Today's Stage: Considering there were no high mountains, a day with eight categorized climbs is a beast of a day.
Who won the stage: Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) won from the breakaway today as they took advantage of chaos throughout the day.
What matters in the GC race? Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) finally surrendered the yellow jersey after his weakened team was unable to chase down the breakaway. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) was driving the break that Sanchez won from and took the yellow jersey for the second time in his career. He took the yellow jersey for the first time since his 10-day run in it in 2004. Sanchez moved into second overall while Cadel Evans (BMC) dropped to third. Among the contenders for overall victory, Evans remains the leader over Frank and Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek). Also, a big crash took fifth last year Jurgen Van den Broeck (Omega-Pharma Lotto) and fringe contender and stage hunter Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) among others out of the race with broken bones. Andreas Kloden (Radioshack) was also involved in the crash and is in the hospital now as well after finishing the stage. He is eight overall.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (best sprinter): Philippe Gilbert took advantage of the sprint check being after three cat 2 climbs and then scored more points on the finish while the other contenders all took goose eggs today. JJ Rojas (Movistar) remains second and Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road) is still third.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) regained the polka dot jersey from Tejay van Garderen (HTC-High Road). Voeckler is now second and van Garderen still third despite no points today.
White Jersey (best young rider): Robert Gesink (Rabobank) still leads and he seemed to improve as the day went on after being dropped early.
Biggest Surprise: The breakaway got that much time. They won by 4 minutes after Garmin-Cervelo couldn't reel in the breakaway in part because David Zabriskie crashed out of the race was unable to lead the chase like he has all week.
Biggest Disappointment: Normally the crash that took out the overall contenders would be here but the later crash that took out 40% of the breakaway has clinched this spot in the final race review.
To recap, Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Hoogerland were taken out by a French television car eliminating them from the breakaway. They dropped all the way back to the final sprinters grupetto but finished the stage.
Other items of note: In the crashes, other riders were lost but there is no official list yet. I will have it tomorrow on the rest day... Gilbert's Omega-Pharma Lotto team is down to six men, but with van den Broeck out they will no longer have a GC attempt to deal with meaning the whole team should be behind Gilbert's green jersey quest
What is coming tomorrow? Rest day tomorrow followed by a probable sprint on Tuesday. There are climbs but none above cat 3 and the finish is downhill.
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