Tour de France Stage 13 Review - Greipel survives to sprint for victory...again

Today's stage: Another transition stage along the Mediterranean coast, this one expected to end in a sprint.

Who won today's stage? Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) got himself over the very difficult cat. 3 climb (it was short but the average gradient was over 10%) in range of the leaders, ws apced back to the group and then beat Peter Sagan (Liquigas) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) in the sprint.

What matters in the GC race? No changes. All the top guys finished with the front group while many others were dropped. No changes as the Sky combo of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome are still 1-2.

What matters in other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – After Matt Goss' (Orica-GreenEdge) penalty, he was dropped on the climb today. With Sagan finishing second on the stage, this competition is nearly over in favor of Sagan.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No changes here again with only one climb today. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) still leads. Tomorrow has a cat. 2 and two cat. 1's in a possible breakaway stage. This means someone far down on the GC like Kessiakoff could go in the breakaway and get a load of points tomorrow.

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) – Considering the top six teams had the same time today, there was no change here. RSNT still leads Team Sky by 12 minutes.

Biggest surprise: Bradley Wiggins on the front of the lead out train. Wiggins is the yellow jersey. It's not often you see him leading out a teammate looking for a stage win and while Edvald Boasson Hagen didn't finish the win off, it was still a nice gesture from Wiggins to give his teammate an opportunity.

Biggest disappointment: Where were the other sprinters? This stage was supposed to be a sprint battle royale in between the mountains, but that climb that Greipel and Sagan got over shed everyone else. Sagan is the best climber among the sprinters so him getting over was expected. But Greipel is an awful climber. If he can get over, everyone else should have managed to be close enough to bridge back as well.

Other items of note: Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) was also paying back a teammate with some extra work. Van den Broeck sits 5^th on GC, but he helped close down a short attack in the final kilometers for his teammate Greipel... Over the next few days, we are likely to see a few more abandonments along the way with more mountains. Tomorrow is a high mountain transitional stage again and Monday is mostly flat Wednesday and Thursday are both beastly stages in the Pyrenees.

What is coming tomorrow? The opposite of yesterday with a similar result. Breakaway will stay away after an early small climb and two late category 1 climbs that are too far to make a difference for the GC riders.

Tomorrow's prediction: 1. Jeremy Roy (FDJ) 2. Jerome Pineau (OPQS) 3. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana)

Tour de France Stage 5 - Greipel repeats win from yesterday

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) 4^th 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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Tour de France Stage 4 - Greipel sprints to victory as Cav crashed behind him

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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Tour de France Daily - Cavendish sprints to victory, as usual

Today's stage: Sprinty sprint. With only one climb on the route and it a cat 4 before the halfway point of the stage, we were destined for a bunch sprint finish today.

Who won today's stage? Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) opened up his Tour de France count this year with his 21^st career stage win beating Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) at the line.

What matters in the GC race? Fabian Cancellara (RSNT) finished safely in the bunch to retain the yellow jersey. He still leads Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and Sylvain Chavanel (OPQS) by seven seconds. Among the favorites, Wiggins is the leader followed by Denis Menchov (Katusha), Cadel Evans (BMC), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp)

What matters in other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – Peter Sagan (Liquigas) took over the lead after scoring points in the intermediate sprint and finishing 6^th on the stage. Stage winner Mark Cavendish is now 2^nd and former leader Fabian Cancellara is now 3^rd.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Still little progress here. Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) was in the break for the second straight day and took the only pint available to extend his lead. Tomorrow will bring a new pecking order with lots of hills at the end of the stage.

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.

Team Classification (Calculated by adding the three best times on each team each day) – With a large group finishing together, there was no change here. Team Sky retains the lead and they will continue to wear the new yellow helmets that go along with leadership in this competition. In other words, ditto yesterday.

Biggest surprise: Cavendish contested the intermediate sprint while Greipel and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) did not. With the intermediate sprint giving such a huge cache of points, Greipel and Farrar both signaled they are not at all contenders for the sprinters jersey by not even contesting the intermediate sprint. Cavendish has been saying since the Giro ended that the Green jersey was not his goal in this Tour because of the upcoming Olympics. Nonetheless, he was still up there to contest for some reason. The question is why (I think he was sandbagging knowing he has no lead out train and the green jersey is still the target)?

Biggest disappointment: Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) is one of the best sprinters in the world. He didn't get a chance to show it today because of a stomach bug that caused him to be unable to hold the wheel of the peloton. That's too bad for all of us fans and spectators as Kittel beat Cavendish twice in a tune up race in the Netherlands two weeks ago.

Other items of note: Tony Martin (OPQS) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) both struggled with their injuries from yesterday. Martin in particular is riding with a broken bone in his wrist and seems to be holding on only to have the opportunity to test his form in the Stage 9 Time Trial... Despite this being the biggest race in the world, there are other races happening in the cycling world (most are now only because they moved up to avoid the Olympics). At the Tour of Austria, Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) won today over Steve Morabito (BMC) and Thomas Rohregger (RSNT).

What is coming tomorrow? Another punchy, hilly stage like Stage 1. Tomorrow has five climbs including the first category 3 climbs of the race in the final 35 km. Given the race finishes atop a category 4 hill again, the sprinters will likely be uninvolved.

Tomorrow's prediction: 1. Cadel Evans (BMC) 2. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) 3. Robert Gesink (Rabobank)

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