Tour de France - Stage 9

The first mountain stage of the 99th Tour was anything but dull.
The day started with Peter Sagan rolling the dice and getting into the morning breakaway, as many would have predicted since he started to slip down the points standings the last few days. And his efforts were enough to take 2nd at the sprint point (beat by a breakaway rider because he was caught off guard) and the rest of the sprinters were also caught off guard as they didn't sprint back in the peloton. Which means Sagan reels back 17 points and is just 6 points behind Cavendish for the green jersey.

In terms of how the GC race went lets just say it all went down on the final climb and Westra had to give up his yellow jersey for the first time.
Plenty of attacks and counters gave the win and race lead to ...

The climbers and puncheurs will be out today with it
being the last stage to take some time back before the ITT.



After what seemed forever the peloton finally allowed
Arnold Jeannesson, Alexandre Vinokourov, and Nick Nuyens to breakaway.
Good day for them as there are plenty of KoM points available.



About 10kms later Sylvain Chavanel and Simon Gerrans try to bridge the gap.



Most of the sprinters are dropped 75kms into the stage,
including the green jersey of Mark Cavendish.
Thus leaving the door open for Sagan to steal the jersey back today!



So with that we fast forward to the sprint point where
the morning breakaway of 3 and then the two chasers come through. Leaving the peloton to sprint for 6th and 10 points.



In fact there is no sprint, Sagan just jumps to the front and takes the points.
Giving him 185 points and the virtually green jersey!



And with that we jump to the final climb where the action
is just getting started as Valverde makes the first move.
Nibali, Voeckler, and Frank Schleck all counter the move.



Very surprising news at the back as Cadel Evans
has missed the split and is struggling to rejoin!
Word is also coming in that Wiggins is near the back as well.



And as it turns out Valverde's move is the only attack on the climb.
Sanchez is forced to chase with no teammates left on the downhill.
Sagan survives the climb and is in the yellow jersey group as well.
Evans, Wiggins, and now reports of Ryder Hesjedal have been dropped.



This stage was built for Nibali as he uses his downhill ability
to attack away from Valverde and F. Schleck.



8kms to go and the helicopter gets a great shot of the race.
Nibali in the lead being chased by Chavanel with Frank Schleck, Valverde, Alexandre Vinokourov, and Arnold Jeannesson next on the road.
Then the yellow jersey group trying to pull everyone back.



Now with 5kms to go Sanchez pulls back Valverde's group nearly by himself!



As the sprint opens up Sagan unleashes!
He quickly goes by Chavanel, just leaving teammate Nibali up the road.



But Vincenzo Nibali holds on! His second stage win and he is proving to be a contender for the yellow jersey after a disappointing Giro.



Make it a Liquigas double as Peter Sagan takes 2nd ahead of Sanchez!
The only bad news is Nibali isn't given a time gap,
which would have given him the yellow jersey.



In fact the whole yellow jersey group is given the same time as Nibali.



Except for Cadel Evans and ...



Bradley Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal who all lose 1'04" today!
I know we all are focusing on the points, where Sagan takes green back,
but the GC battle is looking really interesting now with a critical ITT tomorrow.

Tour de France - Stage 10

After Evans and Wiggins both lost time yesterday
they get a rare chance to pull most or even all of it back the next day
as the race turns to the battle against the clock.



The top 10 as everybody rides through the first sprint check.



Then through the 2nd checkpoint.



Tony Martin can hear that Wiggins beat him at the second check,
so that pushes him to go even faster. He sets a blazing time of 54'18.



Cancellara is riding well today but he comes 12 second short of Martin's time.



Surprise winner of the opening prologue, Lieuwe Westra shows he doesn't like the longer distance as he is over two minutes off the pace.



Sagan dislikes the long distance as well and won't be stealing any
sprint points as he finishes with a time worse then Westra.



Wiggins is on cruise control, and stops the clock with the same time as Martin.
The officials have to go to milliseconds and give the lead to Wiggins.



Evans is gunning for yellow as he stops the clock 44 seconds slower
then Bradley but puts himself in provisional yellow.



Not for long though as Nibali with a solid ride is able to
bump Evans off yellow by a mere 3 seconds!



Thus leaving the yellow jersey himself, Samuel Sanchez.
But with a time 2 seconds slower then Sagan,
Vincenzo Nibali puts on the yellow jersey!