Trek Factory Racing: The last mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France included the two iconic climbs of Tourmalet and Hautacam, and was the penultimate opportunity ahead of the 54-kilometer time trial Saturday to sort out the final standings.
Haimar Zubeldia and Fränk Schleck spent much of the 18th stage in the select yellow jersey group before everything detonated on the Hautacam. With an untouchable Nibali up the road the battle for the last two podium steps raged, and the attacks quickly sorted out two key units: Thibault Pinot (FDJ) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) together in a group of four, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) towing five others - including Haimar - just behind.
Haimar finished just ahead of Valverde for ninth place on the stage, and leapt into 10th place overall. After all the grueling uphills of this year’s Tour the last mountain was the perfect ending for Trek Factory Racing: Haimar reached the team’s goal of finishing within the top 10 GC.
Click on SRM File to Enlarge.
Racing at 1m84 with approximately 67kg, Haimar averaged 262 watts with an average cadence of 72rpm. His speed average over the stage was 35kph as he climbed 3,470 meters total. Zubeldia finished with a 142bpm heart rate average and burned more than 3,000 kilocalories in the mountain stage.
The pain of strain.
"You can see today that there were a lot of tired riders. This is the Tour and we are in the last week and the power is not in the legs anymore – everyone can only hope for the best." Haimar Zubeldia
| Time | 4:09:07 min |
| AVG Power | 262.3 watts |
| AVG Heart rate | 142 bpm |
| AVG Speed | 34.96 kph |
| AVG Cadence | 72.0 rpm |
| ALT Gain | 3,470.0 meters |
| Distance | 145.5 kilometers |
| Energy | 3,920.6 kilojoules |
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