Aru’s climbing skills show in stage victory
CHAMPAGNEY, France — After losing two of its biggest stars in one horrible crash the day before, the Tour de France needed a pick-me-up.
Italy’s Fabio Aru answered the call.
On the first mountain climb of this 104th edition of cycling’s showcase race, and after the lower altitudes in which Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan were forced out of the race — the first with a broken shoulder, the second via a disqualification for causing the crash that injured Cavendish — Aru showed Wednesday he could be the man to beat by leaving threetime champion Chris Froome in his wake.
Making up for the bitterness of missing the Giro d’Italia in May, Aru zoomed away from Froome and other top contenders yearning to ride into Paris in the overall leader’s yellow jersey on July 23. The punishing climb to the Planches des Belles Filles ski station in eastern France’s Vosges mountains was made to look like a mere speed bump.
Froome downplayed Aru’s show of strength in winning the fifth stage, noting there are still 16 more days of racing to go. But the 32-year-old veteran also acknowledged making a rookie’s mistake by not reacting quickly enough when the 26-year-old Sardinian slammed on his pedals.
Along the steep, crowd-lined hairpin bends through dense pines, Aru rose from his saddle and rocked powerfully from side to side as he gobbled up the mountain in his Italian national champion’s jersey of green, white and red.
Froome got the message, loud and clear.
“This is going to be the hardest-fought battle I’ve had,” he said. “We definitely cannot give Fabio that kind of space again.”
Wednesday’s 100-mile ride started in the spa town of Vittel, and at the foot of the 3.1-mile finishing climb to an altitude of 3,395 feet, everything seemed to be going to plan for Froome. His Sky teammates were powering up the ascent ahead of him, leading their champion with a fierce pace aimed at dissuading other riders from attacking.
Aru hadn’t read the script. Despite the effort of his sudden acceleration with more than 1 1/2 miles left to climb, he was lucid enough when powering away to yell at a roadside spectator who got too close to him and to toss a water bottle at the feet of another. He still had energy to spare at the top to finish with a sprint.
A consolation for Froome was taking the race leader’s yellow jersey off the shoulders of teammate Geraint Thomas, who couldn’t stay with the leaders on the climb made doubly punishing by searing summer temperatures.
Irish rider Dan Martin of the Quickstep team was second to the top, surprising Froome with his own burst of speed on a very steep section near the finish. Froome came in third, 20 seconds behind Aru — who had never climbed the ascent before but watched video of Froome winning the first time the Tour climbed it in 2012.
“It’s extraordinary for me to win this stage,” said Aru, a twotime podium finisher at the Giro d’Italia and the winner of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana.
He was devastated not to have been there when this year’s Giro started from his home island of Sardinia, having injured a knee in a training crash.
“I’m someone who prefers to maintain a low profile,” Aru said. “It’s not necessary to say that I’m extremely happy. A victory in the Tour is something fantastic after difficult months with my injury.
“Only my family and the people close to me know what I went through. Having the Giro in Sardinia is not something that happens every year. Fortunately my home fans embraced me anyhow, and I was able to focus on the Tour immediately. Getting back in the saddle gave me my smile back.”
Overall, Froome leads Thomas by 12 seconds, while Aru jumped from 25th to third and is 14 seconds behind Froome. Today’s sixth stage cuts through Champagne country from Vesoul to Troyes and is flat enough for sprinters to go for the win.
Cavendish recalls wreck
Cavendish commended the “courage” of Tour jurors for disqualifying Sagan, a reigning world champion.
Speaking Wednesday, Cavendish said his immediate concern after he hit the deck near the end of Tuesday’s fourth stage was a profusely bleeding finger on his right hand.
“There was just a puddle of blood on the floor. I thought, ‘I’m going to bleed to death here.’ But my teammates were around and they helped me to my feet,” he said.
The winner of 30 Tour stages in his stellar career was later diagnosed with a broken right shoulder blade. Sagan, who appeared to elbow Cavendish before he fell at high speed, stayed on his bike but was disqualified for endangering Cavendish and other riders in the sprint finish at Vittel.
Cavendish said: “It takes a lot of courage … to eliminate the world champion from the Tour de France.”
Cavendish said he bore no hard feelings toward Sagan and that his actions didn’t appear malicious. He stressed that they are good friends and said Sagan called him Tuesday evening while he was being examined in the hospital.
Sagan’s explanation for extending his right elbow into Cavendish’s path — as Cavendish was speeding up alongside Sagan, shaving the barriers — was that he was just trying to stay upright.
“He said it was keeping himself balanced, so it was nice to know. He said he didn’t know it was me coming up,” said Cavendish, who praised Sagan for immediately coming to his team bus after the crash to apologize.