Chasing Le Tour: Riblon wins the Double Alpe
It took 18 stages but the French fans can finally celebrate one of their countrymen winning a stage at the 100th edition of the Tour de France. Christophe Riblon got in the breakaway on the first climb of the day – the Col de Manse which topped out just 13km into the stage. He was still at the head of affairs 160km later, taking a famous victory on the first one-day double-summit of Alpe d’Huez in the Tour’s history.
The win certainly wasn’t without its hiccups for the Frenchman from Ag2r. On the technical and much-discussed descent of the Col de Sarenne Riblon overshot a left-hand turn and found himself in a drainage ditch while his breakaway companion Moreno Moser continued on down the road. But Riblon managed to stay upright as he left the bitumen and eventually caught back on with Moser as the final climb of Alpe d’Huez approached.
And when Tejay van Garderen distanced Riblon on the the final climb, the Frenchman dug deep and in an amazing display of tenacity, reeled van Garderen in with just 2km to go before soloing to victory by nearly a minute.
A few minutes behind the leaders the fascinating battle continued between overall leader Chris Froome and the rest of the GC contenders. Contador and Kreuziger had attacked Froome on the Col de Sarenne descent and got a gap, before being brought back before the final climb. The Saxo Tinkoff pair would later pay for their exertions, being dropped by the leaders and losing even more time to Froome.
We saw Quintana attack unsuccessfully and, eventually, succesfully, finishing more than a minute clear of Froome. We saw Rodriguez attack, opening up a gap that took Quintana and Froome a few minutes to shut down. We saw Porte playing the role of super-domestique with never-say-die determination, shutting down attacks and clawing his way back to Froome after being distanced by attacks from Froome’s rivals. Porte even ended up back at the front, driving the pace for Froome after being dropped.
And at one stage Porte looked back and even had to wait for Froome, reminiscent of Froome himself having to wait for Wiggins last year. However, you can feel the camaraderie between Porte and Froome that didn’t exist between Froome and Wiggins.
We now know that Froome hunger-flatted on that final climb, sending Porte back to the team car for gels. Both riders were docked 20 seconds for the incident — riders aren’t allowed to refuel from the team car in the final 20km — but the infringement was worth it; Froome picked up more time on his nearest rival, Alberto Contador, with his overall lead now beyond 5 minutes.
Like last year, the race is destined to end with victory for a Sky rider; a victory that was locked in early in the Tour. But this year’s race is leagues apart from Wiggins’ win in 2012, at least from a fan’s perspective. We’ve seen the yellow jersey of Froome attack often and with conviction — look no further than Mont Ventoux for a perfect example. And while Froome’s moves today lacked the bite they had in Provence, it was still a joy to watch the race leader animating the race.
We spent most of the race today down on Dutch Corner which was just as exciting as the race up Alpe d’Huez. It was estimated that between 700,000 and one million fans lined the road from the town of Bourg d’Oisans up to the finish. But the main attraction was on corner number 7 where thousands of orange t-shirts danced to cheesy Euro techno having an absolute ball.
For all the nationalities in this world who think they’re “king of the party”, the Dutch will eat you for breakfast. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen on the side of a mountain.
The degree of enthusiasm was made all the greater thanks to the success of Dutch duo Laurens Ten Dam and Bauke Mollema on this year’s Tour, with Mollema sparking a new craze in the country, coined “Mollemania”.
Until tomorrow, thanks for reading, turn up some Dutch party music, and enjoy the photos we took from today’s spectacular stage.
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- There were more Aussies on Alpe d’Huez today than I’ve ever seen before. Perhaps we should get our own corner?
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- Jens Voigt made the early breakaway of nine riders and received massive support on the first ascent of Alpe d’Huez, as seen here.
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- The moment this inflatable couch was left unattended, it was bounced and paraded all over Dutch Corner. As hard as they tried, the Dutch fans were unsuccessful in destroying it.
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- Every so often the Dutch fans would crouch down and wave their fingers like they were casting a spell while the music slowed down. When the music sped up again Dutch Corner turned into one giant disco. Madness!
