TDF Stage 19, Stage 19: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Tignes 26/07/2019 - 126,5 km *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles
blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
edited July 2019 in Pro race
TDF Stage 19, Stage 19: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Tignes 26/07/2019 - 126,5 km

The 19th stage of the Tour de France runs on a 126.5 kilometres course from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Tignes. Once before the Tour de France visited Tignes. The race sets off in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, which has hosted a stage on four previous occasions, but is regularly on the Tour route.

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This time the riders leave for Tignes on a short yet demanding route. Basically, the road goes up once the flag is dropped – not dramatically, but stoically, on rolling and constantly sloping terrain.

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Just over 20kms in and the riders reach the foot of the Côte de Saint-André, where the incline steepens to 6.8% for 3.1 kilometres.

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Following a short descent and a rare stint on the flat the route returns to climbing on the Montée d’Aussois, which is a 6.5 kilometres long uphill at 6.2% with its crest after 38 kilometres.

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The route continues to bump steadily upwards to the Col de la Madeleine (3.9 kilometres at 5.6%)

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A false flat takes the riders to the foot of the Col de l’Iseran, an irregular climb of 12.9 kilometres. The average slope sits at 7.5%, but the penultimate kilometre before the top goes up at double digit gradients. The first three riders over the summit earn 8, 5 and 2 bonus seconds.

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Following the descent to Val d’Isère the route follows Lake Chevril for a few kilometres before a short descent plummets down to the base of the final ascent. The first 3 kilometres in particular rise very steeply, while the average gradients of the 7.4 kilometres climb sits at 7%. The 2 final kilometres to Tignes are a false flat.

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Favourites 19th stage 2019 Tour de France

GC riders who are still in the mix have only two days left to gain time on their rivals. While others could bounce back in this short stage for tough climbers. Time is running out, so we are likely to see the action kick off very early in the 19th stage. All the more since the race is short and the route bumps steadily upwards from the start. Chances are we will see two races for the price of one. A group of strong climbers who are out of GC contention but still motivated is going to attack early.

*** Thibaut Pinot, Egan Bernal
** Geraint Thomas, Mikel Landa, Steven Kruijswijk, Emanuel Buchmann
* Rigoberto Uran, Richie Porte, Nairo Quintana, Romain Bardet, Simon Yates


Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
Four previous stages

Population: 8,200
While the Tour de France shunned St. Jean de Maurienne until 2006, it made amends since, holding stages in town in 2010, 2012 and 2015. The finishes suited the French with victories by Sandy Casar in 2010 and Romain Bardet in 2015. To snatch his first stage win in the race, Bardet attacked in the Glandon and displayed his downhill skills to reach the line on his own, with a 33-seconds lead over Pierre Rolland. The Frenchman finished 9th overall and was voted the most aggressive rider in that edition.
St. Jean de Maurienne is a town where sport tourism is king, in the winter in the ski resorts of the Maurienne (La Toussuire, Valloire)or in the summer, when the town claims to be the world capital of mountain gran fondos with 48 cycling paths, 1,600 km of cycling routes and ten famous mountain passers, including six HC ones. Plus they have a King of the Mountains cow!

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SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE TODAY

The Opinel family forged metal from the very beginning of the 19th century in the little village of Albiez-le-Vieux, near Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. But it was Joseph Opinel who, in 1880, designed the knife that would make a fortune and the family’s name, before deciding to dedicate production solely to cutlery. In 1909, the brand and logo name were registered, the latter adorned with the thumb, index and middle fingers of St John the Baptist pointing at a crown – the three fingers were brought to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne by St Thecla in the sixth century and also appear on the town’s coat of arms. This simple but practical knife, with a fishtail handle cut from beech or birch and stylish carbon steel blade, has been an outstanding success. At the beginning of the Second World War, 20 million of them had been sold. This figure has now increased to 260 million units, most of them fitted the safety catch introduced in 1955 and improved in 2006.

