Today's stage: A long procession
to a bunch sprint.
Who won today's stage? Andre
Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) used a perfect lead out from his team to
defeat a reduced field after a crash just inside 3km to go. Among
those not involved because of the crash were stage favorite Mark
Cavendish (Team Sky).
What matters in the GC race? The
3 km rule took effect today. It states that if involved in a crash on
a non-summit finish with 3km or less to go then everybody in the
group gets the same time. That means we still have a top 3 of Fabian
Cancellara (RSNT), Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and Sylvain Chavanel
(OPQS).
What matters in other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points) – Peter
Sagan (Liquigas) got a huge bonus on his points quest with Cavendish
being involved in the crash. Sagan finished fifth on the stage and
now leads Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) by 55 points, Greipel by 60
and Cavendish by 61.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the
Mountains) – Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) finally took a
day off from breakaway duty with not enough points available to
threaten him in this competition.
White Jersey (Best Young Rider)
– Tejay van Garderen (BMC) retained his white jersey finishing with
the main group. Boasson Hagen remains second after also finishing
with the group. Barring a crash this won't change until stage 7 with
a mountain top finish.
Team Classification (Calculated by
adding the three best times on each team each day) – The 3 km
rule being applied also means there was no change here, not that it
was likely with a bunch sprint finish.
Biggest surprise: Nothing.
Nothing at all. This was a by the books sprint stage. Early breakaway
goes and takes a big lead. Big lead is eroded by the peloton when it
decides it wants to chase. Breakaway is caught. Crash near the end
takes a few contenders out. Sprint. With the exception of the crash
that often happens, this is the patter for every bunch sprint in
cycling.
Biggest disappointment:
Cavendish was collected in the crash. After using Matt Goss'
Orica-GreenEdge train as his own personal lead out for the
intermediate sprint, Cavendish looked like the strongest man for the
sprint for sure, but the crash deprived us of the battle.
Other items of note: Martin
Tjallingi (Rabobank) was forced to abandon after his injuries from
yesterday's crash. He somehow managed to finish the stage with a
broken pelvis. In addition Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) lost a lot of
time yesterday meaning he won't be replicating his top 10 from a year
ago, especially carrying a major shoulder injury... Over at the Tour
of Austria, Jakob Fuglsang (RSNT) took the stage win and the race
lead today.
What is coming tomorrow? More
sprinting. There isn't even a categoriezed climb at all on the route
tomorrow.
Tomorrow's prediction: 1. Mark
Cavendish (Team Sky) 2. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 3. Matt Goss
(Orica-GreenEdge)
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