Today's stage: A short stage with huge mountains set up for huge attacks from early. The stage climbed the opposite side of the Galibier from yesterday and then the iconic Alpe d'Huez.
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| Pierre Roland celebrates his win atop Alpe d'Huez. |
Who won the stage? Pierre Rolland (Europcar) was finally given some freedom after helping teammate Thomas Voeckler hold the yellow jersey and he paid that freedom off in full by attacking late on the climb to drop fellow leaders Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel) and Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank). The win was the first French stage win of this year's Tour.
What matters in the GC race? Voeckler cracked behind his teammate and hemorraged over 3 minutes from his teammate Rolland. He now sits 2'10” behind new leader Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) who finished in a group with his brother Frank (Leopard-Trek) and Cadel Evans (BMC) who overcame an early mechanical issue to chase back to the leaders. Evans now trails Schleck by 57” in the GC. Frank Schleck is 53” behind but he is no threat as he is awful in the time trial. It will likely come down to him, Voeckler and Contador (6th overall 3'55” behind A. Schleck) for the final podium place.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Best Sprinter): Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road and JJ Rojas (Movistar) both finished outside the time cut and were docked 20 points. Yesterday, Cavendish was also docked after I published. He leads Rojas by 15 points, a fairly secure lead, but one that can still change hands.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Sammy Sanchez attacked on Alpe d'Huez and took the final Polka Dot jersey with his second place finish ahead of Andy Schleck. Former leader Jelle Vanendert (Omega-Pharma Lotto) finally cracked in the face of all the attacks from the leaders and surrendered the lead meekly, finishing 3rd.
White Jersey (best young rider): Rolland took the lead in this competition with his stage win. He is not a strong time trialer though and will need to ride a great one tomorrow to retain his 1'33” lead over former leader Rein Taaramae (Cofidis). Everybody else was dropped badly today and trails by over 8 minutes.
Biggest surprise: Alberto Contador, after cracking badly yesterday, attacked from the very beginning of the first climb and rode out front all day finally finishing 3rd on Alpe d'Huez. Of course he won the most aggressive rider award for his incredible attacking on the stage.
Biggest disappointment: Evans didn't attack earlier. It looked like Evans could have gone earlier on Alpe d'Huez and at least dropped Frank Schleck if not Andy. Despite that though, Evans is in good position as a much better time trialer than either of the Schlecks.
Other items of note: Rolland's victory atop Alpe d'Huez was the first for a Frenchman there since Bernard Hinault in 1986... Evans had bike issues when trying to match the acceleration of Contador on the first climb that helped split the whole race up... Garmin-Cervelo pretty much wrapped up the team competition with their performance today. They have a lot of above average time trialers and a lead of almost 12 minutes on Ag2r, a team that is not as strong in the time trialing discipline.
What is coming tomorrow? I have mentioned it a few times, but it is a 42.5 km time trial in Grenoble. It comes with an interesting twist as many of the contenders rode the course during the pre-Tour prep Criterium du Dauphine including Cadel Evans (who finished 6th). With the final stage being largely ceremonial until the final bunch sprint, the overall race winner will be decided here. Among the contenders for the stage win are World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) and Tony Martin (HTC-High Road), who won the Dauphine time trial.
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