Stage Eight: Sky Wastes No Time Taking Command of the Race

The first 120 Km of Stage Eight were suitable to the sprinters, as the route descended gradually from Castre to Castelnaudary, the high point in the Canal du Midi, and then crossed the “Autoroute des deux Mers” (Freeway of the two Seas), to begin a gradual climb toward the foothills of the Pyrénées.  The usual breakaway of four riders arrived first at Quillan, the site of the intermediate sprint.  However, since Quillan is barely 100 meters higher in elevation than Castelnaudary (at 70 Km distance), the rest of the peleton were still all together and the big sprinters contested the remaining points.  André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) collected 11, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) 10, and Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep) 9.  Bottom line: essentially no change for the Green Jersey with Sagan still leading the other two by about 100 points.

Then the fireworks began!  Teams Sky (for Chris Froome), Saxo-Tinkoff (Alberto Contador) and Belkin (Bauke Mollema) took control of the pace-setting as the roads shot skyward 1,700 meters in less than 50 Km to the summit at Col de Pailhères.  In short order, the peleton caught the original escape group and spat them out the back, along with all the sprinters.  By the summit, many of the GC hopefuls were either dismissed or on the brink of dismissal.  18 Km of downhill gave some temporary respite to those on the brink.  But the final 9 Km with 600 meters of climbing proved decisive in favor of Chris Froome and Team Sky.  Froome won the stage and claimed the Yellow Jersey.  His teammate Richie Porte took second almost a minute behind.  And only 16 other riders finished within 3 minutes of Froome.

Of the dozen riders we listed yesterday as likely leaders after Stage 8, only five remain within 3 minutes of the lead:

1 Chris Froome (Sky) leader
3 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) at 1'25"
4 Bauke Mollema (Belkin) at 1'44"
7 Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) at 1'51"
11 Rui Costa (Movistar) at 2'45", presumably riding in support of Valverde.

I predicted that Stage 8 would cut the number of contenders in half.  Check!  I predicted the stage would reveal a few “sleepers.”  Check!  Not all of the other nine riders within 3 minutes of Froome should be considered GC "sleepers" because they are riding in support of their team’s captain, and will not challenge for GC leadership unless their captain falters, such as:

2 Richie Porte (Sky) at 0'51", riding in support of Froome
5 Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin) at 1'50", riding for Mollema
6 Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) at 1'51", riding for Contador (saved Contador’s bacon today!)
8 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) at 2'02", riding for Valverde (claimed White Jersey today!)
9 Joaquin Rodrigues (Katusha) at 2'31, a “sleeper” for GC
10 Michael Roger (Saxo-Tinkoff) at 2'40", riding for Contador
12 Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) at 2'48", “sleeper” (2nd place White Jersey), will he replace Ryder Hesjedal as designated GC chief?
13 Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) at 2'48", “sleeper,” will he ride for Talansky? Or vice versa?
14 Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 2'55", “sleeper.”

Who got cut on this first brutal day in the mountains?  Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) at 3'27", Andy Schleck (RadioShack Leopard) at 4'00", Cadel Evans, Tejay van Garderen and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) at 4'36", 12'38" and 29'25" respectively, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) at 6'39", and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) at 8'29".  True, one or two of them might claw their way back into the top ten by Paris.  But, barring a melt-down at Team Sky, they can stop dreaming of the Yellow Jersey.

About 40 Km east of Quillan, site of today's intermediate sprint, lie the ruins of Quéribus.  It is one of five hill-top fortresses in this region of the Pyrénées, known as the "five sons of Carcassonne."  800 years ago, Quéribus was the last of the Cathar refuges to fall to the invaders from Paris during the cruel Albigensian Crusade undertaken to exterminate the Cathar religion in Languedoc (now the south of France).