Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) confirmed that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the Tour de France when he bounced back of a series of disappointments by winning the big mountain stage to La Toussuire. The Italian attacked already on the Col de la Croix de Fer and after dropping Pierre Rolland (Europcar) on the final climb, he held off the main contenders to take the victory and move into fourth in the overall standings. Further back, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) managed to drop Chris Froome (Sky) who limited his losses to 20 seconds and so defended the overall lead.

 

Three weeks ago Vincenzo Nibali seemed to be on track for a great Tour de France when he emerged as the best of the riders from the Fab Four in the opening time trial in Utrecht. However, since then nothing has gone to plan for the defending champion who at one point seemed to be on the verge of abandoning the race.

 

The first chinks in his armour were revealed on the Mur-de-Bretagne and he continued his steady time loss in the Pyrenees. However, since then it has been evident that the Italian is getting better and already yesterday he seemed to be one of the best three riders in the race.

 

Today he bounced back from his many disappointments in the greatest possible way when he took an impressive solo win in the mountain stage to La Toussuire. Showing his usual attacking style, he was not afraid of the distance and made his move from the distance and managed to hold off the favourites to claim the win.

 

In fact, Nibali had already tried on the first climb of the day in what was a very hectic opening that saw Geraint Thomas getting distanced and Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde also making moves. However, things calmed down and a big regrouping took place before it again heated up on the Col de la Corix de Fer.

 

Nibali first used his team to set a fast pace before he made a first attack. That move was unsuccessful but it spelled the end for Thomas who had a bad day and dropped out of the top 10.

 

He made his decisive attack under slightly controversial circumstances as he accelerated just as Chris Froome was fighting his way back from a mechanical. From there he never looked back and caught Pierre Rolland who was the lone leader, just after the top of the Col du Mollard.

 

At the bottom of the final 18km climb, those two riders had an advantage of 1.45 over a small group of favourites that was left after a very hard day. While Contador had to stop for a bike change, Jose Herrada led the peloton onto the final climb. Mathias Frank and Ruben Plaza were dropped right from the bottom as the Spaniard continued to ride hard.

 

With 16km to go, Nibali launched his attack and he immediately distanced Rolland. Meanwhile, Herrada swung off and as Krusijwijk took over the pace-setting, Frank and Plaza rejoined the group.

 

With 15km to go, Nibali had extended his advantage to 2.05. At this point, the elimination started in the peloton as Gautier and Kreuziger were dropped.

 

Kruijswijk swung off and left it to Poels to set the pace in the 17-rider main group which was 2.20 behind with 13km to go. However, Majka quickly took over and as he upped the pace, Scarponi lost contact. Later Kruijswijk and Plaza alsi lost contact before Talansky and Frank also had to surrender.

 

Nibali entered the final 10km with an advantage of 2.20 and the gap stayed at that mark for a long time. Meanwhile, Rolland had faded and was brought back with 8km to go.

 

Majka, Poels, Froome, Quintana, Contador, Valverde, Gesink, Bardet, Mollema, Pinot, Sanchez and Rolland were the riders left in the peloton when the entered the final 7km. Moments later, Poels cracked while the standstill continued.

 

Things changed with 5km to go when Quintana made the move that everyone had been waiting for. As usual, Froome didn’t respond immediately but slowly clawed his way back with Contador, Valverde and Bardet on his wheel.

 

However, just as the junction was about to be made, Quintana kicked again and this time he got a decisive advantage. Bardet was the first to crack under Froome’s pressure and later Valverde and Contador also had to surrender. They dropped back to Pinot, Gesink and Mollema who were chasing hard, with the LottoNL captain doing all the work.

 

For a long time, the gap between Froome and Quintana stayed around 15 seconds while Nibali contantly lost time. However, as they approached the summit, Quintana had the upper hand and at one point, the gap went out to 25 seconds.

 

There was no one stopping Nibali though as he held Quintana off to take the win with an advantage of 44 seconds. Froome rebounded slightly to take third with a time loss of 20 seconds to his main rival. Further back, it was Valverde who was leading the chase to defend his podium position before Pinot sprinted fourth place with a time loss of 2.26 to Nibali.

 

The result saw Quintana reduce his deficit to 2.38 but Froome will again wear yellow in tomorrow’s final mountain stage which is another short, intense affair. After a descending start, the riders will tackle Col de la Croix de Fer for a second time albeit from another direction before they descent to the bottom of the famous climb to Alpe d’Huez which will crown the winner of the race.

 

 

A short, intensive stage

After yesterday’s tough stage in the Alps, more drama was in store on stage 19 which was a short, intense affair of just 138km. The riders travelled from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to a summit finish in La Toussuire. Right from the start, they went up the category 2 Col de Chaussy for 15.5km before they descended to a flatter section. From there, the final part was simply brutal as the riders tackled the Col de la Croix de Fer and the Col du Mollard in quick succession and then descended to the bottom of the final 18km climb.

 

It was a sunny day when the riders gathered for the start but there were lots of nervous faces as they rolled out through the neutral zone. All riders who finished yesterday’s stage were present.

