The fifth stage will be the first mountain-top finish of the Criterium du Dauphine this year. The final climb will be Valmorel, 13.5 kilometers long. It could be a good finish for a tougher stage, but the short stage and its easiness could mean that it is not hard enough to make significant differences. Chris Froome will have a hard time defending his leader's jersey because he only has 7 seconds on van Garderen and the American has proven to be strong.
Sky was not willing to control the pace of the main group at the start of the stage and they let go lots of riders. However, many teams reacted as Xavi Tondo, 15th in the GC, tried to go in the break. In the end a group of 10 riders was allowed to go, including Michael Rogers (Saxo Bank), Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep), Ivan Basso (Radioshack), Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil) and Daniel Martin (Ag2r). They had 4' 15'' on the main bunch at the top of the Col du Frene (70 km to go). In the peloton the pace setting was made by BMC and Movistar.
Nothing relevant happened for a lot of kilometers, but the first attack by relevant riders was even before the proper climb started. Jelle Vanendert and Rob Ruijgh opened a small gap of 40 seconds over the main bunch at the start of Valmorel (13 kilometers to go). They are both way down in the GC and need to recover time. Meanwhile, the break is not a long way up the road and they will be caught when the main attacks start.
The first couple of kilometers in the main bunch were quite strange. No one was willing to set a pace and they allowed the break, Ruijgh and Vanendert to open a bigger gap. However, some attacks soon started, mainly by Juanjo Cobo, Jelle Vanendert and Bart de Clercq. In the break, Ivan Basso had attacked and had opened a gap of 25 seconds with 9 km to go. The rest of the break, Ruijgh and Vanendert were behind, while Nieve and Dupont were losing 1' 40''; a group of 4 including Ten Dam was 1' 50'' behind and the group with the rest of the favorites was losing 2' 15''.
Alberto Contador and Marco Pinotti did a good job to control the several break attempts and only Hubert Dupont and the front group remained ahead with 5 kilometers remaining. Ivan Basso had been reeled back again by the break group and Dupont was 35 seconds behind. The rest of the favorites were 1' 05'' behind the leaders. All but Andy Schleck, who did not seem to have the best of days and was 3 minutes behind already.
The early break was finally caught with 3 kilometers remaining, but Hubert Dupont and Jelle Vanendert attacked from that group and maintained 25 seconds on the favorites group. BMC kept doing a great job to keep the race under control, but the group of the favorites was still on the large side, with more than 50 riders still holding on.
Tejay van Garderen took the responsibility himself and brought Vanendert and Dupont back to the group under the flame rouge. BMC are showing that they are here to help Tejay win this race and the performance of the whole team can't be better. The outcome of the stage is going to be almost a mass sprint, as 45 riders have managed to keep up with the pace of the best.
Tejay van Garderen launched the final sprint from almost 800 meters and leads the way out of the last corner of the stage. He is followed by Jelle Vanendert, Rob Ruijgh and Hubert Dupont. It looks like the final push by the American is starting to open small gaps among the best, but probably not enough to be awarded time differences.
Tejay van Garderen wins in Valmorel! The American got back to back wins but it was not a comfortable win like yesterday. Jelle Vanendert looked really strong in the last final meters of the stage and the difference among them was really tiny. Rob Ruijgh took third, ahead of Hubert Dupont and Laurens Ten Dam.
In the end the top 21 got the same time, with a further 20 riders losing only 41 seconds. However, even though Chris Froome made it in the first group Tejay van Garderen will be the new leader of the race thanks to the bonus seconds in the finish line. The American now has 3 seconds on Froome and 22 on Evans. Bauke Mollema is now fourth in the GC but he was barely seen in the climb. It looks like his preparation for the Tour is keeping him from having a great shape in the Dauphine.
Jelle Vanendert is one of those strange riders that has spent all his career in the same team. This is his sixth season with the Lotto structure, first as Omega Pharma - Lotto and then as Lotto - Belisol. He enjoyed the best years of his career between 2009 and 2011, when he was the World Champion. We talked about it in the last article about him, so let's concentrate in his more recent performances.
