Just as yesterday, we have another flat stage in Le Tour. After the start in Narbonne, the riders head towards Spain and finish after 163km in L'Escala. Except for some midstage climbs, the route is flat.
48km to go Terpstra uses one of the many small hills along the coast to attack out the BOTD. With 48km to go, he has a margin of '43 to them and 5 minutes to the peloton.
5km to go
But it isn't Niki Terpstra's day, as first the 11 catch him again, and later also the peloton does. Then 4 riders attack out of this peloton: Yohann Offredo (FDJ), Sylvain Chavanel (Garmin), Lars Ytting Bak (Saur) and Lars Boom (Rabobank). With just 5km to go, they lead the peloton by '43. And with Lotto - Belisol (for EB Hagen) loosing energy, the chase starts to stall!
1km to go
The peloton with a chasing train turns into a group of individuals, as Lotto - Belisol can't close the gap and the pace drops. The 4 will stay in the lead and get the chance to sprint for the stage win!
Finish
Sylvain Chavanel looks to be the strongest sprinter of the 4, but he miscalculates the sprinting abilities of the Dutch former cyclocross world champion. Lars Boom passes him with an ultimate jump and wins the 4th stage of the Tour de France in L'Escala!! Behind Chavanel, Offredo takes place 3.
The peloton finishes in the same time, with Tyler Farrar beating Francisco Ventoso and Peter Sagan for place 5.
In stage 5, we stay in the Spanish region of Catalunya and head towards the town of Manresa. The stage is pretty flat again, so maybe we'll see mass sprint 2?
41km to go
The first part of the race sees many breakaways. Apparantly, the peloton isn't happy with them, and chase down every sigle one of them. But when Dirk Bellemakers (Rabobank) attacks with about 100km to go, he gets the blessing from the peloton.
It's the 3rd day in a row that Bellemakers is in the attack, doing a "Morkov"! He gets joined by Garmin's Sylvain Chavanel, who sees a nightmare coming true. Yesterday he got beaten for the stage win by a Rabo-rider, and now he is in the breakaway with 2 Rabo's! 2? Yes, 2, as also Luis León Sánchez joins them. With 41km to go, the 3 have a 4'18 lead over the peloton.
13km to go
The best defense is offense, must be in Chavanel's mind, so he attacks with less than 15km to go. And the 2 Rabo's can't follow him, as he is the strongest. The peloton is still 2'12 behind, and again none of the sprinter teams want to do the chase, so the win is possible for Chava!
7km to go
Crash in the peloton!
Somewhere before the middle of the peloton, a few riders hit each others bars and crash. Only 51 riders stay out of trouble, among them 8 of our riders! The crash causes many GC-contenders to loose time. In the picture, we see Ignatiev (Kat) and Garcia (RSh) performing a fantastic synchrome front flip. Roman Kreuziger crashes on the other side of the road, just in front of Jurgen Van den Broeck, who can't avoid him.
All riders, but 1, can continue. But that 1 rider is no one else than last year's runner up Cadel Evans. The Aussie feels like he has crushed his arse and hospital X-rays show he has fractured his coccyx.
Word from the DS
It's strange to see that only 1 team seems to be interested in chasing the breakaways. We don't want to, as our main sprinter Sagan still isn't good enough to get in the top 3, so we don't want to waste our energy.
It's always bad to see a crash, so we feel no joy in gaining 1'30 to a few opponents and feel really bad for Cadel in crashing out with an injury. Hope he recovers well and it isn't the end of his career.
Pretty early in the Tour, the riders have to face the mountains. In stage 6, the route of 166 kilometres starts in Andorra La Valla and the road starts to ascend immediately to the summit of the Port d'Envalira (26.0km at 5.5%). After a long descend into France and the ascend of the Col de Pegueres (12.6km at 6.4%) the final climb to the summit of the Col de la Core awaits, 10.7km at 7.9%.
141km to go
The peloton doesn't want a single breakaway to be formed before the first half of the ascend of the Port d'Envalira is done. Roman Klimov is the initiator of an attack, and gets countered by Blel Kadri (AG2R) and Jelle Vanendert.
These 2 set a pace that is too high for Klimov, and he will fall back, but join again in the descend. Vanendert is the first to cross the line of the KOTM-sprint at the summit of the Port d'Envalira. The peloton is already 3'27 behind.
41km to go Vanendert also collects the maximum amount of points at the Col de Peguere. A small chasing group with riders as Perez Arrieta follows at 1 minute, and the peloton at 5 minutes.
11km to go
The peloton, with Movistar doing the pace, arrives at the foot of the final climb, the Col de la Core (10.7km at 7.9%). The gap to the 2 leaders (only Vanendert & Kadri are in front) is 3'30, what means that the stage win is still possible for them.
7km to go
It takes almost 4 kilometres of the ascending road, before the first attack occurs out of the peloton. Still 3'15 behind the 2 leaders, Rein Taaramäe is the first to attack and he gets followed by LL Sánchez, Nibali, Contador, Intxausti and our 2 leaders Robert Gesink & Andy Schleck. Is this too late for the stage win?
4km to go
Only 5 riders are capable of forming the first chasing group. 2'11 behind the 2 leaders, with 4km to go, Alberto Contador tries to attack out of the elite group with Vincenzo Nibali, Robert Gesink, Andy Schleck and Fränk Schleck. Ryder Hesjedal tries to close the gap to them.
3km to go
Loosing '22 in the next kilometre, Jelle Vanendert feels that Kadri is holding him back. So he attacks and the French hasn't got an answer!
2km to go
Contador hasn't got the legs today to create a gap. The next one to try it, is defending Tour-winner Nibali. The Sicilian knows that the stage win is gone (1'54 behind the leader) but tries to gain some time at his opponents. Our 2 riders simply increase the pace and will close the gap. But the attack causes Fränk Schleck to get dropped!
1km to go
Under the flamme rouge, it is time for Robert Gesink to attack. The win for his Belgian team mate is almost sure, as Vanendert has created a margin of 1 minute to Kadri.
First, Blel Kadri finishes in 2nd place at 1'08. Only '29 later, Robert Gesink takes the 3rd place, followed by Andy Schleck and Nibali. Contador and Fränk Schleck finish '12 behind them, while the other loose 1 minute or more to Gesink and co.
GC
This must feel like some kind of revenge for Alberto Contador, as he gets to wear the maillot jaune. It already looks to be a battle between 4 riders, with Nibali, A. Schleck and Gesink.
Word from the DS
What a great stage for us. First, an incredible effort by Jelle Vanendert, taking the stage win and the polka dot jersey. Secondly, great climbing by Gesink and Schleck. Unfortunately, Nibali and Contador couldn't be shaken off.
(last screen)
