate, Linus Gerdemann by in Yellow by and certainly more than the two and one second defects he trailed Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans by respectively. All the other contenders had come into the stage behind him on time.

Michael Rasmussen went on to win that stage by almost three and a half minutes over the other contenders and it put him into yellow. Rasmussen held the jersey until four days to go when, despite looking certain to win the Tour, his team took him out of the race for "violating internal rules" and suspicions of drug use. Time would confirm all this but it essentially handed the tour to a young Alberto Contador while Rogers watched on television.

But in spite of his bad fortune and lost attempt, many felt he'd be back again in the future and nobody could have foreseen him having to wait until now to win a stage.

But by the start of 2014 had you asked most people they'd have felt his chance to win a stage had long since past. The positive test for Clenbuterol at the very tail end of last season had looked to have ruled him out for at least this year and at 33 years of age, his career was on the ropes. But Rogers overcame. He was able to prove that the Clenbuterol was the result of tainted meat he had eaten in China and the case against him was dropped and his suspension lifted. His first race back was the Giro d'Italia and he wasted no time and being thankful for what he suddenly had again: The opportunity to race. He won two stages including the Queen stage up the mighty Zoncolan.

It seemed like a fine cap to a fine career, one from which he also overcame the 2007 crash and then the long setback from Glandular Fever, to transition into becoming one of the most reliable super domestiques in the pro-peloton. He became the road captain of Team Sky during the 2012 Tour de France and helped Bradley Wiggins to becoming the first British winner of the Tour; something he had hoped to do as an Australian in that 2007 Tour only for the honour to go the way of Cadel Evans in 2010.

From there his services were acquired by what is now the Tinkoff-Saxo team, to do for Alberto Contador what he did for Wiggins. Last year they fell short to Chris Froome, but hopes were high coming into 2014 until Contador crashed out on stage 10. It was Rogers was one of the first back to help his team leader, pacing him to try regain contact with the peloton only for Contador to pat the captain on the back and tell him he could no longer go on, but thank you for the service.

Rogers was now in the hunt for a stage win. Two Giro stages and why not a Tour stage to complete the dramatic turnaround of what looked for so long like a lost 2014 season. Today's stage was ideal for him...he got in the early break and the peloton let it go. It gained well over ten minutes at one point and it soon became clear the winner was coming from it. Still, Michal Kwiatkowski was there, two Sky riders were in on the act trying to save their tour, and there was Thomas Voeckler, two times winner into Luchon in the past and the bookies favorite once the break had established.

By the time they summited the HC ranked Port de Balès and began their descent to the finish the large group had reduced to just three: Rogers, Voeckler and José Serpa. Vasili Kiryienka and Cyril Gautier joined them on the way down, but Rogers had the bit between his teeth. When Europcars' Gautier attacked on the way down, his team-mate Voeckler couldn't chase and the window opened for Rogers. He jumped across and then beyond Gautier and was suddenly alone as he entered the town and went under the 3km banner. The four behind regrouped and attempted to chase but it was too late.

Rogers had time to sit up and milk the moment and to no doubt think about 2007, about the hopes he had then, about how long it had been since, and about finally winning a stage of the Tour, something he later confirmed he had dreamed about all his life. He took a bow as he crossed the line and punched the air once more. Michael Rogers had won a stage of Le Tour and looks as good now as he ever has since that crash on the Roseland seven years before.

---

One other point of note: Tour de France cyclists tend to be pretty hard: Yes there is what they go through every day just to finish a stage, but beyond that there is the injuries that some try to ride with just to get through. Take Alberto Contador, riding on for 25km after breaking his tibia, or Geraint Thomas last year, riding the majority of the 3 weeks on a broken pelvis. Now Reto Hollestein has thrown his 'hard hat' in the ring: He crashed yesterday and punctured a lung but with the medical car nowhere to be seen he remounted and finished the stage through the mountains...with a PUNCTURED LUNG!

Chapeau to that man.

Result:
1. Rogers (TIN) in 6h 07'10"
2. Voeckler (EUC) +9"
3. Kiryienka (SKY) s.t.
4. Serpa (LAM) s.t.
5. Gautier (EUC) s.t.
6. Van Avarmaet (BMC) +13"
Others:
7. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +36"
17. Pinot (FDJ) +8'32"
18. Valverde (MOV) s.t.
19. Peraud (ALM) s.t.
20. Nibali (AST) s.t.
30. Bardet (ALM) +10'22"
37. Van Garderen (BMC) +12'08"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 73h 05'19"
2. Valverde (MOV) +4'37"
3. Pinot (FDJ) +5'06"
4. Peraud (ALM) +6'08"
5. Bardet (FDJ) +6'40"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +9'25"

Three Frenchmen in the top six...all targeting the podium; it's a great sign for cycling

With a week left in this Tour de France there are three Frenchmen in the top six; it is something we haven't seen for years and it raises serious prospects of at least one of them, if not more, making the final podium in Paris. Unfortunately for them there is also Vincenzo Nibali, who at this moment is in complete control of the yellow jersey and baring a disaster of Froome, Contador, or on the road, of Porte proportions, it looks as though only two of the three spots are up for grabs.

It's three Frenchmen against one American against one Spaniard and ignoring Nibali, here is the top five on GC fighting for second and third.

2. Valverde (Spain)
3. Bardet (France) +13"
---
4. Pinot (France) +29"
5. Van Garderen (USA) +1'12"
6. Péraud (France) +1'31"

And for what it is worth, another Frenchman, Pierre Rolland is in tenth, 6'11" behind Valverde. It was Rolland whom a few years ago might have been seen as the future hope of French cycling to break what has become a long podium drought, but who has since been overtaken by these three Frenchman in the pecking order...at this tour, at least.

The last time a Frenchman finished in the top three of the Tour de France was Richard Virenque in 1997. Before that was Virenque again in 1996, Laurent Fignon in 1989, Jean-François Bernard in 1987, Bernard Hinault in 1986 and Hinault once more in 1985 when he won it for a fifth time.

Seventeen years. And all of them in the pre-Festina affair era.

It's widely accepted that post that 1998 scandal, French cycling clamped down on rampant doping within its teams' structures. The law tightened and the idea became a big no-no among young riders. Of course, there could always have been some taking the risk, but the French moved to the forefront of anti-doping in a way the Spaniards, Italians, Americans and others did not and in doing so they moved to the rear of cycling's big hitters on the result sheets.