In 2012 Jelle Vanendert seemed to suffer the curse of the World Champion. The Belgian managed to go from getting two important wins in 2011, the E3 and the World Championships, to only having a 5th place in the Tirreno - Adriatico as the best result of the season. He was completely overshadowed in his team not only by Bjorn Leukemans, who took the Liege and the Worlds that year, but also by Jose Joaquin Rojas.
The lack of results in 2012 meant that for 2013 he was stripped of a leader role in the Lotto team, in favour of the rising star Robert Kiserlovski. However, Vanendert recovered part of his form to be in the top 10 of both the Giro and the Vuelta. Even though he finished without wins to Kiserlovski's 4, Vanendert managed to finish in front of him in the World Tour classification. He gained back a good deal of the credit he had hardly earned in his first years as professional.
In 2014 he gained back the leading role in Lotto, but the season is not going as good as he would have liked. One of his main targets was the week of the Ardennes and he only managed to get a 7th place in the Amstel Gold Race. His hopes are now placed in the Vuelta a España, as he decided that the route fits him much better than a Tour de France with lots of time trial kilometers.
The only stage without a mountain-top finish among those remaining will be today in Grenoble. However, the route is a bit disappointing, as there are climbs in the middle part of the stage, especially the Col du Barioz and the Col des Ayes, the opportunities that the area of Grenoble offers are wasted. It will be interesting to see if any of the favorites is able to make a successful attack, given that the stage is classified as hilly.
The intermediate sprint today was placed early in the stage, in Albertville, only 20 kilometers from the start. However, a group of 7 was ahead of the main bunch and there seems to be no fight for the points' competition. The lack of stages for the sprinters surely discourages them. In the front group the most relevant riders are Geraint Thomas (HTC), Xavi Tondo (Lampre), Carlos Betancur (Vacansoleil) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha).
The first break attempt did not succeed and another group of 7 finally managed to form the break of the day. Xavi Tondo was again in it along with the young riders leader Jerome Coppel (Ag2r), Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep) and Tom Danielson (Belkin). They reached the top of the Col du Barioz (63 km to go) with a gap of 5' 30'' on the main bunch. BMC is working behind to control the break, as Coppel is not that far behind in the GC, and even Marco Pinotti is helping.
Shortly after the Col du Barioz was the Col des Ayes, a short but steep climb categorized as 2nd. Jelle Vanendert went solo and Cameron Meyer tried to follow but couldn't. At the top of the climb the group ahead had a gap of 2' 50'' on the Lotto rider; 4 minutes on Meyer and 4' 35'' on the main bunch. Among those who said goodbye to the peloton to have an easier day were Peter Sagan, Bjorn Leukemans and Emanuele Sella.
Lots of riders tried to follow Jelle Vanendert in the next kilometers. However, BMC was doing a great job in controlling the race, even with riders like Dries Devenyns and Peter Stetina helping. However, with 20 kilometers remaining it was Tejay van Garderen who had to go catch an attack. At that point the early break were the only riders ahead of the main bunch with a gap of 1' 35''.
The descent towards Grenoble did not allow the main bunch to cut the lead of the break and with 8 kilometers remaining they still have chances to take the stage win, they have a gap of 1' 10''. Johan Vansummeren and Jonathan Hivert are in theory the fastest of the group. In the main group there were late attacks by Jurgen van den Broeck, Mikel Nieve and Hubert Dupont, none of them successful. 60 riders survived in that group, with none of the favorites missing.
Only 3 kilometers remained when the main group led by BMC managed to reel back in the early break, already inside the streets of Grenoble. Maybe if Jerome Coppel was not in it they would have had a chance to make it all the way to the finish line. It is now very difficult to say who might be the quickest to the line. There are some quick riders, like Michael Matthews and Borut Bozic, but it is difficult to guess if they will be strong enough to sprint.
The sprint was rather chaotic today. The lack of an organized team to prepare the finish meant that almost everyone was riding on his own. With less than 1 kilometer remaining Mikel Nieve is leading the way ahead of David Lopez, Hubert Dupont and Tejay van Garderen. It looks like it will be one of the strong men for the GC who will take the stage win today.
