Another flat day and hard to see too much other than the usual happening today with our top sprinters messing about with the time bonuses and then an unpredictable sprint finish.
You never know someone could try a break over the rolling terrain that involves three 3rd category climbs. Nothing to threaten ANC Halfords with their leaders Tanguy and Millar in that competition.
The big target before the big hilly and cobbled stages is to avoid time loss it seems, the pack are happy to soft tap their way through the early going. Almost everyone is shocked to see a rider attacking pretty much from the gun.
It’s Algerian rider Barbari, it's a way of getting noticed for the FC Barcelona team who have had to play back seat in the sprinting so far. This may well suit Cardoso who has shown no appetite for the early sprint primers.
The lone breakaway builds his lead in the lead up to the first sprint prime but the pack elevate their pace to drop his lead under a minute before the sprinters emerge led by Dekkers.
Nelson, Jorgenson, Friedman and Lasca contest this but do not catch Barberi in the process who'll take first. Dekkers is comfortably second with Jorgenson just getting third.
It does move things closer on virtual GC, ignoring Barbari for the moment. It makes it...
1. Cardoso leader (41 points)
2. Lasca at 0 seconds (47 points)
3. Jorgenson at 2 seconds (36 points)
4. Dekkers at 4 seconds (27 points)
5. Nelson at 8 second (20 points)
6. Friedman at 16 seconds (34 points)
7. Moren at 16 seconds (27 points)
8. Nardin at 20 seconds (25 points)
Everyone else is at 28 seconds.
Barberi can now go back to re-establishing a decent lead. Which he does grabbing the first mountain prime with you guessed it Tanguy allowed to roll over for second place.
We reach a tightly packed bunch of primes with 70 km to go and Barbari now has a 4 minute lead over the pack.
Millar and Goddaert lead us over in second and third at the first 3rd category climb. Veteren Millar topping up his points tally.
Freidman gets a nice jump to take the second place points and time at the sprint primer.
Nelson managed to take the third place ahead of Lasca.
Again rather insultingly leaving the actual virtual leader Barbari out of it - we have the alternative virtual leaders table now as so:
1. Cardoso leader (41 points)
2. Lasca at 0 seconds (47 points)
3. Jorgenson at 2 seconds (36 points)
4. Dekkers at 4 seconds (27 points)
5. Nelson at 6 seconds (22 points)
6. Friedman at 12 seconds (38 points)
7. Moren at 16 seconds (27 points)
8. Nardin at 20 seconds (25 points)
Barbari sweeps up his third KoM win of the day to move to 18 points but is still way behind Tanguy and Millar who consolidate their KoM dominance by taking yet more points at this last KoM hotspot of the day.
50 kilometres to go and Barbari leads by about three minutes, you sense it is a lone battle against the inevitable. The Algerian can remember this day though for some time. The pack are happy to keep him clear for the next prime.
Jorgenson only needs 4 seconds to take the provisional lead and he pounces off of Nelson's wheel out kicking Dekkers to take the four he needs.
Of course with the 20, 12 and 8 seconds available at the end there is still all to play for.
Bad news here as we get into the last 25kms Talabardon a big hope for tomorrow's hilly stage punctures.
The pack meanwhile leave Barbari out there for as long as the can. Amazingly it is Allianz who are one of the teams to bring him in.
Into the final stages and Halfords in perhaps their last stage win chance for Nelson have Thwaites leading out Nelson. Cardoso, Jorgenson and Crespo are following him. Meanwhile Allianz having abandoned Talabardon (who is set to lose time) have Maes again leading out Dekkers. Freidman, Nardin, Lasca, Porsev, Gavazzi and Moren are following him.
A nervous Nelson launches early with over 2kms out, this is going to be a tough sprint.
The wind has been fairly high today, which is going to make this sprint doubly tough. A confident Cardoso follows Nelson with Dekkers sticking behind Maes for now.
The riders move around looking for a clear run as Nelson pulls Cardoso clear.
Dekkers in front of Lasca and Gavazzi has moved across to try and track down a Cardoso jet stream. Meanwhile Friedman, Enger, Nardin, Jorgenson, Crespo and Porsev are bunching up the other side.
Cardoso leaves Nelson behind as he approaches the kite. Friedman and Nardin have moved clear of the bunch on the other side of the track. Lasca is overtaking Dekkers with Jorgenson also floundering a bit in the middle.
