The grapple for green: 2020 Tour de France, stage 14

The grapple for green: 2020 Tour de France, stage 14

As the Tour de France approaches its final week, the races within this beautiful race increasingly come out to play. Why Peter Sagan versus Sam Bennett could be the hottest green jersey duel for a decade

5-minute read Bora-Hansgrohe Deceuninck - Quick Step Peter Sagan Photos: ASO/Pauline Ballet/CorVos/Thomas Maheux/Alex Whitehead/Swpix.com⠀ Sam Bennett Tour de France 2020 Words: Andy McGrath

As the Tour de France approaches its final week, the race within this beautiful race increasingly comes out to play. Teams who haven’t won a stage yet are desperate to get in the breakaway. Riders defending ninth place on GC do mystifying amounts of chasing. Squads are made to do “the turn of shame” on the front after getting an earbashing from their DS. And, most commonly, the fight for the four classification jerseys dictates affairs.

Yesterday’s stage 14 between Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon saw a green jersey grapple. The day was enlivened by Bora-hansgrohe going loco at the front of the bunch over early medium mountains to drop incumbent Sam Bennett.

To use their wrestling names, it was The Wolf Pack versus, er, The Kitchen Clan, with The Cobblers (aka CCC) lending a hand to definitively keep him dropped.

The upshot of Sagan’s superior intermediate sprint placing and fourth place finish yesterday was reducing his deficit to 43 points. So, what’s that coming over the hill? Just maybe the start of an enthralling duel for the maillot vert. And how it is needed, the life nearly strangled out of the competition in the last decade by Sagan’s sheer brilliance.

 

For years, Peter the Great seemed to do it all single-handedly, freelancing in bunch sprints, insouciant ease and peerless versatility elsewhere making him a tour de force. Now, he is a proud but, dare we say it, slowly-fading king and the strength of his team is crucial. 

Their unsubtle, high-pressure tactic could be replicated in a few of the forthcoming stages. Get rid of Bennett before an intermediate sprint and there’s a points bounty to be had. After all, Deceuninck have come mob-handed with flatland powerhouses whereas the Bora boys can climb - a case in point being Mani Buchmann, fourth in last year’s Tour, driving the pace yesterday. 

Advantage Deceuninck for the first half of the Tour, now the pendulum may swing the other way. There’s no nailed-on sprint finish until Paris and a time cut that waits for no Irishman in the Alps. Sagan won’t cede power without an almighty battle.

However, it’s still advantage Bennett. About five years and nine hairstyles ago, Sagan got into punchy mountain breakaways with reckless abandon. (Remember that crazy descent into Gap in 2015? No. Just us, then). He’ll surely need to do similar to stand a chance. 

Yesterday, the Slovak couldn’t keep it together single-handedly over the last hill into Lyon. When he and everyone else had run out of helpers, Sunweb’s stage-hunting street urchins piped up - “Please sir, can we have some more stages?” - and pickpocketed the peloton. Søren Kragh Andersen timed his solo to perfection after 1-2 moves from Benoot and Hirschi.

That was after a fierce four and a half hours of racing at 46km/h average. So much for a breather before today’s killer mountain stage. No more easy days before Paris: as was forecast pre-race, it really is going to be a brutal Tour.



5-minute read Bora-Hansgrohe Deceuninck - Quick Step Peter Sagan Photos: ASO/Pauline Ballet/CorVos/Thomas Maheux/Alex Whitehead/Swpix.com⠀ Sam Bennett Tour de France 2020 Words: Andy McGrath


READ MORE

‘The bike is fun, freedom and exploration’ - Ed Clancy: For the love of sport

‘The bike is fun, freedom and exploration’ - Ed Clancy: For the love of sport

Part of our series with the British Cycling Hall of Fame inductees, Clancy discusses why he believes cycling can change lives

Read more
Cav's legacy: why there may never again be a sprinter like Mark Cavendish

Cav's legacy: why there may never again be a sprinter like Mark Cavendish

As he prepares to bow out of the sport at the end of the year, Cavendish's prolific record will stand the test of time

Read more
Gallery: A look back at Mark Cavendish's record-breaking career

Gallery: A look back at Mark Cavendish's record-breaking career

Rouleur looks back at all the Tours Mark Cavendish has completed 

Read more
Closing the gap: can Remco Evenepoel rise to the challenge of Tadej Pogačar in 2025?

Closing the gap: can Remco Evenepoel rise to the challenge of Tadej Pogačar in 2025?

The Belgian rider is not going to go down without a fight next season

Read more
Max Poole on near misses, learning from the best and why Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s structure works

Max Poole on near misses, learning from the best and why Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s structure works

The British rider discusses his impressive Grand Tour debut and the work it has taken to get there

Read more
'British Cycling has done everything for me' - Dani Rowe: From a talent ID programme to Olympic gold

'British Cycling has done everything for me' - Dani Rowe: From a talent ID programme to Olympic gold

Speaking after being inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame, Rowe tells Rouleur about her journey to the top of the sport

Read more

MEMBERSHIP

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Independent journalism, award winning content, exclusive perks.

Banner Image