The only stage that does not finish at a mountain-top in the Alps is the one with the highest cumulated climbing in the race. Two colossus will open the day, the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Madeleine. After that, three smaller climbs will provide the chance to attack to those riders that have lost time in the GC. In total, the cumulated climbing is above 5.000 meters, which should be enough to witness a good battle in the last couple of climbs.
The Col du Glandon was the first climb of the day and the riders took a good while to get to the top given the strong head winds that they suffered. A group of 14 formed at the front of the race, including riders like Cameron Meyer (Quickstep), Stefano Garzelli (Lampre), Thibaut Pinot (Discovery), Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil), Bart de Clercq (Sky), Lloyd Mondory (Euskaltel) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha). They built a gap of 5' 30'' at the front before reaching the top of the climb. The pace in the bunch was easy as the riders did not want surprises with the wind.
Cannondale was leading the main bunch at the top of the Col de la Madeleine with Francesco Bongiorno, Moreno Moser and Nicolas Roche. However, the wind was blowing even stronger and was making the day even more difficult for the riders. Most of them were happy to be guarded in the middle of the bunch. With 117 kilometers to go the gap to the break had rocketed to 13 minutes, which should give them a good chance for the stage even with a lot of kilometers to go. The bad news were for Hubert Dupont, who crashed just before starting the climb but he seemed to have recovered ok.
Lloyd Mondory crashed in the break in the descent of the Madeleine and is discarded for the stage. The gap of the break over the bunch actually grew in the Col de Tamie to 14 minutes as Thibaut Pinot and Bryan Coquard took responsibility to set the pace in the climb, probably the easiest of the day. Pavel Brutt took the chance to move to the first provisional place in the KoM classification. Meanwhile, the pace in the bunch was still quite slow.
Mathias Frank was the first of the riders fighting for the GC that moved the tree. He attacked 41 kilometers from the finish line, quite far for a late stage of the Tour when everyone is more conservative. They Swiss built a gap of 1 minute over a group of 5, including Bauke Mollema and Tejay van Garderen, at the top of the Col de L'Epine. The main bunch was already 2' 25'' behind, as Cannondale acknowledged that Frank was too far behind in the GC. Robert Gesink was working at the front of the pack to chase. Meanwhile, Pavel Brutt and Bryan Coquard lost contact with the break already.
The race really picked up the pace in the Col de L'Epine and Bauke Mollema's group chased down Mathias Frank at the start of the Col de la Croix Fry (23 kilometers to the finish line). This surprisingly took down the gap of the break to 6' 30''. Their success is not guaranteed anymore with a tough climb remaining. The bunch also woke up and David Lopez, Chris Froome and Robert Gesink are leading the chase. They had cut back the lead of Mollema's group to 1 minute. It is amazing how fast this group is cutting down the gap of the break. The stage was much tougher for them than anticipated.
Only 8 riders from the break remained at the front of the race 3 kilometers to the top of the climb. They are really losing their opportunities of winning the stage. The day was very difficult given the wind and that was taking a toll on the riders of the break. Nevertheless, they did not give up and Thibaut Pinot was leading ahead of Cameron Meyer. The group of the leader was 2' 10'' behind as they had reeled back in Bauke Mollema's group. Tejay van Garderen, Peter Stetina and Jerome Coppel were attacking but Laurens Ten Dam was closing gaps.
Michael Morkov crossed the KoM sprint at the top of the Col de la Croix Fry with only around 15 seconds over the group of the leader. Cadel Evans and Bauke Mollema attacked in the last couple of kilometers but Laurens Ten Dam did not want any surprises. In the group of 35 riders Pierre Rolland and Jean-Christophe Peraud are a bit towards the back. The French seem to be suffering to hold on in the group.
