There is so much to unpack when talking about the drama on Stage 12. The queen stage of the Pyrenees did not disappoint with GC contenders attacking, cracking, and (illegally) snacking.
Stage 12 began in Pau and a large breakaway that included Michael Matthews and Marcel Kittel went off the front and built up a six-minute lead on the peloton. Matthews and Kittel fought it out for the intermediate sprint with Matthews taking the honors. As the stage progressed and the race hit the slopes of the Port de Bales the front group began to splinter with Thomas De Gent and Steve Cummings attacking over the top and the Dimension Data rider eventually dropping De Gent. Team Sky began riding a hard tempo which caused numerous riders to become unhitched. Alberto Contador put in an attack just before the summit but was quickly reeled in by the furious pace making of the Sky train. Froome and Aru went off the road on the descent and instead of attacking all of the other GC contenders looked at each other and waited for Froome and Aru to rejoin. On the slopes of the Peyresourde the remaining Sky riders upped the pace to a point where Quintana and Contador could no longer follow and were dropped. As the race entered the ridiculously steep (~20% grade) of the last 2 kilometers Kiwi rider George Bennett put in an attack that was quickly neutralized by Mikel Landa. Aru would be the next to attack and was followed by Romain Bardet who would go on to take the stage win. Riggoburto Uran would also pass Aru to finish second. Froome would crack inside the last 100 meters and lose 22 seconds which cost him the Yellow Jersey. What may be more interesting is that Landa finished ahead of Froome in 5th and now sits in 7th place overall.
After the stage was over it was announced that George Bennett and Uran would receive 20 second penalties for taking on a feed (in this case water bottles) within the last 10 kilometers of the stage. The rules state that no rider is to take on food/water within the last 20 kilometers on a flat stage or 10 kilometers on a mountain top finish. The interesting part in this is that Romain Bardet was caught on camera taking a water bottle (referred to by their French name of “bidon”) at the EXACT same time and received no penalty. This appears to be another instance of the race jury applying rules unevenly to the race. Sagan is DQ’d for an “unsafe sprint”, Bouhanni physically assaults another rider and is given a (laughable) one minute penalty on GC and a fine. Bennett and Uran are penalized 20 seconds on GC for taking an illegal feed, Bardet takes a bottle at the same time and receives no penalty. What do the two lightly/non penalized riders have in common? Both are French and riding in the Tour de France. You don’t have to be a Mensa member to figure out where this is going. In a Tour that most likely will be decided by seconds and possibly a minute those penalties are going to be significant.
The second piece of drama that unfolded from today’s stage is Mikel Landa leaving Froome on the final climb to fend for himself. Landa has said in the past that he is on the best form of his life and would like the opportunity to race for himself. Is this the first crack in the “all for one, all for Froome” armor of Team Sky? Video after the stage shows that team management was not happy with how Landa left Froome. An internal conflict could be the opening that allows Bardet, Aru, or Uran to win the Tour. In related news Froome also lost the Maillot Jaune to Aru and trails by 6 seconds. My opinion is that this is a good thing for Team Sky. They have had the jersey and by extension have been forced to defend and control the race from the beginning. With Astana having the jersey they are obligated to control tomorrow’s stage and that will allow Sky to hang back and observe. If Astana can’t control and allows someone who Sky deems a threat off the front they can always assume pacing making duties and bring that rider (or riders) back. The diminished abilities of Jakob Fuglsang due to injury will make Astana’s job controlling the race that much harder.
Stage 13 Saint-Girons to Foix (100 km)
Stage 13 is the shortest stage the Tour has seen since they did away with the double stage days back in the 80’s. The short stage along with the three Category I climbs and the fact that it is Bastille Day should make for some exciting racing. The downhill finish should negate any GC challenges or changes unless Contador and/or Quintana go full kamikaze and attack. Astana will have to be on alert all day tomorrow as attacks will be flying off the front from the opening kilometer. They have to be careful and not let too big of a group go out or they may not be able to bring them back before the finish. I expect Warren Barguil to once again get out on the breakaway and consolidate his lead in the KOM classification as well as try to win the stage for France on Bastille Day.
What do you think about the penalties levied against Uran and Bennett? Did Landa leave Froome to look after his own ambitions or was it an honest mistake? Can Aru hold on to Yellow until the Alps? Is that a bad thing for Sky if he does?
Three Weeks in July 