A much flatter stage but it was taken at a faster pace than previously, with the peleton perhaps feeling it okay to stretch themselves a little more as the rest day approaches. This of course meant there was no hope for the days break.
Hagen took Hushovd's wheel in the sprint as his fellow Norwegian followed Juan Pablo Forero
Mikhail Ignatiev was feeling good today and had an early spurt at the front in the sprint
The fact that Forero wasnt closing in outlined the Colombian's weekness and as other sprinters started to come alongside Hagen, he knew it was time to go
Behind him is Danniele Bennati - a disappointing Tour so far for Bennati, with just two top 10 results, and a best of 4th - taken anonymously on Stage 8. Today he is ready to challenge though.
Bennati just edges infront and theres nothing that can be done, Hagen is edged out once again.
The consolation is the extension of his points jersey lead - Hushovd never made his move, sticking with Forero. He crosses the line 16th, but is only awarded 19th - an added bonus for Hagen.
Just 93 men finished in the peleton, with the rest lacking the strength to follow. Contador, Uran and Iglinskiy came home 3 minutes later in the next group.
There was a minor crash, but that was amongst riders already struggling. It did however cause 66th and 67th overall riders Cyril Dessel and Maxim Belkov to abandon.
Serious questions no doubt have to be asked of race organisers - a rest day already? Just the 9 stages gone, 6 for the sprinters, 1 short ITT, a TTT and a hilly stage - hardly worthy of a rest is it?
Not that I should complain, the terrain so far has suited the team well, and we enter the rest day with all four leaders jerseys.
Edvald Boasson Hagen 1st 1st 38th 1st
No doubt the stand out rider so far. 3 wins if you include the TTT, 2 second places, and a 3rd. He leads the GC by over 2 minutes - and who knows how long he can keep it, dont forget that he was 8th overall in last years Vuelta! Ultimately, his aim will be the green jersey, and he now leads Hushovd by 26 points.
Cadel Evans 2nd 39th 53rd N/A
Our team leader can be happy with how the race has started, despite a poor prologue. The TTT provided a huge aid and although losing some time on the tricky hilly stage, he is leading his rivals without the pressure of Yellow and should thrive in the mountains.
Mikhail Ignatiev 4th 15th N/A 3rd
Perhaps surprisingly, it is our Russian who has led the way so far in the time trials. 6th in the prologue and then leading the team across the line in the TTT placed him 2nd overall. Then followed on Stage 6 with a strong attack near the end to take 2nd behind Hagen, he rested on the hilly stage before taking 10th and 15th in the next two sprint stages. A good start, and he will aim for some breakaways at some point in the race.
David Millar 8th N/A 40th N/A
13th in the prologue, and playing a key part of the TTT, Millar has been spending the bulk of his time protecting Hagen in the pack. Focus may soon turn to protecting Evans but he will also be keeping an eye on breaks later in the race.
Alberto Contador 63rd N/A N/A N/A
Any hope the Giro winner had of a Giro/Tour double soon faded as he was dropped by the pack on Stage 4. He has been disappointing and did not shine in the TTT. Sure he was 6th, but he was expected to be part of the 5 at the finish that would have set a stronger time. Now 10 minutes down in the GC, he must look to salvage something later in the race.
Maxim Iglinskiy 79th N/A N/A N/A
Having battled past Saul Raisin to take his tour spot, he has been biding his time, waiting for the mountain to rise and for him to truly aid Evans.
Rigoberto Uran 117th N/A 1st 38th
After an early season injury, this is just his 3rd race of the season after Eindhoven and a pre-Tour one day race. Although 20th in last years Giro and 14th in last years Vuelta, he is not aiming at a high GC playing but rather the King of the Mountains jersey. So far, so good.
Ben Swift 120th N/A N/A 40th
It was always going to be a steep learning curve, but perhaps Swift didnt realise just how tough it would be. Whatever happens, this race will have benefited him, and he will be determined to improve his current high stage finish position of 60th.
Bradley Wiggins 126th 68th N/A N/A
Just 7th in the prologue but a 2 minute victory in the TTT for the team meant job done for Bradley. He will now be helping out wherever he can, as well as targeting the other ITT of the race.
Clearly a mountain stage .. no wait its classed as hilly.
Not that the rating matters to Rigoberto Uran. Ignoring the very early KoM (Contador just relayed to the front so he could at least win something in this race), Uran then got away in the successful break.
40 points on offer for the first big climb, and as the break whittled down to just him, Wegelius, Trampusch, and Valjavec with Astana's Coue struggling, our Colombian crossed over the top first
10 points for the next smaller climb: Check
30 points for the next bigger climb: Check
But that was that, he ran out of energy in the descent, after Wegelius but just before Trampusch and Valjavec
He then picked up another KoM point on the small climb at 156km, shortly before being caught. The GC riders attacked there and Evans reluctantly had to follow, but fortunately the descent blocked the moves so there would be no crazy early move.
As expected, the attacks came on the final tough climb of the day. Kohl led off and Evans was quick to follow - but Dekker and Andy Schleck waited a little while. Having led the pack all day, would their teammates be able to chase everyone down?
Kohl has a gap over Menchov and then Kreuziger and then Evans' group
Andy Schleck, Dekker and also Gesink then made their moves and swept past Evans to join Menchov and Kreuziger in the chase of Kohl.