Michele Scarponi and Xavi Tondo tried their luck in the descent toward La-Grand-Bornard but the group of the favorites was not willing to give up on the stage win. Mathias Frank was the most interested in bringing them back. It seems like the Swiss is determined to get a stage win in this Tour de France after losing his chances in the GC in the echelons in one of the flat stages in the middle of France. The group of the leader broke into two at the top of the Croix Fry and Pierre Rolland and Robert Gesink were losing 55 seconds. It is difficult to predict a winner in today's stage.
Jelle Vanendert was the first rider to start the final sprint in the slightly uphill finish in Le-Grand-Bornard. The Belgian is very dangerous in reduced group sprints and it would be no surprise if he got the stage. However, he had Tejay van Garderen and Hubert Dupont right behind willing to emerge from behind to get the stage. Laurens Ten Dam and Bauke Mollema are the other riders that are within shot of the win, as it looks like the rest of the group is fading away.
Tejay van Garderen wins in Le-Grand-Bornard! The American takes yet another win in the Tour de France and raises his tally to 4 in this year's race. He might have lost his chances to keep the crown in the crash in Albi but he knew how to make the most of this Tour. Hubert Dupont followed him through the finish line, proving that his crash earlier in the stage had no effect on his performance. Meanwhile, a rather more conservative Laurens Ten Dam was third.
The top 5 in the stage was rounded up by Jelle Vanendert and David Lopez. In the end there were no differences among the favorites in a stage where harder attacks were probably expected. The unexpected wind probably discouraged the riders, who will have another mountain-top finish tomorrow to decide the final positions in the GC.
The last mountain stage of the Tour de France was brought back to the last Saturday of the race, only 1 day before the final stage in Paris. It will be quite a strange stage as, even though it is almost a continuous up and down the stage is really short, at less than 125 kilometers. Also, the only really difficult climb is the last one, Semnoz, which is around 10 kilometers long. Nevertheless, this is the last chance for everyone to gain positions in the GC and there are a lot of teams that have not won a stage in the Tour.
The intermediate sprint was placed in Le Chatelard, 92 kilometers from the finish line. The break had already settled at the front of the race, with a gap of 3' 45'' over the main bunch. It was a group of 8, including Samuel Sanchez (Discovery), Johan Tschopp (BMC), Bradley Wiggins (Katusha), Jempy Drucker (Garmin) and Julien Simon (FDJ). Lars Peter Nordhaug was chasing a few seconds behind. Cannondale seemed to be increasing the pace today compared with other stages, probably normal given the shorter stage.
The Col de Pres was already the fourth categorized climb of the day but not even half the stage had been completed yet. With 75 kilometers to go Cannondale was controlling the pace and keeping the gap at around 6 minutes. The start of the stage was difficult in terms of hills but the pace was quite easy. It seems like all of the favorites will be waiting for Semnoz to have a proper battle.
Jonathan Hivert was first at the top of the Mont Revard ahead of Tom Dumoulin (48 kilometers to go). The riders from the break had even managed to increase the gap of the bunch to 7' 45'', which should give them a chance of fighting for the stage win. The climb to the Mont Revard was very long (15 kilometers) but not too demanding, which means that the riders will get to Semnoz with a lot in their legs. Hopefully we will be able to witness a good final climb in the Tour.
Bradley Wiggins and Tom Dumoulin were the first riders to attack from the break in the final climb to Semnoz. There were better climbers in the front group, so they had to try something different and made their attempt from 10 kilometers out. However, Julien Simon is the first rider to respond and the French was not willing to let them go. Meanwhile, Cannondale increased the pace in the flat between Mont Revard and Semnoz and the gap decreased to 6' 50'' at the start of the final climb.
The first attacks in the main bunch happened also at the 10 kilometers mark. It was riders who were not really dangerous for the podium that made the first attempt: Robert Gesink, Mathias Frank and Andy Schleck. The three of them quickly opened a gap of 35 seconds but Discovery immediately put Luis Leon Sanchez to defend Jean-Christophe Peraud's place in the GC. In the break, Bradley Wiggins is still ahead but with a mere 10 seconds gap over the rest of the group.
