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2015 Tour de France: Stage 20 live updates, blog

25th July, 2015
Stage type: Mountain (Summit finish)
Start: Modane Valfrejus (9:15pm AEST)
Finish: Alpe d'Huez (Approximately 12:32am AEST)
Distance: 110.5km
TV: Live and exclusive SBS (9:30pm AEST)
Online: SBS Cycling Central or SBS Tour Tracker app

Top 10 General Classification:

1. Chris Froome (Sky) @ 78:37:34
2. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) + 2:38
3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 5:25
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) + 6:44
5. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff – Saxo) + 7:56
6. Robert Gesink (Lotto NL – Jumbo) + 8:55
7. Mathias Frank (IAM) + 12:39
8. Bauke Mollema (Trek) + 13:22
9. Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) + 14:08
10. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) + 17:27
Nairo Quintana has been in and out of the Giro's pink jersey, not that free-to-air viewers have been able to see it. (AP Photo/Gian Mattia D'Alberto)
Expert
25th July, 2015
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1725 Reads

Stage Results:

Easily one of the best stages in any Grand Tour in recent memory has seen Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) take out the victory on top of the Alpe d’Huez. Meanwhile Chris Froome (Sky) survived a scare to take out the yellow jersey ahead of tomorrow’s final stage into Paris.

Early in the day, with a downhill high speed start to action a breakaway of four riders went away which featured Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Lars Bak (Lotto – Soudal), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale – Garmin).

They managed to build a handy advantage of over 8 minutes before the riders got to the first climb of the day, the Col de la Croix de Fer. From here things kicked off in the peloton, a counter attack going up the road featuring many strong riders.

This included the likes of Warren Barguil (Giant – Alpecin), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff – Saxo), Ruben Plaza (Lampre), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Winner Anacona (Movistar), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora), Steven Kruijswijk, Ruben Plaza (Lampre – Merida), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondlae – Garmin) and Bob Jungels (Trek), however it didnt last for long as Ag2r La Mondiale came to the front of the peloton and put the foot down to try and allow Romain Bardet to gain points in the King of the Mountains classification.

As they caught the counter attack though, Movistar came to the fore and stamped on the pedal. With 6km to go on the Croix de Fer and the gap between the front four riders and the peloton rapidly decreasing, Alexandre Geniez decided enough was enough and went solo. It was a successful attack and he managed to distance all of his other breakaway companions.

Back in the peloton Movistar still were going at it and starting to really strain Team Sky with plenty of riders droping away. As they came up towards the top, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was the man to launch the attack. It was always going to be the 1 – 2 move when Quintana attacked and rode across the gap to Valverde.

Team Sky used their resources and tried to work back across the gap and coming over the top had kept Quintana within just 10 seconds. Early in the descent they managed to catch Quintana and Valverde and with Nibali managing to hang on to Froome who was isolated going over the top, it was four riders in the lead behind the breakaway.

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Many riders were then able to come back to the peloton as the pace completley came off, which also allowed Geniez who was still in the lead on hiw own to increase his gap towards the four minute mark.

As they continued downhill a new breakaway formed off the front of the peloton, which at one point was 6 riders and featured Ryder Hesejdal (Cannondale – Garmin), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Winner Anacona (Movistar), Jose Serpa and Ruben Plaza (both Lampre).

This group gradually built an advantage of 2 minutes over the peloton and would hold that all the way to the bottom of the Alpe d’Huez.

Once on the final climb of the 2015 Tour, the main aggressor would be Nairo Quntana as he put in attack after attack, however the reslience of Chris Froome and his team mates continued to bring him back to Quintana.

However with around 8km to go it was time for Valverde to turn the screws and put an attack in. Quintana then about 500 metres later, attacked across and this time left Sky and Froome behind as he bridged to Valverde.

Further up the road and it was Pinot, along with Hesejdal who had rode away from the rest of the breakaway to form their own two man group that was going in pursuit of race leader Geniez. They both attacked each other countless times until Pinot finally cracked Hesejdal and then when Geniez had given everything he had left, rode away on his own.

Meanwhile Quintana allowed Valverde to work for him before he was dropped off in the wheels of Anacona, the gap getting to around the 40 second mark with 5km to go and Froome still with a pair of tea mates.

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However it was at this point, that Quintana decided to lift the tempo again and try to gain the neccessary time to win the Tour. Froome’s team mates, Richie Porte the last man standing would eventually drop Froome off about 3km from the end and leave him with a minute and a half to play with, most of which he would hold on his way to the line.

The final battle on the day was for the stage, Quintana looking for all the world like he was going to catch Pinot, but in the end falling about 20 seconds short.

At the end of the final day of the mountains in the 2015 Tour de France though, Thibaut Pinot and Chris Froome will be the two men counting themselves as the happiest.

Stage Preview:

The 2015 Tour de France all bubbles down to this. Stage 20, a duel on the famous slopes at the Alpe d’Huez after the shortest road stage of the Tour, just 110.5-kilometres starting in Modane Valfrejus.

Join The Roar for live race updates and coverage from 9:00pm (AEST).

In what is going to be a cracker of a stage, Chris Frooome goes in holding an advantage of 2:40 over Nairo Quintana in the General Classification. However, yesterday’s Stage 19 was the first time that Team Sky have looked vulnerable all Tour and it will be interesting to see if they are able to bounce back today.

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Today’s stage is even shorter than yesterday’s and after we saw a series of attacks go on the first climb yesterday, attacks could well fly at any moment today as well. The stage actually had to have a route change due to landslides and will now not be climbing over the Col du Telegraphe and the Col du Galibier.

Instead the race will track back over the other side of the Col de la Croix de Fer, after it was climbed yesterday and then finish on the Alpe d’Huez. Realistically it has probably made the stage a fraction easier, although none of the riders will be telling you that.

The stage starts off in a downhill direction from the start line, which the peloton will be thankful for after the uphill craziness of yesterday’s opening exchanges. The Croix de Fer is being climbed from the longer stage today and will take the riders uphill for 29-kilometres at an average gradient of 5.2 per cent. However, in saying that the climb has two or three downhill ramps on it and the last 5-kilometres in particular, never really drop below 7 per cent.

The challenging finish to the climb should see plenty of attacks launched here and with only a downhill and then the Alpe d’Huez to go separated by about 10-kilometres of flat it will be interesting to see just who goes hard early after the punishing stage yesterday.

After the intermediate sprint in Bourg D’Oisans the riders will promptly begin the famous climb of the Alpe d’Huez. 21 hairpin bends and the one climb that everyone, even part time Tour observers will have heard of. The stats will make sprinters cry, weighing in at 13.8-kilometres with an average gradient of 8.1 per cent. If you are having a bad day here it is possible to lose massive time.

Making things even more challenging is the fact that the final 3-kilometres of the Alpe are only around the 5 per cent mark, meaning the average of the rest of the climb is more like 9 to 10 per cent.

So the big question is, can Chris Froome hold onto yellow? He looked vulnerable and tired yesterday as he tried to chase Quintana. With others attacking all around, Froome will have to pick who to chase and who to let go of carefully.

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Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) looked very good yesterday, but you have to wonder how much he has left in the tank. Alberto Contador (Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) couldn’t go with Froome and neither could anyone else as he chased Quintana.

Prediction: It looks to be a two horse race for the yellow jersey and I am going to say the stage win as well. The pace will be too high for an early breakaway to get away and with that Nairo Quintana too me looks the favourite for stage honours, but won’t be able to take yellow.

Join The Roar for live coverage of stage 20 in the 2015 Tour de France from 9:00pm (AEST) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along!

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