French cycling fans changed from hoping to see a French winner of their Grand Tour to hoping to simply see a stage winner. The hero's of the likes of Hinault and Fignon were gone and it was plucky stage riders who showed enormous heart and fighting spirit that became the new hero's of their nation. The likes of Thomas Voeckler.

But the nation has still longed for the day someone would come along and compete again to win the Tour. Note the reaction in France when Voeckler stole all those minutes from a breakaway on stage 9 of the 2011 Tour de France and almost clung on for the victory, losing his yellow jersey to Andy Schleck and then Cadel Evans with just three stages to go. His fighting spirit as he rode in the mountains like he ought not to have, won over the hearts of many, but many knew that it was a fleeting attempt, that Voeckler would never get such a chance again.

Rolland finished 11th that year (later upgraded to 10th when Contador had his result stripped) and won on Alpe d'Huez -- the same day Voeckler lost the jersey -- and with it came the weight of a nation to push on. He was 24 years of age at the time but since then has only bettered his final overall placing once in 2012 when he finished 8th.

A year later while all eyes were on Rolland, a young 22 year old Thibaut Pinot won a mountain stage to Porrentruy and finished 10th in the GC; second to Tejay Van Garderen in the white jersey competition. Pinot v Van Garderen looked like a prelude to a new rivalry one day for yellow...a flashback to LeMond v Fignon, and which today makes up two of the five going for second and third.

Seeing French cycling on the up again with names like Pinot coming through followed by Bardet, expected to be followed by Warren Barguil -- who some think is the most talented of the lot and who won a stage in last years Vuelta aged 21 -- is a good sign for cycling. That staunch anti-doping approach by French law and French cycling seen a nation left behind as other nationalities continued to win in a post-Festina affair cycling world.

Now however with the tide in attitudes in the pro-peloton changing, with those cycling clean overtaking the numbers of those cycling dirty and a young wave of talent coming in, French cycling is once again able to compete where maybe it always should have had things been fair. The likes of Bardet and Pinot born a generation later than someone like Christophe Bassons should count themselves fortunate.

And there's one other in that trio going for the podium that highlights this culture change that has allowed French cycling to thrive again, best: Jean-Christophe Péraud. Unlike Pinot and Bardet, Péraud is an old man of the peloton...37 years of age. A mountain biker who only turned to the road full-time in the 2010 season aged 33, the Frenchman should be slowing down with age but is only getting better.

He was 9th in his first Tour in 2011, fell back to 44th in 2012, but was again sitting 9th in 2013 when a crash on the final time-trial forced him to abandon. He was 3rd in Paris-Nice last year and this year placed 4th in Tirreno-Adriatico, 3rd in the Tour of the Basque Country, 2nd in the Tour Méditerranéen, and 1st in the Critérium International.

Péraud would never have arrived into road cycling in any previous era at that age and been competitive at the front end of races. He certainly would not have landed into a tour ten year ago, even aged 27 and found himself competing for a podium place -- as he is in this years Tour -- against the likes of Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich as we now know how they where. The question though isn't therefore whether he's getting better, but rather whether everyone else is that little bit more normal? Has a race that would have been impossible for him to win in his prime riding clean -- which as a staunch anti-doper, he is -- suddenly within reach into his mid-30s?

It may be the best sign of the lot that cycling is improving itself for the good. Some will always cheat but in tackling the issue properly, cycling has opened the door to the French once again and Péraud exemplifies that opportunity, and we're all the better for it. There are some who believe he could have won the Tour in his pomp had he been racing against a clean field but perhaps for that reason he never made the switch until much later.

That said, it isn't the swing towards a cleaner sport that has exclusively opened the door to the French again; talent plays a large roll too. French cycling appears to have hit a golden generation and lets hope it works out for them. Péraud may be showing what is possible now, even at his age, but the likes of Pinot, Bardet, Barguil, even Rolland, have the best opportunity to seize it.

This Sunday, all being well, one of Pinot, Bardet or Péraud, or perhaps two of them, will stand on the podium in Paris and the shadow of Virenque will be wiped away at last. A line drawn and a real opportunity for the French and all of us to look forward with serious optimism.

The agony of defeat and the extacy of victory is a fine line at Le Tour

Stage 15: Tallard to Nîmes, 222km. Flat.

The best way I could describe the Tour de France if given just two words would be Beautiful Brutality; or maybe Glorious Suffering, though I think it was the former that best summed up yesterday's stage. Beautiful countryside (albeit terrible weather), a beautiful ride by the breakaway duo of Jack Bauer and Martin Elmiger, and the brutal manor of their catch, less then 50 metres from the line.

Perhaps Agony and Ecstasy would be two words to sum the Tour up also. For while it was Bauer suffering the Agony of such a defeat -- snatched away from him in the final metres by the surging sprinters after hundreds of kilometres up the road, leading the stage, biding for his first ever Tour de France stage win -- it was ecstasy for Alexander Kristoff who led the race for a mere dozen or two metres and won his second stage of this Tour.

It is a beautiful race but so brutal at the same time. It's why we watch; it is why we regard them as the finest athletes on the planet and it is why this race holds so much appeal. It takes place in the greatest stadium in all of sport -- the backdrop of an entire nation, from flatland's to rolling hills to high mountains -- and yet the suffering required in order to just finish it, is beyond the majority of our comprehensions.

And the action itself is edge of the seat, especially the final kilometres on stages like this. Watching the time gap between the bunch and the break and trying to figure whether they will make it. Such a scenario is becoming a rare sight at the Tour thanks to race radios able to allow the bunch to time its catch safely so as to set up the sprint trains for the big gallop, but today, with the bad weather, tired legs and difficult winds, they almost left it too late. With the gap at 30 seconds with 2 kilometres to go, it looked good for Bauer and Elmiger. Even with 500m to go they appeared to have enough. And then Bauer jumped and Elmiger had nothing left.
Just when you thought surely the road had run out and his arms could go up, he was swept away, collapsing over the line in exhaustion and tears while Kristoff celebrated.

That's cycling sometimes. We all felt bad for Bauer...we all hope he'll get his win one day...but we were all entertained at the same time...it's why we love this sport.

