First Rest Day for Tour de France

First Rest Day for Tour de France

First Rest Day for Tour de France

📅16 July 2014, 11:00

The first ten stages of the Tour de France are now complete and the cyclists have taken a well-deserved rest day. It has certainly been a dramatic start to the event with three of the biggest names crashing out, Chris Froome, Marke Cavendish and most recently Alberto Contador.

Terrible weather conditions and an extremely tough Stage 5 will have exhausted the riders and the really difficult stages in the Alps and Pyrenees have not even started yet. At present Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan have a stranglehold over the yellow and green jersey respectively, but the peloton has lost all signs of organisation.

Next the riders face two relatively flat stages which will take them to Saint Etienne before they turn west towards the Alps. The upcoming finish at the ski station of Chamrousse will be the first HC category climb the peloton faces before going deeper in to the Alps on the way to Risoul. The stage to Nimes is flat and then the riders can enjoy another rest day before resuming at Carcassonne, the base of the Pyrenees.

Looking at the group now Nibali does not have much competition, he dominated in Stage 10 and must be feeling confident looking ahead. Richie Porte looked very capable during the last stage, but he is generally considered a career helper for Froome and Bradley Wiggins rather than a leader.

All riders are now facing a real challenge to try and close the gap that Nibali has created and if they hope to do so they will have to react to every attack and give it their all. However, after all the drama of the first ten stages, it feels like it’s hard to predict what will happen over the coming weeks, and there is definitely a good chance of further drama and upset.