 

Feillu takes off

With a climb right from the start, it was no surprise that the attacking started as soon as the flag was dropped. Brice Feillu (Bretagne) was the rider to open the game and from there several riders gave it a try, including Rodriguez, Kudus, Wellens, Danilo Wyss, Herrada, Kruijswijk, Riblon, Rolland, Peraud, Herrada, Geniez. Meanwhile, Arnaud Demare, Sep Vanmarcke, Marcel Sieberg and Michael Valgren were the first riders to get dropped.

 

Rodriguez was very aggressive and escaped with Peraud. Van Baarle, Losada, Plaza, Herrada, Sicard, Kruijswijk, van Baarle, Edet and Westra quickly joined the pair of veterans to form an 11-rider lead group. Further back, a chase group had formed after dropping Sagan and they managed to join the leaders after a hard chase.

 

Contador gives it a go

The riders in the front group are Lieuwe Westra, Michele Scarponi (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud, Christophe Riblon (Ag2r), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jose Herrada, Adriano Malori  (Movistar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal), Joaquim Rodriguez, Giampaolo Caruso, Alberto Losada (Katusha), Pierre Rolland, Cyril Gautier, Romain Sicard (Europcar), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Andrew Talansky, Dan Martin, Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin), Nicolas Edet, Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Bartosz Huzarski, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18) and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) were the riders that managed to build a 35-second advantage over the peloton in which Richie Porte set a controlling pace. Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep) managed to bridge the gap after dropping Perrig Quemeneur (Eruopcar), Andriy Grivko (Astana) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar).

 

After 11km of racing, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) launched a surprise attack. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) joined him and they passed Navarro and Riblon who had been dropped from the front group. Geraint Thomas (Sky) bridged the gap but as they failed to cooperate Leopold König brought them back.

 

Nibali, Valverde and Contador join the leaders

Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Bauke Mollema (Trek), Robert Gesink (LottoNL) and Valverde were the next to try and they quickly passed Westra. Contador also joined that move but it was the counterattack from Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) that worked.

 

The Italian quickly bridged the gap to the front group while Contador and Valverde also made it across. Scarponi went straight to the front to work for his Italian captain and his fast pace made the group explode to pieces.

 

Thomas is dropped

In the peloton, Wout Poels was chasing hard for Sky and this made the peloton splinter. Samuel Sanchez was the first big name to lose contact and later Sky started to crack as Leopold König, Nicolas Roche and Geraint Thomas all lost contact. Warren Barguil was also distanced.

 

For a little while, the gap stayed around 20 seconds but Poels slowly won the battle. This forced Nibali to make another attack and only Rodriguez, Kruijswijk, Scarponi, Teklehemaimanot, Peraud, Plaza and Sicard could keep up with him. The rest of the group was caught.

 

The front group is caught

Rodriguez led Kruijswijk over the top of the climb but they only had an advantage of a few seconds. Nibali, Rodriguez, Kruijswijk, Sicard and Uran dangled a few metres ahead of the peloton for the first part of the descent before it came back together. Thomas and Barguil were 35 seconds behind but they managed to rejoin the group.

 

Uran and Bardet accelerated on the descent and while Kruijswijk paced the peloton, they quickly got a big advantage. Bardet even dropped the Colombian but they joined forces again.

 

The attacking starts again

Rolland and Rodriguez took off in pursuit and joined the leaders a few kilometres after they had reached the bottom. However, only Rolland wanted to continue the attack and the rest of the group waited for the peloton.

 

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) started the attacking in the peloton and Sky were keen to let a group get clear. Hence, they did nothing to respond to the many moves while a group with Sagan and Sanchez rejoined the peloton. The Slovakian even also tried a move but he never got clear.

 

A big group gets clear

A big group caught Rolland and it was a big 21-rider group that gathered on the front with 100km to go. Kangert, Bardet, Rogers, Kreuziger, Herrada, Malori, Gallopin, Wellens, Losada, Rodriguez, Uran, Sicard, Gautier, Rolland, Kruijswijk, Plaza, van Baarle, Edet, Pantano, Clement, Cummings were the riders in the move and they had an advantage of 30 seconds over Teklehaimanot and 1.45 over the peloton when Gautier led Rolland over the line in the intermediate sprint.

 

While König set a very slow pace in the peloton, a big regrouping too place and suddenly the entire Sky team and most of the sprinters were back in the main group. Ian Stannard set a slow pace that allowed the gap to go out to 2.45 before LottoNL-Jumbo started to chase with Paul Martens, Bram Takink and Jos van Emden, protecting Gesink’s position on GC.

 

Wellens goes down

Teklehaimanot managed to join front group while the LottoNL-Jumbo work paid off. With 90km to go, they had brought the gap down to 2.10.

 

In the feed zone, Wellens went down in a crash and suddenly found himself on his own with 45 seconds to make up. He made it back relatively quickly though.

 

Wellens is dropped

When the hit the Col de la Croix de Fer, LottoNL-Jumbo had brought the gap down to 1.30 but as Sicard sacrificed himself for Rolland, they lost ground on the lower slopes. While Wellens was dropped from the front group, Martens and Laurens Ten Dam did their best to limit their losses but the gap had gone out to 2.10 with 75km to go.