Result:
1. Kristoff (KAT) in 4h 56'43"
2. Haussler (IAM)
3. Sagan (CAN)
4. Greipel (LTB)
5. Renshaw (OPQ)
6. Coquard (EUC) all s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 66h 49'37"
2. Valverde (MOV) +4'37"
3. Bardet (ALM) +4'50"
4. Pinot (FDJ) +5'06"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +5'49"
6. Péraud (ALM) +6'08"

Majka makes it stick this time; Nibali takes more time

Stage 14: Grenoble to Risoul, 177km. High Mountains.

I first really noticed Rafal Majka at this years Giro when the young 24 year old Polish rider burst onto the scene and finished in sixth overall with some big displays in the mountains, though in hindsight, his seventh place the year before should have been better remembered. And when I seen that, unlike any of those that finished around him in this years Giro with the exception of Pierre Rolland, that he would be lining up for the Tour de France, I sensed he was selected exclusively to help Contador where he could in the mountains. That was proven to be the case when he lost a heap of time over the first week of the race, saving what energy he could, but when his team leader crashed out on stage 10 and Saxo-Tinkoff went into Tour salvage mode, his objectives changed to winning them a stage.

Yesterday he made that bid for glory only for Vincenzo Nibali to swallow himself and fellow escapee, Leopold Konig, up in the closing kilometres to the summit at Chamrousse. Today he tried again. It could have been easy to wait until the Pyaranees, but he must have felt good. He got in the days early break and made his move on the final summit finish.

When news crackled over his radio that Nibali had once again dropped his rivals -- all except Péraud, that is -- and was on the chase, Majka must have feared the worst. But Nibali's sudden surge aside, the time didn't fall quickly enough and Majka was able to hold on to win solo -- his first Tour de France stage win -- in superb style at Risoul.

Not only has Majka shown himself to be a star of the future, one who if sent to target the Tour could well finish in the top five one day, or better, but he has gotten a little pride back for his team after the loss of Contador.

Further down the road a similar scene to the day before was playing out: Nibali up the road and the two young Frenchmen, Bardet and Pinot chasing, desperate to become the first Frenchman since Richard Virenque in 1997 to finish on the podium of their home race. Unlike yesterday however, they were together coming up to the line and the sprint to finish a mere fourth on the stage showed all the signs of trying to gain the psycological edge. Pinot took it but remains 16 seconds behind Bardet for third place overall.

Nibali may be wrapping up the victory in this Tour but the scramble for the podium is going to be fascinating in the coming week. Alejandro Valverde showed his first signs of serious weakness on the stage when he cracked and lost 34 seconds to the two young Frenchmen and one minute to Nibali, though he did just enough to keep his second place over Bardet by 13 seconds. Still, he'll need to recover quickly or the two Frenchmen won't have to worry about one of them being the first Frenchman onto the podium for 17 years.

So 29 seconds separates second, third and fourth with Tejay Van Garderen a further 43 seconds back in fifth and looking stronger by the day. Don't count the American out. He's been steady throughout these stages and he has kept himself in the mix. Given the bad day we seen from Richie Porte and then, less dramatically so, Valverde today, it's clear that anyone could have a bad one in the high mountains and it could well be about who limits their losses rather than who gains what on the rest that truly dictates who follows Nibali onto the podium in Paris.

And all that is, of course, assuming Nibali himself doesn't have a bad day. Stranger things have happened in this sport and it is why the rest must not ignore him while they look at one another entirely. It is also why Nibali is making his hay now while the proverbial sun of good form shines upon him.

Result:
1. Majka (TIN) in 5h 8'27"
2. Nibali (AST) +24"
3. Péraud (ALM) +26"
4. Pinot (FDJ) +50"
5. Bardet (ALM) s.t.
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +54"
Others:
10. Valverde (MOV) +1'24"
27. Porte (SKY) +5'16"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 61h 52'54"
2. Valverde (MOV) +4'37"
3. Bardet (ALM) +4'50"
4. Pinot (FDJ) +5'06"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +5'49"
6. Péraud (ALM) +6'08"

SHARK ATTACK IN THE ALPS

Stage 13: Saint-Étienne to Chamrousse, 197.5km. High Mountains

Today was, pure and simply, a demonstration. Vincenzo Nibali came into today's stage with a 2 minutes, 23 seconds lead in this Tour de France and he'd have been forgiven for playing the defensive game on this the first high mountains stage of the 2014 race; for simply marking his rivals and not losing any time. It was the way Miguel Indurain won five titles after all. But not Nibali. This Italian, destined it would seem to become just the 6th man to win all three Grand Tours, went on the attack. The Shark as he is known, tore his rivals to shreds on the slope to Chamrousse and came out with a 3 minutes, 37 seconds lead over his nearest rival, Alejandro Valverde, in the overall standings.

It was an emphatic third stage win for Nibali in this years race and despite the knowledge that there are so many hard, high mountain stages still to come and that this was just the first trip into the high mountains, it's hard to see him losing the Tour now.

It has become a one man race and while that might ordinarily be cause for concern for the entertainment value of what is left, with Nibali it is anything but. You just know the man is going to continue to put on a show while he feels good and that he has no intentions of stopping on three stage wins.

The suggestion that he could win this Tour by double figures in minutes is not inconceivable, and I hope he does. Yes it's great when the showdown for Yellow comes down to the second to last day, as it is in the Tour, but sometimes you have to admire greatness also. This is a man who won on the rolling hills of Yorkshire, who laid the foundations for a Tour victory on the cobbles of northern Frace, who won on the low mountains of the Vogues and who today he's going to stop now.

Of course one look at the disastrous day that befell Riche Porte and you're quickly reminded how eaily it can all unravel. The new Team Sky leader had hoped today might be the point from which he took a strangle hold on the podium and perhaps put Nibali into trouble, but he cracked early on the final climb and came in almost 9 minutes down on the Astana rider; his GC aspirations in tatters.

Could the same happen to Nibali on one of these tough mountain stages? It could, but then again, unlike Porte, Nibali has won Grand Tours before; he knows what it takes. Nibali could have a bad day, but so could all his rivals and the way this Tour is going, one or two of them almost certainly will. Those behind him on the GC should in theory keep attacking in the hopes it forces him into a bad day and opens the door for one of them again, but the reality is likely different.

The fear now is that the French trio of Bardet, Pinot and Péraud, along with the Spaniard, Valverde and American, Van Garderen will now ignore Nibali and mark one another in a battle to get onto the final two spots of the podium. The idea of that battle in itself is intriguing, but the net result could be Nibali sailing off into the distance on several stages while they look at one another to take up the chase. Only 1 minute, 3 seconds separates Valverde in 2nd, Bardet in 3rd and Pinot in 4th with Van Garderen and Péraud within 2 minutes of Valverde.