Johan Tschopp and Julien Simon closed down the gap that Bradley Wiggins had at the front of the race. The weight of 20 days of racing seems to be taking a toll on some of the riders in the break as Yannick Martinez and Jonathan Hivert started to suffer at the back of the leading group. Among the favorites, Andy Schleck dropped from Robert Gesink's group and was replaced by Cadel Evans. They had a gap of 20 seconds over the group of the leader, where 35 riders still held on. This small gap would be enough for Cadel Evans to jump to the 3rd place of the GC.
Cadel Evans was consolidating his move on the podium with 3 kilometers remaining. The Australian had a gap of around 30 seconds over the group of the leader, where Hubert Dupont and Tejay van Garderen were trying to break from. There was no response so far from Andrew Talansky, who is not giving good signals and could be on his way to lose the final podium. Tiago Machado was also suffering and already 1' 30'' behind Laurens Ten Dam's group at that point.
Johan Tschopp and Samuel Sanchez steered clear from the rest of the break in the last couple of kilometers of the stage, given that their gap over a charging Cadel Evans was threatening their chance to win the stage. Already inside the last kilometer they maintained a gap of 10 seconds over Evans, Julien Simon and Bradley Wiggins. Meanwhile, Hubert Dupont and Tejay van Garderen were 35 seconds behind but only marginally ahead of the group of the leader. Laurens Ten Dam seemed to be gauging his efforts to hold on to the lead.
Samuel Sanchez wins in Semnoz! The Spaniard trailed Johan Tschopp during the last kilometer and overtook the Swiss with 200 meters to go as he did not have any strength to come back at the Spaniard. This is the first win for Sanchez this year, when he has been mostly working for others in the team. Cadel Evans was third, 17 seconds behind the winner and more than 1 minute ahead of Andrew Talansky. The Australian has practically guaranteed himself a place in the podium tomorrow in Paris.
The next group was led by Julien Simon and Bradley Wiggins, 37 seconds behind Sanchez, and it also included Hubert Dupont, Tejay van Garderen, Laurens Ten Dam and David Lopez. The Tour de France was effectively drawn to a close with an entertaining last climb to Semnoz but the fight for the green jersey will still be interesting tomorrow in the Champs Elysees.
The final party of the Tour de France has already arrived and the riders are set for a quiet day in the saddle until they reach the Champs Elysees. The major point of the day will be to know the winner of the likely sprint in Paris, but the green jersey will also be decided, given that Marcel Kittel does not have enough points to have it guaranteed. The three weeks of racing come to an end with the first success in a Grand Tour for Laurens Ten Dam.
A total of 10 riders formed the break of the day after the departure from Versailles. Among them, John Degenkolb (Lotto), Enrico Gasparotto (Quickstep), Jos van Emden (Orica), Warren Barguil (Garmin) and Jeremy Roy (Ag2r). With 80 kilometers to go they had built a gap of 3' 45'' over the main bunch. The main group was having a quiet day and Cannondale were showing themselves at the front. Nevertheless, the teams of the sprinters will be ready to chase in order to have a mass sprint in Paris.
The intermediate sprint was inside Paris, 54 kilometers from the finish line in the Champs Elysees. There was nothing to fight for in the main bunch, given that all of the points would go to the riders in the break, so the sprinters could save their strength for the final rush. Nevertheless, Euskaltel, Trek and Sky were already working at the front of the pack to control the gap, which had come down to 3 minutes. Given that there were no points Marcel Kittel was a bit closer to the final win in the green jersey.
John Degenkolb tried a late desperate attack at the Place de la Concorde, with 10 kilometers to go. However, even though he dragged Tanel Kangert and Luke Durbridge with him they were about to be caught by the bunch. At that same moment a huge crash happened in the middle of the peloton and we could see riders like Robert Gesink, Andrew Talansky and Robert Kiserlovski in the ground. They were taking a while to recover and that could hurt Talansky most of all. He is the fourth in the GC and could lose that position.
