Trentin wins 14th stage of the Tour de France after a routine day on the mountains
With yesterday's flat stage being arguably one of the best in the 100 year history of the tour, Froome was preparing himself for a hard weekend of riding.
Froome recovered from stage 13 with a night in 2* accommodation 45 minutes from the finishing line, highlighting the toughness of the Tour de France life. No champagne or jacuzzi's for these riders who cover hundereds of miles everyday on some utterly exhausting terrain but instead a plethora of interviews and a long session of physiotherapy and a relaxing massage to end the day.
The yellow jersey holder, who lost a minute on his lead during Friday's stage, had to make sure that no more of his lead would be lost during the tour's 14th stage. There is no doubt that Froome is more than capable of completing the job at hand with Sir Dave Brailsford stating that "he's a mentaly resiliant guy". This mental strength was occasionally needed during Saturday's mountainous climb as Team Sky found themselves six minutes behind the breakaway group with 30km and 3 climbs left. However, with 242km to cover tomorrow in one of the Tour's longest days, team Sky would have been happy enough to go steady on the bikes in order to keep Froome's legs relatively fresh for Sunday's big test.
With 25km to go, British rider and member of team Garmin-Sharp, David Miller, began an attack after Albasini was brought back in to the fold. But the move was short lived and Miller was caught within meters of beginning his attack. A case of going hard too soon and much too far from the end to achieve any success. Miller eventually crossed the line 4 and a half minutes after the victor.
With the streets of Lyon filled with Tour supporters the breakaway group came powering towards the finish after a relentless day of climbing. With 15km, Julien Simon of France, accelerated from the leading group with immense speed and looked as though he could be the first Frenchman to clinch a stage victory on this 2013 tour. Simon's attack was greeted with incredible cheers from the 3 deep support than lined the road towards the finish. 30 seconds ahead of the nearest group, Simon looked in good shape with 8km to go. However, the counterattack from the breakaway group chased Simon with full power, reducing his advantage to 7 seconds with just over a km to go.
The Frenchman's steady tempo lasted until the very last kilometre but the French were deprived of their first stage victory as Simon was eventually caught by the chasing group. Instead Italian, Matteo Trentin of Omega Pharma-Quick Step, finished the 191km mountainous ride first after an exciting sprint at the end, increasing OPQ's number of stage wins to 4.
Cavendish was evidently satisfied with the result as he spoke after the race about his fellow team mate, Trentin - "I'm really, really happy. He's done incredible. I'm so, so proud of him".
The main filed which was made up of team Sky and the race leader, Chris Froome, as well as Friday's stage winner, Mark Cavendish, crossed the line 7 minutes 17 seconds after Trentin. A routine day for Froome and his team mates with the GC overall standings remaining the same going in to a much more challenging Sunday ride.
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Froome recovered from stage 13 with a night in 2* accommodation 45 minutes from the finishing line, highlighting the toughness of the Tour de France life. No champagne or jacuzzi's for these riders who cover hundereds of miles everyday on some utterly exhausting terrain but instead a plethora of interviews and a long session of physiotherapy and a relaxing massage to end the day.
The yellow jersey holder, who lost a minute on his lead during Friday's stage, had to make sure that no more of his lead would be lost during the tour's 14th stage. There is no doubt that Froome is more than capable of completing the job at hand with Sir Dave Brailsford stating that "he's a mentaly resiliant guy". This mental strength was occasionally needed during Saturday's mountainous climb as Team Sky found themselves six minutes behind the breakaway group with 30km and 3 climbs left. However, with 242km to cover tomorrow in one of the Tour's longest days, team Sky would have been happy enough to go steady on the bikes in order to keep Froome's legs relatively fresh for Sunday's big test.
With 25km to go, British rider and member of team Garmin-Sharp, David Miller, began an attack after Albasini was brought back in to the fold. But the move was short lived and Miller was caught within meters of beginning his attack. A case of going hard too soon and much too far from the end to achieve any success. Miller eventually crossed the line 4 and a half minutes after the victor.
With the streets of Lyon filled with Tour supporters the breakaway group came powering towards the finish after a relentless day of climbing. With 15km, Julien Simon of France, accelerated from the leading group with immense speed and looked as though he could be the first Frenchman to clinch a stage victory on this 2013 tour. Simon's attack was greeted with incredible cheers from the 3 deep support than lined the road towards the finish. 30 seconds ahead of the nearest group, Simon looked in good shape with 8km to go. However, the counterattack from the breakaway group chased Simon with full power, reducing his advantage to 7 seconds with just over a km to go.
The Frenchman's steady tempo lasted until the very last kilometre but the French were deprived of their first stage victory as Simon was eventually caught by the chasing group. Instead Italian, Matteo Trentin of Omega Pharma-Quick Step, finished the 191km mountainous ride first after an exciting sprint at the end, increasing OPQ's number of stage wins to 4.
Cavendish was evidently satisfied with the result as he spoke after the race about his fellow team mate, Trentin - "I'm really, really happy. He's done incredible. I'm so, so proud of him".
The main filed which was made up of team Sky and the race leader, Chris Froome, as well as Friday's stage winner, Mark Cavendish, crossed the line 7 minutes 17 seconds after Trentin. A routine day for Froome and his team mates with the GC overall standings remaining the same going in to a much more challenging Sunday ride.
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