Bora Hansgrohe Tour De France Feeding Zone Fall
Key events Magnus Cort (EF Education-Easypost) wins Stage 10! Photo finish for Stage 10, between Schultz and Cort! Protestors in the road stop the race! We're racing on Stage 10! Preamble
Jeremy Whittle's report is here:
Jeremy Whittle's stage 10 report will be along shortly. We'll wrap today's blog up now. Tomorrow's stage 11 is a real Alpine brute, with two hors catégorie climbs – Col du Galibier and Col du Granon Serre Chevalier – coming after the photogenic switchbacks of the Lacets de Montvernier, and the Col du Télégraphe.
Thanks for reading, and I will be back tomorrow for more.
Stage 10, top 10:
1) Cort (EF Education-Easypost) 3hr 18' 50"
2) Schultz (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) (same time)
3) Sánchez (Bahrain Victorious) 3hr 18' 57"
4) Jorgenson (Movistar Team) 3hr 18' 58"
5) Van Baarle (Ineos) 3hr 19' 00"
6) Zimmermann (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux) 3hr 19' 05"
7) Thomas (Cofidis) 3hr 19' 08"
8) Leknessund (Team DSM) 3hr 19' 10"
9) Wright (Bahrain Victorious) 3hr 19' 12"
10) Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) 3hr 19' 12"
Kamna missed the yellow jersey by just 11 seconds. Which must be pretty damn disappointing for the lad.
Top 10 GC after stage 10:
1) Pogacar 37hr 11' 28"
2) Kamna +11"
3) Vingegaard +39"
4) Thomas +1'17"
5) Yates +1'25"
6) Gaudu +1'38"
7) Bardet +1'39"
8) Pidcock +1'46"
9) Mas +1'50"
10) Sánchez +1'50"
"Can you shed some light on your comment 'Professional cycling is, without doubt, one of the most polluting sports on the planet,'" asks Tom on email. "Would love to educate myself on this."
I must admit I don't have the league table of sports in terms of environmental impact, but when you consider what it takes to get a bike race on: all the race vehicles, the team buses, the helicopters and planes (for the TV pictures), the police motorbikes and logistics vehicles ... also all the thousands of fans who drive around following the race or fly to and from the race. That's before you start on the amount of flying that is done by teams, riders and race staff to get to races all around the world. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the production of the bikes and all the kit (while it may be improving in terms of environmental impact) is another thing to add to the pile. Flying an entire Giro d'Italia to Israel a few years ago, for example, would have been a huge generator of carbon emissions. People obviously think of cycling as something which is friendly to the environment, but that is definitely not the case when it comes to professional bike racing.
"Someone told a story of how the Danish reporters in the press zone didn't take up any offers to interview Nielsen at the start of the stage, because they didn't realise it was Cort," emails Nick Honeywell. I can believe that!
Cort speaks: "It's unbelievable ... I can't believe what just happened today. I was on the limit for so long on this climb, and luckily I had Bettiol up front and he was really strong, which meant I could sit on, and save some energy ... somehow I was losing the group a couple of times in the last kilometres. Suddenly it was all back together and I was able to take it in the sprint.
"It's huge, for me, my type of rider, it can't be any bigger than this ... the Tour de France is the biggest race ... In my first tour I won a stage. And I've been here a few times without winning one. Every year I've been wanting and trying. To do it again is unbelievable. [Near the end] I could see things coming back together, I told myself, this one is mine. I just had to take it, no matter the price."
A decent day at the office for Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates, in the end.
The winning moment for Cort:
"Where did Magnus Cort come from?" inquires Andrew.
"I was reading the commentary and you hadn't mentioned him at all, he wasn't even in the break away group? Are you sure a spectator didn't join the race with his number?"
He was in the break, although I initially listed him as Nielsen, not Cort. Nielsen is what he's named as on the official website. Lessons will be learned.