Given that we haven't had a Frenchman on the podium of the Tour de France since Richard Virenque in 1997 there is going to be a lot of pressure for one of the three that have suddenly arrived in contention now to deliver the goods.

Then again, there hasn't been an Italian winner since Marco Pantani in 1998 either and Nibali has dealt with that pressure in supreme fashion.

Result:
1. Nibali (AST) in 5h 12'29"
2. Majka (TIN) +10"
3. Konig (NET) +11"
4. Valverde (MOV) +50"
5. Pinot (FDJ) +53"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +1'23"
7. Bardet (ALM) s.t.
Others:
9. Péraud (ALM) +2'09"
27. Porte (SKY) +8'48"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 56h 44'03"
2. Valverde (MOV) +3'37"
3. Bardet (ALM) +4'24"
4. Pinot (FDJ) +4'40"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +5'19"
6. Péraud (ALM) +6'06"

Sagan second again

Stage 12: Bourg-en-Bresse to Saint-Étienne, 185.5km. Rolling.

Alexander Kristoff, winner of what was supposed to be Peter Sagan's Milan-San Remo earlier in the year, picked up his first ever Tour de France stage victory today in a reduced-bunch sprint that was without Marcel Kittel (dropped on the final climb) and Andre Greipel (crashed with 3km to go) and which, we thought, was supposed to be Peter Sagan's first stage victory of this Tour. Yes it was that man he beat into second that grabbed the headlines away from Kristoff's big day.

Peter Sagan.

The Slovak has now finished 2nd on four different occasions in this Tour behind Marcel Kittel (twice), Matteo Trentin and now Kristoff; he's finished 4th on three occasions on stages won by Vincenzo Nibali, Kittel and Lars Boom; and he's finished 5th once when Andre Greipel won. He's watched as each one of these men have hit their stride to beat him and then gone away again while he maintains an unparalleled level of consistency in stage finishes, without being able to go up that one position.

Potentially speaking had Sagan been able to put it together as it looked like he might coming into the final kilometres over this first week and a half, we could be looking at a man with six or seven or more stage wins in this Tour. Yet he has none and it's hard to put a finger on why?

At first glance it would seem that Sagan is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. He is not a pure sprinter in the Kittel/Cavendish mold but just a step below; able to win when it is a slightly reduced field but often beat into second or third when it is a full bunch sprint. He can climb well on the short sharp hills but cannot stay with the pure climbers in the high mountains. He's decent against the clock but never one to win a time-trial and he's an excellent classics rider, always in the mix and regarded as one of the worlds best, but he's never won a Monument. Even going downhill there is nobody who can match him, but then again the Tour has yet, unfortunately, to implement a downhill time-trial into its repertoire.

He is supremely consistent -- hence two green jersey titles to his name in his first two Tours de France, and baring disaster a third is on its way -- but he's quickly becoming the stage race version of what Raymond Poulidor was to the GC: The eternal second. But he is only 24 years of age. His best years should still be in front of him, his sprint should get quicker, his tactical nous sharper and his all-round race craft more honed. When this happens then these results that seem to be just a place or two in front of him will come thick and fast.

Take Sean Kelly as an example. A prolific winner throughout his career who had all the attributes that Sagan is striving for, but it is worth remembering that at the same age as Sagan is now Kelly had not yet won a Monument classic either, nor had he won a green jersey in the Tour. (He did finish 4th in the Vuelta aged 24). Kelly won four Tour stages in his first four Tours before taking his first of four green jersey competitions in his fifth at the age of 26. Kelly then never won another Tour de France stage, likening the Green jersey to having a target on your back. He became a marked man and the man others would look for to close a gap, especially in a stage not fully designed for the purest of sprinters.

And then Sagan: He won three stages in his first Tour in 2012 aged 22 and another last year, and on both occasions he won the green jersey competition. He is winless in this years tour but the big question is whether this is just a freak year when little things have conspired against him or whether he has become a victim of his young success? Whether he now has the target on his back that Kelly once carried?

Note stages 2, 5, 7, 11 and 12 of this Tour. None contained the likes of Kittel and yet Sagan finished 5th, 4th, 2nd, 9th and 2nd in each respectively. He was the favorite to win them once the selection of contenders had been made and yet he was worked over by the rest (with the exception of stage 5 on the pave perhaps when Astana went to the front and he failed to go with them). His team would ride hard throughout a lot of those stages looking to bring back a break and they got little help from the other teams who knew it was Sagan who was best suited to win. That left him isolated late on and when late attacks came the rest looked to Sagan to bring them back. They knew he would feel obliged to chase, and when he did, someone else would go.

Stage 7 in particular stands out. Greg Van Avermaet made his move over the top of the final climb, the Côte de Boufflers, and Sagan knew the rest would look to him to bring him back...all willing to gamble on losing the stage than to bring it back only for the Slovak to win the sprint. And so Sagan felt the only thing he could do was go with Van Avermaet than risk seeing him stay away to win. The dilemma then reared up when the rest began the chase and when it became clear that they wouldn't stay away, Sagan had to sit up and recover quickly for a sprint he would probably have preferred to begin with. The net result was that his legs didn't recover enough...by the distance of about half an inch which is what Trentin beat him by in the photo finish.

The opposite script played itself out on stage 11 when he again went clear on the descent, this time with Michal Kwiatkowski and Michael Rogers. Sagan did the big pulls on the front to try and bring back loan escapee, Tony Gallopin but when they did and there was a lull in a group with only a few seconds lead over the peloton, Gallopin jumped again and again the rest looked to Sagan. Had he chased him he risked burning another match while the rest saved themselves on his wheel, but this time he looked to the others and the bunch swept them up and this time the loan move stayed clear and Gallopin won the stage. It seemed that Kwiatkowski preferred to risk losing than to risk allowing Sagan the chance to win. Only had Sagan done the leg work did Kwiatkowski feel it was worth going for glory. Or so it seemed.

A victim of his own success indeed.

It would appear the only way out of his for Sagan is to gamble right back at his rivals a little bit more, just like he did on that 11th stage. The next time someone goes clear late he needs to let them go again. Let someone else chase and if they don't then accept the defeat. The moment he loses a few more times like that the rest will quickly realise that they cannot always look to him, and his team, to do the chasing.

