Tour de France Stage 19: Uran Enters the Breakaway in the Alps
Etixx - Quick-Step rider Rigoberto Uran tried his best to be a protagonist of 138km Le Tour de France Stage 19, from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles on Friday. But the GC contenders were focused on controlling gaps to protect their placements, or attacking to move up in key moments. They then decided the stage after catching all breakaway riders on the biggest climb of the day.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) attacked less than 10 riders left in the yellow jersey group on the final kilometers of HC Col de la Croix de Fer (22km, 6.9%), with a summit at the 83 kilometer mark. Chris Froome (Team Sky) suffered a mechanical shortly before, forcing him to use energy to chase back to the group. However, Nibali was already up the road. Nibali used his descending prowess to build his advantage, and went on to win solo despite having to get over two more categorized climbs for the victory. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was 2nd, chasing alone, and Froome was 3rd in defense of his yellow jersey.
The breakaway of the day, including Uran, was not given nearly enough time to stay away through all the high categorized climbs and the anticipation of fireworks within the GC group. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) was able to stay away for a while longer solo after pushing ahead on Cote de la Croix de Fer, with Uran and Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) chasing behind. But eventually Uran saw the GC group closing in and sat up. Plaza was caught soon after. Nibali, meanwhie, attacked and caught Rolland on Category 2 Cote du Mollard (5.7km, 6.8%, summit at 103km mark). The two worked well together until the final ascent to the line Category 1 La Toussuire (18km, 6.1%). Nibali accelerated with 16km remaining on the climb, dropping Rolland. He quickly gained 44" on Rolland and maintained a 2'08" gap to the Froome group. Nibali was a threat to move up several places in the GC with his advantage, which forced riders to try and close the gap and protect their advantages, including Quintana. Froome then was forced to chase by himself in the final slopes, leaving behind riders like Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).
An original breakaway was brought back with 104km to go, and another reformed with Uran as one of the first riders to enter into the move.
Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to the penultimate stage of Le Tour de France, and the final day in the Alps, 110.5km Stage 20 from Modane Valfréjus to Alpe d'Huez on Saturday. There are only two categorized climbs, but both are incredibly challenging. The peloton will again have to fight on HC Col de la Croix de Fer with a summit at the 53km point. The stage then finishes on the famed Alpe d'Huez (13.8km, 8.1% gradient).
