It’s always intriguing to see the Strava stats of stage-winning riders, but there’s additional interest when a stage finish is as steep as the final slope of Stage 12. Romain Bardet was the quickest rider over an unusually decisive final 300m – an effort that secured him one of a number of KoMs. You can see his entire ride here.
The Peyragudes finish was 2.3km at 9% and Bardet unsurprisingly secured the KoM for this segment, covering it in 6m35s.
It’s not entirely surprising to see George Bennett, eighth on the day, in second place on that segment in 7m02s, but it’s also interesting to contrast Bardet’s time with some of the pros who weren’t going all-out for the win. For example, Thomas de Gendt, who was out in the break for much of the day, took 9m18s to cover the same stretch of road, while Scott Thwaites strolled/laboured up in 12m01s.
However, it was only in the final few hundred metres that the main contenders really set about each other.
Bardet is also King of the Mountain for the 14% Altiport Peyragudes TDF segment that rounded off the Peyragudes climb. He covered the 300m in 1m13s, averaging 18.6km/h.
He was also quickest over the first category Peyresourde climb, although he was only third fastest over the hors categoriePort de Bales., for which Laurens Ten Dam was a few seconds quicker back in 2014.
Bardet averaged 36.4km/h (22.6mph) over a 212km (132-mile) ride which took in almost 4,400m (14,430ft) of vertical gain.
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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Yet he doesn't have the grit to tackle the brutal incline of Station Crescent, Penge, during the Friday rush hour I notice.
I was wondering about that myself...