After three days in which we have seen quite the sprinters battleground, it's time for the hilly specialists to have their day. The last four stages of this tour have some tricky finishing circuits and none tougher perhaps than today.
Three climbs if the Mur of Bretagne await the riders after another one of those rolling days. Vattenfalls sprinter Moren currently has a narrow lead and you suspect that the early sprints will go into battling again for bonuses amongst the sprinters.
However we have another Lone Ranger today.
Hampton has gone clear and with a decent amount of time before the first hotspot sprint he has time to build a decent lead. Hampton is no climber so not likely to be able to hang on much at the end and has lost time on a previous stage. It's good exposure for Halfords who have been pretty pleased with having dominated the mountains classification by riding on the front.
No sign of Millar or Tanguy at the front today. They both have a huge lead on Gazelle duo Goddaert and Venter. However Privatbank's Sosnitskiy manages to sneak 6 points at this first prime and may need to be added to the watch list.
Hampton has a nice three minute lead by the sprint. So the battle is for second and third.
Nelson takes it ahead of Jorgenson. It nudges both forward on GC and the points competition but things will be shaken up this evening you'd have thought as a result of the hills at the end of this stage. Friedman was the only other sprinter to get out of the pack for this one.
Hampton is having a long day out there and is comfortably controlled at under five minutes by the pack. It is so difficult on his own, he goes through the second sprint prime knowing he'll sleep well tonight.
Bad news here for a favourite for the day as Brice Fiellu punctures with 72km to go.
Friedman manages to take a flier at and take the second place for the second sprint ahead of Jorgenson.
Jorgenson again takes a provisional GC lead of sorts, but today more than ever is unlikely to be able to maintain that to collect a jersey. His teammate Fiellu does get back on but at what cost to his energy you wonder?
60kms to go and Hampton still holds a nice five minute lead. Here his taking the second of today's climbs.
If he can make it to the first Mur de Bretagne summits then he will become Halfords third on that competition. But Vattenfall are beginning to chase helped a bit by Gazelle.
Venter is one of the Gazelle's and he sneaks out six points from the climb and adds to Halfords watch list.
Jorgenson manages to pip Nelson to the last sprint just after the climb meaning he has gained a useful eight points in that classification tying him with 3rd placed Cardoso.
Hampton continues his lone ride still four minutes clear now with 35km to go.
Gazelle begin to flex their muscles.
As the pack approaches the bottom of our first Mur ascent Olsson attacks.
An immediate response from Sys, Scheit and Rovira.
Hampton looks very leggy, but if he can just make it to the too his manager will likely be very pleased.
Behind Olsson and the other attackers have been controlled well by Gazelle. Moren is hanging well at the front also.
Rovira gives it another dig, with Olsson responding along with Furdi, Talabardon, Fonte and Rake.
Hampton makes it across the top first!
A dangerous group of six forms behind:
(Fonte, Olsson, Furdi, Talabardon, Rovira and Rake)
Gingsjo leads a scattered pack for Vattenfalls, he’ll have to work hard to pull things back.
Jorgenson and Dekkers are among those already dropped, but the better climbing sprinters Lasca, Cardoso and Nardin are all still comfortable.
At the bottom of the second Mur ascent the attackers have Hampton in their sights. Risa look for a way to make their numbers count as Rake goes on the attack.
It's a big moment for Rake as Hampton is snapped up by the attackers. Behind the attackers Vattenfall have abandoned the defend jersey plan and sent Gingsjo off to try and bridge to the hill climbers group.
It's now or never to try and bridge as Gingsjo does, so Nardin, Feillu, Carrara now try. It succeeds in sorts as it drags it back together.
Rovira though doesn't want a coming together as he tries to get away up to Rake.
Four riders go with him.
Fonte, Olsson, Furdi and Talabardon.
Behind them the yellow jersey group of just ten riders.
Hampton rather unsurprisingly is going backwards fast. the next group behind has 26 riders and contains Lasca and Maes.
