Today’s stage 16 and 17 recap covers one of the most exciting stages of the Tour de France so far. However, I also made a bit of a mistake when I was making my recipes this week and made the Tarte au Citron for the wrong stage. As a result I had to search for a recipe and found this bizarre recipe which is sort of like a gingerbread man. You can read more below!
Stage Recaps
Stage 16: Mont Ventoux
This was a really exciting stage of the Tour. Honestly, this is one worth watching. But before starting, Mathieu Van Der Poel left the Tour and did not start stage 16 due to illness.
The stage was 160 km long but it was basically flat all the way up to the final climb of Mont Ventoux. It’s a legendary climb in the Tour. And it is probably the hardest climb in the Tour. While not the longest it does have the steepest average gradient, at 16 km in length with an average grade of nearly 9 percent.
Without going into the nitty gritty details, eventually a large breakaway forms with nearly 40 riders. This break includes riders from UAE and Visma to support the top GC contenders later in the stage. It also has strong climbers and breakaway specialists that are hoping to win the stage from the break. In this group there are riders like Enric Mas, Ben Healy, Valentin Paret-Peintre and others. Eventually we have a break from the breakaway of 6 riders that reach Mont Ventoux with over 6 minutes on the peloton and roughly 2 minutes on the rest of the break.
The Battle Up The Mountain
The attacks are basically endless on Mont Ventoux. Mas makes a solo break early in the climb. As we are watching this attack we see Visma taking over the pacemaking at the base of the mountain. Eventually Sepp Kuss on Visma (and a rider from Durango, Colorado!) sets a hard pace and drops several riders. As he loses steam Vingegaard attacks but Pogačar is able to follow. However, Jonas is able to bridge to a teammate that had been in the break all day who is able to pace Jonas for a while to set him up for his next attack.
Meanwhile Healy has bridged up to the straggling riders from the front break group and tries to get them all to coordinate in order to reach Mas and fight for the stage.
Then Jonas attacks again although, still, Pogačar follows. However, much like before, Jonas has Victor Campenaerts waiting for him to do some pacing as the riders reach above treeline and become exposed to some headwinds. Jonas attacks again, and these attacks are eating into the lead of Enric Mas. He had 6 minutes at the beginning of the climb and his lead has been cut down to a bit more than a minute.
Healy continues to attack and this group eventually bridges to Mas. This group of riders is attacking and not cooperating while Jonas and Pogačar make their way up Ventoux, gaining ground on the front break.
The Game Changing Moment
Seemingly out of nowhere, a rider from Soudal Quickstep that had been in the breakaway bridges to the front break and paces for the group for his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre. This resolves the free rider problem for the break and allows them to continue making their way up to the summit for the final sprint.
Ben Healy starts his sprint first but he had to expend a lot of energy pacing when other riders refused to cooperate. So when Valentin Paret-Peintre kicks his sprint Healy is unable to stay ahead and Paret-Peintre gets a 4th win for Quickstep and the first French victory of this year’s tour.
In the GC fight Pogačar attacks Jonas. And Jonas follows and attacks Pogi. In the end Pogi crosses the line slightly ahead of Jonas. However, it was a stage that suggests that the queen stage will be a real battle and Visma will continue to try to make a difference and fight for the win. Besides that, Ben Healy and Primož Roglič both move up one spot on the GC.
Stage 17: Final Sprint Stage to Valence
By contrast to Stage 16, the final sprint stage to Valence was a bit less exciting. However, the rainy weather towards the end did cause stress and it was by no means an easy stage.
There was a breakaway of four riders. The strongest in the group was Jonas Abrahamson who won stage 11 from the break. However, this had to be a sprint stage since it’s the best chance sprinters have left the change in route for the final stage in Paris this year.
Eventually the peloton catches the break, and Milan wins the sprint to give Lidl-Trek their second stage win. However, this win was crucial for securing the Green Jersey – for best sprinter. He’s leading this competition since he has also competed for the intermediate sprint points. However, he still has to finish in Paris to win the jersey.
The Dish
The dish I made for today is called a “Suisse de Valence” and is a type of cookie. As I mentioned in the intro of this stage recap, I messed up my schedule and had to look for a new regional recipe for today. I landed on these funny biscuits that are a regional specialty of Valence (as their name suggests.) They are shaped like men, meant to represent the Swiss soldiers that guarded Pope Pius IV. Unlike gingerbread cookies, the Suisse cookie dough is more like a shortbread and is flavored with orange zest.
This was really fun to make, and the dough was easy enough to bring together. I think this would be a fun cookie to make with young kids to help decorate for the holidays if you wanted a break from gingerbread. Ok my Swiss solider wasn’t the most handsome but I think it came out pretty well!
Reflections
We are heading into this years Queen stage, which is a term for the hardest stage in a Grand Tour. I am hoping it will be a great stage especially after seeing good legs from Jonas on Mont Ventoux. I also have two more dishes I’m making this Tour. So excited to wrap up strong and hope to have an exciting final few days of racing!
A bientôt!