Movistar rider escapes the breakaway over the Port de Balès; Wiggins and Froome respond to pressure
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) salvaged a disappointing Tour de France, with a prestigious stage victory on the new summit finish at Peyragudes on stage 17. The 32-year-old Spanish rider was part of a 17-man breakaway, which escaped in the first half of the short, sharp, 143.5km stage, then escaped alone on the steep penultimate climb of the Port de Balès.
Despite aggression from Liquigas-Cannondale behind him – as Vincenzo Nibali sought to put pressure on the Sky team of Maillot Jaune Bradley Wiggins – Valverde managed to hold off the chase from behind on the Col de Peyresourde. His lead of two and a half minutes was whittled down to just 19 seconds however, as Wiggins’ Sky mountain super-domestique Chris Froome led his leader across the line to take second and third.
The 17-man break escaped on the descent of the 1st category Col de Menté after 27.5km, and looked to be little more than a battle for mountains points between polka-dot jersey Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and former jersey wearer Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana). Valverde was present however, with two teammates in Rubén Perez and Rui Costa, and he used them as stepping stones on the Port de Balès, and escaped with just over 35km to go.
“I’ve had a lot of bad luck since the start of the Tour, and it was very difficult to manage,” said Valverde afterwards. “I fell three times in two days, and it wasn’t looking good. Then it was no longer possible to fight for a good general classification result, especially when Froome and Wiggins are so strong, so I focused on a stage win.
“I really tried,” he added. “Until now far it hasn’t worked but we had to keep fighting the bad luck.”
Valverde’s victory was far from certain right up to the closing metres as the two Team Sky riders were flying up the climb behind him.
“When I felt that Froome and Wiggins were approaching me on the final climb, I gave everything I could to resist their chase and, after 500 metres from the finish line, I started to tell myself that it was good,” he explained.
“This is a very special victory for me: I’m back in the squad and I’m winning again, like I did before,” he continued. “For two years I had to stop competing but I never stopped working. And now this is the fifth victory of the season for me. They are all emotional. This is why I was on the podium in a world of my own, and I was not able to restrain my tears.”
Behind the break, Liquigas-Cannondale took control of the peloton as third overall Vincenzo Nibali tried to isolate Wiggins, and thinned it down to less than 35 riders by the time it arrived on the Peyresourde. A long turn from Ivan Basso on the front managed to isolate Wiggins and Froome but, as they turned off the short descent that followed, the two Sky riders were the ones to make the decisive move and managed to drop the rest.
Froome was clearly the stronger of the two climbers once more, but he patiently waited for Wiggins, which meant that he was unable to catch Valverde as he triumphantly took his third career stage in the Tour.
Wiggins and Froome finished side by side once again, just ahead young Frenchmen Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar), and Belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol). The two British riders managed to take a further 18 seconds out of Nibali, strengthening Froome’s position in second overall.
One last chance for the climbers as the Tour explores a new stage finish
Stage 17 was the second big Pyrenéen stage of the 2012 Tour de France, and the last chance for the climbers to make time on the time triallists if they were to mount a challenge for the yellow jersey. At only 143.5km, it was the shortest road stage of the race – with the exception of the final dash into Paris – but with the hors category Port de Balès, and the 1st category Col de Peyresourde [climbing the way they had descended the day before – ed] on the way to the summit finish at Peyragudes, it was to be one of the toughest.
There were several attacks in the early, flat section and on the 1st category Col de Menté, but the peloton was all together as the previous day’s stage winner and polka-dot jersey Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) led over the top, after 27.5km, ahead of former jersey wearer Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana). On the descent that followed, Voeckler and Kessiakoff got away with Valverde and Costa, Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat). The break originally contained Nibali, but knowing that his presence there doomed the group he soon sat up.
After 45km a chase group of ten formed and was 40 seconds behind, as Voeckler beat Kessiakoff again on the 2nd category Col des Ares after 55km, while the peloton was at 1’30”. The two groups came together with 75km to go, making a front group of 17.
Voeckler outsprinted Kessiakoff at the top of the Côte de Burs, with 67.5km to go, and the peloton followed over three minutes behind. Liquigas-Cannondale was not prepared to just allow the break to ride away however, and – with the help of Katusha – began to close the gap as they traversed the flat approach to the foot of the Port de Balès.
