Stage 15 - Givors - Mont Ventoux

This stage is the longest of this 100th Tour. It is also one of the most prestigious because nobody wins by chance on the Ventoux, especially not on 14 July? There are two scenarios: either a group gets away from a long way out and maintains enough of an advantage for the escapees to fight it between themselves; or the leaders shut down the race as far as the foot of the climb, transforming the stage into one enormous hill-climb! Depending on the weather, a lot of damage could be done today. Imagine what it could be like if there's blazing heat all day? Whether you're in the yellow jersey or not, if you do badly on this climb you will lose a quarter of an hour!

Mountain passes & hills:
Km 20.5 - Côte d'Eyzin-Pinet - 3.1 kilometre-long climb at 4.9% - category 4
Km 26.5 - Côte de Primarette - 2.6 kilometre-long climb at 4.1% - category 4
Km 44.5 - Côte de Lens-Lestang - 2.1 kilometre-long climb at 3.8% - category 4
Km 143.0 - Côte de Bourdeaux - 4.2 kilometre-long climb at 5.7% - category 3
Km 242.5 - Mont Ventoux - 20.8 kilometre-long climb at 7.5% - category H

Intermediate sprints: Km 208.0 - Malaucène

Stage Summary:
All that matters started only 20Km away from the finish line.
Chavanel had built up 28 seconds with 20km to go, and the chase group too started falling apart, with Sagan noticeably lagging back. Surprisingly, Rolland was dropped from the main group, and it seemed unlikely he would be able to play a role in the stage.

Sagan was one of the first to re-join the field, which he celebrated with a wave and wheelie. Rui Costa (Movistar) and Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard) were the first to jump from the field. Costa couldn't hang on, but Bakelants soon moved up.

Bakelants was joined by Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel). Quintana jumped as next, as Nieve passed Chavanel. With 12.4 km the Colombian caught Chavanel, and Sky moved into the lead of the chase, with Froome having two helpers with him.
Quintana moved up slowly and smoothly in pursuit of the Basque rider. It took a while but he caught Nivel with 10.5 km to go.

The long grinding climb took its expected toll, and the favourites' group became smaller and smaller, with truly only favourites in it. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Jakob Fuglsang were victims, as well. With 8 kilometers to go, there was only a trio: Froome, Porte and Contador.

Shortly thereafter, Froome attacked, quickly passing the fading Nieve. Contador could not or did not respond. The duo fought the motorcycles and crazed fans and Froome easily moved past Quintana, never once getting out of the saddle. The Colombian fought his way back though, and took Froome's rear wheel, eventually taking his turn in the lead.
As their gap over Contador increased, Quintana moved back into the lead work after a few words with Froome. The Briton tried repeatedly to dump him, and with 1.3 km to go he was finally successful. Froome won and Quintana sufering got the 2nd place.

The surprise came as the next riders came into view: Nieve and Rodriguez – no Contador to be seen! The Spaniard finished 1:40 down, as sixth, another bitter blow.

Classifications:

Stage:
Pos./Name/Team/Time
1.Christopher Froome(GBR) - Sky Procycling - 5:48:45
2.Nairo Quintana(COL) - Movistar Team - 0:00:29
3.Mikel Nieve(SPA) - Euskaltel-Euskadi - 0:01:23
4.Joaquim Rodriguez(SPA) - Katusha - 0:01:23
5.Roman Kreuziger(CZE) - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - 0:01:40
6.Alberto Contador(SPA) - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - 0:01:40
7.Jakob Fuglsang(DEN) - Astana Pro Team - 0:01:43
8.Bauke Mollema(NED) - Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:46
9.Laurens Ten Dam(NED) - Belkin Pro Cycling Team - 0:01:53
10.Jean-Christophe Peraud(FRA) - AG2R La Mondiale - 0:02:08

Overall:
Pos./Name/Team/Time
1.Christopher Froome(GBR) - Sky Procycling - 61:11:43
2.Bauke Mollema(NED) - Belkin Procycling Team - 0:04:14
3.Alberto Contador(SPA) - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - 0:04:25
4.Roman Kreuziger(CZE) - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - 0:04:28
5.Laurens Ten Dam(NED) - Belkin Procycling Team - 0:04:54
6.Nairo Quintana(COL) - Movistar Team - 0:05:47
7.Jakob Fuglsang(DEN) - Astana Pro Team - 0:06:22
8.Joaquim Rodriguez(SPA) - Katusha - 0:07:11
9.Jean-Christophe Peraud(FRA) - AG2R La Mondiale - 0:07:47
10.Michal Kwiatkowski(POL) - Omega Pharma-Quick Step - 0:07:58
Points:
Pos./Name/Team/Points
1.Peter Sagan(SVK) - Cannondale Pro Cycling - 377pts
2.Mark Cavendish (GBR) - Omega Pharma-Quick Step - 278pts
3.André Greipel(GER) -Lotto Belisol - 223pts

Climber:
Pos./Name/Team/Points
1.Christopher Froome(GBR) - Sky Procycling - 83pts
2.Nairo Quintana(COL) - Movistar Team - 66pts
3.Mikel Nieve(SPA) - Euskaltel-Euskadi - 53pts
4.Pierre Rolland(FRA) - Team Europcar - 51pts
5.Roman Kreuziger(CZE) - Team Saxo-Tinkoff - 28pts

Team:
Pos./Team/Time
1.Team Saxo-Tinkoff(DEN) - 183:01:46
2.Belkin Pro Cycling(NED) - 0:03:36
3.Ag2R La Mondiale(FRA) - 0:08:03
4.Movistar Team(SPA) - 0:12:15
5.Radioshack Leopard(NED) - 0:16:19

Combative:
Sylvain Chavanel(FRA) - Omega Pharma-Quick Step