The fallout from Sunday's Tour de France Stage 9, with its 15 separate stretches of cobblestone road, wasn't as massive as it could have been. With the exception of BMC Racing Team leader Richie Porte, who crashed out in the nervous run-up to the first cobbled section, major contenders made it through in one piece and kept their hopes upright. A few observations on the Tour's first rest day:
Who's in and who's out of the podium hunt? Aside from Porte, most pre-race favorites are still within striking distance at least of a top-three placement, if not the top step, strung out over a roughly two-and-a-half minute gap from Team Sky's Geraint Thomas, currently in second place and considered capable of an overall win. The riders whose names you didn't hear mentioned on the race call for most of the day were, for the most part, the most confident and fortunate. Among them: 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy (Bahrain-Merida), 2017 Giro winner Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands (Sunweb) and the ever-durable Alejandro Valverde of Spain (Movistar), one of three leaders on that team. His co-leader Nairo Quintana of Colombia, a climbing specialist with a toothpick frame, somehow managed to remain un-buffeted, and Ireland's Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) didn't appear slowed by the effects of a heavy crash the previous day that left him literally on hands and knees after the stage.
What about the leadership dynamic between Thomas and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome? Thomas has raced assertively and sits 59 seconds ahead of Froome, who has escaped injury in two crashes. Which one will Team Sky send to try and snare the yellow jersey in the Alps? This is cycling's equivalent of an NFL quarterback controversy. It's a familiar one historically (see: 1986 Bernard Hinault/Greg LeMond, or 2009 Alberto Contador/Lance Armstrong) and a recurring scenario for perpetually talent-rich Sky, which saw the same question bubble up between Brad Wiggins and Froome (2012) and Froome and Mikel Landa (2017). "I think (Sky general manager Dave Brailsford) will certainly get in both their ears and make them both think that they can win it, as a way of motivating them, as a way of playing this card for as long as possible into this race until there's a natural selection,'' Wiggins said Monday on his Eurosport show. The Darwinian approach has the ring of truth, since it gives Sky a Plan B in case of calamity. "The race will decide that,'' Froome told reporters, predictably, at Sky's Monday press conference.
Here come the bridesmaids: The women's one-day La Course race starts Tuesday in Annecy and finishes at Le Grand-Bornand, same as the men's Stage 10, but is shorter (70 miles compared to 98) and includes the final two Category 1 climbs. That will prompt full-gas racing from the gun. Twenty teams of between four and six riders are competing. The luminaries include just-crowned Giro Rosa winner Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands (Mitchelton-Scott), who has been on a tear since recovering from her catastrophic-looking crash at the Rio Games, world bronze medalist and multiple stage race winner Megan Guarnier of the United States, and fellow American standouts Katie Hall, Ruth Winder and Tayler Wiles. The event will once again be under-covered and overshadowed because of its confluence with a huge sorting-out stage in the men's race. Next year, when the best women's soccer teams on the planet converge on France for the World Cup, would be a great time for Tour organizers to ditch the one-day format and figure out how to put on a stage race.
The business end: Cycling's silly season, when new title sponsor commitments (or lack thereof) and top rider transfers often are announced or leaked, coincides with the most stressful race of the year. We get it, sort of -- the cycling press corps is assembled and news gets maximum bang -- but it can sometimes make for an odd juxtaposition of competition and commerce. BMC Racing Team, long one of the sport's superpowers, suddenly shifted into search mode earlier this year after the death of team patron Andy Rihs. Monday, the team announced it would continue operations with a new Polish corporate sponsor, CCC and a contract extension for current Tour yellow jersey wearer and Olympic gold medalist Greg Van Avermaet. Porte's departure from the race may soon be followed by a confirmed departure to another team, and other personnel changes could come quickly as the team sharpens its focus on one-day classics to build around Van Avermaet. Two-time top-five Tour finisher Tejay van Garderen, abruptly thrust into a lead role by Porte's crash, lost several minutes Sunday due to a mishap on the cobbles. He's had great and terrible days in the Alps and is the subject of transfer rumors himself. Some are discounting him, but it wouldn't be a shock to see him move up in the standings this week. Two shorter stages -- one an uphill finish and the other the Tour's only individual time trial -- could work in his favor later on.
On tap Tuesday: The climbs of the Col de Romme and Col de la Colombiere may not be as decisive as the descents of those mountain passes, where the risk-takers in overall contention will try to make up time. The finish is famous in Tour lore as the spot where Armstrong told then-teammate Floyd Landis to "ride like you stole something,'' then proceeded to sprint to victory out of a small group of top riders in 2004. Expect a frenetic finale in Le Grand Bornand.