Besancon, 16th of July – 2014
After the abandonment of Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo are in a new situation requiring new goals and tactics. With seven riders on great form left in this year’s Tour de France and no one in contention for the GC, stage wins is be one of the obvious targets. And today’s 187.5 kilometer long mountainous journey from Besancon to Oyonnax almost pleaded for early breakaways and attacks. Four categorized climbs were on the menu and with a descent and a few kilometers of flat terrain from the top of the final summit to the finish line, the spectators were in for a thrilling finale.
And Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche didn’t hesitate to chase Martin Elmiger (IAM) who was the last standing escapee from an early break and Jan Bakelandts (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) was following the Tinkoff-Saxo rider. In the meantime, Cannondale took control of the pacemaking in the peloton.
With 21 kilometers to go, Roche turned up the pace a notch and soloed his way to the top of the penultimate climb and gave it everything but too many combined interests in the field made it a mission impossible and with 16 kilometers to go, he was back in the now minimized pack. On the final and short, steep climb, Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) had a go from the select group of riders including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Michael Rogers who bridged the gap to Gallopin on the descent with Sagan and Kwiatkowski on his tail.
But on the final two kilometers, Gallopin took off again and soloed his way to stage glory. Behind, his followers were swept up by the small group of riders where Tinkoff-Saxo’s Daniele Bennati sprinted his way to fourth place today.
“It’s been a turbulent few days for us but we believe that sunshine follows rain and we still have seven incredibly motivated and powerful riders and they each have their chance of chasing stage wins from now on. We want to show that we’re still a part of the race and each morning, we’ll discuss the tactics and who has the greatest chance of success,” said DS, Philippe Mauduit after the stage and added: “Today, the guys took up the challenge and demonstrated that they are ready for change of tactics physically and mentally.”
Rogers: We will continue to ride aggressively
Tinkoff-Saxo showed aggressive riding today on the 11th stage sending out both Nicolas Roche and Michael Rogers in an effort to conquer the stage win. Rogers was the last rider that the peloton caught, since Frenchman fellow breakaway rider Tony Gallopin held the bunch behind him to take the stage win.
“Yeah, we were definitely active today. Nicolas was super strong and rode in the front of the breakaway for many kilometers before being caught on the final descent. I attacked together with a strong group but it was one of those unpredictable finales”, says Michael Rogers after the stage.
Today’s stage to Oyonnax was the first day after Alberto Contador’s crash and exit. It was announced that Tinkoff-Saxo would focus on stage wins and it didn’t take long before the riders started attacking.
“Bjarne and Oleg asked us to be aggressive today and to attack. So that’s what we did. We need to get into the breakaways to put pressure on the peloton. But we are strong and we can counter each other. I think we showed today that even though we aren’t fully over the shock of loosing Alberto, we are determined on creating big results here at the Tour”, adds Michael Rogers.
