The Daily Race: Tour de France Stage 17
by Jen See on Jul 21, 2010 10:05 PM EDT
in Tour de France
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Stage 17: Pau — Col du Tourmalet
What is it? Uphill finish on the Col du Tourmalet.
Got Climbs? Three's a crowd. Col de Marie-Blanque, Col de Soulor, Col du Tourmalet.
Yellow Jersey Battle: Last chance for the climbers!
Ideal Rider: It's hard to imagine that an early breakaway will survive today, especially because the stage is relatively short. The strongest climber in this year's Tour will likely win the day. Who can challenge Alberto Contador?
@Gavia: The Tour likes the Tourmalet so much that this year, they're doing it twice. Schleck and Contador will fight over the Shirt, while behind them, Sánchez and Menchov have their own battle. There's no way this stage can suck.
View Ted's Course Map
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The Climbs
Col de Marie-Blanque
Col de Soulor
Col du Tourmalet (from Luz St. Saveur)
The climbing finale of this year's Tour de France! The course includes three major climbs: Col de Marie-Blanque, Col de Soulor, and the Col du Tourmalet. Though the Col du Tourmalet is a frequent feature of the Tour de France, this year marks the first ever summit finish on the Tourmalet. Move over Alpe d'Huez. Unlike the previous stage, this is a classic mountain stage with three major cols and an uphill finish. The winner on the Tourmalet receives the Souvenir Henri Desgranges, named for the inventor of the Tour de France. At 174 kilometers, this stage is relatively short. Anyone who wants to ride well will need to have done some hard training on the rest day. It's the last chance saloon for the climbers, and it's hard to imagine how there won't be attacks on this final ascent of the Col du Tourmalet.
Live Race Chat
Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 FINALE
Post-Race Happy Hour
Schleck and Contador Share the Spoils
Andy Schleck tried with all he had to ride Alberto Contador out of the yellow jersey on the final climb of the 2010 Tour de France but he could not ride his rival off his wheel. They distanced all their rivals and crossed the line with Contador graciously avoiding to contest the sprint after following Schleck all the way on the climb, fending off all attacks. Read More
More Tour Features
Will Talks Tourmalet! And he should know, he's climbed that bad boy.
Weather Update: Weather reports are calling for heavy rain and temperatures in the 12C range on the Col du Tourmalet. That'll throw a wild card into the mix.
Know Your Tour: What's in a climb?
Tech Mechs! Random Rest Day Thoughts
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Photo: Mike Powell, Getty.
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gav, it's not the first summit finish on the tourmalet. 1974 Jean-Pierre Danguillaume.
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Alliances
Andy can’t do it alone. He needs help. I’m hoping for secret meetings today between Saxo and Rabobank and to a lesser extent Lotto. To Menchov, he has to tell him: “Bro, we get rid of Contador tomorrow, and then you can take me on the time trial and we’ll see who’s the freshest. Both of us have no chance of winning if we don’t put time on Alberto tomorrow. So I say we bring hell from Marie Blanque on. We send Fuglsang and Gesink up the road there. And on Soulor, we go and we try to make Alberto crack. If that does not work we try again before Bareges and we will be able to tell our kids we tried our best”. To the BCS, “Hey 5th would be nice, but how about toppling the reigning champion? and if you’re in a good day and can follow me to the top of Tourmalet, the win is yours!”
I don’t see how Andy can do it without help before Bareges. He has to weaken Astana and Contador before that or he will only gain peanuts. I’m just hoping for chaos and epic weather (although the chopper needs to be able to fly ;) ), let a French boy dream !
There might also be some talking on the road
What if, miracle of miracles, Evans or Cunego were up there? Or someone else out of the main game on GC: say, someone on the polka dot trail. It would be worth speaking to them.
I don't know the Fug can stay away in the Mts.
or that Gesink can take enough time to withstand the Bert onslaught in the TT.
Other than that, I like what you are laying down. That would make for some of the most vicious TdF racing since Bjarne took down Big Mig.
Fug and Gesink are mostly to help between Argelès and Luz-St-Sauveur
I guess both teams need to send men upfront as soon as possible, in the hope that the leaders can bridge later and they can be pulled for a little while. Whether Astana rides hard behind or not does not matter that much. If they don’t let anybody out, that means they will have use some forces before Soulor and maybe Contador will be isolated. Anyway, it’s a crapshoot, i just hope they try… It’s a better setup than Ventoux last year in any case, Marie-Blanque and Soulor can be used as true launchpads for a full offensive, Ventoux was just a drag race uphill…
by FrenchKheldar on Jul 22, 2010 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions
How about a Euskatel-Rabo alliance
Sanchez and Menchov both have a chance to win the whole thing if they can take a two-minute bite out of Contador and Schleck. Maybe Euskatel and Rabobank can make a deal to try and ambush both Contador and Schleck.
If they take a big bite out of both, great, and if only one of the top two loses time, being two minutes behind one guy at the start of the ITT is still better than being two minutes behind two guys.
My other sneaking suspicion — but nah, they wouldn’t dare — is RadioShack helping out in an effort to crack Contador on the Tourmalet.
MJB
Re Radioshack
Leipheimer will ride for himself, as he should.
I can’t see any of the others being up there at the sharp end, but would Kloeden or Plaza be ditching the Team GC competition to help Schleck? I think it’s unlikely.
Help! TdF withdrawal syndrome, it hurts!
No more rest days! I can’t wait for an epic day tomorrow!!!!
I don't really believe in any alliances between the Top 5 guys teams
I the end no one gambles by ganging up on No 1 if you risk one of your “allies” beating you instead.
Sadly , I have this creeping feeling this stage will be more about Andy vs. Menchov/Sanchez for podium-places than Andy vs. AC, but I so very much hope I’m wrong.
I am at work a full 45 MINUTES earlier than usual today,
in order that I can leave at 12.15. I shall then remove myself to the lovely bike cafe Look Mum No Hands for big screen viewage for the rest of the afternoon. I’m so friggin excited.
Nice marmotte
It just dawned on me...
Four more days of TDF…and then it’s a whole other year of waiting! Go Contador!
No need to go cold turkey after Sunday...
Vuelta looking very interesting with Ricky maybe riding. I’m thinking maybe Vino, too. And Franck.
3rd gt for vino? don't think so.
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
universal sports will have the vuelta, both streaming and broadcast. unfortunately, the streaming is no longer free.
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
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