Pogacar puts in a big effort to the line, sprinting and trying to nab a second or two from his GC rivals. He doesn't manage to distance them but he will keep the yellow jersey. There is a close-up of Kamna, who looks utterly gutted not to have taken the race lead.
Cort is building quite a palmarès: he now has two Tour de France stages (2018 and 2022) and six stage wins at the Vuelta.
The main bunch fights its way up the final climb. It looks as though Pogacar will stay in yellow, but that is still to be confirmed ...
Magnus Cort (EF Education-Easypost) wins Stage 10!
Cort snatches it by a couple of inches in a photo finish. What a ride. Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) looked like he had it won, after coming past the Spaniard Luis León Sánchez on the final kick to the line, inside the final 200 metres. But Magnus Cort, who lit up the opening stages in Denmark by going on the attack and taking the polka-dot jersey, manages to draft behind Schultz and they are virtually neck-and-neck at the line ... what a finish!
Photo finish for Stage 10, between Schultz and Cort!
Wow! Magnus Cort came up behind Schultz right at the end ... who took it? We are waiting for confirmation.
400m to go: The riders behind have caught the front four!
500m to go: Van Baarle is brought back, and we have four at the front ...
800m to go: Van Baarle (Ineos) bridges across to the front three and attacks immediately!
1km to go: It looks like it's going to be a showdown between Sánchez, Jorgensen and Schultz.
2km to go: Jorgensen (Movistar) and Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) close down Sánchez. Schultz manages to distance Jorgensen, and then forms a two-man group at the front with the Spaniard who just spent a long time at the front ...
3km to go: Kamna is 8'43" down on GC. He's going to miss out on yellow by a handful of seconds at this rate.
Sánchez ploughs on, he is within 3km of glory, and this will be one of the longer five or 10 minutes of his life.
5km to go: Sánchez, on what looks a slightly flatter section, takes a gulp from his bottle and keeps grinding the hardest gear that he can. He has built a lead of 19", which is a huge effort ... and now it's gone up to 28"!
The KOM point comes at Montée de l'altiport de Megève, after which we will have another 2.2km to race.
6km to go: Luis León Sánchez attacks solo at the front! He creates a significant gap in a matter of seconds. He may be 38 years old but he can still show a clean pair of pedals to a world-class breakaway group at the Tour de France.
7km to go: The bunch is 9'22" behind the break. Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) has been setting the pace on the front.
The pace is high, the gradient is sufficiently gentle that the riders can stay in a pretty hard gear.
As you may have noticed I was incorrect to say that the stage would finish at 16.57 local time ... the protest has delayed the whole thing by 20 minutes or so.
8km to go: Simmons of Trek-Segafredo catches Bettiol and powers past him. Kamna comes back at him hard and gets to the front. This is going to be a massive battle for the win.
Meanwhile, on Twitter:
9.5km to go: Bettiol goes again. This is a helluva ride, and clearly it's a stage that Bettiol has been targeting for a while.
10km to go: The riders up front are:
Thomas (Cofidis)
Jorgenson (Movistar)
Bettiol and Cort (EF Education-Easypost)
Velasco (Astana)
Zimmermann (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux)
Van Baarle (Ineos)
Wright (Bahrain-Victorious)
11km to go: Bettiol is caught. Benjamin Thomas of Cofidis had joined Zimmermann and Wright, and now we have four riders ahead ... and it looks like another four riders are going to join forces with them almost immediately.
14km to go: Bettiol grasps his handlebars and pumps his legs as if his life depends on it. He is digging very, very deep to try and maintain this lead. It would certainly be in the top three results of his career if he can win this stage, adding to his Tour of Flanders and Giro d'Italia stage victories. He has 23".
15km to go: Bettiol holds his lead at 31". The Alps loom into view as the chasing grinds up the climb. Zimmerman and Wright are giving chase to Bettiol, working to try and close down Bettiol. Behind them, we have a group of 15 riders, Kamna of Bora-Hansgrohe among them, who will be going into the maillot jaune if it stays like this.