Evans is with Van den Broeck, Brajkvoic, Rogers, Pereiro, Zubeldia and Gerdemann.
Kohl leads over the top of the climb
While the Dekker/Schleck group trail by around 50 seconds.
Despite a +5 day, Evans has been unable to make an impact and he can only watch as his GC hopes slip away even before the mountains. He follows fellow countryman Rogers down the descent
Kohl isnt going to be caught as the line nears
The Austrian celebrates victory - but not the Yellow jersey
Dekker takes 2nd with teammate Gesink 3rd - Thomas Dekker now takes the leaders jersey, with a small advantage over Andy Schleck
Evans is shattered - if he loses this much on a +5 day, what hope is there? 2'39 down on Kohl, 2'12 down on Dekker's group.
Hagen leads in the next group to take 14th, just ahead of Kirchen and Hushovd. He was completely exhausted by the finish, while the strongest DFL rider (apart from Evans) was Iglinskiy, who is also in this group
Uran is already King of the Mountains and he hopes to keep it that way. He went with the first attack, but Rabobank chased it down. So to compensate, Hagen went in the 2nd break - as surely Rabobank would chase him? Well, they did so reluctantly, since none of the attackers were relaying. It did allow Hagen (now in Green, a suitable DFL colour) to win the first KoM for 10 points though.
Uran wasnt really gaining muich blue back and it wasnt helped by the increase in pace of capturing Popovych who had attacked, so we formed a plan. Hushovd was to beat Hagen at the intermediate sprint...
.. but Uran followed and used the pace to catapult himself into a solo lead
He was later joined by 11 others as they pulled away, the plan had worked!
However Uran was not having such a great day, not fully recovered from Stage 11 it seems, and he was unable to prevent only coming 4th on the first climb
He made up for it on the 2nd one (Col d'Aspin) though - rather than taking his last drink in the descent, he took it early and used the blue bar to guarantee full points on the Aspin
And so to the Tourmalet. 62km still to go and damn, Kreuziger attacks
There goes Kohl, Gerdemann and Andy Schleck is off!
Evans, Pereiro, Menchov and Dekker soon follow the Luxembourg rider.
They cant follow him for long though as he powers up to the breakaway group
Pereiro is solo behind the break/Schleck and ahead of Kohl, Menchov, Kreuziger, Dekker, Rogers and Evans
Andy Schleck rips through the break group and although Uran follows him for a short while, the Colombian is soon out of energy
Its all coming together behind as the break merges with the other attackers
Into the tunnel and Janez Brajkovic puts in a storming attack. Coming out of it he has a minute over Dekker/Evans but is still a minute behind Schleck
But behind Brajkovic its all back together! The break, the attackers and the peleton are back amongst each other. Not ideal, but at least Evans now has some teammates with him.
Schleck soars over the top of the Tourmalet. He leads by 3 and a half minutes!
Its not as if Brajkovic is doing too badly either
The Slovenian holds nearly 2 minutes on 3rd over the top Kreuziger, who made a mini attack for points with Popovych, Menchov and Gesink
16 men are chasing these 4 - including Evans, Contador, Iglinskiy and Millar! Pereiro and Gerdemann are missing though.
Andy Schleck is 'frankly' inbeatable. While his 3'30 gap over Brajkovic is maintained - the Maillot Jaune group are now 6 and a half minutes back!!!
A minute in front of the Dekker/Evans group is Kreuziger
Kreuziger had attacked over the top with Popovych, Menchov and Gesink. But while he is still clear the other 3 have gone off the back!!! Kloden is also dropping back to ask teammate Menchov was on earth he is doing, but theyre gapped now!
As we reach the end of the descent and the start of the climb to Cauteret and the finish, the DFL helpers are starting to feel the pace. First Contador, then Millar and latterly Iglisnkiy.
Zubeldia is also struggling backwards as the group catches Kreuziger
Menchov tries to attack back to the group but to no avail. He will have to drag himself up to Iglinskiy and Zubeldia, although Iglinskiy certainly wont help him. Others who thought they could attack back include Pereiro and Gerdemann.
The Dekker/Evans group drops Di Gregorio and thins to 10. They are unable to make any impact on the 2 minute gap Brajkovic has over them - but Jani is losing time on the stage leader, soon to be race leader and now the likely race winner. Andy Schleck wins the stage!
With around 4km to go (Yes, Schleck was 4km ahead), Dekker and Gomez Marchante try to attack their group but get nowhere. Seeing an opportunity, Evans drinks up and attacks!!
Brajkovic meanwhile will take 2nd place, just under 5 minutes behind Schleck, he did well not to crack
Evans comes in for 3rd, gaining a useful 30 seconds on Dekker, Kohl, Kreuziger and the rest of the group
Menchov loses 3 minutes to Evans (8 and a half to Schleck) as he finishes with Pereiro and Gerdemann. His hopes of even a Top 5 finish are surely over.
Just behind Menchov came Maxim Iglinskiy. Proving himself as the leading helper to Evans, taking the role Contador was supposed to fill, his ride will lift him 20 places in the GC - from 50th to 30th. Well done also to David Millar, who rode brilliantly today - outsprinting Contador at the finish.
