TDF 2018, Stage 13: Bourg d'Oisans > Valence 20/07/2018 - 169,5 km *Spoilers*
blazing_saddles
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Bourg d'Oisans > Valence 20/07/2018 - Stage 13 - 169,5 km
Stage 13 of the Tour de France 2018 is 169.5km from Bourg d'Oisans to Valence. After three days in the Alps, it should be an opportunity for the GC favourites to switch off, with just a Category 3 and Category 4 climb to negotiate. It's the only chance the few, remaining sprinters will have for glory in the second week. However, who now will control the breakaways?
It’s the 18th time the Tour de France leaves from Bourg d’Oisans. Arrivals, that’s another story. No wonder as the village is located at the foot of the climb to Alpe d’Huez.
The last departure from Bourg d’Oisans was in 2013, when the riders faced a tough day in the high mountains. Eventually, Rui Costa soloed to victory in Le Grand-Bornard. This time no demanding cols, the peloton can look forward to a relatively easy day on the road to Valence.
The riders leave town heading north on the D1091. The départ réel, where the racing starts, is a short distance from Bourg d'Oisans, just after the junction with the D526.
The D1091 follows the Romanche river down the valley. It passes through the villages of Livet, Rioupéroux, and Gavet. (The villages here had a lot of heavy industry in the C20th, with paper and steel production, and hydro-electric power; the Resistance (le maquis de l'Oisans) was active in the Romanche valley during World War II, and there's a monument to the fallen in Livet).
In 1996, Chepe González brought an early break home by a late attack in the streets of Valence. It was one of two Tour de France arrivals in the town on the eastern bank of the Rhône. In 2015, André Greipel sprinted to his third stage win of that edition by besting John Degenkolb and Alexander Kristoff in Valence.
Possibly, we’ll see a sprint in 2018, too. Following an opening on the flat the route descends to the Côte de Brié, which is a 2.4 kilometres climb at 6.9% with its crest after 32.5 kilometres. The route continues to go up slightly for a few more kilometres before a downhill leads to a flat section of around 40 kilometres. Then it’s onto more lumpy terrain with Côte de Sainte-Eulalie-en-Royans standing out – 1.5 kilometres at 4.9%. A false flat prolongs the hill somewhat, but at kilometre 122 the route drops down.
Two more hills – one with 37 kilometres out, one 23 kilometres from the line – lead to a downhill and the last 10 kilometres are flat. The finale is played out on wide boulevards in Valence. With 1.3 kilometres to go the route kicks up at 3% for 500 metres, while a roundabout is to be reckoned with 400 metres before the finish line.
Video of the last 5kms.
https://youtu.be/6XTuB66HwAo
The publicity caravan sets off from Bourg-d'Oisans at 1135, and the peloton at 1335. The projected average speeds are 43, 45, and 47kmh, and depending on which is the most accurate, the riders are expected at the finish line in Valence between 1721 and 1741cet.
Favourites 13th stage 2018 Tour de France?
*** Jasper Stuyven, Peter Sagan, Thomas De Gendt
** Arnaud Démare, Lilian Calmejane, Stefan Küng, Tomasz Marczynski, Philippe Gilbert
* Yves Lampaert, Toms Skujiņš, Sonny Colbrelli and pretty much anyone who has anything left after the Alps!
The team hotels for this stage.
Bourg d'Oisans
21 previous stages
Chef-lieu de canton of Isère (38)
3,350 inhabitants (Bourcats)
10,700 in the community of communes of Oisans (20 communes)
BOURG D’OISANS AND CYCLING
The peloton traditionally rides into Bourg d’Oisans on its way up l’Alpe d’Huez. But the small town was also the start of many historical mountain stages, as was the case in 1952 when Fausto Coppi blew the peloton to pieces on his was to Sestriere.