The only problem here is that this should have been the strategy in the first week because if it had, then by now he might be finding a win or two coming his way. Now however the number of stages that suit him for a victory are decreasing and the desperation to get a single win is probably going to override the desire to start playing a cat and mouse game with the rest.

Still, who doesn't love watching Sagan race? To curb that aggressive style as a tactical move to initiate more stage wins may look better on the palmares, but it would also take something away from his character...you don't imagine it would bring him the same satisfaction. Sagan is clearly an aggressive rider by nature, unwilling to sit in on the bunch if the chance to attack, even on a descent, presents itself, even willing to go up the road on a mountain stage just to collect the intermediate sprint points in a competition he has already won. Even if he'd known the outcome of stage 7 or 12, the simple desire to drop the pack on a descent may have proven to be too good a challenge for Sagan to refuse. Sagan is a larger than life character; see the no-handed wheelie up the final ramp to La Planche des Belles Filles on stage 10.

It's all of this -- his aggression, his character, his constant presence in the thick of the action -- as much as his actual race victories that are going to make him one of the most highly paid cyclists on the planet next year.

I just hope he figures it out, ideally without changing much about his style, and the wins come. And age suggests he will, often, and his palmares will only expand as time goes by. I think we'd all love to see the results measure up to the abundantly obvious young talent we've been given the pleasure to enjoy, but not at expense of the entertainment.

Result:
1. Kristoff (KAT) in 4h32:11
2. Sagan (CAN)
3. Demare (FDJ)
4. Albasini (ORI)
5. Navardauskas (GAR)
6. Trentin (OPQ) all s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 51h31:34
2. Porte (SKY) +2:23
3. Valverde (MOV) +2:47
4. Bardet (ALM) +3:01
5. Pinot (FDJ) +3:47
6. Van Garderen (BMC) +3:56

First yellow, now a stage win

Stage 11: Besançon to Oyonnax, 187.5km. Rolling.

It's turning into quite the Tour de France for Frenchman Tony Gallopin. He thought he had hit his career high a few days ago when on stage 9 he picked up the Yellow jersey as part of a breakaway that maintained enough time over Vincenzo Nibali to wrestle the leaders jersey away from the Italian, but now, after losing that jersey within 24 hours of picking it up, Gallopin has added a stage victory, and a fine one at that.

Gallopin looked like he had blown his chances when his late attack on the stage was caught by the fast charging Peter Sagan, Mick Rogers and Michal Kwiatkowski on the descent into the final, but he steadied himself for a moment and kicked again. Did he know that the others would look to Sagan -- the natural winner had it come to a group sprint -- would be forced to chase and that there was a chance he may not? If he did it was a stroke of genius.

The main pack of riders, reduced significantly because of the small climbs in the run-in towards the finish, was breathing down their necks and there wasn't much time for hesitation. Peter Sagan is the one they all look to and this was the second time he's drifted off the front of the peloton on a descent towards the finish and the second time he's failed to convert it into a victory. The last time he expended just a fraction too much energy trying to stay away only to get caught and lose the sprint to Matteo Trentin by the width of his tire. This time he must have remembered that and refused to take up the chase. The result however was a catch by the bunch but an inability for that bunch to then catch Gallopin.

The Frenchman, back in the colours of Lotto Belisol, had just enough time to throw his arms in the air and enjoy the moment as he breezed over the line with the bunch on him. They came past him...but only after he had finished.

He was given the same time as the bunch and anyone looking at the record books may think he simply won a bunch sprint, but it was much more than that. A daring bid for glory that came off. A superb win by the man who's become a French hero and who is having a Tour to remember.

But while it was all roses for the French, it was the Americans who were suffering. Their hero and projected podium contender, Andrew Talansky, was mired in a day of suffering. He went off the back early -- suffering from a lingering injury collected from crashed on consecutive stages leading into the rest day. On stage 10 it cost him over 10 minutes on Nibali, but today he crawled in more than 32 minutes down.

At one point he stopped and climbed off the bike. Retirement appeared inevitable, but after a chat with his director sportif, Robbie Hunter, he got back on the bike and tried to battle on. Hunter confirmed later that the decision was entirely Talansky's and the team would have supported him in whatever he decided to do, but ploughed on...refusing to quit the tour in front of the cameras pushed his pride onto the saddle again.

It may have looked as though this suffering hero was straggling off the back at a slow pace, risking a meeting with the elimination time, but looking at the time it took for him to finish the stage, Talansky rode the 187.5km stage at 37.7km/h; significantly faster than most of us could on a ride half that length while feeling fully fit.

It was a testament to the ability of these athletes, not to mention their toughness. And good for Talansky, he made it home well inside the time limit and is clear to start tomorrow if he feels any better. If he doesn't he can abandon the tour quietly, without the fanfare of the TV cameras...camera's that followed him alone for his entire ride to the finish today.

Result:
1. Gallopin (LTB) in 4h 25'45"
2. Degenklob (GIA)
3. Trentin (OPQ)
4. Bennati (TIN)
5. Gerrans (ORI)
6. Rojas (MOV) all s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 46h 59'23"
2. Porte (SKY) +2'23"
3. Valverde (MOV) +2'47"
4. Bardet (ALM) +3'01"
5. Gallopin (LTB) +3'12"
6. Pinot (FDJ) +3'47"

REST DAY NOTES: Scandal Invention...Beware Vincenzo...It's Not About The Bike...The Lanterne Rouge

Creating a scandal because there isn't a scandal

This whole Denis Menchov issue that has reared its ugly head over the last few days, right in the thick of a tour that is creating more than enough good cycling stories in itself, sounds more like an attempt to try and make an Alp d'Huez out of a Box Hill. There has been no drugs story at this tour and so some people who seem to thrive on, and even enjoy, that particular subject of the sport are getting antsy and desperate to invent a scandal because the sport isn't good for them without one.

The story stems from news that former rider and 2009 Giro d'Italia winner, Denis Menchov has been banned from the sport following adverse findings in his biological passport and had his Tour de France results from 2009, 2010 and 2012 stripped. (Interestingly Menchov finished 3rd in the 2010 Tour before being bumped to 2nd when Contador was disqualified but his own disqualification now means that Samuel Sanchez has gone from 4th to 3rd to 2nd with Jurgen Van Den Broeck from 5th to 4th to a podium placing).

