TDF 2020, Stage 14 Clermont-Ferrand – Lyon 194 km
Bora drops sprinters in Sagan’s pursuit for Green. City streets of Lyon produce thrilling finale.
DENVER, CO – Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? No, not today at least. Today our route has provided a more apt comparison. Dear Readers, please cast your minds back centuries. Back to the first century before Christ, an age of strife and civil war. The Roman Republic was coming to an end as larger-than-life personalities vied for mastery in titanic clashes that would have impressed even Zeus and Chronos. Each had legions upon legions loyal to him and with such legions they defeated their enemies, both foreign and Roman. Marius and Sulla, Cicero and Cataline, Crassus, Cato, Pompey and Caesar, Antony and Augustus, what a century of Romans it was! But the cast is not complete, for the enemies of Rome had just as charismatic and legendary leaders: bold Jugurtha, the supremely wily Mithridates, freedom-fighter Spartacus, famous Cleopatra, and the one that comes to mind today. He comes to mind, dear Readers, because our start town of Clermont-Ferrand was his birthplace, in fact in the main square of the city they have a grand statue of him on horseback, sword raised, leading his Gauls in defense of the homeland against Caesar’s invading Romans. Yes, I speak of a time when France was not home to the Franks, but to the Gauls. For those who remember Caesar’s Gallic Wars, you have guessed him by now: the statue remembers the tenacious Vercingetorix who was so much more than just a name in a history book. O! If not for him surely Julius would have conquered Gaul years earlier. Vercingetorix was the man who would not submit, the man who rallied the whole of Gaul to fight on and not accept Roman rule. His hometown on the Tour route today reminded me of him, and seeing the action of the day’s stage reminded me of him too.
Bora-Hansgrohe has yet to take a stage victory in this year’s Tour de France and Peter Sagan faces an uphill battle to reclaim his Green jersey. For two days in a row the Bora team has animated the race with riders in successful breakaway escapes, but alas! none of their men have turned up a victory for the team. And yet they fought on today, like Vercingetorix and his Gallic army, they tirelessly began hostilities again. The Intermediate Sprint came early in the stage, but 6 km before it was a small Category 4 climb. And yet even the small climb was enough for Bora-Hansgrohe to mass on the front, string out the peloton, and break the legs of the sprinters. Like a lead-out train, they peeled off one by one as they climbed until Sam Bennett (Deceunink-Quickstep) in Green could no longer hold Sagan’s wheel. Bennett did crack, and Sagan with Bora teammate Max Schachmann went over the top of the climb alone. They time-trailed together for the next 6 km; and yes, dear Readers, this is the Schachmann who just yesterday rode so bravely off the front until Dani Martinez (EF) caught him—his legs must be made of iron. With two riders in a breakaway well up the road, Sagan crossed the line 3rd to take 15 Points; behind Bennett still placed well and took 10 Points. Thus Sagan’s effort resulted in minimal gains on the scoreboard, but it must have been quite a psychological blow to Bennett in Green. With that move, Peter Sagan and Bora-Hansgrohe showed they are prepared to fight tooth and nail for every Point all the way to the Champs-Elysees as Vercingetorix and his army contested every field in Gaul 2,000 years before.
The next trick up Bora’s sleeve was the daring one I hoped they would pull. The Tour soon began the Category 2 climb of the Col du Beal, never used in the Tour before, but a familiar name on the Dauphine profiles—remember the battle between Chris Froome (Ineos Grenadiers) and Alberto Contador in 2014? With still 125 km to go on the stage, the Bora-Hansgrohe team went to the front once more and dropped sprinters like Cees Bol (Sunweb), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), and the one in their crosshairs: Sam Bennett in Green. And Bora was prepared to ride this gap all day to make sure Bennett would not return to score any Points at the finish. You might be wondering as I was, dear Readers, how the Bora-Hansgrohe riders seem to have bottomless wells of energy. The wonderful Simon Gerrans commentating for us today reminded us that this Bora team was mostly built of climbers prepared to support Emanuel Buchmann in the high mountains. With Buchmann no longer in GC contention, this team of climbers is well-built to push the pace for Sagan on these hilly transition stages. In other years, this would have been a stage where a 20-man breakaway went up the road to contest the finish while the peloton took an informal “rest day” and finished half-an-hour behind, but not this year, not until Sagan has secured his Green Jersey. For the next 40 km the chase was on. A minute or so behind Deceuninck-Quickstep—they call themselves the Wolfpack, aye! How have I not mentioned it before—rode at the front of a large chasing group to return Sam Bennett to the peloton. But on the front of the peloton, Bora-Hansgrohe—they consider themselves a Band of Brothers, another thing I should have mentioned before—rode hard to ensure Bennett did not return. Yes, it was a duel between the two cycling teams that have adopted team names beyond just their title sponsors. The Wolfpack vs. the Band of Brothers, what amazing team names for such a match! But as Sam Bennett and the Wolfpack passed through the feed zone with 87 km to go, they had not put a dent into Bora’s lead. Thus they waved the white flag, threw in the towel, gave up the chase. On this day, the Band of Brothers had defeated the Wolfpack. With one adversary defeated, Bora turned their eyes to the finale where everyone else left would become an adversary for stage honors. Bora wanted a stage win for its own sake of course, but if Sagan could take the victory he would get a whole 50 Points and be only 11 Points down on Bennett by the end of the day.