 

Gallopin was the next rider to get dropped from the break and later Pantano and Losada also lost contac as the gradual elimination continued. Ten Dam ended his work in the peloton and left it to Martens to try to control things. However, he saw the gap go out to 2.45 with 70km to go.

 

Astana up the pace

With 67km to go, Rolland decided that it was time to take off and in just a few kilometres, he managed to build an advantage of 30 seconds over the chase group where Rogers and Kreuziger did most of the work.

 

With 64km to go, Astana decided that it was time to make the race hard when Andriy Grivko upped the pace. Immediately, the peloton exploded to pieces, with Ian Stannard and Gallopin being among the first riders to get dropped. Meanwhile, several riders lost contact from the chase group.

 

Nibali attacks

While Uran attacked from the chase group and was joined by Plaza and Kruijswijk, Scarponi took over from his Ukranian teammate and he did a lot of damage. Thomas, Sanchez, Frank, Pinot and Barguil were the first main riders to get dropped and very quickly, the group had been whittled down to just Scarponi, Nibali, Valverde, Contador, Quintana, Froome, Poels, Majka, Gesink and Mollema.

 

As they started to pick up early attackers, Nibali made his attack. Froome, Valverde, Contador and Quintana responded immediately and those five riders quickly made it back to the Bardet group. Here Kangert hit the front immediately to work for his captain.

 

Valverde tries from afar

Kruijswijk dropped back to the main group and later Uran also dropped back. Meanwhile, Scarponi, Gesink, Mollema, Majka and Poels rejoined the main GC riders.

 

Kangert continued to set the pace until Valverde attacked. He quickly bridged the gap to Plaza but as Poels hit the front of the peloton, the two Spaniards failed to gain more than 10 seconds. After dangling there for a few kilometres they were brought back by a group that contained Poels, Froome, Nibali, Kangert, Scarponi, Quintana Gautier, Herrada Mollema, Uran, Bardet, Majka, Kreuziger, Contador, Gesink and Kruijswijk.

 

Mechanical for Froome

Herrada was dropped while Poels continued to ride on the front until drama occurred when Froome had a mechanical. Just as the race leader had to stop to fix his chain, Nibali attacked and he immediately got an advantage.

 

Valverde was forced into chase mode and only Contador, Majka, Quintana, Contador and Bardet could keep up with him.  Meanwhile, Froome was working desperately to get back and quickly managed to regain contact.

 

Nibali extends his advantage

Nibali already had an advantage of 30 seconds as Kruijswijk, Kreuziger, Plaza, Poels Gesink and Mollema also got back. Kruijswijk went straight to the front to work for Gesink and later Kreuziger also came to the fore.

 

Rolland was first at the top of the climb while Nibali was next 1.05 later. Bardet accelerated over the top to take third while Froome sprinted ahead to take fifth.

 

A slowdown

Valverde tried to accelerate thrice on the descent but fort most of the time, it was Poels setting the pace. Meanwhile, Nibali reduced his deficit to 50 seconds while the peloton keep the gap at 1.50.

 

As they hit easier terrain, the peloton nearly came to a standstill and this allowed Uran, Gautier, Pinot, Frank, Kangert, Scarponi, Clement, Barguil, Sanchez and Talansky to rejoin them. Plaza benefited from the slower pace to attack twice and it was the second move that allowed him to get clear.

 

Herrada takes control

Kruijswijk went back into chase mode for Gesink but Rolland has still extended his advantage to 2.30 by the time he hit the Col du Mollard. At this point, he had 1.00 on Nibali.

 

Herrada took over the pace-setting in the peloton and led the group onto the climb. Clement and Uran were dropped immediately and Plaza was brought back on the lower slopes. Frank, Kangert and Plaza were the next to lose contact.

 

Bardet attacks

While Frank and Plaza made it back to the main group, Nibali got closer to Rolland. He had the Frenchman in sight as he approached the summit but the Frenchman made a small acceleration to make sure that he was first over the line. Bardet and Pinot made a small attack to take third and fourth.

 

Rolland and Nibali joined forces on the descent while Poels took control in the peloton that had been whittled down to Scarponi, Bardet, Pinot, Froome, Poels, Contador, Majka, Kreuziger, Quintana, Herrada, Valverde, Sanchez, Gautier, Gesink, Kruijswijk, Mollema, Plaza, Talansky and Frank. Meanwhile, Bardet dropped Pinot and continued his attack.

 

Bardet is caught

Kreuziger suffered a puncture while Bardet had a mechanical issue. However, the Frenchman never had to stop and quickly reduced his deficit to the front duo to 1 minute. Meanwhile, Sanchez and Valverde set the pace in the peloton, keeping the gap at 1.45.

 

Bardet finally had to surrender to his mechanical problem and had to stop to change his bike. He managed to get back in time to rejoin the peloton which was 1.50 behind the leaders with 20km to go. Moments later they hit the climb to start the finale.