Menchov has since retired from the sport, but it didn't stop, rightfully, the suspension from being handed down. What has got some people upset however is that the UCI simply released the details of his suspension on their website rather than via a press-release. Some journalists are disappointed that they may have missed the opportunity for scandal as a result and the tin-foil hat brigade who thrive on this kind of thing have jumped on board.

But hold on a moment. We're in the middle of the sports biggest event right now -- for sporting and publicity reasons -- and the last thing we want surely is to drag up some scandal for the world to see involving a rider who ISN'T in the tour and who IS already retired when there ISN'T a scandal to be had. It's not as though this is a rider who has been riding in this event or even in competitive events leading up to the Tour; that would be one thing, but this is different. And it's not as though the UCI turned a blind eye to the findings on his bio-passport, ignoring it, and we found out about a positive test via a third party, as has been the fear in the past -- a huge difference to this particular case -- so I don't see why it's such an issue that they released it this way. Especially now, as UCI President, Brian Cookson has pointed out, that it IS in keeping with standard UCI policy in a case that wasn't caught by the media before Menchov was handed his punishment.

Which is as it should be. The media shouldn't be finding out about doping cases before the rider has had the chance for due process. The onus is on the team to suspend the rider pending his hearing, and while that will always lead to suspicion in itself, technically speaking only once the punishment is handed down do the UCI have an obligation to announce it. Of course that becomes difficult when a rider tests positive in the middle of a race, but not in a case like this. In Menchov's case he retired rather than face team suspension and it's perhaps why this one hasn't had the media attention it might otherwise have gotten. But it doesn't change the way in which the UCI would approach it.

That Menchov's suspension is released  via some list is fine with me. He cheated, he got caught, he got punished. That element of the system is clearly working as we would like. That the UCI doesn't make a whole song and dance about a case not involving the current race seems only professional. The UCI isn't here to sing a song of scandal and dance along to its tune as much as the conspiracy theorist might wish.

---
Beware stage 15 Vincenzo!!

STAGE 5
Chris Froome may have done the damage during his crash on stage 4 but it was in stage 5 that he actually abandoned the tour. Following two falls as a result of an already fractured left wrist and right hand that resulted in an inability to control his bike, before they had even reached the dreaded Pave, he was gone.

The finger pointing about Froome's bike handling skills, or lack thereof, or perhaps his lack of heart -- this of a reigning Tour de France champion -- from the experts firmly encamped upon their armchairs, was sad bordering on pathetic. It was obvious from the crash the day before that something wasn't right when he fell twice so early on that 5th stage. Froome may not be the best bike handler in the world, but he's not that bad. Sky didn't reveal the extent of his wounds for obvious reasons...Froome could expect no mercy from his rivals had they known he was carrying an injury. I'm not sure how, but they were probably hoping he could nurse his way through, limit his loses and somehow recover a bit come the mountains. As time would tell, that proved impossible.

STAGE 10
“I grabbed a (nutritional) bar, I had only one hand on the handlebars and I hit a pothole," said Contador, and before they had even reached the first rest day, he too was gone. "I’m sad and disappointed, a lot of effort and sacrifice has been ruined. I had prepared better for the Tour than ever before, I wanted to win the stage."

Win the stage and take back lost time on Vincenzo Nibali. It looked perfect for him...lots of climbs and a brutal run up to the finish line. This was to be the first big showdown between himself and Nibali. We'd hoped Froome would be present but that wasn't to be, yet it still looked so good. Froome tweeted Contador to wish him well and mentioned a meeting at the Vuelta but whether Contador is fit in time remains to be seen.

STAGE 15
If you're into patterns in sport -- like the fact that in 1990 on the day of the World Cup final, a German won a stage of the Tour (Olaf Ludwig) and the German team won the World Cup (see Tony Martin's win on Sunday) -- then you're probably marking this stage as one to watch from through your fingers. If Vincenzo Nibali is one of these people he had better tread with care.

Stage 15 is a 222km, mostly downhill, little in the way of climbing, sprinters stage from Tallard to Nîmes and comes the day after a brutal Alpine stage over two climbs and to a summit finish in Risoul. It also comes the day before the second rest day. Tired legs could allow a break to stay clear, but the sprinters will also fancy their chances. A tired Nibali should stay near the front!

Of course, this is some lighthearted thoughts. I personally don't buy into the pattern that because stages 5 and 10 turned out to be a disaster for two contenders therefore stage 15 could be trouble for Nibali. The truth is every stage could be trouble for Nibali or any ther rider, but they could also be glorious. One mans nightmare stage is still another mans dream when he wins it.

So far all has gone well for Nibali and long may he stay upright. He's my tip to win this Tour now but if he was to lose it, let's hope it's only due to cycling related reasons and not some unfortunate accident. Likewise anyone else.

---
It's not about the bike

Rumours flying around yesterday that Alberto Contador crashed because of a failure in the frame of his Specialized bike have proven to be false. The suggestion was that Contador's frame broke, throwing the Spaniard to the ground and eventually out of the tour with a broken tibia.

In reality it appears that simple error cost Contador and it appears he crashed twice. The first time seen him take a bike off of Nicolas Roche in order to continue, and then, while pushing on a wet descent to get back towards the head of the peloton, and while reaching into his pocket for some food, he hit a pothole and it sent him hard to the ground breaking the bone.

Amazingly Contador got back up and after several minutes with the race doctor (and a change of shoes) he was back chasing with his team. The gap to the peloton -- unable to wait due to Michal Kwiatkowski being in the break -- only grew however and after about 25km of agonising pursuit, Contador climbed off and called it a Tour.

So a couple of rare errors on a descent by a man known to be fast on the downhills, but also one who is known to take risks. Was he in a panic that another fast man, his chief rival, Nibali, might use his misfortune in the first crash as a chance to get away? Nibali had no such designs -- it was a long way from the finish -- but the idea alone perhaps contributed to Contador's big push.

I must admit though, reaching into the back pocket on a wet and fast decent on poor road surface does seem like a risk too far, even for Contador. It's a shame his race ended in this way though the praise for his guts in trying to continue with such an injury is worthy indeed. A hard man in a sport full of them.

(And on a related side note: Interesting to compare the praise for Contador's toughness to the flack Chris Froome took from some quarters about his bike handling skills when the reality was he too was trying to ride hurt and that in his case it was his injuries that caused his crashes on that 5th stage last week.)

