Today's stage: Killer mountain stage to Plateau de Beille expected to shake out GC contendership going into the Alps next week.
Who won the stage? Jelle Vanendert (Omega-Pharma Lotto) attacked the GC contenders on the final climb and was allowed to escape giving him his first career pro victory in his first career Tour de France.
What matters in the GC race? Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) held the yellow jersey once again. He is climbing well enough and nobody can really attack that he might be a threat to win the race outright now. The real favorite for the win is now Cadel Evans (BMC). With nobody being able to distance anyone in the mountains, Evans time trial ability very well might be the difference in the race. The one contender who did attack successfully was Luz-Ardiden stage winner Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel) who moved past Contador into 6th overall. Also, fringe contender Damiano Cunego was dropped on the final climb and sits 8th overall now.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (best sprinter): No changes as the 20! man breakaway that got loose on this stage absorbed all the sprint points and no sprinters figured in the final standings on the stage. Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road) continues to lead over JJ Rojas (Movistar) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega-Pharma Lotto).
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Vanendert took over the lead from Jeremy Roy (FDJ) with his stage victory today. Sanchez is now second and Roy is a distant 3rd.
White Jersey (Best Young Rider): Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) was dropped early on Plateau de Beille and surrendered his lead. Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) assumed the lead by finishing with the GC group. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) is still second.
Biggest surprise: Voeckler again retained his yellow jersey on a mountain stage without losing time. I have to say, moronic tactics by the Schleck brothers and their Leopard-Trek team have helped Voeckler's cause along with a team that has well outperformed expectations in this race.
Biggest disappointment: Other than Andy Schleck, the GC contenders stared at each other with no major attack. At least Andy tried. Also, props to Evans for attmpting one atttack. The rest made for an awful day of racing at the end as the GC fight turns into a staring contest.
Other items of note: There was a 20 man breakaway that swelled to 24 at one point. Normally a break that size has a chance to stay away, even on a big mountain stage, but this one did not because the members of the break refused to work together. In one stretch, Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) made up 3 minutes in 8 km on flat ground for the peloton. While Cancellara is great, nobody should be making that kind of ground up on a 17 man group in that short a time...Rabobank continues their tour nightmare (along with Radioshack) by having Laurens Ten Dam crash spectacularly, going over his handlebars, though he did finish the stage...William Bonnet (FDJ) finished outside the time limit today and was eliminated from the race.
What is coming tomorrow? A sprint stage. There is only one climb on tomorrow's stage and it is a category 4. This looks like many of the flat stages we had during the first week of the race. Expect a battle royale between Cavendish, Andre Greipel (Omega-Pharma Lotto) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo).
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