Tour de France: the BMC in the triumph against the clock, Froome … – Le Monde

Le Monde | 07/12/2015 at 6:06 p.m. • Updated 07/13/2015 to 6:37 | By Clement Guillou

The most collective test of cycling has been the bane of one man, Sunday at Plumelec for the ninth stage of the Tour de France: the Irishman Nicolas Roche from Sky Team, in agony in the coast Cadoudal was located where the finish, there was much against his will gave the victory to the BMC for 62 hundredths of seconds after a violent and technical effort 32 minutes

Fifth man of his team. – the weather was so taken upon himself – he could no longer hold wheels of his teammates, who waited and lost five seconds ahead of BMC which he had down the coast.

“We mounted the foot a little fast I was a little beyond my comfort zone “, explained the native of Yvelines, son of Stephen Roche (winner of the Tour 1987), on arrival. ” Lose for a second is super mentally tough, and (the fact) that it is my fault in the last 500 meters, it is even more difficult to swallow. “

Chris Froome regretted the loss of the stage but kept smiling. Understand it: half a minute recovery to Alberto Contador (27 seconds) and Vincenzo Nibali (34 seconds) in a period when the Sky had drowned there three weeks at the Critérium du Dauphiné, this looks like a good day. A minute ahead of Contador, two on Nairo Quintana: the mattress is comfortable for the yellow jersey before long crossings of the Pyrenees and the Alps

The first three in four seconds <. /> h2>

The victory of the BMC mix of large rollers and templates punchers perfectly comfortable in the Cadoudal coast that was decisive, was expected. The American team of Andy Rihs wealthy Swiss will thus have won both timed exercises of this Tour because Rohan Dennis took victory in Utrecht. The red and black mechanics better managed the effort of his men on these roads invaded by Britons, which saved him the disillusionment of Sky in the final kilometer.

Above all, the time may -be came to Tejay Van Garderen, eternal hope of the US cycling, confirming its ability to shine on a three-week race: He ran perfectly before the mountain and its second place overall, with already more than two minutes to ahead of Nibali, legitimate ambitions of a first podium in a grand tour.

The differences were greater than expected on the rolling track, where the final climb two kilometers has created gaps . However, the first day of the three teams are four seconds. Behind Sky and BMC tip the Movistar Nairo Quintana, where the culture of race against the team time trial is still new but had the riders for. She might even have won without a long time of mid-term floating and where we find probably five seconds that missed him on the line.

AG2R limit breakage

Astana and Saxo-Tinkoff, less endowed with riders, logically lost time, and with their leaders. Vincenzo Nibali, the first week of the Tour de France drew a strictly opposite scenario to that of last year and he will have to scramble to regain mountain two minutes and 22 seconds to Chris Froome.

In the event where classification on the road is often close to that of budgets, French teams traditionally poor wheelers, have suffered and their leaders with four of them are at the bottom of the table. Thibaut Pinot of FDJ did less well than expected, losing one minute and 33 seconds.

The AG2R team has not been helped by the puncture Christophe Riblon from the start, which has disrupted the team and was relegated to the second last to the first intermediate. Subsequently, his climbers, including the winner of the eighth stage Alexis Vuillermoz have very limited damage to climb, as they hoped, in 10th place. Romain Bardet and Jean-Christophe Péraud still lost a minute and twenty seconds on Van Garderen.

The 185 riders of the Tour de France are entitled to their first rest day on Monday in Pau. Where the six remaining riders Orica-GreenEDGE, who finished the race as they have been to five minutes, hoping that a new race will begin, as Thibaut Pinot, which still suffers from a knee.