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Specialities: diots and pormoniers (Savoy sausages), farcement (potato and bacon cake), beaufort, persan (red wine)

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Tignes
One previous stage

Population: 2,400 and 16,153 for the Community of Communes of Haute Tarentaise

Only one stage finish took place in Tignes, in 2007, when Michael Rasmussen climbed to both the stage win and yellow jersey. While waiting for the return of the Tour, the Tarentaise station has meanwhile hosted the Tour de l'Avenir with two finishes in 2016 and 2018. In 2016, stage victory went to Breton David Gaudu, who made a huge step towards final victory that day. In 2018, the stage went to Spaniard Fernando Barcelo.
Lake
The natural lake of Tignes, whose waters descend directly from the glacier of the Grande Motte is a high place of water sports in summer: water-jump, hot-jumping, blob-jumping, stand-up paddle, water pedal, canoe, kayak , trout fishing ...

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Dam of Chevril
At 180 metres high, 300 metres long and 43 metres wide at the base, the Tignes dam has long been the highest hydroelectric dam in Europe and still remains the highest in France.

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Specialties: Tignes persillé (cheese), Lace.

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"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments

  • larkim
    larkim Posts: 2,474
    Have I mentioned they're finishing right where this took place?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOmO0RKN9ww
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  • alanparsons
    alanparsons Posts: 529
    larkim wrote:
    Have I mentioned they're finishing right where this took place?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOmO0RKN9ww

    Is that G driving??
  • hypster
    hypster Posts: 1,229
    They need to drop Alaphilippe on the Col de l'Iseran. If they leave it until Tignes they won't take enough time out of him. Movistar's push on the Izoard today had him on the ropes but they also cracked the domestiques of Ineos and Jumbo so no firepower to push it home.

    A shorter stage tomorrow so could be even more intense. If the favourites leave it until Saturday it will be too late.

    I think we'll see Ineos with a much more concerted team effort, maybe letting Movistar do the early work and then turning up the screw for either Bernal or Thomas.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    The Maurienne valley floor is a horrible dump but the roads put of it be fine.

    Many fond memories of Tignes. Got my silver Fleche medal in Tignes. Good ol' ESF. Years later as an adult I would achieve the greatest thing a British skier can ever hope to achiever which was a French ski instructor telling me, "Yes, I can tell you 'ave the Fleche as you have ze good technique"
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    ddraver wrote:
    The Maurienne valley floor is a horrible dump but the roads put of it be fine.

    Very true, but to be fair it does improve the further up you get.
    From St Jean to Modane is mostly crap.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,200
    I don't see Ineos having the domestiques to make it hard on l'Iseran, unless they deliberately dropped off on Izoard to save themselves (really didn't look like it).

    Movistar have their stage win, after a huge amount of work. I think Quintana is probably cooked for tomorrow, Landa might have something left, but giving it the full train from the l'Iseran lower slopes? Not likely.

    Bennet crashed twice and came in 11 minutes down i the end, so Lotto-Jumbo might not have firepower to spare that early either.

    Pinot was possibly saving himself a bit and Gaudu came in a fair way back, so it's possible they might take it on.
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  • hypster
    hypster Posts: 1,229
    I don't see Ineos having the domestiques to make it hard on l'Iseran, unless they deliberately dropped off on Izoard to save themselves (really didn't look like it).

    Movistar have their stage win, after a huge amount of work. I think Quintana is probably cooked for tomorrow, Landa might have something left, but giving it the full train from the l'Iseran lower slopes? Not likely.

    Bennet crashed twice and came in 11 minutes down i the end, so Lotto-Jumbo might not have firepower to spare that early either.

    Pinot was possibly saving himself a bit and Gaudu came in a fair way back, so it's possible they might take it on.

