Frenchman Thibaut Pinot Conquers Alpe d'Huez
The Francaies des Jeux rider takes a dramatic victory on this iconic mountain
The French Alps, as always, brought about several days of hard racing. Not only did the riders have the challenge of getting themselves over some of the most famous mountains in the Tour de France...but they had to race right to the final climb on Saturday.
Chris Froome manage to hold off his rivals until the end but it was far from easy as they attacked, attacked and attacked again all the way to the top of the legendary Alpe d'Huez.
Second placed Nairo Quintana put in a series of stinging attacks at the start of the final 13.8km climb before finally edging clear of his Team Sky rival Froome, with 9km remaining. But Froome was not to be beaten as he dug deep on the famous 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez. With more than a little help from his Team Sky team-mates Richie Porte and Wout Poels, Froome managed to limit his losses and was able to ride into Paris on Sunday wearing the yellow jersey and holding a 1min 12sec advantage over Quintana.
But the man of the day on Stage 20 of the Tour de France was without a doubt the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot. He became the third Frenchman in succession to win on the legendary Alpine climb after Pierre Rolland in 2011 and Christophe Riblon in 2013.
Despite a terrible first week of crashes and mechanical issues, then losing some 10 minutes in the Pyrenees, Pinot did not give up and along with his team Francaise des Jeux, he played it perfectly on Saturday and managed to hold off Quintana to win the stage by just 18 seconds.
“It’s a victory I fought every day for. Yes, I’ve had a difficult Tour but I never gave up and the team never gave up,” said the FDJ leader.
The Alpe d'Huez stage has become legendary. Not because it is the most difficult of climb but because of the atmosphere and spectator involvement on the 21 hairpin bends. People camp out for days in advance just to get a good spot to watch the riders come by. Bend number 7 from the top of the climb has become known as 'Dutch Corner' due to the thousands of Dutch supporters who invade it each time the Tour comes to the mountain, for a week long party.
The prizes for the overall classifications were awarded after a rather dangerous race yesterday in Paris. The morning rain made for a slippy circuit and a few crashes but most stayed out of trouble and let the sprinters fight it out for the end of the stage which was won by the 'Gorilla' himself, Andre Gripel.
Final results:
1st place: Chris Froome 81:56:33
2nd place: Nairo Qunitana 81:57:45
3rd place Alejandro Valverde 82:01:58
Green Jersey: Peter Sagan
King of the Mountains: Chris Froome
Best Young Rider: Nairo Quintana
