Apart from arriving at the summit, cycling overwhelms the peloton with one of its iron laws: to validate the effort of a climb, you still have to know how to descend. Among the sprinters, climbers or riders of the Tour de France, the specialists in the discipline would go almost unnoticed. Their moment of grace is more rare, or less sought after. Reserved for those who prefer to put on a layer after swallowing kilometers of elevation rather than staying in the wheels, sheltered.
the 16e stage of the Grande Boucle and its long final descent towards Foix should again seduce some daredevils, Tuesday July 19th. As it will allow the favorites of the general classification to test themselves, but “without creating big gaps, since those who aspire to win the Tour are not going to take reckless risks, warns the French rider Rudy Molard (FDJ-Groupama), not selected this year despite six participations. In general, we decide to be offensive in a descent when we are in the breakaway and we are simply aiming for a stage victory. »
The Froome exception in 2016
The demonstration of Christopher Froome, in 2016, is therefore to be placed on the side of the exception. The Briton had attacked at the top of Peyresourde then in the descent of the pass, the shorts not on the saddle but on the frame of his machine (a position prohibited since April 2021), while pedaling at more than 80 km / h. The ten seconds gleaned from his competitors will ensure him the yellow jersey, which he will take to Paris.
The case of his compatriot Tom Pidcock is in line with the risk-taking that allowed a single man to catch the lead of the breakaway to raise his arms at the finish, here at the top of L’Alpe d’ Huez, Thursday July 14. At 22, the all-terrain Ineos Grenadiers is already one of the best downhillers in the peloton, taking advantage of his experience in cyclo-cross, practiced in winter in the undergrowth, or in mountain biking, of which he is the Olympic champion.
Tom Pidcock recorded at over 100 km/h
She sculpted a more fluid and supple silhouette in him, either “the first two qualities” a good descender, recalls Rudy Molard. And a great confidence in its mechanics, we would add about Tom Pidcock, flashed at more than 100 km / h. In the rear view mirror of the Tour, two riders have already died following a downhill fall. The Spaniard Francisco Cepeda in 1935, due to a material problem, and the Italian Fabio Casartelli, sixty years later, when he was not wearing a helmet in the descent of the Col de Portet-d’Aspet, where Raymond Poulidor already nearly lost his life in 1973, and where the Belgian Philippe Gilbert gave the organizers a good scare by being ejected from the parapet four years ago.
“Basically, a cyclist doesn’t know how to brake, that’s an observation I’ve always made, and so the difference is also made on that. The problem is that on a bike the punishment is immediately severe, it’s a fall. And a fall, even less serious, always leaves scars. It’s quite traumatic to see your front wheel go off,” says Frédéric Vichot, presented as the king of downhill in the 1980s.
“As washed out as after a climb”
More than the advice repeated in all cycling schools not to make mistakes – take care of your trajectory by delaying braking before the turn, negotiating it from the outside to the inside, or keeping your gaze as far away as possible possible –, the former French rider recommends above all to keep some under the pedal when switching to the top of a pass: “Going down requires constant attention, at times you are almost in apnea to be able to concentrate. It happened to me to find myself as washed out at the bottom of a descent as after a climb. Holding on for ten to fifteen minutes at the edge of the limit, without ever crossing it, drains you nervously. »
If the exercise, over the years, has kept the same requirement, Romain Bardet, Peter Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali and Matej Mohoric, true aces of the controlled tumble, have nevertheless been able to benefit from some technical progress: better grip thanks to wider tires (25 mm against 23 or 21 previously), the arrival of disc brakes and their “more constant braking” than the traditional brakes with pads, notes Rudy Molard, or even the faster gear changes – and therefore better reminders between turns – offered by electric transmissions. Without forgetting the GPS counter now attached to the handlebar, but to be consulted only furtively before putting on the curves.
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A last opportunity for the adventurers
Among the anti-Covid tests carried out on all of the 152 riders still competing in the Tour de France, two turned out to be positive but did not concern any member of the top 20, announced the International Cycling Union on Monday July 18. After a precious day of rest in a heat wave, the peloton gently tackles the Pyrenean terrain. The 16e stage, drawn between Carcassonne and Foix (178 km), will reach out to a breakaway, this Tuesday July 19. Probably for the last time in this 2022 edition, before the mountains, the plains and the time trial. The most skilful will be able to maintain, or even widen, their lead in the final descent, nearly 30 km long.