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- Top Left: I’m not sure what party game they were playing on the road, but the gendarmes certainly weren’t happy. Top Right: The Harlem Shake was a popular dance on the day. Bottom Left: Despite all the shenanigans, there was still a man sweeping the course clean of all the plastic cups, wrappers, and other debris. Bottom Right: The Smurfs were originally a Belgian cartoon, but even they ended up on Dutch Corner. According to Wikipedia, the word “Smurf” is the original Dutch translation of the French “Schtroumpf”, a word invented when, during a meal with fellow cartoonist André Franquin, Peyo could not remember the word salt.
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- Thomas Voeckler tries to bridge to the front group on the first ascent of the Alpe.
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- Richie Porte leads Quintana, Froome and Rodriguez up the second ascent of the Alpe.
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- Tejay comes through Dutch Corner alone on his second ascent on his way to the finish.
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- Tejay van Garderen makes his way alone through corner number 7.
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- Riblon in close pursuit of van Garderen.
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- The fans on Dutch Corner greeting the television helicopter.
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- Tejay van Garderen grits his teeth a few kilometers from finish.
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- I think we now know how much of an effect post-Giro fatigue has had on Cadel’s 2013 Tour de France and it’s a shame to see him so far off the pace. It will be interesting to see what happens with his leader’s role next season. I’m always quick to write off Cadel, but he keeps bouncing back …
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- The moment where Froome realises he’s gone hunger flat and calls for help. Richie went back to the team car to get him a gel but both of them got penalised 20 seconds for taking a feed from the car within the final 20kms. Froome said, ” It wasn’t a huge setback. Richie was feeling a lot better than I was today and I was running out of sugars towards the end. I had to ask him to go back and grab me some sugars from the car. I was just getting in as best I could in those last few kilometres. I’m not sure if it made any difference at that point in the race.”
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- Quintana attacks Froome but is brought back.
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- Team Sky leads the peloton through Dutch Corner on the first of two ascents of Alp d’Huez.
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- Christophe Riblon gets France’s first victory in this year’s Tour and is only the third Frenchman to win on Alpe d’Huez.
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- There was an attack from Contador and Kreuziger on the Col de Sarenne but it never gained any more than 20” on Froome.
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- The peloton descents the Col de Sarenne.
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- As it turns out, there was much ado about nothing on the Col de Sarrenne.
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- Tejay approaches the final kilometers with Riblon closely behind only to get caught in the final kilometre.
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- Rodriguez, Quintana and Froome after Porte and Contador fell off the pace, but once again Porte fought his way back and rejoined Froome to bring him home to the finish.
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- van Garderen moments after getting overtaken by Riblon and chased by a naked man. After the race Tejay said, “It was painful to lose, but at the same time it was kind of surprising we were even in the hunt for the win. When I did my first attack the first time up Alpe d’Huez, when we only had seven minutes, I didn’t actually think at that moment we were going to stay away. I was just doing it to show my presence in the race.”
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- Dutchmen Lars Boom (left) and Koen de Kort get a warm greeting on corner number 7.
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- Once Riblon caught Van Garderen he immediately attacked and would go on to claim AG2R La Mondiale’s first victory in the 100th Tour de France and the first for France.
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- Chris Froome and Richie Porte cross the finish together.
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- Richie Porte saved Chris Froome’s GC lead after Froome hit the wall and lost contact with his rivals Quintana and Rodriguez. Froome said, ““I was low on sugars and Richie saved me. Richie’s a really great guy; he put all of his ambitions aside in this race to keep the jersey on my shoulders.”
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- Behind the GC contenders, other riders in the race had a bit of fun on Dutch Corner.
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- Jens Voigt left it all on the road making the early break but finishing 15 minutes down.
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- The groupetto crosses the last switchback of Alpe d’Huez 30 minutes down.
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- Tom Veelers was the last rider to cross the finish line at over 33 minutes down, but he had thousands of Dutch supporters helping him get to the top.
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