    The run to l'Iseran is a lot shorter than the Izoard today though. If the pace is not too mad before that then Ineos can afford to burn through Kwiato, Castroviejo and maybe even Pouls in an effort to break JA and distance him so that he won't get back on before the Tignes climb. As it is a shorter stage though maybe we'll see some mad racing early on.
  • hypster
    hypster Posts: 1,229
    Double post deleted
  • Great pics Blazing.
    Am loving this stage profile in the context of the GC situation. I'll not curse tomorrow's action by saying any more but can't wait.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    I just popped over to the CN forum to see if I could glean any insight into what potentially might happen on tomorrow's stage.
    I really should have known better.....
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    edited July 2019
    alaphillpe needs a french combine. climbers in the iseran valley in the break to rescue him.... the chance any riders from a break make it over the iseran with much of a lead isn't great
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    I just popped over to the CN forum to see if I could glean any insight into what potentially might happen on tomorrow's stage.
    I really should have known better.....

    that bad?
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,032
    Ineos need to put the hammer down after Bonneval. It is very steep and hard. There is then a flat for 1km, the road turns to the right and there is 8km of hard climbing. This is the point to attack Alaphilippe, he'll hang on on the Tignes climb so they need to go earlier. The descent to Val d'Isere is not too technical, easier than the Galibier. Then a flattish section down to the climb to Tignes.

    Think Froome on the Giro, if you make it over the summit of the Iseran with 2 minutes you'll have time in hand at Tignes.

    The climb to Val Thorens isn't hard enough, Alaphilippe will hang on to les Menuires and you can only gain half a minute or so to Val Thorens so you need to be very close before the final stage.
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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    I just popped over to the CN forum to see if I could glean any insight into what potentially might happen on tomorrow's stage.
    I really should have known better.....

    that bad?

    Just a lot of bias and nothing very constructive.
    Sometimes, somebody will think outside the usual CN box, that's why I had a look.

    I think it'll be a long battle to get riders into the break, but GC teams should be able to ride a pretty high tempo all the way to where it counts.
    Hence the autobus boys worry about making their Paris connections.
    Pretty much the same situation for them on Saturday, too.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,200
    davidof wrote:
    Ineos need to put the hammer down after Bonneval. It is very steep and hard. There is then a flat for 1km, the road turns to the right and there is 8km of hard climbing. This is the point to attack Alaphilippe, he'll hang on on the Tignes climb so they need to go earlier. The descent to Val d'Isere is not too technical, easier than the Galibier. Then a flattish section down to the climb to Tignes.

    Think Froome on the Giro, if you make it over the summit of the Iseran with 2 minutes you'll have time in hand at Tignes.

    The climb to Val Thorens isn't hard enough, Alaphilippe will hang on to les Menuires and you can only gain half a minute or so to Val Thorens so you need to be very close before the final stage.

    I'll bow to your local knowledge here. GC teams will most likely want someone in the break for security.
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  • Crozza
    Crozza Posts: 991
    davidof wrote:
    Ineos need to put the hammer down after Bonneval. It is very steep and hard. There is then a flat for 1km, the road turns to the right and there is 8km of hard climbing. This is the point to attack Alaphilippe, he'll hang on on the Tignes climb so they need to go earlier. The descent to Val d'Isere is not too technical, easier than the Galibier. Then a flattish section down to the climb to Tignes.

    Think Froome on the Giro, if you make it over the summit of the Iseran with 2 minutes you'll have time in hand at Tignes.

    The climb to Val Thorens isn't hard enough, Alaphilippe will hang on to les Menuires and you can only gain half a minute or so to Val Thorens so you need to be very close before the final stage.

    Have always appreciated the input of your local knowledge
  • stu-bim
    stu-bim Posts: 384
    davidof wrote:
    Ineos need to put the hammer down after Bonneval. It is very steep and hard. There is then a flat for 1km, the road turns to the right and there is 8km of hard climbing. This is the point to attack Alaphilippe, he'll hang on on the Tignes climb so they need to go earlier. The descent to Val d'Isere is not too technical, easier than the Galibier. Then a flattish section down to the climb to Tignes.

