Today's stage: Flat as a pancake stage designed for a bunch sprint unless something went decidedly wrong.
Who won the stage? Tyler Farrar (USA, Garmin-Cervelo) took the bunch sprint over the rest of the peloton and has now won at least one stage in all three Grand Tours.
What matters in the GC race? Nothing at all. This was a sprinter day and was only going to be affected by crashes that never occurred.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (best sprinter): JJ Rojas (Spain, Movistar) placed highly in both the intermediate sprint and the stage to take the Green Jersey from Philippe Gilbert (Belgium, Omega-Pharma Lotto). Farrar is second and Gilbert fell to fourth.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Gilbert retains his jersey here and he will actually wear it tomorrow. With a category 3 climb tomorrow seemingly built for Gilbert, he could hold this category again.
White Jersey (best young rider): Geraint Thomas (UK, Team Sky) retained his slim lead over Robert Gesink (Netherlands, Rabobank) and scores of others.
Biggest surprise: It is still a jarring sight to watch the yellow jersey (and when he's not in yellow the rainbow world champion jersey) of Thor Hushovd perform the lead out though it was quite effective on this day.
Biggest disappointment: The HTC lead out train collapsed under pressure as it went to the front at a blistering pace too early and couldn't hold up robbing us fans of a sprint showdown between the Farrar and Cavendish, the two best sprinters in the world.
Other items of note: Cavendish did take the intermediate sprint for the points behind the five breakaway guys...The breakaway was just for tv time for the sponsors. There was no chance of breakaway survival for victory on this stage.
What is coming tomorrow? Mostly flat until a category 3 finish where the last 3km rule doesn't apply. The stage seems tailor made for Gilbert, again. He is an overwhelming favorite tomorrow just as he was when he won stage 1. White jersey Geraint Thomas and 3rd overall Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC Racing) are also solid threats to win tomorrow and a win by either would likely put them in the race lead. In the GC fight, there will likely be movement of a few seconds here and there, but nothing major like the first two stages unless there are crashes.
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