A decidedly uphill drag at the end of a flat trek to the edge of the Jura mountains today as we travel from Epinal in the Vosges to the beautiful riverside city of Besancon in Doubs. A chance for recovery for many after our tough Vosges outing yesterday, where Taaramäe seized yellow with a stunning solo victory at La Planche des Belles Filles.
Today's finish should still see the sprinters in action, but perhaps we'll see Houle and Grosu come to the fore with their skills uphill. Although as we saw in Weiden, these two are in great nick even in a regular sprint. For the first time this Tour, there are no KoM points along the way, but being in a breakaway at Le Tour is such an honour and an exposure that there should still be some motivated riders. Plus after a day like yesterday, who knows what a powerful and co-operative group of baroudeurs could do?
Only six riders made an attempt at the breakaway today and the peloton seemed content with that. Your morning breakaway then: Braico Dumoulin Nascimento Van Baarle Olsson Newton. This is a very powerful breakaway with some great time triallists, proper roleurs. The peloton will need to be careful how much advantage they give them for free.
Van Baarle leads through the intermediate sprint in the town of Vesoul, the breakaway have 4'32 on the peloton, 85km to go.
Kraftwerk, eBuddy, and T-Mobile have been doing most of the work in the peloton so far today.
Under the 20km to go banner and the gap is down to 1'14 thanks to Volvo joining in the chase, and this should be a comfortable catch for the peloton as it was in Prague and Weiden.
However with 10km to go the gap has come down by only two seconds! Though they should still be caught, the peloton really need an injection of power to catch the time-triallist filled group ahead!
5km to go, Newton has been dropped (the gap is about to be filled by the commissaire's car) but the now-quintet in front are working together well and have 58 seconds in hand!
The finish is in sight as the riders reach the barriers signalling 3km to go, the trains are being formed by the peloton and this will be a very exciting finish, the breakaway have no room to much about and the win isn't secure either but they still have 40 seconds' gap!
Dumoulin is the first to attack but this could be the beginning of the end for the breakaway is they get cagey with still 2.8km to go and the peloton now eating into the gap! Olsson is in the wheel of the Dutchman. Don't forget the uphill drag to the line which should help the peloton.
A disorganised chase behind, Volvo are the only team with a clear train but it's Haller who leads the peloton ahead of Tzortzakis. Afewerki, Grosu, Cavendish and Havik are the best positioned, we can also see Kupfernagel, Vesely, Boeckmans and Houle behind, as well as Reinhardt and Mansilla following the Volvo train.
It looks like Olsson vs Dumoulin in the break with Braico not far behind, but Van Baarle and Nascimento being left for dead! Still 30 seconds' gap but these two are basically going full gas from over 2km out!
Ariesen hits the front and Volvo look like they have this under control, the uncaught breakaway notwithstanding, whilst Haller-Kreder-Cavendish have got themselves organised on the far right hand side! eBuddy's train completely behind both of these two but Grosu not switching wheels just yet!
Braico is done and dusted as Ariesen bears down on the breakaway! Nearly flamme rouge for Olsson and Dumoulin, the Swede hitting the front now!
Bertilsson and Kreder launch, the Volvo rider with the advantage at the moment. Meanwhile. Reinhardt and Gerts are looking to find the wheel of Ahlstrand, whilst Kupfernagel, Afewerki and Vesely are in the wheel of Cavendish, Tzortzakis is in the wind with Havik behind, and Boeckmans and Houle are following Grosu!
900m to go for Olsson and Dumoulin, Olsson still leading as we hit gradients of 3-4% here in Besancon, 27 seconds is their advantage but surely they'll get the lactic acid hit soon?
Kreder uses the incline to get Cavendish back on terms with Ahlstrand, the Manxman goes early to get the drop on the Swede! Reinhardt, Grosu, Boeckmans and Houle following the latter and still the same guys following the former. Meanwhile Tzortzakis has completely blown up after not being able to find a wheel at all for the last 3km! Braico, Nascimento and van Baarle about to be caught here as well.
It'll be Olsson vs the peloton as Dumoulin cracks! 600m to go, come on boy! What a finish here in Besançon!
A show of gamesmanship on both sides as Kreder doesn't bother to get out of Kupfernagel's way, meaning the German loses Cavendish's wheel, whilst Ahlstrand launches around Naschimento and Bertilsson and looks to block Reinhardt. The Swede with more pace and half a wheel's advantage on Cavendish. Van Baarle not giving up on a top 10 finish here, whilst Reinhardt and Grosu look like the only ones who can challenge the two leading sprinters. But up ahead
Olsson is just 500m away from the biggest day of his cycling career if he can just keep going! A long, tough 500m coming up but he can still do this. The crowd screaming him on, go go go!
Indeed those four sprinters look the best here as nobody else can match them, in fact it's Van Baarle, Nascimento and Bertilsson, who have just spent 185km and 1km respectively (they both hurt, ok?) at the front who still lead, whilst Kupfernagel, Boeckmans, Afewerki and Houle look the best of the rest.
Olsson is over the rise and it's a light downhill from here, 300m to go and so close to glory!
This sprint is a real strength sapper and these guys are going 10-15km/h slower than they did in the last two flat finishes! Grosu, predictably, seems the fastest but it's pretty tight and the positions aren't really changing!
Allez Allez Olsson, come on man bring it home! Don't forget Dumoulin, too, who is putting in a brave ride and not giving up on second! You've got to love this performance from our morning escapees, 186km at the front could all become worth it in just 200m's time!
No change in order here but Grosu about to come around Reinhardt with 300m left, meanwhile quite far behind, it's Kupfernagel leading the battle for seventh ahead of Afewerki and Boeckmans!
Victory for Michael Olsson, what a stunning finish here in Besancon! A truly amazing effort, basically sprinting for 2.5km! An upset win on such a stage but good work from all of the breakaway to make it happen on a smart day to pick.
A Swedish 1-2 as Ahlstrand takes second after a great leadout from his team, but he'll be disappointed not to be on the top step. Cavendish is third after also receiving a great leadout, Grosu is fourth after his team didn't make such a great leadout. A close battle for third though - the Romanian clearly would have clinched it if the last 250m were uphill.
A heartbreaking finish for Dumoulin, 6th is a consolation but not what he wanted with that last 3km attack. A powerful ride, one of the big contributors to the pace near the end and a tenacious last kilometre, even when he knew he had lost he fought through the pain and oh so nearly made it onto the podium. Reinhardt suffered too on that uphill drag but just manages to come around to nab the last spot in the top 5 from the Aegon rider.
A close finish but it's Boeckmans-Houle-Afewerki-Vesely rounding out the top 10. A great finish for the Canadian, who surely should have positioned himself better, as he looked one of the best in the uphill sprint of anyone.
Our winner today - though he doesn't quite seem to believe it himself - is Michael Olsson! What a ride, a well-deserved victory and some joy for his Grieg-Eftel team, who have accomplished their ambition of a stage win here!
Ahlstrand reclaims green, but could lose it again tomorrow to Gesink.
In the GC fight, Taaramäe will look to extend his advantage over Spilak, whilst Gesink will look to win back some lost time from yesterday. Down the order the likes of Haig will be hoping to utilise their chrono skills to regain some lost time.
