After just 10 stages, the two pre-race favourites have crashed out of the Tour de France. And Vincenzo Nibali is wasting little time in showing that he’s now the man to beat.
On Monday, the Italian narrowly dodged a spill by Alberto Contador that left the two-time Tour champion with a fractured shin. Nibali went on to barrel past a panting breakaway rider to win a fog-and-rain coated, up-and-down Stage 10 and recover the yellow jersey that he had lost only a day earlier.
It didn’t come easy.
“This was the hardest stage I’ve ever done in a Grand Tour, with seven climbs and so many crashes,” said Nibali.
Contador’s mishap has given this 101st edition of cycling’s greatest event a dubious distinction of being the first in recent memory to force out its two top stars to crash injuries. Five stages earlier, reigning champ Chris Froome quit with a broken wrist and hand sustained in a string of spills.
This was the hardest stage I’ve ever done in a Grand Tour, with seven climbs and so many crashes
When Stage 10 began, many race pundits and Nibali himself expected Contador to try to erase his 2 1/2 minute deficit to the Italian by attacking on the ride to the finish atop La Planche des Belles Filles ski resort. As FDJ.FR team manager Marc Madiot put it- “This is the day for Contador to put Nibali into trouble.”
Instead, it was Contador having the problems.
The 31-year-old Spaniard took a hard tumble in a high-speed downhill run in the Vosges mountains. After riding about 18 kilometers (12 miles) in pain, the Tinkoff-Saxo Bank team leader finally gave up. He put his foot down, got off his bike, wiped his eyes and got into a team car. An X-ray later showed a shin fracture.
Nibali said he had been ready for a “duel”.
The Astana team leader regained the lead from France’s Tony Gallopin who had taken the yellow jersey off him a day earlier in the 161.5-kilometer (100-mile) trek from eastern Mulhouse to the steep finish at La Planche des Belles Filles.
With a final burst of speed in the last two kilometers (1.2 miles), Nibali overtook breakaway rider Joaquim Rodriguez. By the end, Nibali crossed 15 seconds ahead of France’s Thibaut Pinot in second and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde in third, a further five seconds behind.
The Italian recovers the yellow jersey that he wore for seven days after he won the second stage in the hills of northern England. Overall, he leads Richie Porte of Australia by 2 minutes, 23 seconds, and Valverde, who is third, 2-47 back.
“My legs felt good. I knew the last three kilometers were the toughest, and that’s when I accelerated,” said Nibali, sucking his thumb in a tribute to his young daughter as he finished. “I thought Rodriguez would follow but he seemed to have trouble.”
