a weekly double-shot of road racing
Wednesday 24th July 2013
issue 17
rapha.cc
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SATURDAY — S20
SUNDAY — S21
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
— Tour de Pologne S1 — Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
the view from paris
Quintana Groans at the Temple of Froome Nairo Quintana MOVISTAR
Chris Froome TEAM SKY
2 For Team Sky it was a perfect end to a testing, fiercely competitive three weeks. On the last lap of the Champs-Élysées Chris Froome dropped back to ride across the line arm in arm with his team-mates, celebrating his convincing individual victory and the team’s second consecutive yellow jersey in Paris. If Bradley Wiggins’ win in 2012 was all about control, Froome’s took place in more difficult circumstances. As Sir Dave Brailsford explained: “We went into this race with a target on our back – more so than ever before. People looked to us to ride. We also faced adversity. ere were times when we were not the strongest team in this race, and we had to take a couple of difficult days on the chin. We learnt some lessons.” e 2013 parcours made for an open, attacking race from the off, with a tough first week starting in Corsica keeping everyone on their toes. And early on there were occasions when Froome looked isolated and vulnerable to concerted attacks by Movistar and Alberto Contador’s SaxoTinkoff – a situation not helped by the loss of Vasil Kiryienka, victim of the time cut on stage nine, and then Edvald Boasson Hagen to a broken scapula after a crash during stage 12. “We went down to seven riders but the team pulled closer together,” Brailsford explained. “It just served to make the guys all the more motivated to give Chris the support he needed to get to Paris in yellow.” He continued: “It helps to do all this when you have
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SUNDAY — Tour de Pologne S2
the doppio awards race style
Joaquim Rodríguez KATUSHA
3 a leader you can believe in. And in Froomey we had that rider. We’ve watched him grow as a leader all year and in the biggest race of his career he didn’t miss a beat. Not only that, he won the race in style, showing real panache to attack and win three stages.” Froome did visibly become the leader Sky needed for this demanding, unpredictable race. One surprise was that Alberto Contador, for all his attacking, never posed the threat Froome’s supporters had feared. Two other surprises: Marcel Kittel’s convincing wins in stages Mark Cavendish would have felt were his; and Nairo Quintana, the pocket-sized 23year-old Colombian, whose poker climbing face only broke into a beaming smile when he soloed to victory at the summit finish of stage 20 on the Semnoz. Had his team backed him as leader from the start, and he hadn’t put in his doomed attack on the Port de Pailhères, he might have threatened the yellow jersey. But the grandest of the Grand Tours is not about the might-have-beens – which is why Alberto Contador will not regret a single moment’s attacking. It is about performances: Chris Froome’s augurs a changing of the guard and a new dominant Grand Tour rider for years to come, while if Nairo Quintana's second place elicited a groan of disappointment from the young Colombian, his ride marks him out as Froome's one to watch.
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MARCEL KITTEL Hair-raising sprinting. RYDER HESJEDAL Retro-cool sunglasses. MARK CAVENDISH #CapsNotHats
race injuries
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JEAN-CHRISTOPHE PÉRAUD A TT crash with a broken collarbone. GERAINT THOMAS Three weeks with a broken pelvis. TONY MARTIN Scrapes and concussion on stage 1.
bigringriding
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CHRIS FROOME. Two accelerations on Ventoux: bang bang, you’re dead. CHRISTOPHE RIBLON. Danced past BMC’s van Garderen on Alpe d’Huez. JENS VOIGT. Exited in a blaze of glory at the age of 41.
lanterne rouge SVEIN TUFT The former Canadian TT champion, who helped Orica-GreenEDGE to a memorable TTT victory, finished 4h27'55" down on Froome.
