[VdB]

Well, unless the peloton decides to take a break and lets a Frenchmen win from a break!




Last km features a tiny hill and then a downhill straight to the finish. I'm guessing Sagan will have a go to 'surprise' the sprinters if the tempo isn't so smotheringly high he can't. I haven't seen the last km in terms of turns and obstacles, but the downhill part suggest a likelihood of crashes.

[The Rake]

Didn't Veelers abandon yesterday?

Gone Greipel

[Leafcake]

July 14th. The Frenchmen, well represented in the break will have their go at glory.
The wind however may factor in the stage, which should favour the peloton, though the chase may prove difficult. With some 25km to go there is a nasty kick up Mont Saint-Clair 1.6 km long at 10.2%. GC riders will have to be attent and sprinters will have to hang on.
Within the last km they take the left and then the road winds around to the right like a crescent, goes under a bridge and then stretches out with about 200m to go up against the wind.

If the sprinters have their day, Sagan may be deprived of a top 3 spot. He has been toying with his forces quite a lot and in the last intermediates he came up short.

Goss on LeTour: “There’s only one head-to-head sprint that he beat me in and that was the stage he won with his Hulk salute," Goss said to LeTour.fr this morning. "That’s the only time he’s been ahead of me on the flat since the start of the Tour. That’s why I think he might have gone a little bit over the top with his gestures at the finish yesterday.”

Would like to see Goss bounce back and finally get a win.

[Leafcake]

Oh, can hear the wind blowing through the forum rooms.

That was an exciting finish. Morkov riding in memory of his father, BMC drilling on the front in search of wind, favourites attacking up Saint Clair, Wiggins (not Froome) defending, Sagan lurking, hungry like a wolf (too many missed victory celebrations), Lotto drilling on the front, Vino actually attacking and joined by Albasini, Van den Broeck using his fire power to neutralize the gap, LL.Sanchez attacking, the yellow jersey doing the lead out for Hagen and lastly the Gorilla roaring.

Greipel really showing himself to be the strongest sprinter in the race, doing exceptionally well to get over that nasty climb. Sagan getting an impressive second, will he still manage to net another win in this race?

Looking forward to the Champs and the return of the distanced sprinters.

[Mark]

So what happened to the lighter, climbing-better-now Cavendish? I thought he would have gotten over that climb and contested this stage.

Another powerful win from the Vanilla Gorilla! He's a beast right now. And props to Sagan for continuing to mix it up with the best in the world.