Today's stage: The first mountains with a cat 2 and the steep cat 3 (it was a cat 2 last time it was in the race) climb to Super Besse
Who won the stage: Rui Costa (Movistar) got in the opening break early on and was the only survivor to win the stage. Finally a day of non-doomed breakaway riding.
What matters in the GC race? Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) somehow kept the yellow jersey after the favorites marked each other and Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) cooked himself further up the road. Among the favorites remaining, only Robert Gesink (Rabobank) lost time at the end today.
What matters in other competitions?
Green Jersey (best sprinter): Philippe Gilbert (Omega-Pharma Lotto) took the green back from JJ Rojas (Movistar) with a second place finish atop Super Besse. Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road) did not contest the intermediate sprint with nine men having taken points in the breakaway in front of him.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Tejay van Garderen (HTC-High Road) was in the breakaway and was first over the big cat 2 climb of the day to take five points and the KoM leads.
White Jersey (best young rider): Despite his time loss, Gesink retained his white jersey leading Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) by 59 seconds.
Biggest surprise: Hushovd, easily. There was no way he was supposed to keep his jersey today with the two steep climbs at the end.
Biggest disappointment: The GC riders marked each other. Only Cadel Evans (BMC) seemed to try an attack among the GC guys. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) never really attacked wholeheartedly (there was a token Contador attack).
Other items of note: Chris Horner (Radio Shack) did not start today, as expected, after his huge crash yesterday... Gilbert was the only real green jersey contender involved in the final goings at Super-Besse. All the others finished in the grupetto about 18 minutes back
What is coming tomorrow? A miserable day of climbing. Eight categorized climbs means the KoM contenders will really show themselves, especially with the bigger cat 2 climbs early before the peloton will have interest in reeling in the breakaway. The finish is on a cat 4 hill. This looks like a Gilbert stage.
Follow me on twitter for live race updates every morning
No comments:
Post a Comment