    Think Froome on the Giro, if you make it over the summit of the Iseran with 2 minutes you'll have time in hand at Tignes.

    The climb to Val Thorens isn't hard enough, Alaphilippe will hang on to les Menuires and you can only gain half a minute or so to Val Thorens so you need to be very close before the final stage.

    G needs to try first from the first 9.3% section and make JA chase hard and if caught Bernal jump from the moment he is caugh

    Bernal will keep any time he makes over the top on the way down and then go hard for final climb solo or with whoever hangs on
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  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    The jokes just write themselves...

    EAVp-NOSWk-AAk-Fo-Q.jpg
    EAVp-NOTXUAAa-JD3.jpg
    EAVp-NOTXYAUP1t-P.jpg
    Correlation is not causation.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,200
    The jokes just write themselves...

    EAVp-NOSWk-AAk-Fo-Q.jpg
    EAVp-NOTXUAAa-JD3.jpg
    EAVp-NOTXYAUP1t-P.jpg

    [Insert Nibali team-car ultra-sticky-bottle gag here]
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  • Alan Ha Ha
    Alan Ha Ha Posts: 88
    ATC did you see these maddies yesterday?

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 0508948466
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    Was it where Rasmussen made his bid for yellow?
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    The jokes just write themselves...

    *Pictures of fish*

    [Insert Nibali team-car ultra-sticky-bottle gag here]

    Actually someone had painted a whole load of shark fins on the road just before my spot.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Alan Ha Ha wrote:
    ATC did you see these maddies yesterday?

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 0508948466

    Naar links, naar rechts...

    I did! They were on the first hairpin on the Galibier, they weren't doing Links Rechts when I went past them, I shouted Free Luke Rowe and got a cheer.

    There are quite a few people in that Links Rechts group that I recognise from climbing the Lautaret who clearly never made it past this corner.

    I watched that video about 20 times last night, the T-rex entrance just kills me. :lol:
    Correlation is not causation.
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  • ShutupJens
    ShutupJens Posts: 1,373
    Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet

    This

    When does it start? Short one today so I imagine quite late
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,163
    ShutupJens wrote:
    Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet Has it started yet

    This

    When does it start? Short one today so I imagine quite late

    ITV4 live broadcast starts at 1230 so shortly after then I guess
  • pangolin
    pangolin Posts: 6,280
    Yeah 12:45 according to the tour website (1:45 over there)
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  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,224
    Alan Ha Ha wrote:
    ATC did you see these maddies yesterday?

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 0508948466

    Naar links, naar rechts...

    I did! They were on the first hairpin on the Galibier, they weren't doing Links Rechts when I went past them, I shouted Free Luke Rowe and got a cheer.

    There are quite a few people in that Links Rechts group that I recognise from climbing the Lautaret who clearly never made it past this corner.

    I watched that video about 20 times last night, the T-rex entrance just kills me. :lol:
    Makes one proud to be British, European and dinosaur.
  • dabber
    dabber Posts: 1,924
    I heard there has been a bit of road damage in the area after the storm that started just after the end of yesterday's stage. Hope it doesn't effect today.
    “You may think that; I couldn’t possibly comment!”

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  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,851
    Alan Ha Ha wrote:
    ATC did you see these maddies yesterday?

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 0508948466

    Naar links, naar rechts...

    I did! They were on the first hairpin on the Galibier, they weren't doing Links Rechts when I went past them, I shouted Free Luke Rowe and got a cheer.

    There are quite a few people in that Links Rechts group that I recognise from climbing the Lautaret who clearly never made it past this corner.

    I watched that video about 20 times last night, the T-rex entrance just kills me. :lol:

    So what are you doing on your rest day Above the Clowns? Have you go a nice hotel?
    Half man, Half bike