7.5km to go and Rake leads with one last ascent of the Mur to go.
The five (Fonte, Olsson, Rovira, Furdi, Talabardon) are at 30 seconds with the other ten another 30 seconds back. The Maes - Lasca group of now 16 riders is 90 seconds behind that and way off. These Mur climbs are causing major trauma.
Onto the climb, Rake has held that 30 seconds he is going to need to climb well here though to hold off the others.
Desperately, Fonte is making his move, Furdi and Olsson are right there too. Rovira meanwhile seems to be fading off of Talabardon’s wheel.
Further back the others are not far away.
Mori is leading Fiellu and Carrara as the scramble for the best they can get.
Up front.
Rake gets out of the saddle, but you sense it is a between the other three.
Furdi shows again that he has an excellent kick, with Olsson and Talabardon coming past a blowing Fonte.
Yellow jersey Moren has put a brave defence.
But he is blown.
Fiellu has recovered from that puncture and is coming away for sixth.
No doubt about the winner.
Furdi was dominant on that final sprint. Olsson is second and Talabardon third. A shame for the Frenchman he lost time the other day. Fonte went hard earlier on on the Mur and paid for it but still does well in forth, with Risa double Rake and Fiellu 5th and 6th.
Mori, Nardin, Siskevicius and Gingsjo complete our top ten. Rovira really slipped back there to 11th.
A big group including Maes came in some time later, could be curtains for his GC hopes.
Stage results
The first major time gaps and GC shake up and Furdi really did show his class there. Risa produced a brave numbers game attack, whilst Fonte also did a good job.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
4h00'25
2
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 13
3
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
s.t.
5
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 31
6
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 43
7
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
8
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
+ 58
9
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Alexander Gingsjo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
11
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 1'06
12
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
13
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
s.t.
14
David Chokheli
Team Privatbank
s.t.
15
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
16
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 1'39
17
Danny Pate
ANC-Halfords
+ 3'52
18
Kristian Dyrnes
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 5'54
19
Anthony Delaplace
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
21
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
s.t.
22
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
23
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
24
Nikolas Maes
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
26
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
27
Florian Scheit
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
28
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
29
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
s.t.
30
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
s.t.
31
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
32
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
33
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
+ 6'32
34
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
35
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
36
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
37
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
38
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 6'49
39
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
+ 7'20
40
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
+ 7'32
41
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
42
Johan Broberg
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 7'54
43
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
44
Andrei Krasilnikau
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 8'03
45
Yves Lampaert
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
46
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
s.t.
47
Guytan Lilholt
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
48
Ludovic Bret
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
49
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
50
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
s.t.
51
Eric Pedrosa
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
52
Alex Meenhorst
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 8'45
53
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
54
Roy Sentjens
Team Gazelle
s.t.
55
Artis Pujats
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 9'31
56
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 12'50
57
Ed Clancy
ANC-Halfords
+ 13'08
58
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
59
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
60
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
61
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
62
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
63
Björn Leukemans
Control Team
s.t.
64
Maarten Tjallingii
Control Team
s.t.
65
Tadej Valjavec
Control Team
s.t.
66
Christian Ranneries
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 13'38
67
Leif Hoste
Control Team
+ 18'42
68
Oscar Freire
Control Team
s.t.
GC
Gazelle take control of the GC, Risa have three though in the top eight.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
15h39'12
2
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 21
3
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
+ 33
4
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 51
5
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
+ 58
6
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
s.t.
7
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
+ 1'03
8
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 1'18
10
Alexander Gingsjo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
11
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 1'26
12
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
13
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
14
David Chokheli
Team Privatbank
s.t.
15
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 1'27
16
Danny Pate
ANC-Halfords
+ 4'12
17
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
+ 5'46
18
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 6'14
19
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
20
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
21
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
22
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
23
Florian Scheit
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
24
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Nikolas Maes
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
26
Anthony Delaplace
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
27
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
28
Kristian Dyrnes
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
s.t.
