Nicolas Roche turns on the power as Saxo Bank rip Tour de France apart

Nicolas Roche and the Saxo Tinkoff team turned it on on stage 13 today and put just over 1 minute into yellow jersey Chris Froome.

Gavin McLoughlin

Nicolas Roche was a key protagonist as the Irishman and his Saxo-Tinkoff teammates spectacularly outsmarted Team Sky and their race-leader Chris Froome on stage 13 of the Tour de France today, Thursday.

On a monstrously fast day where crosswinds wreaked havoc, Roche helped team leader Alberto Contador steal 1:09 from the yellow jersey wearer.

The move came 31 kilometres from the finish-line in Saint-Amand-Montrond, with the Irishman taking some enormously powerful turns on the front as the wind helped Saxo-Tinkoff drag a small cohort away.

Roche eventually finished 11thon the stage, 11 seconds behind stage winner Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

It was the latest in a series of impressively strong efforts from Roche at this race, and his team’s shrewd tactical display breathes new life into a general classification battle that had thus far proved disappointingly one-sided.

Saxo-Tinkoff are sure to be thrilled by the Irishman’s contribution, and Roche will need to dig deep into his reserves of energy again if Contador is to continue his march up the leader board.

Garmin-Sharp leader and stage 9 victor Dan Martin finished in the Froome group. After suffering through a hard day yesterday, Martin was kept well sheltered by teammates Ramunas Navardauskas and Jack Bauer and managed to save some energy for the weekend.

The day’s chaos leaves Martin just one place outside the top ten on general classification after Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) suffered an inopportune puncture early on, with Rui Costa among the teammates who failed to bridge Valverde back to his general classification rivals. Martin is now 11^th overall and remains 5:52 behind the race lead.

Today the peloton would complete a 173 kilometre leg from Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond. For the third time in the last four days, the terrain was largely flat and so this morning it seemed certain that the sprinters would do battle again.

The early breakaway was the sextet of Yohann Gène (Europcar), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), Luis Maté (Cofidis), Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM), Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The quick men’s helpers took responsibility for the pace-setting and you assumed that the usual flat stage format would follow: the bunch would trundle along the road, the break would eventually be hauled in and all the action would come at the end.

But Omega Pharma-Quick Step had other ideas. With some 115 kilometres remaining, the riders found themselves on an exposed piece of road and a strong crosswind blew. The Belgian squad assembled at the front and churned out an eye-watering pace, splitting the bunch in three.

Yesterday’s stage victor Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) was among those caught out, but both Roche and Martin were ensconced safely in the first echelon.

Kittel’s group came within ten seconds of getting back on but then Omega Pharma-Quick Step ratcheted up the pace again, this time with the massed ranks of Belkin Procycling for company. Kittel and his companions could only fall away.

The fierce tempo meant the escapees were caught with 96 kilometres remaining, and still Omega Pharma pushed on to stop Kittel from re-establishing contact. The German’s absence meant Cavendish’s prospects of stage glory were looking rosy.

Seven kilometres later and more drama ensued as Valverde, second on general classification this morning, suffered a puncture and had to pull over for a wheel change. Several of Valverde’s teammates tried to pace their leader back to the peloton, but now Belkin forced the bunch along and the men in navy were stuck in no man’s land.

Soon the Movistar riders had joined forces with the Kittel group, but despite their combined efforts the gap to the leading group continued to expand.

Less than 60 kilometres remaining and the men at the front enjoyed some brief respite. Valverde and his companions began to crawl closer, but then the hammer came down once more and now the lead group began to fracture as again a crosswind caused havoc.

The gaps up front were small, however, and quickly they were closed. With Cavendish, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) still aboard, visions of a three-man sprint began to form.

And then Saxo-Tinkoff shrewdly played their hand as Roche and his teammates caught most of the bunch napping and dragged a 14-strong contingent including Cavendish and Sagan away. Froome and Martin were left behind.

Even team-leader Contador was contributing out front as Roche proved his strength in helping his team to slowly eke out a sizeable advantage.

Behind, the blue and black Sky train was nowhere to be seen, and Valverde’s group were a disastrous 8 minutes behind the leaders.

Cavendish and Sagan ultimately contested the stage victory and the Manxman was comfortably faster, bringing home his second stage win of this Tour.

So though there was no stage victory for Saxo-Tinkoff, Roche’s team will be feeling pretty pleased with this evening. The race for yellow is far from over.

Tomorrow’s stage is a hilly 191 kilometre trek from Saint-Pourcain-sur-Sioule to Lyon. The road goes up and down all day and it looks set to be another energy sapper.

Victory from a breakaway looks a possibility tomorrow, but after being pipped in the sprint today, the versatile Peter Sagan will be the man to watch.

After preserving energy today, Martin may be tempted to try his hand at a second stage victory tomorrow. On paper, the day doesn’t look to be quite arduous enough to suit his characteristics, but Irish fans will be keeping their fingers crossed for another triumph.

Roche will continue to shepherd Alberto Contador, and all eyes will be on Saxo-Tinkoff tomorrow as the Spaniard’s rivals try to avoid being caught out again. With Mont Ventoux looming large at the end of Sunday’s stage, perhaps Roche’s goal for Saturday will be to preserve as much energy as possible.