Rui Costa wins in Grenoble! The Portuguese managed to find a gap and progress when the riders that had started sprinting too early started to drop back. This is the third win for Saxo - Tinkoff this year, the first for Rui Costa. The good news for the Danish team did not end there, as Tiago Machado also appeared from behind to take the second place in the stage.
Cameron Meyer, Joost van Leijen and Mikel Nieve completed the top 5 for the stage. Nothing else relevant happened in the classifications other than Tiago Machado climbing to the 9th place overall thanks to the bonus seconds. Tomorrow will be another story, as the riders will have to climb Alpe d'Huez in the first part of a stage finishing in Superdevoluy.
The seventh stage will take the riders from the outskirts of Grenoble to the ski resort of Superdevoluy. It is probably the hardest of the Dauphine, as there are climbs to Alpe d'Huez, Col de Sarenne, Col d'Ornon and Col du Noyer before the last climb. It will be probably the best test to see who the winner of the race will be and what the form of the riders is ahead of the Tour de France.
The first climb of the day was Alpe d'Huez. It is the first time that we see the climb not as a stage finish but so soon in the stage it will not make a big damage. The break had already formed at this point, a group of 10 riders including Jerome Coppel (Ag2r), Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep), Carlos Betancur (Vacansoleil), Rein Taaramae (Katusha) and Ivan Basso (Radioshack). Jerome Coppel took the mountain points and takes the leadership in the mountains' classification.
BMC was at the front of the peloton at the top of the Col d'Ornon (87 kilometers to go) but it had to be Movistar who chased the break for a while after the gap had grown to 11 minutes at the top of the Sarenne. Coppel is only 2 minutes behind in the GC and is a danger. They brought the difference down to 6' 50'' at this point. Meanwhile, Coppel was 1 point ahead of Vansummeren in the mountains' classification and 4 ahead of Taaramae after the 1st category climb.
Euskaltel tried to surprise the rest of the favorites with a duo attack by Daniel Moreno and David Lopez in one of the hills before the Col du Noyer. They were followed by Thibaut Pinot and Rob Ruijgh. With 30 kilometers remaining they are 2 minutes behind the early break. The main bunch is 3' 10'' behind the leaders. On the bad news side Jelle Vanendert suffered a puncture and several teammates stayed behind to help him, including Robert Kiserlovski.
BMC had a different idea than Euskaltel and they soon took control of the situation. With 20 kilometers remaining and about to start the toughest part of the climb to the Col du Noyer only Pinot remained in front of that group. He was losing 40 seconds on the early break. Meanwhile, Hubert Dupont opened a tiny gap with the main group, which was losing 1' 20'' on the front of the race. Jelle Vanendert could not connect with the peloton and was already 4' 30'' behind. He will probably lose his chances in the GC today.
The group of the favorites reeled the breakaway back in 5 kilometers from the top and Bauke Mollema attacked straight away. Hubert Dupont and Juanjo Cobo tried to follow but they were not successful and it was Tejay van Garderen who was trying to close the gap now. It is maybe the hardest attack we have seen so far in the Dauphine.
Tejay van Garderen was able to join Bauke Mollema close to the top of the Col du Noyer but no one else did. The two of them had a gap of around 50 seconds on a rather big group of 40 riders where Rui Costa is setting the pace. Chris Froome was another of the riders that tried to attack and follow Van Garderen but he lacked the strength.
The group with the rest of the favorites broke in the last kilometer of the ascent to Noyer and only 16 were chasing Van Garderen and Mollema at the start of the climb to Superdevoluy. The last climb is only 4 kilometers long, so the 40 seconds gap that they enjoy could be enough. There were unconvincing attacks by Rui Costa and Bart de Clercq at the group but nothing too serious. Among those who did not make it to that group were David Lopez, Andy Schleck and Levi Leipheimer, who were losing 2 minutes at the start of the climb.
Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema comfortably maintained the gap to the riders behind on 45 seconds. A group of 5 had formed behind them as they crossed the last kilometer mark: Juanjo Cobo, Laurens Ten Dam, Bart de Clercq, Rui Costa and Rob Ruijgh. Another 11 riders were losing 1 minute.