---
The Lanterne Rouge

Cheng Ji is making history at this race as the first man from China to ride in a Tour de France, a fine achievement and a trail blazer for future cyclists from that nation. Not a well known name in the race by any means, a domestique to Marcel Kittel on the Giant-Shimano team, Ji might well become more known than he may have thought should he hang onto his current position as the last place man in this Tour...or better know as the Lanterne Rouge.

Currently Ji holds a commanding lead over Elia Viviani by 13 minutes and 52 seconds. It's a lead the man at the opposite end of the standings, Vincenzo Nibali -- just 2 hours, 21 minutes ahead of Ji -- can only dream about, though it's also a lead that can change far quicker at Ji's end of the standings than Nibali's. One day in a break in the mountains could net him more than half an hour on his rivals, or likewise should one of those behind him (or ahead) be looking to take the infamous title as Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France, a couple of days just off the back of the gruppeto could seal it.

Anyway, below is the top, or bottom, six on this first rest day. I'll come back to it again in a week or so and see how Ji is getting along.

180. Cheng Ji (GIA) 44h 54'39"
179. Elia Viviani (CAN) -13'52"
178. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) -21'58"
177. Davide Cimolai (LAM) -23'06"
176. Adrien Petit (COF) -24'16"
175. William Bonnet (FDJ) -24'26"

Contador crashes out as The Shark devours his rivals

Stage 10: Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles, 161.5km. Mountains.

Last week it was Froome, this week, Contador. Two of the three men we had hoped to see go head-to-head into the high mountains in the battle to win this Tour de France are out before we've even reached the first rest day. The race now is Nibali's to lose, especially after his victory today moved him 2 minutes 23 seconds clear on the general classification, a victory so impressive that even had Froome and Contador been present it might still have went his way.

Today was to be the first proper test between Nibali and Contador with seven climbs including a summit finish at La Planche des Belles Filles. It's where Chris Froome won two years ago as Bradley Wiggins set up his first Tour de France victory and was once more being looked upon again as the climb from which someone would stake their claim as the man to beat the rest of the way. Either Contador would take back more time on Nibali, or the Italian would stamp his authority on the Tour.

It proved to be the later, but nobody thought it would come without Contador there at his side.

Back in the race when we were wondering how both their legs might react to the others attacks, Michal Kwiatkowski, one of the most talented young riders in the sport, managed to get into an early break that also contained King of the Mountains contenders, Thomas Voeckler and Joaqium Rodriguez, as well as his team-mate, yesterday's stage winner, and current wearer of the polka-dot jersey but now working for Kwiatkowski, Tony Martin, among others.

The group gained over four minutes at one stage, putting Kwiatkowski into the virtual yellow jersey on the road. Martin turned himself inside out for Kwiatkowski, trying to maintain a gap that the Pole could work with once it came time to go it alone. Their effort was being pushed a long way out from the finish and right when it might have been time for Nibali to panic, he did the opposite and let his team control the steady chase as word came through that Contador had crashed.

The accident that at first was rumoured to have been caused by Contador's frame breaking, though that was later ruled out, but left the Spaniard more than two minutes behind the peloton. That deficit soon became three minutes and despite the efforts of his Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates, it was soon out to four minutes. It was obvious that Contador was hurt. It was confirmed moments later when he climbed off and later reported as a fractured tibia. The fact he tried to ride on for 25km speaks volume to his toughness and commitment to win this race.

Nobody wants to see a contender lose out in that fashion but what would have been seen as Contador's opportunity when Froome crashed out last week will now be seen as Nibali's chance with Contador gone, or at least a little pressure off his shoulders. Crashing is part of racing; it happens to many riders throughout the Tour, it's just that when it happens to two big favorites does it seem so shocking.

Though lets not take anything away from Nibali. His stage two victory put him in yellow, his epic stage five ride put him in control and he came into this stage 2 minutes, 34 seconds ahead of Contador. Who knows how Froome might have went had he been healthy on stage five and had not crashed out, but one has to think he too would have been on the wrong end of Nibali's punishment. As a result Nibali had the control despite Gallopin taking the yellow jersey yesterday. Had Froome and Contador been active to the end today, they both would have been attacking to regain lost time, however the way Nibali is climbing right now, it's hard to see where they'd have gotten it back. Should Nibali continue in this form then there can be absolutely no questioning his position as race leader just because his two biggest rivals are now gone.

With his roll now as the man now to beat in this race cemented, Nibali went about hunting down the man trying to wrestle that control away from him: Kwiatkowski.

Tony Martin continued to ride for Kwiatkowski and on the penultimate climb when he could do no more, he pulled to the side and came to a virtual stand-still. It was all he could do not to stop and you feared that if he did, he may not get going again. To highlight the effort, Martin left Kwiatkowski with a 2 minutes, 17 second lead over Nibali and with 20.5km to go but by the end of the day Martin would crawl in 16 minutes, 7 seconds behind the Italian.

So no pressure then Kwiatkowski! He had Rodriguez left to ride with him but the Spaniard, who is clearly going for stage wins and now the King of the Mountains competition having crested five of the first six climbs in first, took off and left the Pole. Kwiatkowski did bridge on the descent down to the foot of the final climb, but once again Rodriguez left him when the road turned up.

Kwiatkowski had clearly gone beyond himself too early and now Nibali -- The Shark as he is known -- could smell blood. He kicked clear of what was left of the peloton and rode alone, blitzing past Kwiatkowski, his dream of yellow that he held virtually on the road at one stage, obliterated. Only Rodriguez remained and when Nibali came up upon him the difference in speed was obvious. Rodriguez tried for a time to stay on his wheel but The Shark was devouring the field by now and had his eyes on a second stage win.

The turn for the finish and the steepest part of the climb and Nibali danced up and over the line. Another win, another superb performance, and back in yellow once more; confirmed when the yellow jersey of Tony Gallopin came in 4 minutes, 46 behind, his Bastille Day in yellow over.

Still it was a fantastic day for the French for they had three in the top five and now have four in the top ten overall. Richie Porte -- Froome's replacement as Sky leader -- sits second, 2 minutes, 23 seconds down on Nibali with Valverde a further 24 seconds back, but those Frenchmen are looming and this may be the best shot we could have of seeing a local rider on the podium in Paris since Richard Virenque in 1998. It's important not to let Nibali's dominance get them down for the way things are going, its no forgone conclusion that he, or anyone, will make Paris and should the door open you want to make sure you're standing ready to walk through.

