Today's stage: A long procession
to a bunch sprint. Same as yesterday. Not even with a categorized
climb along the way.
Who won today's stage? Andre
Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won his second sprint in a row, catching the
breakaway and overtaking Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) in the final 100
meters to take the stage.
What matters in the GC race?
Nothing, again. 3 km rule after a crash, again. Fabian Cancellara
(RSNT) still leads overall. This is unlikely to change tomorrow
either as there is another sprint stage.
What matters in other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points) – The
bonus Peter Sagan (Liquigas) got yesterday when Mark Cavendish (Team
Sky) crashed is gone. Sagan was caught in Tyler Farrar's
(Garmin-Sharp) 4th crash of the race. He still leads the
green jersey competition, but Goss, Greipel and Cavendish are a whole
lot closer now.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the
Mountains) – With no climbs today, Michael Morkov (Saxo
Bank-Tinkoff) retained the jersey. He will retain the jersey as long
as he finishes tomorrow as well with onlt one category 4 climb on the
route.
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: The breakaway
nearly held on. There was a four-man breakaway seemed doomed all day
long. For the whole race, they never got a huge lead. Still, the
peloton let them hang on the vine and nearly paid for it as the break
was in tact with under 1 km to go and got to the final 100 meters
before being caught.
Biggest disappointment: Sagan
was collected in the crash. The finish was slightly uphill today
which suits Sagan and would possibly limit some of the top end speed
that can neutralize him in a bunch sprint. That was all for naught
for Sagan after being collected in the Farrar crash.
Other items of note:
Argos-Shimano sprinter Marcel Kittel was forced to abandon the race
today. He was unable to recover from his various stomach ailments
that have limited him all tour long. For his team, it was second
guessed when John Degenkolb was left at home and it looks worse now
even though Tom Veelers had done decently in the sprints thus far...
Team Sky interestingly came to the front and gave Cavendish a bit of
help today for the first time all race. I wonder if that will be the
case tomorrow with a mountain stage on Saturday.
What is coming tomorrow? One
last sprint day before the mountains. There is only one categorized
climb tomorrow. Like today, I feel sorry for whoever ends up on
breakaway duty.
Tomorrow's prediction: 1. Mark
Cavendish (Team Sky) 2. Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) 3. Mark Renshaw
(Rabobank)
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