Tejay van Garderen wins in Superdevoluy! This is the third stage win of the American and in a dominant fashion. Van Garderen managed to put 21 seconds between him and Bauke Mollema in the last kilometer. This is surely the best recommendation letter as a potential winner of the Tour de France next month. Behind them Laurens Ten Dam also managed to open a gap in the next group, finishing 1 minute behind. Rob Ruijgh was 4th ahead of his teammate Hubert Dupont.
The group of David Lopez and Andy Schleck lost almost 3 minutes, so they lost their chances in the GC, while Jelle Vanendert lost 11' 30'' in a very tough day. All the other classifications bar the GC look set to be fought for tomorrow in the last stage finishing at the top of Risoul.
The last day of the Dauphine features yet another mountain-top finish. This time it is the turn of Risoul, a very tough climb a few kilometers south of Briancon. The stage is rather easy until the last 50 kilometers, where the start of the Col de Vars is placed. In terms of the GC, there are plenty of riders that will need to attack to improve their places. The hard final climb offers a great opportunity for them.
No team could be bothered to chase the break at the beginning of the stage and a large 13 riders group was ahead at the first climb of the day, the Cote de la Breole (100 kilometers to go). The most important riders of the group were: Luis Leon Sanchez (Movistar), Xavi Tondo (Lampre), Damiano Cunego (Radioshack), Michael Rogers (Saxo Tinkoff), Julien Simon (Ag2r), John Gadret (Garmin) and Stefan Schumacher (Katusha). They had 6 minutes on the main group at that point. No one is close to the top in the mountains' classification, so there was no fight.
The main bunch was taking things easy today and the gap of the break had grown to 8' 45'' already into the climb to the Col de Vars (40 km to go). BMC was setting the pace at the front of the pack, but it was a nice and easy pace that would not leave anyone behind. It will be interesting if anyone takes the chance to try and opportunistic attack in this first hard climb.
Fredrik Kessiakoff decided to have a go for the mountain points at the top of the Col de Varsr, but it should be too late for him to take the mountain's jersey. The 13 members of the break made it together to the top of the Col de Vars, but it probably won't be so in Risoul. The favorites for the stage today are Michael Rogers, Xavi Tondo and Damiano Cunego.
Luis Leon Sanchez opened the attacks in the front group as soon as the road started to climb towards the finish line in Risoul. The Spaniard had 12 kilometers ahead of him. He soon managed to open a gap of 20 seconds to Richie Porte and John Gadret, while the rest of the break was already 1 minute behind. In the main group there were a few attacks in the last kilometers of the climb to Vars but only Pierre Rolland managed to get away with it. He was 7' 30'' behind the break at the start of the climb, while the peloton was losing 9' 10''.
Juanjo Cobo was the first of the main riders to attack. He did so with 7 kilometers to go and was quickly brought back. Jurgen van den Broeck, Franck Schleck and Robert Gesink also tried subsequently but none was successful. Pierre Rolland was still ahead of the bunch, as so was Luis Leon Sanchez at the front of the race, although the Spaniard was slowly losing terrain with the rest of the riders from the early break.
Gadret and Porte had closed the gap to Luis Leon Sanchez to only 15 seconds with 5 kilometers remaining, but it looks like all of them are starting to feel the pain of being away for long as the rest of the break is closing in on them. Pierre Rolland is still losing 6' 15'' behind them, while the peloton is 7' 10'' behind. Peter Stetina is working perfectly at the front of the pack to control all the dangerous riders.
Xavi Tondo decided to take the lead of the group chasing and brought the 13 riders together with 2.5 kilometers to go. Several of them are barely hanging on due to the pace by the Spaniard. Tondo is looking quite strong and should be one of the candidates for the stage. In the bunch Frank Schleck managed to open a gap of 20 seconds over the group and he is about to catch Pierre Rolland.
