Tour Tidbit du Jour - 7/13/2013

The Tour's 13th stage was blown apart by crosswinds, and several teams took advantage of the steady direction of that wind and the geography of the course. Below is a map of where the Saxo-Tinkoff team of Alberto Contador made their move to put in time against Chris Froome's Team Sky.

We know from race reports that a 14 man group broke away from the peleton at about the 30 km mark from the finish line. That lines up with the left hand bend in the road between the first and second blue arrows. What was once a cross tailwind, keeping the front group together, nice and tight, turned into a cross headwind. Saxo, along with Belkin, Cannondale, and Omega-Pharma-Quickstep, broke away right before that turn, made a 10 second gap, and held it for 6 kilometers before the right hand bend at Chateaunieuf sur-Cher. The crosswind became a cross tailwind again, and that cemented the gap and the eventual 1:09 gain made by Contador and Roman Kreutziger of Saxo-Tinkoff, and Bauke Mollema plus Laurens Ten Dam of Belkin,  on Chris Froome.

Saxo might have had a bit of insider information on this stage, as their race director Philippe Maduit was born in this part of France, and is very familiar with this region's windy conditions.