The Tour left Bourg d’Oisans five times heading west, often with St Etienne as the final destination. Marcus Burghardt was the last winner of a stage of this format in 2008. Because of its location, Bourg d’Oisans is also the start of several grand fondos among the most popular in the world. In the summer, thousands of amateur cyclists flock into Oisans to tackle the legendary passes of the Tour. In 2017 was launched Cycling Lab Oisans, a laboratory for cycling professionals aiming at turning Burg d’Oisans and the valley into an experimental playground for the whole of the cycling industry.
Specialities: Farci de l’Oisans (cabbage and pork), gratin dauphinois, crozets (potato gnocchi), génépi, goat cheese. Crystal.
The Goodwin brewery opened in 2015 in the Oisans valley, at the foot of the roads leading to the resorts of Les Deux Alpes and L’ALpe d’Huez. It produces ales by combining traditional beer ingredients with the extremely pure water running from the surrounding mountains. The brewery produces four varieties: Red Herring (dark ale), Scallywag (pale ale), Codswallop (pale ale) and Last Straw (wheat beer).
Valence
Two pervious stages
Prefecture of Drôme (26)
64,200 inhabitants (Valentinois)
215,000 for the Valence Romans Agglomeration (56 communes)
The town of Valence created the “Mon Coeur Valence” (My heart Valence) brand to promote the city the way several other towns in the world did it since the famous “I love New York” logo. A steel structure, 9.5 meters in length and 3 metres in height was installed on the Champ de Mars square in December and locals as well as visitors are welcome to take pictures of themselves on it and post them on the social networks.
The “Mon Coeur Valence” brand vows to unite under its banner all those who love and are proud of their town and are keen on telling so and become its ambassadors. “Mon coeur Valence” obviously emulates the “I love…” series but is proud to use French for its motto – also avoiding any confusion with Spain’s Valencia – while making its slogan understandable worldwide thanks to the heart symbol. During the Tour de France, a huge human chain will reproduce the logo.
VALENCE AND CYCLING
The first stage finish in Valence took place in 1996 and saw the victory of Jose Jaime “Chepe” Gonzalez, who restored the pride of Colombian cycling, struggling since the days of Lucho Herrera and Fabio Parra. Chepe also won two stages of the Giro, twice winning the KOM jersey of the Italian grand Tour in 1997 and 1999. In 2015, Andre Greipel respect the local tradition by winning a bunch sprint like Mark Cavendish had done in nearby Bourg-les-Valence in 2010 and Michael Matthews in neighbouring Romans in 2017. Since 2014, Valence hosts the Drome Classic, whose first winner as Romain Bardet. Valence is also the birthplace of Charly Mottet, winner of three Tour stages between 1987 and 1991 and 4th overall both years. Two active riders, Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Guillaume Bonnafond (Cofidis) also hail from Valence.
Saint-Apollinaire cathedral.
Specialities: caillette (meat and herbs pâté), Suisse (biscuit in the shape of a soldier), pogne (traditional bun), ravioles (specialities of Romans). Balrhona chocolate in Tain-l’Hermitage. Black truffle of Drôme (80 pc of the French production). Wines: (Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage)
Stage 13 of the Tour de France 2018 is 169.5km from Bourg d'Oisans to Valence. After three days in the Alps, it should be an opportunity for the GC favourites to switch off, with just a Category 3 and Category 4 climb to negotiate. It's the only chance the few, remaining sprinters will have for glory in the second week. However, who now will control the breakaways?
It’s the 18th time the Tour de France leaves from Bourg d’Oisans. Arrivals, that’s another story. No wonder as the village is located at the foot of the climb to Alpe d’Huez.
The last departure from Bourg d’Oisans was in 2013, when the riders faced a tough day in the high mountains. Eventually, Rui Costa soloed to victory in Le Grand-Bornard. This time no demanding cols, the peloton can look forward to a relatively easy day on the road to Valence.
The riders leave town heading north on the D1091. The départ réel, where the racing starts, is a short distance from Bourg d'Oisans, just after the junction with the D526.
