And today we got the queen stage of this lovely french race. We got 90-ish kilometers of various bits of hills and flats before hitting Mont Faron.
Today's stage will determine not only the winner of the tour, but also the winner of the mountains competition as there are 32 mountain points before Mont Faron.
Today's breakaway is sponsored Pocky: Your favorite chocolate covered breadsticks!
Stroetinga (NOS), Grychenko and Dall'Antonia (Kenda), Del Nero (Santander), Rincon and Mancuso (Ultimate), Sulzberger (Irn Bru), Genghis Myagmarsuren (Wal-Mart), Lasri (M&M) and Pardilla (Energie-Diesel)
Del Nero is only 8 points behind Schultz now and the next gives 16 points.
This picture sums up what happened on the second climb: Just as the break stabilized, it broke as Lasri and Pardilla accelerated. In the rear you can see Del Nero attacking and taking the dotted jersey.
For added fun Butterfield (Wal-Mart) and Terpstra (Irn-Bru) attacked from the pack.
Second climb results:
1 - Pardilla - 16 pts (20 in total)
2 - Lasri - 12 pts (20 in total)
3 - Del Nero - 10 pts (40 in total)
Del Nero are in the dots and Pardilla and Lasri are joint third.
This chase is sponsored by Jack Wolfskin, your supplier of... wolfskins?
Status report with 50 done and 50 to go:
E1: Pardilla
E2: Rincon, Lasri, Grychenko, Mancuso, Sulzberger, Del Nero and Dall'Antonia - +1'14"
E3: Uighur Myagmarsuren - +2'30"
E4: Stroetinga and Butterfield - +3'15"
P: Almost everyone else and Terpstra - 3'45"
Two guys who went down but you wouldnt care: Van Den Eynde (Jack Wolfskin) and Thuaux (Ultimate) - +5'45"
35-ish to go: P.P.M Marquez attacks and reaches his teammate Myagmarsuren of Delhi. They are promptly caught by the pack again. As were Stroetinga and Butterfield, but again, did it really matter?
Status report with 26 to go and 12 until the next "climb":
E1: Pardilla
E2: Rincon, Lasri, Grychenko, Mancuso, Sulzberger and Del Nero - +1'35
E3: Dall'Antonia - inches in front of the pack
P: - 3'30"
A1: Hutchinson the dropped (NOS) - + 6'30"
A2: The twin crashers - +8'00"
Now stuff happens:
17 to go: Attacks: Pinto (Benfica), Kirchen (Wolfskin), Calzati (BMC), Marquez (Wal-Mart), Ventoso (Santander) and Corioni (Energie-Diesel)
The attackers immediately reach the E2 who will now be caught by the pack.
2 minutes ahead, Pardilla takes the final mountain sprint putting him at 30 points. And Del Nero takes second and puts him at 48 points.
And we are at the foot of Mont Faron. Its now 5 kilometers of climbing.
Pardilla looks strong as he enters the climb with 1'45" down to Calzati who are the sole chasers.
Calzati got 49 seconds down to the pack where the other favorites fell down to (hopefully) save the energy for a final attack.
4 to go: You call, they deliver: Marquez attacks and is followed by De Ketele (Kenda), Rutkiewicz (M&M), Kirchen (Wolfskin), Vital (Energie-Diesel)
And... the race leader/sprinter/54 MO extraordinaire... Benoit Sinner... Who is again followed by some other guys...
3 to go: Pardilla is almost caught by Calzati. Behind Calzati we got Kirchen, Rutkiewicz and Marquez chasing. De Ketele and Vital are still within striking distance of the others while Nozal, Madrazo and Lewis and a couple of others are still in front of the pack.
2.3 to go: Kirchen overtakes Calzati who is overtaking Pardilla.
After catching them, Kirchen immediately slows and lets another four riders catch up.
1000 meters: A group of 7 will contend the sprint: Kirchen, Calzati, Rutkiewicz, Marquez, De Ketele, Pardilla and Lewis from Irn-Bru.
And well, no epic sprint really. Kirchen takes off and Calzati is the only one who can challenge him. Rutkiewicz and Marquez comes third and fourth.
And because the game loves crashing: The rankings in screenshot shape:
