Tour de France 2014: Nibali takes stage with might, Contador out

Monday July 14th, 2014 - Stage 10 takes riders in 161.5 kilometres from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles. After seven tough cols the finish is atop the last one, a climb with a steep 20%-section justy under the top. The ride is ripe with drama and heroics. Alberto Contador is forced to abandon with a fractured tibia and his opponent Vincenzo Nibali takes the stage after a glorious attack on La Planche des Belles Filles. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 10th stage Tour de France 2014

1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 0.15
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 0.20
4. Jean Christophe Peraud (fra) s.t.
5. Romain Bardet (fra) + 0.22
6. Tejay van Garderen (USA) s.t.
7. Richie Porte (aus) + 0.25
8. Leopold König (Cze) +0.50
9. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 0.52
10. Mikel Nieve (spa) + 0.54

12. Bauke Mollema (Nld) + 1.06
13. Rui Costa (por) s.t.
17. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) + 1.16
24. Michal Kwiatkowski (pol) + 2.13
48. Andrew Talansky (USA) + 10.12

GC after stage 10th stage
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Richie Porte (aus) + 2.23
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 2.47
4. Romain Bardet (fra) + 3.01
5. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 3.12
6. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 3.47
7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 3.56
8. Jean-Christophe Peraud (fra) + 3.57
9. Rui Costa (por) + 3.58
10. Bauke Mollema (Nld) + 4.08

11. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) + 4.18
14. Michael Kwiatkowski (pol) + 4.39
17. Pierre Rolland (fra) + 6.47
26. Andrew Talansky (USA) + 14.44

Race report
Seven riders are the first to crest Col du Firstplan and in the descent they are accompanied by Sagan, Rodríguez and Barta. Further up the mountain Tony Martin and Michal Kwiatkowski break away from the bunch with three other riders. The names to remember are Martin, Rodríguez and Kwiatkowski.

Rodríguez takes most mountains points and is to wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow, whilst Martin does an incredible job (once more). In the descent of the Petit Ballon the Martin/Kwiatkowski group joins the ten riders upfront, making Kwiatkowski a strong contender to take the yellow jersey. His team mate Martin moves to the front and keeps powering for tens of kilometres all on his own, the rest of the group barely able to keep his wheel.

Meanwhile Contador hits the deck hard. After an injury treatment he is back on his bike again, but on the Col du Platzerwasel he abandons.

The finale starts at the penultimate climb of Col des Chevrères. Tony Martin is exhausted and Kwiatkowski takes over, the only rider to follow being Rodríguez. In the descent he is once again accompanied by Kwiatkowski, Visconti and Moinard, two other riders of the original break.

The maximum gain of the escapees to the bunch with GC men was at one time over 4 minutes, but at the foot of the closing climb to La Planche des Belle Filles it’s down to one and a half minute.

Kwiatkowski and Rodríguez are together in the opening section, but with 5 kilometres left Purito is gone. In the lower section of the mountain Scarponi is speeding for his leader Nibali, giving everybody in the chasing group a hard time.

A hard time? It back be much tougher. With 2,5 kilometres to climb Nibali attacks with ‘grinta’. Soon the Shark of Messina puts his teeth in Kwiatkowski and none of his opponents are able to follow. Van Garderen, Porte, Valverde, Bardet, Pinot and Peraud desperately try to bridge the gap and riders like Mollema and Van den Broeck are even more down. Talansky has been dropped earlier.

At 1.3 kilometres the shark eats Rodríguez alive. Nibali survives the 20% section and not only he takes the stage, he is back in yellow as well. Who’s going to beat this giant?

Making his victory even better, is the fact he didn’t order his team mates to up the pace when Contador crashed. He waited until El Pistolero was back on his bike again.

Andrew Talansky arrives at over 10 minutes and can forget about the overall.