Gorka Izagirre and Jorge Azanza (both Euskaltel-Euskadi) escaped the others as they hit the gentle approach slopes with 50km to go, with Plaza and Kadri joining them. Plaza dropped back to the group, to work for Valverde, but the other three began to open up the gap to the rest. With 45km to go their lead was up to 40 seconds but, as Plaza began to work on the front of the chase group, it slowly began to close.
Azanza, having done most of the work up front, dropped off and left Izagirre and Kadri alone; as the climb steepened, riders began to be shed from the chase group, as the sprinters and non-climbers began to be shelled out of the rear of the peloton.
With eight kilometres to climb, the two leaders were joined by Costa, Valverde, Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Martinez, but Costa went straight over the top of the group and struck out alone. The sextet was just 30 seconds clear of the next group, containing Voeckler and Kessiakoff, while the peloton was now less than two minutes back.
Valverde uses his team and rides away from the break
Five kilometres from the top Costa was 15 seconds ahead of the chasers, who had dropped Kadri, while the Voeckler group was drifting further back. The peloton was making little progress on the Portuguese leader, but was steadily catching and passing the rest of the former breakaways. Dominik Nerz was leading for Liquigas-Cannondale, with Ivan Basso and Nibali just behind him; the peloton was down to less than 35 riders, but all of the big names in the general classification were still present.
With just under four kilometres to climb, Valverde jumped across the gap to his teammate, sat on for a few hundred metres, then jumped away alone.
Valverde took the summit of the climb, with 32km to go, with Martinez leading the first chase group 35 seconds later. Kadri and Leipheimer were 1’37” back, with Voeckler again beating Kessiakoff, ahead of Izagirre, two minutes behind. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) put in a brief attack at the head of the peloton, and rolled over the top 2’30” behind Valverde.
On the fast descent that followed, Valverde managed to open up his advantage over the chasers, while Voeckler managed to jump across to Leipheimer and Kadri. With 20k to go though, the peloton was closing in on the polka-dot jersey, and was just 12 seconds behind.
Valverde took the right turn at the bottom of the climb, with 16.5km to go, and immediately began the climb to the Peyresourde. Basso was leading the peloton as it picked up the chasers on the early slopes, but Valverde was still 2’42” ahead with 13km to go. Fifth overall Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) was dropped as the group continued to fragment under the pressure of the two-time Giro d’Italia winner.
Valverde was still holding out however, and was still 2’20” ahead as he passed under the ten kilometres to go banner.
Team Sky’s rivals try to up the pressure on the Peyresourde
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) attacked shortly before the peloton reached the banner, and Basso responded by upping his pace, which shed still more riders. This cut Valverde’s lead to 1’50”, but the Movistar rider was now less than two kilometres from the Peyresourde. Van Den Broeck then attacked, with Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) on his wheel and, as the group fought to follow them, Basso was dropped.
Van Den Broeck caught Vanendert, but the rest of the group was right on his tail, but Valverde’s lead began to shrink further. The Movistar rider rode over the top of the Col, and the yellow jersey group – now numbering just nine riders – followed 1’20” later; Valverde had completed the short descent, and turned onto the narrow road to Peyragudes.
Wiggins led the chase group onto the climb, with Froome tucked in on his wheel, and tried to close him down. With just over three kilometres to go though, the gap was still 1’25”.
Van Den Broeck attacked again, but was chased down by Froome, who accelerated himself. This pace dropped Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan), while Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) and Nibali also felt themselves drifting back. Froome then put in one more surge, and he and Wiggins pulled away from the rest.
Valverde’s lead was now just 47 seconds with 2.5km to go, but the two Sky riders were getting closer as the Spanish rider began to tire. Wiggins was having trouble holding on to the wheel of Froome though, and as he waited for him, they were being reeled in by Van Den Broeck and Pinot; as they entered the final kilometre and a half, Valverde’s lead was cut to 30 seconds.
The Movistar rider was soon on the flat final kilometre however, and was sprinting towards the finish; he sat up and showed the crowd his sponsors logo, and took his third career Tour stage. Froome led Wiggins over the line just 18 seconds behind him, with the rest of the group trickling over behind them.
Froome and Wiggins had succeeded in increasing their lead over everybody else; the two big loser in the top ten were Zubeldia, who dropped from fifth to seventh, and Brajkovič, who dropped from eighth to ninth.