Tour de France riders survive brutal climb
LE GRAND-BORNAND, France – Half the height of Mount Everest, climbed on a bike, in a single day. Even by Tour de France standards, Stage 19 was hard.
“At times, you just feel like you’re being tortured,” was how American rider Andrew Talansky described Friday’s ordeal – arguably the toughest stage of the 100th Tour – that started with two monster climbs as riders were still digesting breakfast.
“You’re just like, ‘What is this?’ But you dig in and keep going.”
The GPS mini-computer the Garmin rider carries on his bike did the sums: 14,498 feet ridden uphill – close to the height of Western Europe’s loftiest peak, Mont Blanc, and half of Everest, the roof of the world at 29,035 feet.
The riders also zoomed 13,907 feet downhill. Talansky’s gizmo showed he burned 5,670 calories during the 6-hour suffer-fest.
The difficulty of Stage 19 made Chris Froome “quite nervous.” Once he got through it with his big race lead intact, the British rider finally started to allow his mind to fast-forward to the finish on Sunday.
Victory is so close he can almost taste it. The last Alpine stage today – 77 miles in the mountains towering above the limpid waters of Lake Annecy – won’t be enough for second-place Alberto Contador to puncture Froome’s cushion of more than 5 minutes. In all but name, the 28-year-old is champion of the 100th Tour and knows it.
“One more day to really stay concentrated and to stay up front and look after the yellow jersey and then looking forward to taking it to Paris,” Froome said. “It’s going to be very hard for someone to take more than five minutes in 125 kilometers (77 miles). But having said that, I don’t want to be complacent.”
No, that can wait until Sunday evening – when Froome and the other survivors of this three-week, 2,115-mile clockwise trek around Western Europe’s largest country will clip their feet into the pedals for the final 82 miles to Paris.
Traditionally, that last stage is a relaxed lap of honor, at least until the pack hits the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees. There, Mark Cavendish and other sprint-finish specialists will battle for the bragging rights of the stage win on that leafy boulevard the French modestly call the most beautiful avenue in the world. The unique dusk finish for this 100th Tour, just as the sun sets behind the Arc de Triomphe, should be special.
While the top spot is taken, podium places next to Froome are still up for grabs. Just 47 seconds separate second-placed Contador from Joaquim Rodriguez in fifth.
Sandwiched between those Spaniards are Colombian Nairo Quintana, in third, and Contador’s Czech teammate Roman Kreuziger, in fourth. They are all more than 5 minutes behind Froome.