Analysis: Alberto Contador takes no prisoners as race is blown apart on dramatic day

ANALYSIS: A FLAT day, perfectly suited to the sprinters, turned into the most dramatic day of this year's Tour de France.

A FLAT day, perfectly suited to the sprinters, turned into the most dramatic day of this year's Tour de France.

With the result sheet reading Mark Cavendish winning ahead of Peter Sagan you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a simple day for the fast men of the race. But nothing could be further from the truth.

There were no crashes but there were bodies, metaphorically, strewn all across the road.

FROOME'S STRANGLEHOLD LOOSENED

Lance Armstrong famously once said, throughout his now erased domination of the race, “no gifts”.

Alberto Contador raised the bar from “no gifts” to “take no prisoners” on stage 13.

With the support of his SaxoTinkoff team, along with Bauke Mollema’s Belkin and Cavendish’s Omega Pharma Quick Step, he blew the race apart.

Chris Froome lost a minute and eight seconds to Contador, who has moved up to third, and Mollema is now in second place.

Among the collateral damage was Alejandro Valverde. Starting the day in second, he punctured when the race was barreling along at 50kph and never saw the front of the peloton again. He lost almost 10 minutes and has drop to sixteenth overall.

But more than anything else the day reaffirmed Contador’s fighting character.

Spain's Alberto Contador in action during Stage 13 of the Tour de France.

Contador was the third strongest in last year's Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) but he still won. He won through sheer force of will, courage, tactical nous and unwavering self-belief.

Froome was there in Spain. He witnessed that performance and finished fourth. That memory, along with what he saw on the road to Saint-Amand-Montrond, will make him a little restless when the light goes out at night.

The upside for Froome is that he didn’t spend as much energy as Contador throughout the stage. Energy that he’ll have at his disposal when the race returns to the mountains on Sunday.

Plus he still has a two minute and 28 second buffer on Mollema, with Contador at two minutes and 45 second behind.

Yet although Froome is in a commanding position, on paper, the stage demonstrated how important tactics are in cycling.

Chris Froome is the strongest in the race but was in the wrong position, in the peloton, at a critical moment. Contador, with the guidance of his Australian teammate, Michael Rogers, pounced.

Racing in the echelons that form in a crosswind, as riders try to seek protection from the wind, is a very specific skill.

The last rider to make it into the select front group, that decided the stage win, was Cavendish.

“When echelons start it’s like falling through ice. You’ve got five seconds to make it happen”, was Cavendish’s post-stage description of how quickly things can happen when the race splits in the wind. 

Of the move that left Froome on the back foot, for the first time in the race, Rogers said, “I just told the boys, lets go”, as if it was a simple case of seizing a small moment of opportunity.

But planning had clearly gone into it.

Of the 14 riders in the front group six of them were from Contador’s SaxoTinkoff squad.

The team sporting director, Philippe Mauduit, said afterwards, “I was born in Tours (where the stage started). I know the area”.

The significance of the planning is that Contador will have more surprise attacks in stall.

This race is not over.

Saturday 13 July
Stage 14: Saint-Pourcain-sur-Sioule – Lyon 191km
Live coverage begins on SBS1 at 10pm

Follow Matt Keenan on Twitter: @mwkeenan