The final run-in was a tricky finish into metropolitan Lyon. O! Lyon, Lugdunum it was called in the ancient days of Rome, was Irenaeus your patron watching the race today from above? Since its founding it has been a hub of trade and a city of importance throughout French history; in cycling history it is renowned as well, for Lyon has the honor to be the finishing town of the first ever stage of the first ever Tour de France. In 1903, the riders came in one by one as the 467 km stage had taken the winner almost 18 hours to complete; obviously this would not be the case today: the pace would be ferocious and furious as the peloton would fight for the front to be in best position to negotiate city streets at times as narrow as one car wide and filled with road furniture galore for the rest. Additionally, there were two Category 4 climbs on these city streets that would surely be used as launchpads for some ambitious escapists rolling the dice and trying their luck for a stage win.
The peloton came to the bottom of the first hill with 12 km to go, and it was Tiesj Benoot (Sunweb) who started the attacks. The climb was just over a kilometer long, but in that time another Sunweb rider, Soren Kragh Andersen, went off the front as well. It was these two riders that set up Marc Hirschi’s (Sunweb) win on Stage 12, but just because Sunweb had already celebrated victory once didn’t mean they would stop hunting for more! It was Lennard Kamna—yes, the one who lost the sprint to Martinez yesterday—who went to the front for Bora to chase them down. It took Kamna until the bottom of the descent after the climb to catch Benoot, but he caught him; and found he had a gap on the peloton. He began the second climb solo with a few seconds lead, but behind Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), that Escape Artist, attempted a late attack. Though the hill was in the middle of the city, there were still switchbacks, and who flew around them the fastest? The Musketeer. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) launched his bid for glory like an F-16 rising from the runway. He sprinted by De Gendt, hawked down Kamna, and kept going; but in hot pursuit was Baby Spartacus, Marc Hirschi, going for glory again, with a string of riders following behind. The Musketeer really did look good today, but there was too much firepower behind and with 4 km to go it was all back together. Then Hirschi counterattacked as Alaphilippe was brought back and every alarm bell was ringing. Who chased him down? The man who refuses to submit, the Vercingetorix of the peloton, Peter Sagan himself would not let him escape. O! It really was a sight to see when Sagan chased Hirschi down, he really did seem like Vercingetorix. Sure, at this point Sagan no longer has the flowing locks or the bushy facial hair that every Vercingetorix portrayal shows, but you could see in his body language he was doing everything in his power to better his cause today. With 3 km to go, he caught Hirschi, only for the strung-out peloton to come back together and Sunweb’s Soren Kragh Andersen to launch another counterattack. To chase down Hirschi had taken almost everything Sagan had and it had taken everyone else almost everything they had just to stay on the train Sagan was leading to catch Hirschi. Thus it was that Sunweb played a blinder again, with this Andersen attack, everyone hesitated for just a few seconds to see who would sacrifice themselves to chase him down—Sagan couldn’t do it again—and that was all it took. Andersen had a few seconds gap, committed everything, and came in solo 15 seconds ahead of everyone else who collectively couldn’t cobble together a chase behind.
In the sprint, Sagan only managed 4th, but it was a respectable showing for how much work he had just done in the final. It gave him a reasonable hall of Points, but at the end of the day Bennett still leads the competition: 262 to 219. And remember, dear Readers, going into Paris, Sagan needs a comfortable lead in the Green Jersey, because Bennett will most likely place higher—even win—on the Champs-Elysees. And so the task to reclaim Green is still a tall order, but Sagan and Bora did what they could today. They fought bravely and are prepared to fight on despite the odds stacked against them, like Vercingetorix did.
Vercingetorix literally translates to “superior warrior king,” has not Peter Sagan embodied such a title for the past decade? But alas! Vercingetorix’s fall eventually came. Sagan is 30 years-old and has already been around a very long time, alas! we shall soon have to brace ourselves for his twilight and fall. I guess, dear Readers, we can only hope his end is dealt out by another mighty warrior as Vercingetorix’s was. For Julius Caesar to defeat Vercingetorix he had to build a wall around the entire city of Alesia—a circumvallation—where Vercingetorix was held up, only to have tens of thousands of other Gauls show up to liberate their warrior king. The outnumbered Caesar had to build a wall around his own wall—a contravallation—and fight Vercingetorix and the Gauls on both sides…and he did, and he won. Yes, though Vercingetorix fought to the end, he was finally defeated by a better man. It seems one day Peter Sagan will have to face such an adversary too, but I hope it is not now. No disrespect to Sam Bennett—who is a likeable, talented, and dynamic sprinter—but unless he wins this Green Jersey by a very wide margin, I am not sure I can see this as a real vanquishing of Peter Sagan. The juries’ relegation ways on my mind, and of less importance in the first week Peter Sagan was not up to proper snuff. And beyond this year, Sam Bennett is also already 30 years-old how much longer does he have at the top of this sport? Vercingetorix demanded Caesar and his men go to every length to defeat him. When Caesar did, with his double-walled siege of Alesia victory, his men had surely become the best fighting force in the world. It was in the wars with Vercingetorix and the Gauls that Caesar earned undying loyalty from his men and developed his masterclass skills of generalship and diplomacy that would allow him to conquer the Roman Republic. Without defeating an adversary like Vercingetorix, would Caesar have had the courage to cross the Rubicon and the skill or endurance to win an arduous Roman civil war? Who in the peloton could be a worthy Caesar to defeat the Vercingetorix-Sagan? My nomination would be Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) who some are now calling “The Aertist,” surely he has the talent and is still only 25. As I have said before, I hope Sagan wins an 8th Green Jersey this year because an intrusive ruling has hindered his chances. But when another eventually comes to vanquish Sagan—as someone must—I hope Sagan is on his highest form and the challenger is just as mighty an adversary, and the battle is as epic as Alesia was 2,000 years ago.
Cycling Odysseys 