The D1091 follows the Romanche river down the valley. It passes through the villages of Livet, Rioupéroux, and Gavet. (The villages here had a lot of heavy industry in the C20th, with paper and steel production, and hydro-electric power; the Resistance (le maquis de l'Oisans) was active in the Romanche valley during World War II, and there's a monument to the fallen in Livet).
In 1996, Chepe González brought an early break home by a late attack in the streets of Valence. It was one of two Tour de France arrivals in the town on the eastern bank of the Rhône. In 2015, André Greipel sprinted to his third stage win of that edition by besting John Degenkolb and Alexander Kristoff in Valence.
Possibly, we’ll see a sprint in 2018, too. Following an opening on the flat the route descends to the Côte de Brié, which is a 2.4 kilometres climb at 6.9% with its crest after 32.5 kilometres. The route continues to go up slightly for a few more kilometres before a downhill leads to a flat section of around 40 kilometres. Then it’s onto more lumpy terrain with Côte de Sainte-Eulalie-en-Royans standing out – 1.5 kilometres at 4.9%. A false flat prolongs the hill somewhat, but at kilometre 122 the route drops down.
Two more hills – one with 37 kilometres out, one 23 kilometres from the line – lead to a downhill and the last 10 kilometres are flat. The finale is played out on wide boulevards in Valence. With 1.3 kilometres to go the route kicks up at 3% for 500 metres, while a roundabout is to be reckoned with 400 metres before the finish line.
Video of the last 5kms.
https://youtu.be/6XTuB66HwAo
The publicity caravan sets off from Bourg-d'Oisans at 1135, and the peloton at 1335. The projected average speeds are 43, 45, and 47kmh, and depending on which is the most accurate, the riders are expected at the finish line in Valence between 1721 and 1741cet.
Favourites 13th stage 2018 Tour de France?
*** Jasper Stuyven, Peter Sagan, Thomas De Gendt
** Arnaud Démare, Lilian Calmejane, Stefan Küng, Tomasz Marczynski, Philippe Gilbert
* Yves Lampaert, Toms Skujiņš, Sonny Colbrelli and pretty much anyone who has anything left after the Alps!
The team hotels for this stage.
Bourg d'Oisans
21 previous stages
Chef-lieu de canton of Isère (38)
3,350 inhabitants (Bourcats)
10,700 in the community of communes of Oisans (20 communes)
BOURG D’OISANS AND CYCLING
The peloton traditionally rides into Bourg d’Oisans on its way up l’Alpe d’Huez. But the small town was also the start of many historical mountain stages, as was the case in 1952 when Fausto Coppi blew the peloton to pieces on his was to Sestriere.
The Tour left Bourg d’Oisans five times heading west, often with St Etienne as the final destination. Marcus Burghardt was the last winner of a stage of this format in 2008. Because of its location, Bourg d’Oisans is also the start of several grand fondos among the most popular in the world. In the summer, thousands of amateur cyclists flock into Oisans to tackle the legendary passes of the Tour. In 2017 was launched Cycling Lab Oisans, a laboratory for cycling professionals aiming at turning Burg d’Oisans and the valley into an experimental playground for the whole of the cycling industry.
Specialities: Farci de l’Oisans (cabbage and pork), gratin dauphinois, crozets (potato gnocchi), génépi, goat cheese. Crystal.
The Goodwin brewery opened in 2015 in the Oisans valley, at the foot of the roads leading to the resorts of Les Deux Alpes and L’ALpe d’Huez. It produces ales by combining traditional beer ingredients with the extremely pure water running from the surrounding mountains. The brewery produces four varieties: Red Herring (dark ale), Scallywag (pale ale), Codswallop (pale ale) and Last Straw (wheat beer).
