Today's stage: 187 km stage with no categorized climbs expected to end in a sprint finish. It did.
Who won today's stage? Marcel Kittle (Skil-Shimano) continued his incredible run of form taking his first career Grand Tour stage. He previously won four stages earlier this month at the Tour of Poland.
What matters in the GC race? In the standings, nothing whatsoever. There were no changes at all. There was a big crash during the sprint and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), who has been quiet thus far but finished second overall in the Giro d'Italia, was caught up in it. We will see how it affects him going forward. Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep) still leads.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) took over the lead in this competition after his second place on the stage. Sagan has taken advantage of nobody having placed highly on two stages other than Daniel Moreno (Katusha) who sits 3rd in this competition.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No changes from yesterday here as there were no climbs today. Moreno is still the leader.
White Jersey (Allround) – Moreno is also the leader here, followed by his teammate Joaquim Rodriguez.
Biggest surprise: Nothing at all. This was, in every way, a by the books pure sprint stage as it appeared to be all along.
Biggest disappointment: The big crash. It was triggered by a Vacansoleil rider and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) touching wheels and going down. Farrar took the worst of it hitting the pavement hard and then getting run over by another rider. Scarponi was also involved, but no other GC guys were involved. There were also a lot of unidentified riders from various teams involved in the crash. As the day goes on and tomorrow, the identity of everyone involved will be known.
Other items of note: There was an earlier crash involving Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). His crash kept him from contesting the sprint despite his status as BMC's top sprinter... The 3km rule had to be applied today. That rules states that riders involved in crashes or held up by crashes in the final 3km of sprint finishes get the same time as the winner. The rule saved a lot of riders from losing time, including Moreno in 2nd overall and 3rd overall Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
What is coming tomorrow? Another stage like stage 5. There is a category 1 climb early, then a cat. 2 later on in the stage followed by a finish with a 27% wall of a hill in the final km. It seems this will favor the strengths of Joaquim Rodriguez once again. Is it just me, or did the organizers not want Nibali, an Italian, to win again? This route runs pretty much entirely counter to Nibali's (and Scarponi's) strengths, at least other than the time trial (which had to be included to keep credibility).
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