The penultimate day of the Tour de France, with only the traditional procession into Paris to come after, meant that this was the last chance for teams to throw their hat in the ring for stage or GC glory. With the Green and Polka Dot Jerseys already claimed by the team, it was Roman Kreuziger’s turn to go for glory, and after riding hard in the break all day, with strong support from Peter Sagan, the Czech national road champion cracked the top ten of the GC after pushing hard throughout the Tour’s three weeks. The team will wear the Maillot Vert and Maillot à Pois into Paris tomorrow.
Similar to yesterday’s stage in both distance and profile, the 146.5km route saw the grand finale of the stage take place not on an ascent, but on a downhill run in to the ski resort of Morzine. Climbing and descending on categorised climbs four times through the day, the most fearsome mountain was the Hors Catégorie Col de Joux Plane – a legendary 11.6 km-long climb at 8.5% that even the greats of the Tour have suffered on over the years. Reaching the peak of the climb, there was still another 12km of descending before the stage’s finish.
The day started with an excruciatingly-fast pace, and while the breaks wanted to go, the ones that did exploded shortly after. With such aggressive riding, it was hard to get a break to stick, but after 15km a large group made the escape. In this group, the UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, was looking for some extra points for the Maillot Vert contest, while he was joined by the Czech national road champion, Roman Kreuziger, who had his eye on pulling some time back in the GC.
Like yesterday, the roads were soaked and the rain was falling, making riding treacherous. With so many riders having hit the deck on stage 19, it was essential that riders stayed upright and the pace was noticeably slower. In the bunch, having won the Maillot à Pois on yesterday’s stage, Rafal Majka was sitting at the back of the peloton, avoiding trouble and making sure there were no upsets in the road ahead. This was also a well-deserved rest for the Polish rider, who had attacked on each of the three previous road stages.
Attacking on the descent of the Col de la Colombière, Roman and Peter were part of a group of eight who split away from the main breakaway group, quickly forming an advantage of more than six minutes on the peloton. While Peter dropped away shortly after, the UCI World Champion had worked hard to support Roman and get him in position for the latter part of the stage.
Attacking riding has been a theme of Tinkoff’s Tour de France, and during the stage, Peter was awarded the most aggressive rider of this year’s race. “I’m happy to have taken the most aggressive rider. I’m happy we finished this very hard week and am looking forward to tomorrow. I was expecting to win the most aggressive prize last year, but didn’t, so to win it this year I’m very happy.”
The long final climb over and done with, it was just the descent into Morzine to go. In spite of having lost some time on the climb, Roman had the downhill section to draw back an advantage on the chasing peloton. Soaked to the skin, Roman crossed the line in sixth spot. After a nervous wait, it was confirmed that his hard ride and strong effort had helped him crack the top ten of the GC.
Crossing the line in 15th spot having stayed safe today, Rafal Majka was confirmed as the King of the Mountains. “We’re happy and I’m pleased to have finished the day safely – I stayed with the GC riders and stayed safe in the finish. I didn’t want to risk it on the descent. The team was all the time in the front today – all the time in the breakaway. We had a lot of time in the breakaways this year – Peter especially is the most aggressive rider and he deserves that accolade.”
Continuing, the Polish national road champion was quick to praise the team’s efforts, and thanked Oleg Tinkov for his strong support. “It’s really important for me and my teammates to have won the two jerseys. Oleg is leaving the sport so we wanted to give him something in this Tour to say thank you – three stages and two jerseys. We did it for Oleg after his five years of sponsorship of the team. It’s great because Roman took a top ten in the GC and we have two jerseys going into Paris. It’s been a great Tour de France – at the start we had bad luck, but now it’s much better and we’re really happy. We had bad luck with Alberto but congratulations to Chris Froome for the yellow. I love the race and am really pleased to have my second jersey – I’ll be celebrating tomorrow.”
Having taken three stage wins and the Maillot Vert, Peter was pleased to have performed so well throughout the race. “With these wins it feels like 2012 when I won three stages and the green jersey. I’m very happy for myself and the team, and to have finished this very hard week. It’s important to fight hard – we’re the top team in the world and we had to make sure we kept getting those results.”
Approaching Paris from the north this year, the final stage of this year’s Tour de France is mainly a procession for the jersey wearers for the first 50km, but when the race arrives in Paris, it gets much more serious. Eight laps of the finishing Champs Élysées circuit come before the final, most prestigious sprint in cycling. Who will take the victory on the Tour’s final stage?
Stage Result
1. Ion Izaguirre (SPA) Movistar Team 04:06:45
2. Jarlinson Pantano (COL) IAM Cycling 00:00:19
3. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Astana Pro Team 00:00:42
4. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx – Quick-Step 00:00:49
5. Rui Costa (POR) Lampre – Merida 00:01:43
6. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:01:44
15. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:04:17
44. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:12:17
90. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:27:22
97. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:28:17
119. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:33:46
126. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:33:54
172. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:35:00
GC After Stage 20
1. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky 86:21:40
2. Romain Bardet (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale 00:04:05
3. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar Team 00:04:21
4. Adam Yates (GBR) Orica-BikeExchange 00:04:42
5. Richie Porte (AUS) BMC Racing Team 00:05:17
10. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:07:11
27. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +01:04:25
58. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +02:28:06
78. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +03:01:22
96. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +03:27:15
146. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +04:22:05
157. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +04:29:38
160. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +04:30:30