Damiano Cunego attacks inside the last kilometer and drags Michael Rogers with him. There is not and immediate response from the rest of the group. It could well be that the two of them will play for the win. John Gadret and Luis Leon Sanchez are leading the chase but seem too fatigued. In the main bunch BMC is controlling every attack. It is now the turn of Dupont and De Clercq, they opened a 20 seconds gap but Stetina seems to be again reducing that.
Damiano Cunego wins in Risoul! This is the first win for Cunego since he took the Giro di Lombardia in 2011, it tells you of what a hard time he has gone through. He took off with Michael Rogers in the last kilometer and outsprinted the Australian. Xavi Tondo was the only one that really tried to follow, but ended up third 15 seconds behind. Most of the other in the break finished 23 seconds down on Cunego, led by Julien Simon and Stefan Schumacher.
As many as 30 riders are in the favorites group as they get close to the last kilometer of the stage. Peter Stetina did a great job setting a good pace for Tejay van Garderen, but the big group tells you that this is probably a lost chance for many riders to progress in the GC. Today's climb was hard enough for this group to reach this point with at most 10 riders.
Bauke Mollema takes the group sprint after pushing hard in the last kilometer. He finished ahead of Peter Stetina, Tejay van Garderen and Hubert Dupont. There were no big changes in the GC, only Rui Costa dropped out of the top 10 after dropping from the favorites group late in the last climb.
Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema have shown that they are the main favorites to take Tour de France next month. The American was really solid in all the areas of the race and will have the bonus of a good number of time trial kilometers at the Tour as well. Chris Froome got to the podium thanks to the break on the first day of the race and successfully defended his podium place. It is difficult to remember a better performance from him since he won the Tour de Suisse a couple of years ago.
The race most awaited by many of the cycling fans in the World makes a return this year after taking a break in the 2013 season. This year's race starts in Belgium with a prologue in Liege. The first week will be for the sprinters and uphill finishers and it will not be until the eighth stage that the main favorites will have to show their credentials for the win in La Planche des Belles Filles.
This year's Tour is one of the Grand Tours of the story with the most time trials, with almost 100 kilometers. This will modify slightly the main favorites for the race, making it more difficult for riders like Frank Schleck, Mikel Nieve and Rob Ruijgh and increasing the chances of Van Garderen and Menchov.
Among the stages in the mountains there are mountain-top finishes in La Toussuire and Peyragudes, and several other hard stages finishing in Bagneres de Luchon, Foix and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. When all things are considered, it is very possible that the race is decided in the last time trial in Chartres, a 52 kilometers test that could make significant differences in the GC.
Favorites:
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Not much can be said about Bauke Mollema that has not been written. The Dutch is the defending champion of the Tour, but his win two years ago was not an easy one, as the final gap to Mikel Nieve was barely above 1 minute. He has done enough this year to confirm that he will be the main candidate for the Tour, as he won the Tirreno - Adriatico and was second in the Dauphine.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): The Spaniard took a big step forward this year by winning the Volta a Catalunya. He was always very strong but had difficulties winning. The only doubts that have been casted on his performance are that he did nothing on the Dauphine, probably influenced by the very long time trial. That is the weakest point of the Spaniard, that should reach the final time trial with a good advantage if he want to win the Tour.
- Juan Jose Cobo (Sky Procycling): Juanjo Cobo is my personal bet for the Tour. The Sky riders has never done anythig big in cycling but has showed increasing signs of a big improvement. He has gained the leader status for Sky, especially because Chris Froome will skip the Tour after peaking for the Dauphine. The best result of Cobo so far this season was the third place in the Volta a Catalunya.
- Denis Menchov (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Quickstep is in a dire need of a good result in a stage race this season, as the team is clearly underperforming. Menchov has a good chance of a good result in the Tour because there is a good number of time trial kilometers and he should take some time in most of the favorites. The Russian has not had a good season so far, but his season has been clearly focused in the Tour and the Vuelta.
Other notable riders that will be in the start at Liege will be Robert Gesink and Hubert Dupont (Belkin Pro Cycling), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale Pro Cycling), Frank Schleck (Radioshack - Leopard) and Mikel Nieve (Discovery Channel).
