Well, that was gripping.
The first day in the high Alps, after the rest day and the previous day’s mini-Paris Roubaix was short on fireworks. As in, none.
With 35K to go, last year’s polka jersey winner Warren Barguil launched himself up the right side of the road – if for nothing else, to announce to the peloton that he still had two legs. After a questionable switch of teams from WorldTour Sunweb to baby French team Fortuneo-Samsic, the Frenchman has been invisible.
His look-at-me-go moment didn’t last long. Team Sky swallowed him up and Barguil would arrive at the finish almost 11 minutes after the winner Julian Alaphilippe (Quickstep Floors).
There were essentially zero attacks from the GC contenders except for a momentary move by Dan Martin. Other than that blip, the stage had an unfortunate deja vu feeling as Team Sky set a high pace for their leaders Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.
Vincenzo Nibali, who spent much of last year’s Tour de France, helplessly following Sky’s wheels, noted the absence of pedals turned in anger. “The last two climbs were ridden at a very high pace, so it was impossible to attack,” said Nibali. “On the first climb, there was a headwind and on the second, there was a very sustained, high pace from Sky, so there wasn’t space to make attacks.”
High pace, headwind, no space, same old story.
Podium contender Jabob Fuglsang actually made following Sky sound like some kind of brilliant strategy. “Our tactic was to follow the wheels today and have a look around to see how the other guys are feeling – what their legs look like from the other guys and also to see what Sky would do with their tactics in the race together with Movistar also. But in the end it was clear Sky were the strongest.”
We’d call that the Enjoy the Scenery tactic. Which is wonderful for sight-seeing but largely ineffective when it comes to winning the final maillot jaune.
Well, we’ve seen Sky’s unrelenting dominance for four Tours and if that’s the narrative going forward, excuse us while we turn off the television. Give Froome his record-tying fifth victory, put Geraint Thomas on the second step and then let somebody have the scraps for third place. Sounds epic, doesn’t it?
Thomas, Sky’s Plan B, sounded like he’d just had another uneventful day at the office. “We just controlled it nicely. We were expecting a few attacks on the last climb, but nobody really went. Dan did over the top, but that was it really.”
Yup, that was it in the Alpzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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