Valence
Two pervious stages
Prefecture of Drôme (26)
64,200 inhabitants (Valentinois)
215,000 for the Valence Romans Agglomeration (56 communes)
The town of Valence created the “Mon Coeur Valence” (My heart Valence) brand to promote the city the way several other towns in the world did it since the famous “I love New York” logo. A steel structure, 9.5 meters in length and 3 metres in height was installed on the Champ de Mars square in December and locals as well as visitors are welcome to take pictures of themselves on it and post them on the social networks.
The “Mon Coeur Valence” brand vows to unite under its banner all those who love and are proud of their town and are keen on telling so and become its ambassadors. “Mon coeur Valence” obviously emulates the “I love…” series but is proud to use French for its motto – also avoiding any confusion with Spain’s Valencia – while making its slogan understandable worldwide thanks to the heart symbol. During the Tour de France, a huge human chain will reproduce the logo.
VALENCE AND CYCLING
The first stage finish in Valence took place in 1996 and saw the victory of Jose Jaime “Chepe” Gonzalez, who restored the pride of Colombian cycling, struggling since the days of Lucho Herrera and Fabio Parra. Chepe also won two stages of the Giro, twice winning the KOM jersey of the Italian grand Tour in 1997 and 1999. In 2015, Andre Greipel respect the local tradition by winning a bunch sprint like Mark Cavendish had done in nearby Bourg-les-Valence in 2010 and Michael Matthews in neighbouring Romans in 2017. Since 2014, Valence hosts the Drome Classic, whose first winner as Romain Bardet. Valence is also the birthplace of Charly Mottet, winner of three Tour stages between 1987 and 1991 and 4th overall both years. Two active riders, Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Guillaume Bonnafond (Cofidis) also hail from Valence.
Saint-Apollinaire cathedral.
Specialities: caillette (meat and herbs pâté), Suisse (biscuit in the shape of a soldier), pogne (traditional bun), ravioles (specialities of Romans). Balrhona chocolate in Tain-l’Hermitage. Black truffle of Drôme (80 pc of the French production). Wines: (Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage)
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments
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Minor correction: the chocolate factory at Tain-l’Hermitage is Valrhona (V' at beginning, not 'B').Blazing Saddles wrote:Valence
Specialities: Balrhona chocolate in Tain-l’Hermitage
(the best smelling place I've ever been to, the factory I mean)0 -
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I'm sure those Suisse biscuits had a starring role as aliens/ monsters in a Dr Who series. Tom Baker c1975?0
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RonB wrote:I'm sure those Suisse biscuits had a starring role as aliens/ monsters in a Dr Who series. Tom Baker c1975?
Jeez, I've just seen them - £8 for a biscuit that'll haunt your nightmares?
Does anyone else get the feeling that this is one of those Peter Sagan tribute stages?
(that should put the mockers on him)0 -
Hey Bora Hanswhatever. Have a good night's sleep, you've a busy day ahead“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
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Yeah, can't see anyone else wanting to help them out. Will Bora fancy / be up to it?TailWindHome wrote:Hey Bora Hanswhatever. Have a good night's sleep, you've a busy day ahead
A day for the break?0 -
DeadCalm wrote:
Yeah, can't see anyone else wanting to help them out. Will Bora fancy / be up to it?TailWindHome wrote:Hey Bora Hanswhatever. Have a good night's sleep, you've a busy day ahead
A day for the break?
Anybody left to help out for a sprint finish?0 -
Pont-en-Royans is a pretty place. I suspect the riders are glad that the Tour is taking the flat route around Vercors rather than taking in the hills within it.
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Hello strangers. Hope all is well with you lot.
I am expecting a massive break today that will take ages to be allowed to form.
What was the stage about 5 years ago in the Pyrenees that we first saw full coverage from the stage start and Garmin blew the race apart punishing whomever was in yellow. Took over an hour for the break to form, constant attacking in the valley roads?