30
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
s.t.
31
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
s.t.
32
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 6'52
33
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
34
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
35
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
36
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 7'01
37
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 7'13
38
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
+ 7'40
39
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
+ 7'52
40
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 7'54
41
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
+ 7'55
42
Guytan Lilholt
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 8'23
43
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
s.t.
44
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
s.t.
45
Eric Pedrosa
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
46
Roy Sentjens
Team Gazelle
+ 9'05
47
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
+ 9'13
48
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
+ 9'55
49
Ludovic Bret
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 10'44
50
Johan Broberg
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 11'08
51
Andrei Krasilnikau
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 11'17
52
Alex Meenhorst
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 11'26
53
Artis Pujats
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 12'12
54
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 12'50
55
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 13'02
56
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 13'28
57
Ed Clancy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
58
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
59
Yves Lampaert
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 13'38
60
Christian Ranneries
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 13'58
61
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 15'13
62
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
+ 15'30
63
Maarten Tjallingii
Control Team
+ 15'49
64
Björn Leukemans
Control Team
+ 18'25
65
Tadej Valjavec
Control Team
+ 18'57
66
Oscar Freire
Control Team
+ 19'02
67
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
+ 20'13
68
Leif Hoste
Control Team
+ 30'32
Points
Nardin added to his points haul despite the parcours, proving a really good tweener. Lasca took it easy today whilst Moren battled hard but proved fruitless.
Rank
Name
Team
Points
General
1
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
0
55
2
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
8
53
3
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
0
52
4
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
3
51
5
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
8
48
6
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
4
42
7
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
25
40
8
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
4
30
9
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
9
30
10
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
0
29
11
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
6
28
12
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
0
28
13
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
0
23
14
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
5
20
15
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
20
20
16
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
7
18
17
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
0
18
18
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
18
18
19
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
16
16
20
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
14
14
21
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
0
13
22
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
12
12
23
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
10
10
24
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
1
7
25
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
0
6
26
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
0
6
27
Alexander Gingsjo
Vattenfall Cycling
6
6
28
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
0
5
29
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
0
4
30
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
0
4
31
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
2
32
David Chokheli
Team Privatbank
2
2
33
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
0
1
34
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
1
Mountains
What is ANC Halfords game plan? They continue to flood the mountains rankings with Hampton, though GC man Finte could now threaten.
Rank
Name
Team
Mountain
General
1
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
0
50
2
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
0
44
3
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
36
36
4
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
24
26
5
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
6
26
6
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
0
22
7
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
20
20
8
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
18
18
9
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
6
18
10
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
0
18
11
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
16
16
12
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
12
12
13
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
0
10
14
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
10
10
15
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
0
10
16
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
8
8
17
Guytan Lilholt
Vattenfall Cycling
8
8
18
Christian Ranneries
Vattenfall Cycling
8
8
19
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
0
4
20
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
0
2
21
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
2
2
22
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
0
2
23
Ludovic Bret
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
2
2
Youth
Two youthful Gazelle's lead this ranking. Siskevicius was fairly quiet today though impressively survived in the second group.
Name
Team
General Time
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
15h39'12 (1)
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
+ 58 (2)
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 1'18 (3)
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
+ 5'46 (4)
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
+ 6'14 (5)
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
+ 6'14 (6)
Florian Scheit
Vattenfall Cycling
+ 6'14 (7)
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 6'14 (8)
Anthony Delaplace
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 6'14 (9)
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
+ 6'14 (10)
Kristian Dyrnes
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 6'14 (11)
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
+ 6'14 (12)
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
+ 6'14 (13)
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 6'52 (14)
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
+ 6'52 (15)
Teams
Our first glimpse at the team rankings which only award points at the end of the race. Risa with three prominent riders at the business end lead over the useful Privatbank team. Gazelle's third rider was way back so this one will not go there way you think.
