Today’s Stage:
The first foray into the high mountains, but a likely breakaway stage
Who won today’s stage?
Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) got himself in the early breakaway and then attacked
constantly up the Grand Colombier, dropping most of the breakaway that had a
whopping 25 riders in it to start. Then Voeckler attacked in the final
kilometer, winning a very slow sprint to the line from a reduced group that
included Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Dries
Deveryns (OPQS) and Jens Voigt (RSNT).
What matters in the
GC race? Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) attacked on the final
descent in an attempt to help his standing but made no real gains. His attack
did spring RSNT to the front to protect the interests of Haimar Zubeldia and
Maxime Monfort, giving Bradley Wiggins and his Team Sky teammates a rest after
they used a ton of energy to chase down an attacking Vincenzo Nibali
(Liquigas).
What matters in other
competitions?
Green Jersey (Points) –
Both Peter Sagan (Liquigas) and Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) got themselves in
the large breakaway and both got to the sprint point just before the Grand Colombier.
Goss won the sprint and Sagan was 3rd leaving Sagan’s lead at
232-205.
Polka Dot Jersey (King
of the Mountains) – Voeckler won the Grand Colombier climb with its huge 25
point cache at the top and also takes the lead in the King of the Mountains in
addition to his stage win. He now leads previous leader Fredrik Kessiakoff
(Astana) and breakmate Scarponi by seven points.
White Jersey (Best
Young Rider) – Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) finished with the GC group while
leader Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) finished just behind. This lowered the gap
between them to 25 seconds with van Garderen still leading.
Team Classification (Calculated
by adding the three best times on each team each day) – RSNT extended its
lead over Team Sky to 4’ 58”. More importantly, RSNT is one of the two teams
that didn’t bring those silly looking yellow helmets that Team Sky was forced
to wear the whole first week. Therefore, they don’t have to look stupid like
Sky did.
Biggest surprise:
The attacks flew from the GC guys today. The summit of the Grand Colombier was
a long way from the finish. That didn’t stop Van den Broeck from attacking on
its upper slopes or Nibali from attacking on the descent. While both were
reeled in, Van den Broeck attacked again later and made up 30 second on all of
his GC rivals.
Biggest
disappointment: RSNT did some of the chasing for Team Sky. In an effort to
protect Monfort and Zubeldia, RSNT did a good chunk of the chase on the final
run-in to the finish with Frank Schleck and Chris Horner on the front. This
also gave Team Sky’s tired pacesetters a break, most likely much to the chagrin
of Cadel Evans led BMC and Vincenzo Nibali lead Liquigas.
Other items of note:
Tony Martin (OPQS) finally abandoned the race after all of his crashes and
horrible luck through the early part of the tour. Martin will heal and rest
before the Olympics… In the annual rest
day scandal, Remy di Gregorio (Cofidis) was arrested yesterday and ejected from
the race. First thought, as is usual in this sport, is doping, but nobody knows
for sure and the rumor going around is that de Gregorio was involved in some
sort of cocaine ring.
What is coming
tomorrow? Mountain pain. This is where the Tour really ratchets up the
intensity. Two beyond category climbs (why on Earth is the sprint point after a
HC climb though I guess it had to be somewhere) followed by a Cat. 2 and then a
cat. 1 finish atop La Toussuire, famous for the Floyd Landis bonk in 2006.
Tomorrow’s
prediction: 1. Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) 2. Cadel Evans (BMC)
3. Chris Froome (Team Sky)
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