p ost-tour c r its or put t ing your f ee t up? # pr ost y le
a weekly double-shot of road racing
Wednesday 24th July 2013
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maillots
motoman
Beetles Rock Again
A DS Goes Inferno
Nairo Quintana’s tour de force in the world’s greatest race proves the climbers of Colombia are back with a vengeance, says Klaus of Cycling Inquisition. Days before the race started, Nairo Quintana was asked about the likelihood of his winning the event during his career. “It’s possible but I don’t want to be a dreamer,” he said. “I have to keep my head on straight because I’m young and still have lots to learn.” His humility was not part of some pr strategy but a reflection of who Quintana really is. His expression remained implacable throughout the race’s toughest stages, such as his stage 8 defeat at Ax-3 Domaines, or Chris Froome’s stage 15 victory on Ventoux, but something had become abundantly clear: at 23, Nairo Quintana is one of the most talented climbers in the world. Quintana’s first stage win eventually came on stage 20, to Annecy-Semnoz. In dropping Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez on the final climb, he secured the polka dot jersey, moved up one place in the general classification and ensured his first appearance would become Colombia’s most successful showing in its already impressive history at the race. As he crossed the line he raised his hands, locking them into a heart symbol above his head. e sign was in homage to his former amateur team, Colombia Es Pasion, the team in which Quintana had come to prominence before joining Movistar, and for whom he won the Tour de l’Avenir, in 2010. If Quintana remained composed during the race, things in his home town of Cómbita were quite different. People gathered in the town square to watch the race on a large screen, his parents taking pride of place in the front row. Nairo’s father, Luis, prayed out loud and was often brought to tears. In contrast, his mother, Eloisa, sat still, hands folded, looking at the screen intently, her expression locked in the serious gaze audiences around the world would become familiar with during this year’s race. As Nairo crossed the line, the crowd erupted and both Quintana’s parents were overcome. No doubt they remembered the sickly child they once feared would not live past the age of two, troubled by severe colic and other respiratory problems. e full version of Klaus’ feature, with exclusive photography, will be available on the Rapha blog from tomorrow, 25th July 2013. To read it, visit: rapha.cc/blogs.
In his final dispatch, our proto-moto hits the dancefloor and sees his socks go up in smoke. It was the wet stage to Le Grand Bornand that ruined my motorcycle boots. e metal-tipped heel had already come off one, giving me a cowboy roll and Fred Astaire tap when ambling across the press room. en the torrential rain did for them. I took some pictures in a few bars on the summits, and set up a camera on the ‘magic arm’ on the bike, videoing the crowds on the climbs and descents. It’s a different beast a mountain in the wet, subdued and angry. Or sulky at least. at night I put my boots and socks in front of the fire, then changed my mind and just threw the socks in to burn. My leathers, meanwhile, could probably drive the bike by themselves now. If only I could teach them to take photos. Perhaps, also, the Grand Bornand stage was the hangover after the party on Alpe d’Huez. I’d got up at sparrow’s-fart o’clock to photograph the man laying the start line, then headed to Wallonian corner. It’s not quite so busy there, just under the town where the barriers start – people always say Alpe d’Huez is so mental, but I wanted to get something sparser. en I photographed the detritus people left behind, and suddenly I really wanted to go home. Maybe that melancholy was what took me to the dancefloor of e Igloo, Alpe d’Huez’s premier nightspot at 1am, throwing shapes next to Orica ds Matt White. Maybe it was the red wine and the tequila, but it didn’t make the next day any easier. en after a marathon ride from Annecy, I was in Versailles, shattered, shooting the start for a magazine. And while the riders were doing their cigarsand-green-beards thing I smashed it up to Paris to drink champagne with my Parisian fixer. It was even more gridlocked and security-bound than usual, so I swapped from my moto to the back of his scooter, and he somehow got us in – he’s ridden the Dakar Rally three times, so I trust him. e Champs-Élysées was pretty special, though the dusk made it difficult for us photographers. en some parties, the night spinning away into the small hours, a day in bed and now I’m back at home. Sorting my photos, dealing with requests for shots I could easily have got if people had asked before the race and playing with my son. Oh, and planning how I can do it all again, but better, next year.
Maillot Jaune Chris Froome (Team Sky)
Maillot Vert Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
Maillot à Pois Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
Maillot Blanc Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
“is is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time.” chris froome “I had dreamt of this for a very long time, but didn't believe it could come so early. I'm just a 23-year-old boy, but time goes fast, and I could cry out of pure happiness.” nairo quintana
p ost-tour cr its or put t ing your f ee t up? #pr ost y le