Today's stage: More mountains,
but again too far from the finish to matter for the GC battle to
really explode.
Who won today's stage? Luis Leon
Sanchez (Rabobank) has been desperate for a stage win and has been in
numerous breakaways. Yesterday, he attacked in the final kilometers
and looked like he was going to get away until the yellow jersey
reeled him in to set up a sprint finish. Today, he got in the
breakaway and attacked late to drop Peter Sagan (Liquigas) and take
the stage. Sagan ended up second on this, a mountain stage.
What matters in the GC race? No
changes, but that doesn't tell the story at all. At one point, Cadel
Evans was over 2 minutes behind because of a puncture, but the
puncture was caused by an idiot who threw tacks on the road near the
top of the final climb. Evans and much of his BMC team were caught by
it as were many other riders. Overall leader Bradley Wiggins (Team
Sky) neutralized the race because of the tacks and allowed Evans and
his team to chase back on once the attacking Pierre Rolland
(Europcar), who opportunistically attacked, was brought back by the
teams of 3rd place Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and 5th
place Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol).
What matters in other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points) – For
all intents and purposes, the Green Jersey was won today. Sagan won
the intermediate sprint and then finished second on the stage giving
him a lead of nearly 100 points over Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol).
Former second place Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) trails Greipel by 30
points.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the
Mountains) – There were no threats to the Polka Dot jersey in
the breakaway so no changes at the top. Leader Fredrik Kessiakoff
(Astana) did get 3 points on the early category 2 climb before the
breakaway formed to extend his lead over Rolland to 14 points.
White Jersey (Best Young Rider)
– No changes here either. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) still leads over
Thiabult Pinot (FDJ).
Team Classification (Calculated by
adding the three best times on each team each day) – Despite
the puncture drama and the breakaway winning by over 18 minutes
because of it, there were no changes at the top of this
classification. RSNT still leads Team Sky by over 12 minutes.
Biggest surprise: Saga got
himself over the mountains with a chance to win the stage. Earlier in
the Tour, his team director said he is a potential future Grand Tour
winner. And everyone laughed. While that still seems unlikely, his
performance today in the mountains portends better things in the
mountains than most have thought he could do.
Biggest disappointment: Rolland
attacked when he did. There were tacks in the road causing flats and
Rolland attacked. Normally, that is fine, but with other contenders
punctured because of nefarious happenings and not normal racing,
etiquette is to not attack (like Wiggins and Team Sky).
Other items of note: Like Garmin
with David Milar, Rabobank's Tour is saved with the win from Sanchez.
Rabobank is down to four riders and they had two in the breakaway.
Former 3rd GC option Steven Kruiswijk finished 10th
after helping Sanchez early on. With a stage win, Rabobank has
salvaged something out of this Tour were they were destroyed in the
Stage 6 crash with Garmin and Vacansoleil. Now, only Vacansoleil
needs a stage win...With the tacks, over 30 riders punctured between
the top of the climb and the descent and Robert Kiserlovski (Astana)
abandoned with a wrist injury after faling because of his puncture.
Just ridiculous...
What is coming tomorrow? The
annual stage to Pau, at the foot of the Pyrenees (it may not be every
year, it just seems like it). Tomorrow is a possible sprint finish as
the only climbs are two category 4's and a category 3.
Tomorrow's prediction: 1. Mark
Cavendish (Team Sky) 2. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 3. Peter Sagan
(Liquigas)
No comments:
Post a Comment