I hope it doesn't come to that...not in the way Froome and Contador have left the race but there's a long way to go to Paris yet and you feel this crazy race still has a twist or two left.

Tomorrow they rest; they do deserve it.

Happy Bastille Day to the French.

Result:
1. Nibali (AST) in 4h 27'26"
2. Pinot (FDJ) +15"
3. Valverde (MOV) +20"
4. Péraud (ALM) s.t.
5. Bardet (ALM) +22"
6. Van Garderen (BMC) s.t.
Others:
7. Porte (SKY) +25"
13. Costa (LAM) +1'06"
17. Van Den Broeck (LTB) +1'16"
24. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +2'13"
28. Rolland (EUC) +4'14"
33. Gallopin (LTB) +4'46"
48. Talansky (GAR) +10'12"

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 42h 33'38"
2. Porte (SKY) +2'23"
3. Valverde (MOV) +2'47"
4. Bardet (ALM) +3'01"
5. Gallopin (LTB) +3'12"
6. Pinot (FDJ) +3'47"

A day for Tony's

Stage 9: Gérardmer to Mulhouse, 170km. Rolling.

Yesterday the French got their first stage win of this years Tour, today they got the yellow jersey, right in time for Bastille Day tomorrow. Let the party begin. Oh to be in France tomorrow as the race continues through the Vosges to join in on that celebration.

It's a lead that isn't likely to last beyond tomorrow, and a lead that in a way was a gift to the French by Vincenzo Nibali's team. They didn't work too hard to chase an early break that went clear and stayed clear. These rolling stages are perfect for breakaway specialists, it's far too hilly for the sprinters and their teams to chase and it's not hilly enough for the big favorites to make their moves.

For someone like Tony Gallopin who sat reasonably high up on the GC coming into the stage, it was perfect. He didn't win the day, that went to Tony Martin who attacked earlier and rode the last chunk of the stage solo to win his first ever road-race stage victory in the Tour de France. He was so far ahead, 2 minutes, 45 seconds on the chasing group -- by the finish that he could sit up and shake hands with his manager in the team car with about 3km still to go.

But for Gallopin all he needed to do was stay in that group. He and a handful of other French riders, aware of the significance of the yellow jersey on French shoulders, albeit someone on a different team, rode hard for Gallopin, and he too took his turn as he tried to keep the rolling peloton far enough behind.

He did, and then some. He took the yellow jersey off of Nibali by more than a minute and a half. A fine day if your name is Tony.

Tomorrow however is a brutal stage and with a steep summit finish -- the same place that Chris Froome won two years ago while Bradley Wiggins laid the foundations for his tour win -- the likes of Nibali and Contador are sure to try and lay the foundations for their own bid to win this Tour.

Result:
1. Martin (OPQ) in 4h 9'34"
2. Cancellara (TRE) +2'45"
3. Van Avermaet (BMC)
4. Dumoulin (GIA)
5. Montaguti (ALM)
6. Rojas (MOV) all s.t.
---
25. Nibali (AST) +7'46"

Overall:
1. Gallopin (LTB) in 38h 4'38"
2. Nibali (AST) +1'34"
3. Machado (NET) +2'40"
4. Fuglsang (AST) +3'18"
5. Porte (SKY) +3'32"
6. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +4'00"

Kadri wins as the big boys sharpen their knives

Stage 8: Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine, 161km. Low mountains; summit finish

The French have got themselves a stage winner. A finely timed move by 27 year old Blel Kadri out of a group that had been off the front for most of the day seen him ride clear to win a top Gérardmer La Mauselaine, the first summit finish of this years Tour, for the biggest win of his career. It was a fine rider and it's always good to see a Frenchman get a stage in their home race, but most eyes however were on events further down the road and the first proper stretch of the legs in the hills by the men looking to win the Tour.

As it turned out, Alberto Contador more than looked up to the challenge of trying to reel in the time he lost on stage five, while Nibali was able to match him right until the final ten yards when alleged gear trouble slowed him. Both went clear of the rest and confirmed themselves as the men to win this tour even though Contador still has several riders ahead of him on time.

They say you need a bit of luck to win the Tour de France, that it isn't just the strongest man but also the one who avoids crashes, splits in the bunch and of course mechanical issues. The first two of those isn't always about luck, but sometimes positioning, but the later certainly is and a badly timed puncture or gearing issue can put you into all sorts of trouble.

And it was the timing of Nibali's mechanical incident that strikes me that the bits of luck you need are still rubbing his way. His gearing issue couldn't have happened at a better time; close to the line and only losing 3 seconds to his biggest rival rather than two kilometres from the top, a scenario that would have put him into a world of trouble. Whether that luck continues to hold remains to be seen but so far so good.

What this three day trip through the Vosges mountain range is going to do is weed out those not quite capiable of winning this tour. It's unlikely anyone will do enough to seize an unbeatable lead but plenty will be unable to hack the pace and lose the kind of time they'll be unlikely to be able to make up to ever see yellow.

Today podium pretender Jurgen Van Den Broeck lost 1'17" to Nibali, Pierre Rolland the same, Michal Kwiatkowski 1'36" and Nibali's team-mate and second in GC until today, Jakob Fuglsang, 1'42". Another to lose out was Andrew Talansky, the young American tipped by many to finish in the top five this year. He crashed for the second day in a row, and right before they hit the final climb. It cost him 2'17" on Nibali. That's the bits of luck I'm talking about and the timing of them. Talansky's luck couldn't have been worse these last two days.

But there is a long way to go and many of these riders might yet find opportunities to gain back time, or at least not lose anymore time to some of their rivals, but when it comes to winning the Tour de France, the list of contenders is shrinking and that's what the mountains do best. I don't know what riders not named Contador think, but for the fans, it's starting to get very exciting.

Result:
1. Kadri (ALM) in 3h 49'28"
2. Contador (TIN) +2'17"
3. Nibali (AST) +2'20"
4. Porte (SKY) +2'24"
5. Pinot (FDJ) +2'28"
6. Péraud (ALM) s.t.

Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 33h 48'52"
2. Fuglsang (AST) +1'44"
3. Porte (SKY) +1'58"
4. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +2'26"
5. Valverde (MOV) +2'27"
6. Contador (TIN) +2'34"