The best sprinters of the World will be as always in the Tour, like Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel), Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Tyler Farrar (Saxo - Tinkoff), Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad) and Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida).
A prologue in Liege will be the opening stage of the Tour de France 2014. The 6 kilometers long route among the streets of the Belgian city is completely flat and, therefore, suited for the specialists against the clock. Not big differences will be set, but the climbers should be expecting a few seconds of deficit already today.
Marco Pinotti (BMC) always has a chance to shine in the time trials. However, he knows that he came to the Tour to help Tejay van Garderen mostly to have a good result. He showed that he is a candidate today by setting the best time so far in the finish line 2 seconds ahead of Rigoberto Uran.
Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) already won the prologue of the Paris - Nice earlier in the season, his only win this season so far. The Euskaltel rider will be mostly working for Modolo in the sprints in this Tour. He did a good time trial but will not be able to repeat his win as he finished 1 second short of beating Marco Pinotti's time.
Cameron Meyer (Quickstep) has the reputation of being the best time trialist in the World. However, he has not been able to win any of the two flat ones that he has raced this year. In this Tour he will have plenty of chances to confirm that status. He did a good time today, improving on Pinotti's best by 3 seconds, quite a bit of time for such a short distance.
Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) had good races in the cobbled classics but has not really showed anything near what people expect from him in the time trials. His best result of the season is a 6th place in the Dauphine's time trial. Today he was not really at his best and recorded the 5th provisional time 6 seconds behind Cameron Meyer.
Denis Menchov (Quickstep) should be more focused in the long term than in today's stage. He did well but nothing spectacular. At the finish line he posted the 7th provisional time, the worst so far among the candidates for the win. He lost 8 seconds to Cameron Meyer.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) was one of the outsiders for the stage today. The Dutch might want to avoid the yellow jersey in the first week not to stress his team too much with the extra work. His performance today was quite good, keeping up with the best time trialists. He set the 5th provisional time 5 seconds behind Meyer.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was the dominant force in the Criterium du Dauphine. He won 3 stages and took the overall. However, he couldn't edge Cameron Meyer for the win today. Tejay set the second best time 1 second behind when only a handful of riders remained to finish in Liege.
Marcel Kittel (Discovery) was the only rider to start today and he was almost able to snatch the win from Cameron Meyer. He finished 2nd with the same time as the Australian, what gives him a very good shot at the yellow jersey in the coming days as he will easily pick some bonus seconds in the first week.
The first differences opened up in the GC today and some riders already took quite a few seconds on their deficit. Mikel Nieve was 23 seconds down at the end of the day while Jelle Vanendert lost 22 and Peter Stetina 20.
The first long stage in the Tour de France is not one for the sprinters. The 195 kilometers between Liege and Sisteron are plagued with hills and the finish is at the top of a 2.5 kilometers long hill. The stage will probably be won by one of the puncheurs in the field but Cameron Meyer should not have trouble keeping the yellow jersey barring bonus seconds.
There were 5 categorized climbs in the stage and the Cote de Lierneux was the third one. There was quite a lot of fight to take the break of the day and a group of 8 finally went away, including Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack), Michael Rogers (Saxo - Tinkoff), Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre) and Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar). Tony Martin took the points at the top but Michael Rogers was the provisional leader of the mountains at that point in the stage. The break had 4' 30'' on the main bunch at that point.
Jose Joaquin Rojas beat Ben Swift in the intermediate sprint in Erezee (73 kilometers to go) even though there were only 2 points up for grabs. In the front group it was Fabian Cancellara who took the 3 bonus seconds and that will put him 3 seconds behind Cameron Meyer in the GC.
Euskaltel and Vacansoleil joined forces in the main bunch to chase down the break and they had brought down the gap to only 30 seconds with 10 kilometers remaining. A group of riders had lost contact with the bunch at that point including a lot of sprinters, like Marcel Kittel, Sacha Modolo, Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan. It is curious that Sagan let the group go as he might have had a chance of taking this stage.
