The breakaway could only hold off a small distance once the race entered the second half of the day, and thanks to hard work by the riders of landbouwrekredit, the group were soon reeled in.
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With no breakaway, the riders of TYT set up at the front of the peloton, notably Miguel Rocha, Adriaan Basso and Kando Boss pushing the mass group forward, and reducing the chance of any successful break.
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When the first of the sprints arrived, Mike Pye saw an opportunity to attack, suspecting he may need all the points he could find if he was to hang onto the gold points jersey. as such, with just under 1k to go, he attacked, and took the 6 bonus points made available to the first rider to cross the line.
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Having taken the points, he slowed his pace so as to not waste effort, and the teams drew ever closer to the line. Pye was on the back of one of the two leadout trains that formed, with his main rival Geslin of FDJ on the other. Zhou's form was poor, and he found himself over exhausted to take his pivotal "Renshaw" role. so Cavendickx once again did the honours.
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The sprinters set off, but Geslin was better placed on the wheel of Pye, and as the sprinters powered over the line, it was sadly Geslin who had taken first place.
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Was the performance enough? had he clung on?... find out soon
The General Classification
No stage lent itself to anything but a mass sprint finish, and as such, it was one of these that did finally take home the jersey. He's occupied it since day one, and Mike Pye of TYT can be mighty pleased with himself for this one, podium places on 3 out of 5 stages and and 1 stage victory, mean that Mike Pye finishes up as overall leader, though Geslin of FDJ squeezed him to joint first place on the final day, due to the time bonuses.
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The Points Classification
Despite owning it all the way through, Mike Pye never seemed to believe that just the final sprints would be enough, on the final day Mike attacked one of the checkpoints, and it would seem, he made the right decision, in the final standings, Pye was sat just 5 points in front of Geslin, if he hadn't chosen to attack, he would of finished second place. Still a great result, and a second jersey for his collection.
The Under 25's jersey Mike Pye as GC winner, at 24, also claims this, the youngsters jersey, afetr a collection of powerful sprint finishes on a flat tour.
The board at Team Youtube Twitter had a collection of tough choices to make for this years T.D.M, regarding what squad to choose.
With a potentially decisive mountain stage on the last day, they felt it best if they had a strong climber to seal a potential victory, and at the same time, not wishing to send any of the unfit climbing specialists they wish to save for the GT's later on this year.
The team eventually decided to rest their sprinters Pye and Zhou, especially considering the terrain of most of the races stages. Instead hoping to take the GC, rather than a points jersey.
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The stage itself was a fairly short, and flat stage, so it seemed likely a sprinter would claim this one, and as such, it seemed likely to be a lazy day for the TYT riders, still, not wanting to work to catch a break, Il Cassano joined the morning breakaway, which quickly gained a fairly sizeable lead.
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The two teams who had named strong sprinters gave chase, FDJ trying to set up the rider W.Bonnet, and Team Bretagne, who managed to reduce the lead of the break to under 2minutes.
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Alexander Il Cassano saw an opportunity to attack from within the breakaway group, much stornger than the rest, and this close to home, he felt his best opportunity was an attack, in the hope of an unlikely stage win.
As he passed the KOM checkpoint 7km from home, he still had 59" on the chasing pack, and it seemed he may be able to carry his lead all the way to the line.
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Just a small distance away from home, there was a huge crash in the peloton, after an AG2R rider fell, and took down 30riders with him, including Miguel Rocha of TYT, the post race doctor has had a look and he will be fine fortunately, but the crash did shake him up a bit, and his GC position has been damaged by the incident.
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Meanwhile, out in front, as the sprint started, Cassano was still leading, he had 2km to go, and 20seconds on the clock, could he make it?...
He could, the group pulled him back to the main bunch, sadly negating his lead, but he was still first across the line, beating Bonnet of FDJ, and taking 25 points for himself, excellent ride, and congratulations to him.
The Board here at Team Youtube Twitter would like to know of any particular objectives your riders may have for the coming season, any requests, kindly let em know soon
The second stage of the tour has a hilly profile, without any huge climbs for riders to get away on, could go to a breakaway rider, or to a sprinter if no one is able to make full use of the hill climbs on todays stage.
Very few riders attacked early on todays stage, Bassie Adriaan found himself out in front with 2 other riders, though due to the very hilly start, he quickly left these behind him, and was alone away from the pack.
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Whilst out in front Bassie collected an unopposed full set of points towards teh KOM jersey, during todays stage, meaning that he will be starting tomorrow's stage in a race jersey. He also managed to extend his lead over the pack, could we possibly see a repeat of yesterdays stage? a TYT breakaway rider claiming victory over the pack?
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With 15k, he still had 48" on the peloton, but they were closing by the second, victory looked impossible for Bassie, but still a fine rider by the TYT veteran.
