Today's stage: The beginning of the Alps with another descent finish into the Italian city of Pinerolo.
Who won the stage? Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) attacked over the final climb overtaking French national champion Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) to win his second stage of this year's Tour after finishing second to countryman Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) yesterday. The win by Boasson Hagen was the 4th of this years race by one of the two Norwegian riders.
What matters in the GC race? All of the GC favorites finished together, but yellow jersey Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) overcooked two corners on the final descent and lost 27 seconds to everyone else. He now leads Cadel Evans (BMC) by 1:18 with the two big mountain stages and the time trial to go.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Best Sprinter): Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road) grabbed the final point at the intermediate sprint and still leads over JJ Rojas (Movistar). With the sprint point early tomorrow, I would expect that no breakaway will have any leeway. The other key thing is the time elimination as Cavendish doesn't climb well and tomorrow has 3 beyond category climbs.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Nothing changed once again as Jelle Vanendert (Omega-Pharma Lotto) continues to hold a slim lead over Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel). Tomorrow will be a huge day with more points available than any other stage of the race.
White Jersey (best young rider): Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) lost a couple of seconds. His lead over Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) is under a minute.
Biggest surprise: Voeckler lost time on the descent. Voeckler is normally a good descender, but he was one of a couple of riders who lost control on the descent. In Voeckler's case, he ended up in someones driveway and lost time getting back on the road.
Biggest disappointment: The defensive riding Schleck brothers (Leopard-Trek) chased back to Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and Sanchez. The Schlecks complained about the descent finishes after yesterday when they lost time and then were saying today's finish was a dangerous potentially fatal descent. Of course the Schlecks pretty much hate every part of cycling where the road is not pointed in an upwards direction.
Other items of note: We had our first withdraw since Plateau de Beille when Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) abandoned the race today... Today's climb over Sestriere was a rare one that was also not a summit finish. In the past Bjarne Riis and Lance Armstrong won stages on their way to overall victory on the Sestriere climb
What is coming tomorrow? High altitude and lots of climbing misery. Tomorrow is the Queen Stage of this years tour (aka hardest stage) with three beyond category climbs and the highest summit finish in Tour history atop the Col du Galibier. The GC race should be turned on its head and we will likely haave a new leader tomorrow. Depending on the conditions and the style of racing, the time gaps could be quite large tomorrow.
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