Nardin kicks on after the kite.
Cardoso has the Gazelle man for company as we get to the final bend. Behind Vattenfall duo Moren and Crespo are in the hunt along with Lasca and Haddi.
Last bend.
Cardoso loses his momentum, Nardin is being battled by Moren and Crespo with Carrara getting up there along with the likes of Mori, Rovira and Florencio.
Moren is overhauling Nardin with Crespo looking solid for third.
Moren takes the win, Nardin is second and Crespo is third in a great day for Vattenfall. Mori pips Carrara with Lasca sixth over Siskevicius in 7th in perhaps a taste of things to come in the hilly stuff.
Moren was just about in range to take the race lead as well. Lasca holds onto the points jersey though it will be tough to defend coming days.
As well as Talabardon, Tanguy and Lampaert are among the notable names who lost time.
Stage results
Once again the golden rule of not going for bonifications helps the second tier of sprinters. The wind hurting yesterdays stage grabber Cardoso - though not as badly as Nelson who is finding the Bretagne sprints really tough.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
3h31'15
2
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
s.t.
3
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
4
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
5
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
7
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
9
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
s.t.
10
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
11
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
12
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
13
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
14
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
s.t.
15
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
16
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
18
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Roy Sentjens
Team Gazelle
s.t.
21
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
22
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
s.t.
23
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
24
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
26
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
27
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
28
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Florian Scheit
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
30
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
31
Alex Meenhorst
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
32
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
33
Alexander Gingsjo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
34
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
35
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
s.t.
36
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
37
David Chokheli
Team Privatbank
s.t.
38
Nikolas Maes
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
39
Guytan Lilholt
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
40
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
41
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
s.t.
42
Kristian Dyrnes
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
43
Ed Clancy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
44
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
45
Danny Pate
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
46
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
s.t.
47
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
s.t.
48
Anthony Delaplace
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
49
Eric Pedrosa
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
50
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
s.t.
51
Andrei Krasilnikau
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
52
Johan Broberg
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
53
Christian Ranneries
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
54
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
55
Oscar Freire
Control Team
s.t.
56
Ludovic Bret
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 2'21
57
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
58
Yves Lampaert
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
59
Artis Pujats
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
60
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
61
Björn Leukemans
Control Team
s.t.
62
Maarten Tjallingii
Control Team
s.t.
63
Tadej Valjavec
Control Team
s.t.
64
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
65
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 3'31
66
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
+ 4'24
67
Leif Hoste
Control Team
+ 6'48
68
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
GC
Morne, Lasca, Nardin and Cardoso can climb though will they be able to resist the absolute specialists tomorrow? For now Moren has the glory of the leaders jersey - Jorgensen once again the bridesmaid.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
11h38'35
2
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 2
3
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
+ 4
4
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
s.t.
5
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 6
6
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
+ 10
7
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
+ 12
8
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 16
9
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 24
10
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 32
11
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
12
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
13
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
s.t.
14
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
15
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
16
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
18
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
19
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
21
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
22
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
23
Roy Sentjens
Team Gazelle
s.t.
24
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
Points
Lasca seems to have some lasting power in the sprints, but two very good stages from Moren puts him right in the reckoning. Bonification sprints could become more lucrative from now on however.
Rank
Name
Team
Points
General
1
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
10
55
2
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
25
52
3
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
7
48
4
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
20
45
5
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
6
40
6
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
4
38
7
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
6
29
8
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
16
28
9
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
12
26
10
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
1
23
11
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
2
22
12
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
14
21
13
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
18
18
14
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
2
15
15
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
8
15
16
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
3
13
17
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
9
11
18
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
0
6
19
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
6
6
20
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
0
6
21
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
5
5
22
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
0
4
23
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
4
4
24
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
2
25
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
0
1
26
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
1
KoM
There are still plenty of points to play for in the mountains competition , Barbari will become a marked man by the ANC mob now.
Rank
Name
Team
Mountain
General
1
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
8
50
2
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
8
44
3
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
2
22
4
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
0
20
5
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
18
18
6
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
0
12
7
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
0
10
8
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
0
10
9
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
0
4
10
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
0
2
11
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
0
2
12
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
0
2
Youth
For now the young sprinters hold the top three places, just maybe Lasca's high positions in this and the green points jersey will elevate his climbing ability. Somehow you doubt even the on loan white jersey will help hill shy Nelson.
