Today’s stage: Rolling
hills, Most thought breakaway. I thought sprint. I was right.
Who won today’s
stage? Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) launched an amazing sprint destroying the
other sprinters and passing the other two breakaway riders before the line to
take the stage easily.
What matters in the
GC race? Nothing. Nothing at all. This was a day for GC contenders to stay
in the group and conserve energy before the time trial tomorrow.
What matters in other
competitions?
Green Jersey (Points)
– Not much. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) was 3rd on the stage and extended
his lead further, not that he needed to.
Polka Dot Jersey (King
of the Mountains) – Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) had already clinched this
competition over Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) at the beginning of the stage. All
Voeckler must do is finish in Paris.
White Jersey (Best
Young Rider) – Tejay van Garderen (BMC) has nearly wrapped this up. Only a
time trial crash could deny him considering his only rival Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)
is not a great time trialist.
Team Classification
(Calculated by added the three best times on each team each day) – No changes.
This goes to the time trial. RSNT leads Team Sky by 14’ 05. In the first time
trial, Sky won the stage over RSNT by 1’ 26, but that was with everyone except
Froome and Wiggins slow pedaling and Fabian Cancellara was still in the race.
Given that Cancellara is no longer around and Sky riders Richie Porte and
Michael Rogers are elite time trialists, there is a chance that Sky could make
up that gap.
Biggest surprise:
The break never really formed. All day there were small attacks and groups got
away, but nobody ever got over three minutes as the peloton seemed intent on a
sprint. It was almost as though the sprinter teams didn’t even want to risk
another Sky controlled slow pedal day allowing the break to win by 10 minutes
and so they decided the best way to avoid was to not allow the break to ever go
anywhere.
Biggest
disappointment: None. The actions of the peloton not letting a break go and
chasing the constant attacks made for a fast and entertaining stage. The
constitution of the attacks with big names like Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank)
and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) made for entertaining, attacking riding.
Other items of note:
All of the jerseys are pretty much secure. It’s not often this happens in the
Tour de France before the final time trial (though the KoM is always decided by
this point)…The final podium is pretty much set with Bradley Wiggins, Chris
Froome and VIncenzo Nibali. This has been more normal over the years despite
the recent years of having GC battles in the final time trial… For those teams
that don’t have a win, it is probably over for them. Only Orica-GreenEdge with perpetual
second place Matt Goss has any chance from among the non-stage winning teams
has any chance to win a stage… Poor Luis Leon Sanchez. While he did get his
stage win, it was on the tacks stage so nobody remembers. Other than that, he
crashed and damaged his wrist on stage 1 and he was chased down by Sky twice on
late attacks that looked promising.
What is coming
tomorrow? Time trial. Flat. Built for specialists. This is Bradley Wiggins
territory, especially with Cancellara and Tony Martin out of the race.
Tomorrow’s
prediction: 1. Bradley Wiggins 2. Chris Froome 3. Tejay van Gerderen
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