Euskaltel was the team leading the bunch as the riders headed to the last 3 kilometers of the race. Lloyd Mondory was leading Alexander Kristoff out, while Marcel Kittel had opted today for following the Norwegian's wheel. On the left of their train it was Trek, with Simon Gerrans ahead of Andre Greipel. Tyler Farrar was well positioned behind. Other riders well positioned are Chris Sutton, Michael Matthews and Yauheni Hutarovich. Among those that cannot fight for the sprint due to the crash are Jose Joaquin Rojas, Elia Viviani and Ben Swift.
Lloyd Mondory was taking Alexander Kristoff perfectly to the last kilometer of the stage. Marcel Kittel seems to be having difficulties even following the pace of the Euskaltel riders. The Norwegian had already won twice in the Tour and was looking for the third stage. Trek was fading a little bit and, as always, Andre Greipel was going to have it difficult to fight for the stage.
Alexander Kristoff started his sprint with around 800 meters to go but Marcel Kittel was almost already at his par with 500 meters remaining. The German seemed to have trouble following the pace by Lloyd Mondory but once he launched his sprint he looked as strong as ever. Meanwhile, on the right-hand side of the road it was Andre Greipel trying to make progress. The rest of the sprinters, led by Tyler Farrar seemed to be out of contention for the win already.
Andre Greipel wins in Paris! It is the second year in a row that the German sprinter manages to take the stage win in the Champs Elysees. Greipel surprised Alexander Kristoff, who took the second place, and Marcel Kittel to take his fourth win of the season, the first in the Tour de France this year. In the end the sprint was really close and actually it was Alexander Kristoff celebrating after crossing the line but the replays showed Greipel only marginally ahead.
The top 5 of the stage was rounded up by Tyler Farrar and Yauheni Hutarovich. The Tour de France draws to an end with Laurens Ten Dam taking his first Grand Tour win and rounding up a perfect year, when he also got a podium in the Giro d'Italia. Hubert Dupont and Cadel Evans will be in the podium with him. The bad news of the day were for Andrew Talansky, who crashed heavily and dropped from the 4th to the 9th position in the final GC. The day ended with bitter disappointment for the American.
The hangover from the Tour de France was not really prolonged as two weeks after the end of the French race the Eneco Tour starts in Belgium. The race is very different to the normal stage race in the World Tour, constrained by the terrain available in Belgium and the Netherlands. The first 4 stages are very flat and will provide several opportunities for the sprinters. However, the last 3 are very varied: a time trial, a mini Liege finishing in La Redoute and a mini Ronde finishing in the Muur van Geraardsbergen.
The characteristics of the race provide a few exciting days towards the end of the race and it is very difficult to predict who the favorites for the win are. Last year Marcel Kittel took advantage of the bonus seconds, which have been halved this year, and his good time trial to take a surprising overall win. The route is the same as last year but without as many bonus seconds it is difficult to see him winning again.
Favorites:
- Cameron Meyer (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Quickstep is lacking wins this season, they have not had even one single win so far and therefore are in dire need of them. The Eneco Tour will be the perfect place for them to get one, given that Cameron Meyer is focusing on the race as a target for him. The time trial in Sittard-Geleen could be the place of the first win for them in the year.
- Cadel Evans (Movistar Team): Cadel Evans arrives in Belgium after an outstanding Tour de France, where he managed to get in the podium after a great last mountain stage in Semnoz. However, even though he could be considering the Eneco Tour as a nice summer rider, he has stated that he is determined to prove that he can perform well in different conditions. If he goes for it he could be one of the contenders for the final win.
- Tejay van Garderen (Trek Factory Racing): Tejay van Garderen crashed in the first week of the Tour and said goodbye to his chances of taking the overall win for a second time in a row. However, that did not stop him from taking 4 stage wins on the way to Paris. The American has been outstanding in the time trials lately and he will probably Cameron Meyer's biggest threat in the 5th stage. The big question mark over his performance is that his peak of form was designed for the Tour and maybe he is over it now.
- Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing): This has not been a great season for Simon Gerrans so far but Philippe Gilbert came to the rescue in the hills for Trek. The Belgian has already managed to get one stage win in the Tour de France and podiums in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. It will be interesting what the strategy is from Trek in this race, as they have several options for the GC.
Other important riders in the Belgian / Dutch race will be Andrew Talansky (HTC - Highroad), Oscar Freire (Lampre - Merida), Chris Froome (Team Sky), Rui Costa (Tinkoff - Saxo), Simon Gerrans (Trek Factory Racing) and Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team).
Among the sprinters there will be a good representation, including Andre Greipel (Trek Factory Racing), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin Pro Cycling), Ben Swift (Team Sky), Alexander Kristoff and Lloyd Mondory (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida).
The first stage of the Eneco Tour will take place in Belgium. The race starts close to the sea, in Koksijde, before heading towards the interior of the country. The stage is completely flat with only a minor hill halfway through the day. The finish line will be placed in Ardooie, close to Roeselare, after 3 laps on a circuit around the town. It is a day that the sprinters will surely enjoy.
It took a while for a break to be settled at the front as many teams wanted to be part of it but the teams of the sprinters did not want a big break. In the end the group had 5 riders: John Degenkolb (Lotto), Tom Slagter (Ag2r), Samuel Dumoulin (Belkin), Maxim Iglinskiy (Tinkoff) and Simon Geschke (Giant). With 77 kilometers they had 5' 15'' over the bunch, where Quickstep and HTC were setting an easy pace at the front.
The first intermediate sprint was placed already in the final circuit in Ardooie, with 39 kilometers remaining. The gap to the break was already coming down fast thanks to the work done by Euskaltel, Trek and Astana. In the sprint of the bunch Andre Greipel was the fastest ahead of Alexander Kristoff and Kenny van Hummel. It seemed like the stage was, as expected, going down to a mass sprint.
John Degenkolb tried a desperate late attack to try to make it to the finish line but in the end all the members of the break were caught by the main bunch with around 12 kilometers to go. Astana had been a bit quite chasing in the last few kilometers but had come to the front a couple of kilometers before and the pace had picked up considerably.
An outstanding Astana team has been taking the peloton in a straight line during the last 10 kilometers of the stage. In fact, with 3 kilometers remaining they were the only team that had managed to form a sprint train. They had a strong lead out for Marcel Kittel, with Luca Paolini and Robbie McEwen ahead of the German. Among the sprinters that were well positioned behind Astana were Andre Greipel, Matthew Goss, Tom Boonen and Kenny van Hummel.
Lloyd Mondory did a great job to make way for Alexander Kristoff to the front of the bunch ahead of the last kilometer. The French is a great help for Alexander Kristoff in this kind of situations as he always leaves the Norwegian with a shot at the stage win. Mark Cavendish took advantage of that work to take his wheel but it seemed like he started his sprint a bit too early. Meanwhile, Astana was not bother by the Euskaltel riders and Marcel Kittel was still well protected. On their left was Matthew Goss, who was also keeping a good positioning.
A surprising Mark Cavendish held the lead of the sprint with 600 meters remaining. The Garmin rider used Alexander Kristoff's wheel and seems to be way better than the Norwegian today. The second rider on the road was Matthew Goss, while on the right hand side of the road Marcel Kittel had just started his own sprint from the line emerging from the wheel of his last lead out man, Robbie McEwen. It will be interesting to see whether Kittel would be able to recover the lost ground in the last meters of the stage.
Marcel Kittel wins in Ardooie! The German was much faster than all the riders that were ahead and in the end only Stefan van Dijk threatened a little bit the win for the German. A lot of riders overestimated their own ability to keep the speed of their sprint. The third place was for Theo Bos, while the British Mark Cavendish and Ben Swift completed the top 5 of the stage.
The stage was more or less as predicted before the start, with a mass sprint finish in Ardooie, where Kittel also won last year. There were barely any crashes, which is always good in difficult circuits like the one they had today.
