I predicted a sprint battle between Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Peter Sagan (Liq). I failed to account for Cavendish’s inability to cope with the hilly finish. But mostly I predicted accurately. The breakaway failed, Sagan contested–and won–the sprint finish, but against Cancellara (RNT) and Boasson Hagan (Sky). And the GC leaders protected their leads.
The failed breakaway was not a complete failure. Two of the six riders reaped their first taste of Tour de France podium glory. Michael Morkov (SaxoBank) collected points on 3 intermediate climbs, earning him the polka-dot "King of the Mountains" jersey. He will wear it for at least two days, since tomorrow’s stage only has one climbing point available, so no one can catch him until Tuesday. Nicolas Edet led the breakaway, and persevered the longest, winning him the award for most combative. He will wear a red number bib tomorrow, and his name will always be in the TDF prize record. It was a happy day for both of these riders, even though they were swallowed by the peleton with just 7 miles to ride, after leading the race for 116 miles.
After two stages, neither Cavendish nor Matt Goss (OGE) is in the top 20 for the sprinters’ green jersey. In the intermediate sprint (middle of the stage) they did give a spirited fight for the small points left-over by the six breakaway leaders. But they both fell behind the peleton in the hilly terrain at the end of the stage, and were nowhere in sight to challenge Sagan for the big points at the finish. Cancellara, Sagan and Boasson Hagan lead in this category, with comfortable margins over the rest of the field.
The big excitement in this 5-hour stage occurred in the last 30 minutes. At that point (25 Km/16 miles to go), several teams began jockeying for the front of the peleton, and the speed picked up fiercely. These teams were trying to protect their GC leaders and/or to set-up their sprinters. Suddenly there were two minor crashes! One was caused by a spectator leaning in too close for a photo. The increased speed closed the gap to the six breakaway leaders, and split the peleton into three groups. Any GC hopefuls in the rear groups were in danger of losing time to the leaders. With 10 Km (6 miles) to go, the six day-long attackers were caught, and the sprinters’ teams took charge.
More speed. Each team seizing its opportunity to lead. The lead changing hands. The final kilometers rolling past. The intensity building. Cancellara makes his move. Only Sagan matches the outburst. Boasson Hagan dives to bridge the gap. Chavenel tries to cross the divide, but Albasini and Van den Broeck bring the peleton along. GC favorites Wiggins and Evans are in this chasing peleton. Cancellara, Sagan and B-H keep a small gap with 500 meters to go. At 250 meters, Sagan makes his move. Cancellara surges to keep up. B-H charges too. Sagan blazes across the finish, with the other two close behind. Peter Sagan gets his first taste of TDF glory in only his second day as a Tour rookie. He is going to be exciting to watch for years to come!
There was almost no change in the top 50 places for the GC prize. Cancellara remains in the yellow jersey. Wiggins is still the presumptive favorite. Cadel Evans is still just 10 seconds behind Wiggins. Most of the top 50 finished in that small peleton on the heels of the winners, so they clocked the same time–no time gained or lost relative to each other. But three GC candidates failed to hang with that leading peleton, and did lose a few seconds. Albasini lost 14 seconds, Costa and Leipheimer lost 17. These latter two fell out of the top 50. It’s still a long Tour, all of these riders are still within one minute of the leader, and there will be opportunities to gain back some of this time. But as furious as the competition is at the top, they can ill afford to lose even a little time in a relatively "easy" stage like today’s. [123 miles in 5 hours, averaging 25 mph is "easy?" I stuggle to average 12 mph for 10 miles!]
What’s on tap for tomorrow, Monday? An easier stage than today. Only one small mountain in the middle. Downhill and flat to the finish. Someone will try a breakaway for the minor glory it provides. The sprinters’ teams (and RadioShack-yellow jersey) will pace the peleton to reel in the attackers. There will be a sprint finish. Will we see the long-anticipated showdown between Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish? If not tomorrow, when, Mark?
On Tuesday, the finish is more hilly than today’s stage, and I expect the peleton to be more fragmented than today. Time differentials will start to be meaningful. This could be the day for the first successful breakaway–either a day-long effort, or a late-in-the-day opportunist. But it will probably be someone far down the GC standings. Cancellara and RadioShack will work hard to match any aggression by riders near the top, in order to protect his yellow jersey.
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At the summit of the Col du Tourmalet (Pyrénées) in May, 2011, Matt Jensen and our group of riders encountered Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) as he rode up to the summit on a training ride. Van den Broeck was among those mentioned in today's report, as he challenged the winners of stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de France.
Great summary of the stage, dad! The three first finishers were only caught at the line by the charging remains of the leaders Peleton. The Belgian Philip Gilbert (BMC), led the charge to close the gap. While that had minimal significance to his teammate Cadel Evans, Gilberts efforts did ensure that his other teammate, American TeeJay van Garderen, kept the white jersey since third place finisher, Edvald Boasson Hagen, was only one second behind TeeJay in that competition. Had Gilbert not closed that gap, van Garderen would have finished at least one second slower than Boasson Hagen and lost the white jersey.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most inspiring things from the Tour is watching riders sacrifice themselves for their teammates.
My research indicates that they do indeed share the prize money. There is prize money for each day wearing the white jersey. Vangarderen is wearing it for one more day, but only because of Gilbert, so it's only fair to share the prize. Very good point, Matt.
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