17km to go: Even with the hold-up for the protest, it looks like the stage is still going to finish on the fastest estimated time schedule on the official website – 45km/h average with a finish time of 16.57 local time.
Bettiol powers on up the climb, accompanied by the pink team car. He has 32". Sean Kelly employs the word "performant" on commentary, which is always nice.
19km to go: Bettiol stretches his lead to 40"! It would seem that no one in the chasing group is willing to work, and if they don't get busy, the EF Education-Easypost rider will be able to create a decisive gap.
Back down the road, the main bunch rolls through the intermediate sprint, nine and a half minutes behind our lone leader.
20km to go: It's now all uphill until the finish. Surely Bettiol cannot hold off the chasers? He does have 26", but it would be a mind-blowing performance if he wins this solo.
21km to go: Bettiol's advantage is down to 16".
Video here of the Italian rider dodging around the protest earlier:
22km to go: Kamna could be heading for the yellow jersey tonight. He is the virtual leader of the Tour de France as it stands.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 12, 2022I've said for years that every major sporting event should be required to publish its estimated carbon cost (in units that are consistent and comprehensible) @LukeMcLaughlin.
They can also publish their offsets if they so wish.
25km to go: Bettiol rolls through the intermediate sprint at Passy-Marlioz, and takes 20 points in that competition, not that he cares. The gap is down to 22" to the chasing bunch. Christophe Laporte of Jumbo-Visma, who is fifth in the points classification, comes through second and grabs 17 points.
31km to go: Bettiol is hammering away up front again and he has an advantage of 48". It looks like this may work in Bettiol's favour after all ...
He soloed to victory in the Tour of Flanders in 2019, so it's the sort of thing we've seen from the Italian before. He also won a stage at the Giro last year.
33km to go: Bettiol is racing again up front.
@LukeMcLaughlin I'd argue F1 is far worse in terms of pollution but far less practical in terms of protesting across the road.
— Beau Dure 🇺🇦🌈🖖☮️ (@duresport) July 12, 2022
F1 is an obvious culprit in terms of carbon emissions ... but I'm not sure people comprehend the sheer amount of energy it takes to put a grand tour on. I'm not just talking about things like race vehicles, helicopters, and the emissions necessary to fly and bus the riders and teams around, either. Producing carbon bikes, and all the kit, is a huge generator of carbon emissions.
36km to go: Carlton Kirby reckons this delay is due to the police checking the road ahead for more protestors.
35km to go: Confusion reigns. We are not racing yet. Bettiol is still stationary up front – in fact, he is rolling around in circles on the road, keeping his legs moving and waiting to be told he can start racing again. Will this play into Bettiol's hands, or the chasing pack? You'd have to suspect it will be the latter.
36km to go: "A lot of people are getting quite angry ... a DS got out of the car and stuck a boot in. Great scenes here."
I'm not sure if they are great, to be honest ... Anyway. Looks like the protestors have been cleared and we are racing again. "All the gaps have been taken," says Seb Piquet on race radio. Which means the gaps have been reinstated.
Now there is a shot of the breakaway group I think, having been stopped, in order to reinstate the time gaps. But then there's a shot of Bettiol who is still stationary. He looks annoyed, understandably.
I presume they were climate crisis protestors. It may annoy the riders and the teams, but no one can seriously argue they aren't protesting for a good reason. Professional cycling is, without doubt, one of the most polluting sports on the planet.
Protestors in the road stop the race!
36km to go: There are protestors in the road ahead of our lone leader Bettiol. Several people are sitting in the road, and at least one flare has been let off. Bettiol has come to a halt, stopped in his tracks by the official race motorbike, having swerved around the protestors in the road and made his way through.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2022/jul/12/tour-de-france-2022-stage-10-from-morzine-to-megeve-live
0 Response to "Bora Hansgrohe Tour De France Feeding Zone Fall"
Post a Comment