The break was reeled back in before the start of the climb to Seraing and it was going to be an uphill sprint for the peloton. However, Philippe Gilbert had another idea and he attacked as soon as the road went uphill. The Belgian was able to open a good gap on his chasers with slightly less than 3 kilometers remaining. Filippo Pozzato and Pieter Weening are leading the main group but the men from BMC seem to be alert.
Gilbert enters the last kilometer of the stage with a slim gap of 10 seconds over the now full speed bunch. The Belgian is slowly losing gap and it will be a close one in the finish line. The men leading the peloton are the Quicksteps Weening and Menchov, Igor Anton, George Hincapie and Frank Schleck. Gilbert's teammate seems ready to attack if he is caught.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Seraing! The Lotto rider comes from nowhere to take the win in the second stage of the Tour. Philippe Gilbert even raised his arms to celebrate the win and lost it in the last few meters of the stage. Vanendert had been a long time without winning as we said in a recent post. It is always good news to see great riders win again.
Janez Brajkovic was also very good in the last meters and grabbed the third place in the stage ahead of Frank Schleck and Mikel Nieve. The only changes in the GC are that Fabian Cancellara and Janez Brajkovic climb to the 4th and 5th places thanks to the bonus seconds.
The third stage is the first that is clearly for the sprinters in the Tour. The race will finish in Tournai, very close to the border of France already. The only tiny difficulty of the day will be the Cote de la Citadelle de Namur, but it will be in the middle of the stage and will not make a difference.
There was quite a bit of a fight to take the break of the day, as Sky, Radioshack and Discovery wouldn't allow a break of more than 5 riders. In the end 5 of them went away: Anthony Roux (Astana), Francesco Gavazzi (Cannondale), Jos van Emden (Saxo - Tinkoff), Alexandre Serebryakov (Katusha) and Jeremy Roy (Ag2r). They reached the Cote de Namur 6 minutes before the main bunch, but still had 120 kilometers ahead of them.
The intermediate sprint was only a few kilometers after, with 98 kilometers to go, in Sombrette. The sprint in the peloton was easily won by Andre Greipel, ahead of Ben Swift, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Tyler Farrar. The increase in pace in the peloton to prepare for the sprint meant that the difference to the front group decreased to the 4 minutes mark. The teams of the sprinters have it all under control.
Jos van Emden tried a late attack under the 10 kilometers banner but the break is already about to get caught. They only have 25 seconds on the main group. There were several important flat riders working in the bunch, like Fabian Cancellara and Gregory Rast. With the likes of these riders working it is going to be hard for a break to surprise the bunch in a flat stage.
As many as 3 trains were formed for the mass sprint in Tournai. The first one is Radioshack's, where Daniele Bennati will be the last man for Andre Greipel. Kenny van Hummel has taken the wheel of the German. Behind them is Sky, Gregory Rast with do the lead-out for Ben Swift, who has Tyler Farrar right behind. The third train is from Discovery. Jure Kocjan will as usual be the last rider for Marcel Kittel, who has Mark Cavendish right behind.
Radioshack had clearly the best train, even with Frank Schleck working for Greipel. With slightly more than 1 kilometer to go Bennati is already sprinting for Andre Greipel. Kenny van Hummel and Yauheni Hutarovich are behind. Among the others Ben Swift, Tyler Farrar and Sacha Modolo seem to have made a mistake in their positioning and are nowhere to be seen.
The three sprinters that were following Radioshack's train are in the best position to take the stage win. Kenny van Hummel is leading the way, the Dutch went past Greipel rather easily and Yauheni Hutarovich is trailing both of them. Daniele Bennati is still in the mix but he should stop pushing now that Greipel has started sprinting.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Tournai! A great win by the Dutch ahead of two other great sprinters like Yauheni Hutarovich and Andre Greipel. Van Hummel had never won before in this story, it is not a bad way to start you victory count by winning in the Tour de France. On the other side, Andre Greipel was very disappointing. He enjoyed the best lead-out by far and could only manage a third place being one of the biggest favorites for the win.
There are no changes in the different classifications, only with Kenny van Hummel taking the green jersey ahead of Kittel and Vanendert. Tomorrow the stage will be quite tricky in its final part, so a mass sprint is out of the picture.
