Rafal Majka crowned 2016 Tour de France KOM after Stage 8

The Col du Tourmalet – the first of today’s climbs – showed the riders of the Tour de France that they had truly arrived in the big mountains. While the going was tough and the pace high, Rafal Majka showed that his strong ride in the Giro d’Italia had prepared him well for the mountains of the Tour, as he picked up points in the climbers contest to claim the Maillot à Pois.

Four incredibly tough categorised climbs, the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, and a 184km stage that more closely resembled a saw than a road stage – the Tour de France was welcomed to the Pyrenees with the hardest stage of the race so far. While much of the attention would be on the Col du Tourmalet – and rightly so – the remaining three climbs of the day were going to play a huge role in deciding how the GC race was going to play out in the remaining weeks of the Tour.

Summiting at the 86km point, the Col du Tourmalet was the race’s first Hors Catégorie climb. The legendary ascent of the Tour de France came perhaps too early on to make an impact on the outcome of the stage, but this 19km climb would take huge amounts of energy out of the riders, with another three climbs to follow. The last climb of the day – the first category Col de Peyresourde – took the race up a 7.1km ascent with an average gradient of 7.8% – steeper than the Tourmalet. Rather than a summit finish, the race would then descend the other side of the Peyresourde to the finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon. This was where the decisive move was likely to come.

In the early stages of the day, there were still chances for the fast men to pick up points in the green jersey contest, meaning Peter Sagan was keen to head up the road on what was to be a hard day in the saddle, as Sport Director, Sean Yates, explained. “It was a very tough day, a really fast start with breakaway attempts before the first sprint and then the break went only a few kilometres before the sprint, so after over 60km of racing. Peter picked up the points in the peloton behind so that was good for the green jersey.”

With the start of the Col du Tourmalet 50km from the start of the stage, it took some time for the attacks to come, and the blistering pace in the first hour made it hard to escape. A few came and went, but were quickly pulled back in, and it wasn’t until near the foot of the first climb of the day that an attack went – and stuck. Having taken the Souvenir Jacques Goddet on the Tourmalet last year, Rafal Majka knew the climb well and joined the break in an attempt to take the prize two years in a row. Even with the break disintegrating around him, Rafal surged up the road, taking a second and later a third rider with him. In spite of putting in a strong ride and matching his rivals on the climb for speed and attacking prowess, the Polish national road champion was just beaten to the top.

Talking about his time in the break, Rafal was pleased to spend most of his day in the escape. “In the end I could see there were only two guys in front, and I asked the DS if I should go. I think it’s better that I went – I don’t feel so good right now and being off the front there’s less pressure than being in the peloton. My condition is still coming and maybe after the rest day I’ll be stronger.”

It was a hot day in the Pyrenees, and this was going to make racing even tougher. The four mountains crossed were hard enough without the intense heat of the mountains further sapping energy reserves, but in spite of this, Rafal and his companions managed to maintain their 1’30” gap on the bunch as the day went on, and as the Yellow Jersey was distanced as the day went on, it was clear there was to be a new race leader. With the pace in the bunch high, it seemed likely the trio would be caught before the final climb of the day, and in spite of Rafal’s best efforts to go it alone, his break was slowly reeled in.

After a hard day in the break, taking points on three of the four climbs, Rafal was still building form after his strong Giro campaign. “My form’s getting better but still it’s tough on the road. I went in the breakaway and I’d hoped to stay out until the end, but behind us the peloton was going really fast and they caught us. I stayed for one more climb but I was really tired. I wanted to help Alberto but wasn’t able to.”

Pushing ahead to try and take the points on the Col de Val Louron-Azet, Rafal found his way blocked by Team Sky, preventing him from gaining the maximum points. In spite of this, having spent much of the day on the front of the break however, Rafal had amassed enough points in the climbers’ competition to take the virtual Maillot à Pois. With only a descent and the Col de Peyresourde to come, this was where the race was going to hot up.

Fighting valiantly, Alberto Contador was distanced slightly on the ascent, but on the major climbs of the day when his rivals were being dropped, Alberto was still there – so with a fast descent to the finish after the summit, there were opportunities to pull back any gaps. After an attack came on the summit, Roman Kreuziger pushed on to keep the escape and the bunch in touch, finishing the stage in 5th position, with Alberto crossing the line shortly afterwards in 17th position. After his stellar performance on the climbs of the day, Rafal took the polka dot jersey for his strong ride in the climbers’ contest.

From the finish, Rafa was pleased to be leading the King of the Mountains race, but after a hard season so far knew it would be tough to defend it. “I’m glad to be in the polka dot jersey but it’s only one point between me and the second place. I’ll have the jersey for a day maybe – I’ve already done the Giro this year so it’s tough.”

It was a tough day all round – and the fast, driving pace in the peloton suggested to Yates that some of the teams had their intentions for the stage. “On the Tourmalet, Rafa jumped away with a few others, but Sky rode a solid tempo behind and kept the gap around 2’30” so we knew they were setting something up. They were caught on the penultimate climb, and with the catch coming early we knew to expecting a hard last climb. In the end Alberto lost time but Roman was there and Rafa came away with the Polka Dot jersey.”

Starting the day, Alberto knew how much of a challenge the Pyrenees would be, even for uninjured riders. With much of the race still to come, the Tinkoff leader would review his performance with the team and look ahead to the days to come. “It was a very hard and demanding stage with a strong pace and I was aware it would be complicated. It was what it was and we now have to analyse the situation and see how we move forward.”

Continuing, Yates said there were many positives to take from the day. “From Alberto’s point of view it was more time lost which isn’t what we wanted, but otherwise we did all we could – we fought for the breakaway, Peter picked up some more points and we have Rafa in the KoM jersey. Tomorrow is another super tough day and there are a lot of KoM points on offer. Rafa is starting to feel better and he isn’t a threat to GC so he shouldn’t be one to chase down, so we’ll see what we can do there.”

Rafa supplemented his Sport Director’s comments. “Of course it’s going to be difficult – Alberto is still suffering after his crash so we’ll see how he improves – hopefully he’ll get better as the Tour goes on.”

Starting in the Spanish Pyrenees before moving into Andorra for the finish, tomorrow’s 184.5km stage starts climbing from the drop of the flag, with the first category Port de la Bonaigua rising up the 13.7km from the start in Vielha Val d’Aran. Four more climbs await, with the final one being the Hors Catégorie summit finish into Arcalis. The penultimate two climbs could be excellent launch pads for attacks – two steep ramps where an explosive attack could yet change the shape of the GC.