The second stage of the Eneco Tour is more difficult than it appears at first sight. The final kilometer is slightly uphill, what will make it difficult for a pure sprinter to be a factor for the stage. Additionally, there are a few hills scattered along the route that will make it difficult, especially the cobbled Mont Saint-Laurent in the middle part of the stage and the Bruine Put, only 15 kilometers to the finish in the outskirts of Belgium.
The teams of the sprinters did not want to control the race at the beginning and the break was rather big. Among the 14 riders the most important were Fabian Cancellara (Trek), Nick Nuyens (Garmin), Lars Bak (Ag2r), Bernhard Eisel (BMC), Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil), Taylor Phinney (Giant) and Alberto Contador (Movistar). At the difficult Mont Saint-Laurent, 108 kilometers to the finish line, they had a gap of 6' 45''. Quickstep, Astana and HTC were working at the front of the pack not to let the break take a huge lead.
The main bunch broke in three pieces at the narrow Mont Saint-Laurent and several important riders got stuck in the second group, including Hubert Dupont, Bjorn Leukemans, Marco Pinotti and Simon Gerrans. Belkin did not want Dupont to lose his chances in the GC so early in the race and were chasing hard. However, with 70 kilometers to go the gap had grown to 3 minutes between the two big groups. This also meant that the chances of the break were diminishing progressively.
At the second intermediate sprint, in Alsemberg, the gap to the break had already come down to 1' 30''. Belkin had to burn a lot of riders but they finally managed to bring Hubert Dupont back to the main bunch. Alberto Contador crashed out of the break shortly before, so now it was 13 riders that are ahead. It was uncertain whether the bunch would be able to bring them back in time. Meanwhile, Jean-Christophe Peraud had a very untimely puncture and Discovery Channel was trying to help him back to the bunch.
The break was still ahead with 9 kilometers remaining but they only had a 35'' gap over the bunch but their gap was decreasing quickly. Filippo Pozzato, Borut Bozic and Luca Paolini were chasing in the group. However, the peloton had lost lots of riders in a crash with around 12 kilometers remaining. Among those that crashed were Hubert Dupont, Levi Leipheimer, Dries Devenyns and Alberto Contador again. It is going to be difficult to predict what the result might be today, given that many riders don't have domestiques.
Astana chased down the break but once they were reeled back in there was quite a slowdown in the main bunch. It seems like no team wants to work at the front. The final uphill finish will most likely be too hard for Marcel Kittel and no other team wants to take responsibility for setting the pace. There are less than 80 riders in the front group, given that many domestiques are trying to limit the losses of their leaders that crashed. A group including Theo Bos and Oscar Freire is losing 2' 20''.
The Euskaltel riders Alexander Kristoff and Lloyd Mondory were the first to start the final sprint, close to the 2 kilometers mark. They were swiftly followed by Kenny van Hummel, Yauheni Hutarovich and Alessandro Petacchi. Mondory should be the best in the final uphill kilometer among those that are at the front, although Peter Sagan is chasing close behind and should also be good for the win.
Ben Swift progressed to the front of the race already in the last kilometer, followed by Elia Viviani and Kenny van Hummel. It seems like the riders that started the sprint early were too optimistic and are dropping back, especially the two Euskaltel riders. None of the sprinters in the lead had any help so those that are better at positioning should have advantage in the final rush.
Ben Swift wins in Vorst! The British takes the fourth win of the season by holding off a charging Jurgen Roelandts, who took the second place in the stage. Swift was the strongest in the uphill finish in Vorst, the British is normally a rider that takes advantage of sprints that are not well organized. The third place was taken by Matthew Goss, while Elia Viviani and Yauheni Hutarovich rounded up the top 5.
The Eneco Tour will now move to the Netherlands for the following 3 stages. The first two will be completely flat and perfect for a sprint, while the time trial in Sittard-Geleen will be the first relevant stage for the general classification.
