Michael Albasini attacked, David Millar attacked, Jan Bakelants attacked, Tejay van Garderen attacked. It was only when Julien Simon from Sojasun made his move on the penultimate of the day’s seven small climbs that it looked like an attack might actually stick.
But after nearly 14km at the head of affairs, and after giving it absolutely everything he had, Simon’s moment of glory was over as he was caught roughly 1km from the finish.
In the end it was 23-year-old Italian rider Matteo Trentin that flew past the sprint of Albasini to take his first victory since turning pro with Omega Pharma-Quickstep in late 2011. Trentin, a former U23 Italian national road champion, is a member of Cavendish’s lead-out train (and Cav’s roommate too apparently) but today it was Trentin’s chance to enjoy the spotlight … and his Manx teammate couldn’t have been prouder.
Been lucky to witness some amazing teammates wins in my career, but today was the 1st that brought tears to my eyes. @MATTEOTRENTIN #soproud
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) July 13, 2013
Trentin is the first Italian to win a stage at the Tour de France since Alessandro Petacchi won a bunch kick into Reims on stage 4 of the 2010 Tour de France. A three-year gap mightn’t sound like much, but when you consider that Italy has averaged nearly three stage wins per edition of the Tour de France so far, the tifosi are sure to be celebrating tonight.
Meanwhile, French fans will be hoping, more than usual, that it’s a Frenchman that takes the win tomorrow on Bastille Day. The home nation is without a stage win so far in this year’s race and, as mentioned the other day, that’s only happened twice in 100 editions of the race: in 1926 and in 1999.
You can be certain that an early breakaway tomorrow will be comprised of mainly French riders and when the riders hit the base of Mont Ventoux the likes of Pierre Rolland, Thibaut Pinot and possibly even Thomas Voeckler are sure to animate the race.
It’s been eight years since a Frenchman won on Bastille Day (David Moncoutie was the last in 2005) and it will take an impressive effort to out-climb the likes of Froome and Contador when the road heads up Mont Ventoux tomorrow. It’s the 15th time “The Giant of Provence” has featured in the Tour de France and only the 9th time it’s been used as a summit finish.
It’s sure to be a day of fireworks and carnage on the mountain and from what we’re hearing here in the nearby town of Nyons, the crowds up Mont Ventoux are going to be absolutely massive. Don’t miss it.
- Argos-Shimano’s John Degenkolb before the stage start.
- A breakaway group of 18 formed in dribs and drabs at the start of the race and with roughly 75km to the finish, newly-crowned Dutch road race champion Johnny Hoogerland tried to join them from the main field. He took Damiano Cunego with him but the Lampre rider fell away. Hoogerland, too, eventually gave up and drifted back to the peloton.
- Matteo Trentin surprised a few people, including himself by the looks of this photo, when he crossed the line ahead of Michael Albasini.
- Tejay van Garderen spent much of the day in the breakaway group but an attack in the closing kilometres sapped him of any remaining energy and he soon fell off the pace to finish alone.
- Alberto Contador rolled over the finish line with the main peloton, 7:17 behind Matteo Trentin. Contador remains in third place, 2:45 behind Chris Froome going into the Mont Ventoux stage.
- Marcel Kittel also rolled in with the main field and will be looking to conserve as much energy in the next week as possible. His next real opportunity will come on the final stage where he’ll be looking to upset Mark Cavendish’s perfect record on the Champs Elysees.
- Matteo Trentin is the second rider in this year’s race so far to have taken his first professional victory in the 2013 Tour de France. The other rider was Jan Bakelants who won stage 2 into Ajaccio.
- The look says it all. Julien Simon attacked the lead group with roughly 15km to go and he was only caught with 1km to go. He was awarded the most combative rider prize for his efforts but I’m sure he would much rather have taken the stage win.
- Peter Sagan stays in green for another day after finishing with the main field. Sagan first stepped into the points jersey after being outsprinted by Simon Gerrans in Calvi and has worn it ever since. Barring any major difficulty Sagan should remain in green all the way to Paris to claim his second consecutive Tour de France green jersey.
- Another stage, another day in yellow for Chris Froome. Will he be able to match the likes of Contador on tomorrow’s summit finish atop Mont Ventoux?
Race Results Summary
Tour de France (2013) - Stage 14
| Position | Name | Nationality | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TRENTIN, Matteo | ITA | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP | 4:15:11 |
| 2 | ALBASINI, Michael | SUI | ORICA-GREENEDGE | 0 |
| 3 | TALANSKY, Andrew | USA | Garmin-Sharp | |
| 4 | ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin | ESP | MOVISTAR | |
| 5 | GARCIA ECHEGUIBEL, Egoitz | ESP | COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE | |
| 6 | BAK, Lars Ytting | DEN | LOTTO BELISOL | |
| 7 | GESCHKE, Simon | GER | ARG | |
| 8 | VICHOT, Arthur | FRA | FDJ-BIG MAT | |
| 9 | BRUTT, Pavel | RUS | KATUSHA | |
| 10 | GAUTIER, Cyril | FRA | TEAM EUROPCAR |
| Position | Name | Nationality | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FROOME, Chris | GBR | SKY PROCYCLING | 55:22:58 |
| 2 | MOLLEMA, Bauke | NED | Belkin | +2:28 |
| 3 | CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto | ESP | Saxo Tinkoff | +2:45 |
| 4 | KREUZIGER, Roman | CZE | Saxo Tinkoff | +2:48 |
| 5 | TEN DAM, Laurens | NED | Belkin | +3:01 |
| 6 | FUGLSANG, Jakob | DEN | ASTANA | +4:39 |
| 7 | KWIATKOWSKI, Michal | POL | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP | +4:44 |
| 8 | QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander | COL | MOVISTAR | +5:18 |
| 9 | PERAUD, Jean-Christophe | FRA | AG2R LA MONDIALE | +5:39 |
| 10 | RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin | ESP | KATUSHA | +5:48 |
| Position | Name | Nationality | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SAGAN, Peter | SVK | Cannondale Pro Cycling | 357 |
| 2 | CAVENDISH, Mark | GBR | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP | 273 |
| 3 | GREIPEL, André | GER | LOTTO BELISOL | 217 |
| 4 | KITTEL, Marcel | GER | ARG | 177 |
| 5 | KRISTOFF, Alexander | NOR | KATUSHA | 157 |
| Position | Name | Nationality | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ROLLAND, Pierre | FRA | TEAM EUROPCAR | 50 |
| 2 | FROOME, Chris | GBR | SKY PROCYCLING | 33 |
| 3 | PORTE, Richie | AUS | SKY PROCYCLING | 28 |
| 4 | QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander | COL | MOVISTAR | 26 |
| 5 | NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel | ESP | EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI | 21 |
| Position | Name | Nationality | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KWIATKOWSKI, Michal | POL | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP | 55:27:42 |
| 2 | QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander | COL | MOVISTAR | 34 |
| 3 | TALANSKY, Andrew | USA | Garmin-Sharp | +1:10 |
| 4 | BARDET, Romain | FRA | AG2R LA MONDIALE | +15:51 |
| 5 | VAN GARDEREN, Tejay | USA | BMC RACING | +27:42 |
