Yelling for Yellow

With the G5 bikes all lined up outside the bus AG2R was ready to defend the yellow jersey another day. Even without the riders standing outside the crowd had gathered to observe and watch the workings of the yellow jersey team. Nocentini sat inside sticking his numbers onto his jersey, Stephane Goubert rubbed his legs trying to remove the fatigue from yesterdays cold and wet stage. The others stock piled their jerseys with food and drinks to get ready for another work day. The profile for stage 14 was easier then stage 13, but with tomorrow being the uphill finish to Verbier, this could be the last night in yellow for AG2R.

The stage started fast as usual but this time it wasn’t just AG2R that controlled the race, they had help from the sprinter teams. Stage 14 is the last chance for the sprinters until the final day in Paris. There are sprint teams that have not had the result they wanted and there are sprinters who want another chance at beating Cavendish. The other factor that benefited AG2R was the green jersey competition which has heated up between Cavendish and Hushovd. This took some of the pressure off AG2R and put it square on the shoulders of those that wanted a field sprint.
At the start of the Tour AG2R didn’t know what position they would be in. They built a team that was well rounded and focused on the overall, what they didn’t realize was that Nocentini would be the man in yellow.

Two of Nocentini’s strongest workers are Efimkin and Dessel. Coming into the Tour Efimkin and Dessel were to be the leaders of the team but now have led the team, and the peloton, in their strength and experience on the road. They have been using the G5 in the mountains and despite this being the fourth mountain day in the Tour Dessel continues to be impressed. “I like the way the bike feels when I’m out of the saddle. It drives forward fast . There is a big difference in stiffness from last year.” The new G5 increased the stiffness to meet the riders demands but they also made the seat stays flatter to be more compliant. Efimkin echoed the feelings of comfort, “The bike rides nice. I can do five hours and it doesn’t feel bad. The legs can be bad but that’s not because of the bike.”

Either way for AG2R the day would work out well for them. They have two good sprinters with Nicholas Roche and Lloyd Mondory. Both of these riders have consistently been up there in the top 8 during the bunch gallops. There is also Riblon, Arrieta, and Dupont who have faithfully been by the side of the yellow jersey during these last seven days.

The break escaped early towards the finish in Bresancon and included in the front group of ten was the fast man Roche. With one rider in the break this took the pressure off the team to ride and that responsibility then fell onto Astana. The problem was Hincapie was a threat and a danger to AG2R so at the end of the day the team had a hard chase to keep Hincapie from taking the jersey. A combination of AG2R riding flat out, Garmin deciding to ride just at the end for no apparent reason except to prevent Hincapie from having yellow, and Colombia’s insistence to lead out Cavendish for the sprint led to the five seconds that Hincapie fell short of taking the jersey. The riders are upset, the managers are upset, the directors are upset and all at each other. One team who is not upset and rode a perfect race to keep yellow for one more day was AG2R.