Anyway IMHO today will be like that.0 -
Vizille
Vizille, at the foot of the 3rd category Côté de Brié and with its royal palace, is considered the birthplace of the French revolution when, on the 21 July 1788, representatives of the Dauphine Parliament met on the indoor tennis court to demand a new political order. This followed the famous "night of the tiles" on the 7th June 1788 when revolting French people protested at soaring food prices by taking to the roofs of nearby Grenoble and throwing tiles on the royal troops. The Vizille meeting is also seen as the start of the takeover of working class protests by the middle classes who wanted a greater share of power.
Vizille was also the home to Paul Kimmage and Thierry Claveyrolat, the "Eagle of Vizille". Okay that doesn't quite have the same ring as "Eagle of Toledo" but Claveyrolat still won a KOM in the Tour de France and taking the Bourg d'Oisans Morzine stage the following year. After retiring Claveyrolat bought the "station cafe", renamed "l'Etape" but in turning the seedy town cafe full of drunks into a chic night spot he'd failed to spot what had made the bar work and drove away the clientelle without finding a new market. Claveyrolat was drowning in debt and drinking heavily. Returning to the bar on the 13 August 1999 in his powerful BMW he had a head on collision with a Renault. The four passengers in the Renault were seriously injured, a teenager blinded. Claveyrolat was driving too fast, and drunk. A month later Claveyrolat was dead. He'd blown his brains out with a hunting rifle. A suicide note gave instructions for the funeral: "no flowers, no friends".
BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme0 -
Good to see folks joining in with these threads.
Some interesting stuff, unlike the stage itself."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Grenoble
Grenoble has a special place in Tour history as it is often claimed that the first "Yellow Jersey" was worn by Eugène Christophe (yes he of the broken fork fame) on the 19th July 1919 from Grenoble to Genève. The idea of the jersey was to distinguish the leader from other riders. Yellow chosen as it was the same colour as the pages of Auto-Moto, the tour's sponsors.
However more recent research suggests that the yellow jersey was already in use immediately prior to WW1.
BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme0 -
Should a feet up coast to the line, I'm expecting race to explode.0
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Posted this in the wrong thread earlier, was meant for here. Not that it's anything new.
Sprinters left in the tour:
Sagan, Demare, Degenkolb, Kristoff, Colbrelli
That's about it. Can't see any of those teams doing all that much to pull a break back.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Thomas and Froome to crash into each other, the race goes bananas as the fight for yellow gets real.0
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Arse, missed PTP... first one of the tour!0
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Brian Holm pissed off at the time cut being so short yesterday. Says most sprinters looked at it and were demoralised from the start, never thought they would make it.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
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AAAAND were off0
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Interesting, De Gendt and Scully go pretty much right from the start, Sky and FDJ + others block the road completely, a Chava just escapes on his way up to the front two.
A few others trying to escape, FDJ chasing down.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Sky, FDJ and Bora working hard to try and limit any more attacks. BMC look very keen to get someone awayWarning No formatter is installed for the format0
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Difficult to block the road on a dual carriagewayWarning No formatter is installed for the format0
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Quite a few teams aren't taking the hint and still trying to get riders off on a fast descent, most of the peloton sitting on top-tubes.
Schar and Clayes are trying to get up to De Gendt + Scully, think they've got a note from their mums' that they're allowed.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Sort of a semi slow down, now."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
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Weather: Hot and humid, wind unpredictable. Possible thunderstorms.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
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Dani and Matt are on Itv 4. Matt could be................interesting."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
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No tA Doctor wrote:Weather: Hot and humid, wind unpredictable. Possible thunderstorms.
Possible hailstorms, weather not as hot or humid as yesterday.BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme0 -
Blazing Saddles wrote:Sort of a semi slow down, now.
Think it's pretty much sorted now. FDJ leading with Sky behind. Cofidis rider chatting with FDJ.
Despite everyone wanting to get in the break today there probably aren't that many who have the legs, and most of the peloton will be happy it's big enough to control for a reasonably easy day. I'd imagine that having an old hand like De Gendt in it will comfort them, he knows the game.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
UAE also showing some willingness to work as well, have Colbrelli for the sprint.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
