In Nibali's Tour, even the French, accustomed to cosmic lean at home for decades, try to raise their heads a bit. They have not won the Tour for 29 years. The last one was Hinault in 1985. For 17 years there hasn't even been a transalpine rider on the podium at the Champs Elysées, exactly since 1997 when Virenque finished second behind Jan Ullrich and ahead of Pantani : only such a dearth of results justifies François Hollande's patriotic phone call to Tony Gallopin when he donned the yellow jersey in Mulhouse, just on the eve of July 14, the Bastille Day national holiday.
Too bad for him that already the following day Nibali, with the feat at the Planche des Belles Filles, took back the symbol of the primacy lent to others for a day: thus the Frenchman almost in tears returned to the ranks after having savored a day of glory . But Gallopin shouldn't be just any runner, like so many Frenchmen of the latest generations who don't win anything or almost, and here he is the day after the shirt was taken off, catching everyone on the counterattack by beating John Degenkolb and Matteo Trentin on the finish line at Oyonnax. A return to the limelight as rapid as it is authoritative, sufficient to unleash once again the dormant enthusiasms of pedal France.
The loser of the day is once again Peter Sagan, able to manage the leadership of the points classification, that of the green jersey, but increasingly unable to win a race despite all the efforts, his and his team, Cannondale, to hit the target. The result of the sprint, where Sagan finished ninth, is emblematic of that sort of Murphy's law that persecutes the talented Slovakian champion. The French are celebrating and now aiming to bring one of them back on the podium, taking advantage of the retirements of Froome and Contador. The transalpine hopefuls, hitherto disappointed by Pierre Rolland, are also relying on Gallopin as well as Romain Bardet, Thibaut Pinot and Jean Christophe Peraud, the four transalpines who are currently in the top ten of the general classification. Given Nibali as unreachable, only Richie Porte and Alejandro Valverde remain to be defeated, excellent riders but not irresistible.
For Nibali the stage from Besançon to Oyonnaz was a sort of extension of Tuesday's rest. After days of fire, with paved roads and the Vosges behind them and now on the eve of the Alps, it was foreseeable that the group would allow itself a quiet stage, with Astana controlling the race without ever feeling the slightest danger. Indeed it was Nibali who put pressure on Valverde and Porte when the two saw themselves detached from the same yellow jersey hooked to the wheel of Tony Martin who had begun to lead the chase after Nicolas Roche on the Cote d'Echallon downhill.
Quiet stage but not for everyone. Even dramatic for Andrew Talansky, who crashed during the stage. It was the fourth tumble in this Tour, the worst due to injuries: he was so battered that the Garmin-Sharp men wanted to forbid him to continue. Radiocorsa also announced his abandonment, only to then deny it because the American, winner of the Dauphine, heroically wanted to finish the race, arriving more than 32 minutes behind the winner. A true warrior. Less suffered the abandonment of the Tour by Spartacus, that is by Fabian Cancellara who returned from Besançon to his nearby Switzerland. With the mountains on the way and with a Tony Martin precluding any hope of success in the time trial of the penultimate stage, Cancellara preferred to say enough to the Tour. He will do the Vuelta to prepare for the road world championship which will take place in Spain in Monferrada.