The third stage of the Eneco Tour will take place in the Netherlands, in the area of the dikes. The route is completely flat and in parts slightly below the sea level. The only difficulty of this kind of stages is the wind but the weather prediction does not foresee any difficulties in that sense. Therefore, we should be heading for a mass sprint for the line in the Brouwersdam.
The teams of the sprinters were not willing to allow a big break today, so the group of the break only had 6 riders today, including Joaquim Rodriguez (Discovery), Nick Nuyens (Garmin), Tom Slagter (Ag2r), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) and Bernhard Eisel (BMC). The break took a while to take shape but once they settled in front their gap grew quite fast to 4' 30'' with around 114 kilometers to go. Sky, HTC and Quickstep were the teams at the front of the pack not to let the gap grow to big.
The stage was quite uneventful as the riders approached the second intermediate sprint, at the first passage through the finish line in the Brouwersdam. The quickest for the line was Ben Swift, who beat Alexander Kristoff and Kenny van Hummel. The British rider was accumulating many points already in the points' competition. Meanwhile, Marcel Kittel seemed not to be contending for the jersey. The German won the Eneco Tour last year and seems to be saving energies to try to repeat that performance.
The break was making the task of chasing them back difficult for the main bunch. However, with 9 kilometers remaining their gap had come down to 25 seconds. There are riders like Hubert Dupont, Tony Martin, Anthony Roux and Lars Boom chasing behind in order to make sure that there is a mass sprint today. The wind did not appear and the riders in the bunch are quite comfortable. It is the closest to a break day that the riders that will fight for the GC will get this week.
Belkin and Astana were the two teams that had formed a sprint train with 3 kilometers to go. The peloton had chased down the break with around 5 to go and the sprinters were preparing for the final sprint. Belkin had Alessandro Petacchi ready to lead Kenny van Hummel out, while Cannondale's Elia Viviani was right behind. In Astana it was Robbie McEwen ahead of Marcel Kittel, while Andre Greipel had his fellow German wheel. Giacomo Nizzolo was trying to progress to assist Greipel. Other sprinters that were well positioned were Chris Sutton, Ben Swift and Theo Bos.
Robbie McEwen was winning the race to position his sprinter best ahead of the last kilometer of the stage. However, Euskaltel was also forming their sprint train and Lloyd Mondory was, as always, making a good job of bringing Alexander Kristoff to a good position. It seems like Euskaltel is always on the wrong foot on this Eneco Tour as they are normally a bit late to set the sprint train up.
The main sprinters remained hidden behind their lead out men for a long time in today's sprint. Therefore, Alessandro Petacchi was still leading the way with around 600 meters to go. Marcel Kittel and Kenny van Hummel seemed fairly matched right behind the Italian, while Elia Viviani also looked threatening for them. Ben Swift seemed to be a bit blocked and it would be difficult for him to make progress, while Alexander Kristoff seems to be past his best form and faded away a little bit.
Marcel Kittel wins in Brouwersdam! As we said, the German does not seem to care about the points' jersey and is concentrating on stage wins and, potentially, the general classification. None of the other sprinters were even close to matching Kittel today. This is his 5th win of the year, so he is dissipating all the doubts that were cast upon him before the start of the Tour de France.
The second place was for a battling Elia Viviani, while Andre Greipel was 3rd. Greipel made up a lot of ground in the final half kilometer, as he was probably even quicker than Kittel. The top 5 was rounded by Kenny van Hummel and Ben Swift, who will lose the leader's jersey to Marcel Kittel. Tomorrow's stage will be another one for the sprinters, very similar to today.
Since re-discovering PCM.daily and posting in this subforum last November I saw your thread and I love it and have been checking in every time there's a new post. Excellent writing, excellent screenshots, exciting race action.
Though you provide season recaps I feel this needs a second thread with statistics to accompany the progress. A list of winners of every race and lists of riders and teams with most wins and World Tour points overall. I love it when you single out a rider and summarise his career so far, that would go nicely into this other thread, too.
