The Movistar climber had been in the yellow jersey group on the final climb to the Semnoz ski resort and, along with Joaquim Rodriguez, was the only one who could respond to an attack by Chris Froome with 8.2km to go. Rodriguez did the bulk of the work to distance Contador (whose podium aspirations were coming to an end) and others, before Quintana attacked from the trio and won the day.
Quintana didn’t just win the stage. He’s now in second place overall going into the final stage, he’s going to win the Best Young Rider classification by more than 13 minutes, and with the 50 KOM points he got for summiting the Semnoz climb first he’ll also win the KOM classification.
What started out looking like a reasonably average tour for Movistar has turned into a race to remember. As well as the awards destined for Quintana tomorrow night in Paris, Rui Costa has won two stages and Alejandro Valverde will finish in 8th place overall.
While Chris Froome sewed up the overall lead many stages ago, there’s been a red-hot battle for the remaining places in the top 10 overall. That battle only continued today when the GC contenders hit the final climb.
As mentioned, Quintana jumped from 3rd place to 2nd overall with his win today, Rodriguez leapt from 5th to 3rd thanks to an impressive effort to drive the leading trio, Contador slid from 2nd to 4th after losing 2:28 to Quintana, and Contador’s teammate Roman Kreuziger also went backwards and will finish the tour in 5th.
Special mention should go to Andrew Talansky in his first Tour de France. Before today’s stage the American was in 12th overall but after bridging across to the Contador group on the final climb, Talansky managed to secure 10th place in GC.
The battle for the KOM jersey, too, was of great interest today. Pierre Rolland made the breakaway, as predicted, and scooped up a number of KOM points in the early part of the stage. Solo breakaway rider Jens Voigt took the honours at the top of the 1st category Mont Revard climb but even if Rolland had won that, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Quintana’s win boosted him from 4th to 1st in the KOM competition and with only two 4th category climbs tomorrow (worth 1 point each), Quintana’s 11 point lead over Chris Froome is unassailable.
And so the Tour de France caravan packs up and travels the 600km to Paris for the final stage tomorrow evening. For the teams and many of the thousands-strong crowd associated with the tour that means a flight this evening or tomorrow morning. For us it means a high-speed train from here in Aix-les-Baines to the French capital ahead of the twilight stage which finishes, of course, on the Champs Elysees.
For everyone but the sprinters it’s a day to sit in, to enjoy the moment and to try and stay out of trouble. For the fast men, it’s a chance to take the honours on the most famous finish in world cycling.
Mark Cavendish has never lost on the Champs Elysees, having won every Tour de France finish there since 2009. It’s going to be hard to stop him winning his fifth on the trot, but if anyone can do so, it’s Marcel Kittel. The German has won three stages already this year and is happy just to get the opportunity to ride on the Champs Elysees. He’ll be a whole lot happier if he can beat Cavendish tomorrow, that’s for sure.
As always, thanks for reading and be sure to check out the photos from the penultimate stage of the Tour de France.
- Nairo Quintana poses for photographers in Annecy before the start of the race.
- The riders line up for stage 20, the final day in the mountains, in Annecy.
- The peloton rolls through the neutral zone alongside Lake Annecy.
- Simon Clarke was part of a ten-man breakaway that took shape over the first two categorised climbs. It was the third time Clarke has featured in the escape groups over the three week tour. “The whole third week, I’ve been trying for the breakaway but I kept on missing it,” said Clarke. “Today it went quite easily straight off the start. I managed to get in the move right away.” As Voigt pulled away from the escape group, Clarke was the last of his former breakaway companions to fall away. “I tried to follow Jens when he attacked, but I couldn’t quite keep up,” admitted Clarke. “I settled into my rhythm until I got information over the radio that there were other riders coming from behind.”
- Cyril Gautier attacks the remnants of the early breakaway on Mont Revard.
- Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Philippe Gilbert jumped from the peloton when the pace lulled in the bunch. They picked up the remnants of the breakaway and a new nine-rider chase group had taken shape.
- On the hunt for points in the mountain classification, Pierre Rolland (Europcar) was the first rider to attack. The Frenchman was joined by Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard Trek), Marcus Burghardt (BMC) and Juan Antonia Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM). The quartet was trailed by a group of six that included Clarke, Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Christophe Riblon (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha). The two groups merged on the lower slopes of the Col de Leschaux. When the gap between the peloton and the breakaway fell under one minute, Voigt attacked on the category one climb of Mont Revard.
- Team Sky sets an incredible pace towards the bottom of the final climb to Semnoz.
- What were the tactics behind Jens Voigt’s final attack? “Basically, really, I knew I didn’t have a chance” Voigt told reporters after the race. “But hey, did that ever stop me? Of course not. I said, ‘Hey, I’m Jens Voigt. I’ll give it a go and give them a run for their money. I just wanted to finish the Tour de France on a good note. I don’t want to finish the Tour like a beat-up old man and people say ‘Ja, ja, ja, that’s Jens, he was a former good rider.” Voigt said. “No, I just wanted to finish on top of things and say, ‘Hey, look, I’m still here and I still have something left in me.” Jens said that this will probably be his last Tour de France and that he will be retiring after this season. What a career.
- At 8.4km left to climb Rodriguez attacks the lead group with Quintana right on his wheel. Froome bridged the gap with amazing acceleration and rode straight past them before regrouping.
- Roman Kreuziger was dropped on the climb to Semnoz but eventually caught back up to Contador and Porte. Contador was dropped when Rodriguez attacked at 8.4km remaining and Porte sat on and kept an eye on him. Talansky would catch this group and both him and Porte eventually rode away from Contador.
- A sensational ride by Alejandro Valverde who climbs to Semnoz and finishes in 4th place (just behind the lead group containing Quintana, Rodriguez and Froome). At the end of the stage he moved up one spot, securing 8th spot in the overall classification and knocking Daniel Navarro down to 9th.
- The final 800m to Semnoz ski resort.
- Chris Froome crests the climb at Semnoz in third place and takes a moment to realise that he’s won the Tour de France. Froome said in the press conference after the race, “When I first joined Sky, they asked me what I wanted to achieve. I told them some short- and medium-term goals, and some long-term goals. Being able to target the Tour was one of those longer-term goals. To be in the yellow jersey now, three years later, I can’t say I would’ve seen that coming.”
- We rarely see Nairo Quintana reveal much emotion, but after the 23 year old’s first Tour de France stage win, white jersey, and second place overall, he couldn’t help but show some emotion.
- Just like after Mont Ventoux, Quintana leaves it all on the road and drops off his feet after crossing the finish line.
- Bauke Mollema gives Jakob Fuglsang a pat on the back after the two riders marked each other all the way to the finish. They crossed the line 16th and 17th respectively and only 35 seconds separated the two in GC. Both finished the Tour with tremendous success coming in 6th (Mollema) and 7th (Fuglsang).
- Francesco Gavazzi is shattered after the stage and is only one day away from completing his second Tour de France.
- A proud day for Colombia.
- Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas wins the Mountains Classification after today’s win and moves into second place overall. What a performance for the 23 year old who grew up in Colombia.
- Chris Froome, the winner of the 100th Tour de France. Tomorrow’s stage to Paris is just a formality.
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