Stage Eight – “Allons Enfants de la Patri-e, Le Jour de Gloire Est Arrivé.”

The French finally have a stage winner for their Tour.  And just in time for Bastille Day next week.  Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R Le Mondial) jumped ahead of the favorites on the steep slopes of the Mûr-de-Bretagne, and claimed his first Tour de France stage win.  This native son spoiled the dreams of Dan Martin, Alejandro Valverde and Peter Sagan who chased him over the line.  GC hopefuls Nibali, Talansky, Pinot and Bardet failed to maintain contact with the front part of the peleton and lost small amounts of time to Froome, who still wears the Yellow Jersey.

In the intermediate sprint, Greipel added 4 points to his Green Jersey lead over Peter Sagan.  But Sagan turned the tables on Greipel at the finish line, scoring 19 points to Greipel’s zero.  This shifts the Green Jersey to Sagan by a margin of only 3 seconds.  They will resume their battle on Tuesday (after the rest day), when the Tour enters the Pyrénées.

Daniel Teklehaimanot kept his Polka-Dot (King of Mountains) Jersey without scoring any more points, because only 3 points were available, and they went to riders with no previous points.

The major and minor contenders for the Yellow Jersey retained their positions in that race (except the four mentioned who lost time), with Froome still leading a pack of 20 riders by margins ranging from 11 seconds to 3 minutes 15 seconds.  Three minutes could be regained in the mountains, but that rider (Bardet) would have to not only out-ride Froome by that much, but he would also have to out-ride the other 19 riders ahead of him.  Not likely.  But the seven riders within a minute of Froome could still reasonably hope to move into the lead and perhaps win the final prize.  Indeed, in tomorrow’s team time trial, either Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) or Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) could steal the Yellow Jersey if their teams could beat Froome’s Team Sky by 12 or 14 seconds respectively.  Very real possibilities!

I said before the Tour started that the time trials would not decide the final winner of the Yellow Jersey, and I still believe that.  But, there is a high possibility that the TTT tomorrow could cause a change in the holder of that jersey for the start of the second week of the Tour.  These riders will all be super motivated tomorrow. 

So, will Team BMC post the fastest time in tomorrow's team time trial, and retain their Yellow Helmet position as the leading team?  And will they win by enough seconds to propel their leader Tejay Van Garderen into the Yellow Jersey?  

Or will Team Sky - riding last and knowing the time and speed to beat - preserve the Yellow Jersey for their leader Chris Froome?  Every day is exciting.