Today's stage: A mostly flat stage ending with a category 4 climb finish. Enough to eliminate many of the pure sprinters allowing the classics guys to have a win.
Who won the stage? Philippe Gilbert of Belgium and the Omega-Pharma Lotto team continued his season long rampage attacking on the final climb and overtaking Fabian Cancellara (Switerland, Leopard-Trek) and holding off Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC) at the line.
What matters in the GC race? Cadel Evans has surged into the possible favorite role as defending champ and Giro d'Italia winner Alberto Contador (Spain, Saxo Bank-Sungard) and second place the last two years Andy Schleck (Luxembourg, Leopard-Trek) were caught behind a split in the field caused by a late crash along with some of the other race favorites. Evans and his group leads Contador and Schleck by 1'20”.
Biggest surprise: So many people were caught up behind the crashes. Contador has made similar mistakes in the first week of the tour previously, but not for this much time. Schleck can't afford to lose time like he did considering he is, at best, an average time-trialist. Other favorites also saw their hopes end. Most notably fourth last year Samuel Sanchez (Spain, Euskatel) who is with the Contador group on time and has a team time-trial that his team is awful in tomorrow to bury him in the standings.
Biggest disappointment: The fan who caused the crash. He simply stood too close to the road, caught an Astana rider and permanently changed this race. The fans need to know to keep a safe distance, especially on the flatter surfaces where speeds are higher.
Other items of note: The new green jersey competition introduced this year had the desired effect of people racing for sprint points behind the breakaway. Tyler Farrar (USA, Garmin-Cervelo) led the field there...Gilbert now leads all three major competitions (Overall, Points and Mountains). He is no threat for the overall, but the points jersey is a possibility if he can take any from the mountain stages.
What is coming tomorrow? Team Time Trial! This discipline is incredible to watch and also has the potential for comedy and ridiculousness if the team isn't in sync. It also could help or further hurt some of the race favorites.
Follow me on twitter where I am live tweeting the race every day for the next three weeks.
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