Nicolas Roche will ride into Paris with the Tour de France yellow jersey in his team after holding firm on the road to Alpe d'Huez.
By Brian Canty
For the first time in his career, Nicolas Roche has been part of a winning team at a Grand Tour after playing a key role in keeping his Team Sky leader in yellow at the Tour de France today.
The peloton will ride into Paris tomorrow for the final stage where a ceremonial start is usually followed by a bunch sprint.
It means all Froome needs to do is stay with the main group and he will be assured of his second Tour title.
The Briton was put to the pin of his collar on today’s 110-kilometre penultimate stage and looked to be in danger as the race headed for the finish atop Alpe d’Huez.
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The stage was a feast of old school racing; with attack after attack by those hunting the stage win and the yellow jersey.
Roche did some phenomenal turns on the front for Sky prior to that showdown on Alpe d’Huez, setting a strong tempo at the front which shed many riders out the back.
The Irishman has been right by Froome these past few weeks, as the team came under fire from some fans on the roadside, today being no exception.
To his credit, Roche has remained composed and crucially has kept his condition for the full three weeks of the race.
Even when Nairo Quintana attacked with around 50 kilometres to go today, Roche resisted the urge to jump on his wheel and instead helped claw the Colombian back slowly.
This will be Roche’s 14th Grand Tour and 7th Tour de France in-a-row completed so if anyone knows what’s expected and required, it’s Roche.
As soon as his shift at the front was done and order was restored he pulled over and ambled to the finish, crossing the line in 43rd, 6:43 down.
Froome’s closest challenger, Quintana (Movistar) forced the pace on the lower slopes of Alpe d’Huez and put the race leader and his team in difficulty.
And following a stinging acceleration with less than 10 kilometres to go, the diminutive figure broke free and worked his way to the finish with the help of teammates Alejandro Valverde and Winner Anacona.
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He crossed the line in second place after mopping up all but one of the breakaway men – Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) the one who proved too strong and he took the stage win.
Quintana was 18 seconds behind the Frenchman and when he came over the like he punched the air and the clock started to see how far back Froome was.
The Team Sky man had 2:38 to concede at the start of the day so it really would have taken an extraordinary collapse for him to lose it.
Alas, he crossed the line 1:20 down on Quintana and managed to hold the jersey by 1:12 after bonus seconds were awarded to Quintana for his high placing.
A cracking stage brought to an end a sometimes mundane Tour, with Team Sky looking untouchable for long spells of it.
However, as the race entered the Alps from the Pyrenees this week they began to look fallible, with first Peter Kennaugh being forced to abandon and then Froome looking increasingly vulnerable in the face of relentless attacks.
But there can be no denying he was a worthy winner; building his lead in the time trial and crosswinds of the early stages as well as the climbs, unlike Quintana whose eggs will always be in the climbing basket.
Meanwhile, Dan Martin looks set to complete his third Tour de France after crossing the line 5:30 behind Pinot despite having fallen ill on the race.
At present, Martin is 39th overall, just over two hours down. He was 35th in his debut in 2012 and 33rd a year later while taking a stage win in the latter.
He went desperately close to landing three stage wins in this Tour, finishing second, second and fourth on stages.
Stage 20: Modane Valfréjus-Alpe d’Huez (110.5km)
1. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 3:17:21
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 18 secs
3. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin at 41 secs
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 1:38
5. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 1:38
6. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Euopcar at 1:41
7. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky at 2:11
8. Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar at 2:32
9. Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky at 2:50
10. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Lampre-Merida at s/t
28 Dan Martin (Garmin Cannondale) at 5:30
38. Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) at 6:43
General Classification
1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky in 81:56:33
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 1:12
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 5:25
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana at 8:36
5. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo a s/t
6. Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 10:47
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing at 15:14
8. Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling at 15:39
9. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r at 16:00
10. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Euopcar at 17:30
35. Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) at 1:54:08
39. Dan Martin (Garmin Cannondale) at 2:03:37
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