The rest day claimed several riders who spent the day assessing their injuries and deciding to slip out whilst they could. 5 failed to start Tuesday's stage:
Vladimir Karpets withdrew after cycling the last 6 stages with a broken hand. He said it was getting harder to grip the handlebars as the roads got steeper!
Roger Kluge of Milram is out with a broken hand as well, sustained in a crash on Sunday.
Simon Gerrans on Team Sky also pulled out after breaking his arm in a crash on Sunday, 7km into the stage. He then rode the remaining 182km up the mountains with said broken arm!
Tough guys these pro cyclists!!
Stage 9: Morzine-Avoriaz > Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: Tuesday 13th
Stage 9 sees the riders do battle on the slopes Col de la Madeleine the hardest climb in the Alps this year. To give you an idea of just how brutal it is the riders have to ascend 1600m up in 25km to and altitude of 2000m above sea level.
The early break away was reduced down to 5 riders and by the time they reached the Col de la Madeleine they had a 5 minute advantage over the ever stretching Peleton.
With 40km to go Armstrong gets dropped and one by one the GC contenders get left behind. Novarro of Astana sets a quick pace and only his team mate Contador and Andy Schleck can match it.
Andy Schleck is in fine form sending wave after wave of attack at Contador. Samuel Sanchez makes the junction to them only to be dropped with another Schleck attack. Then it happens again, poor Sanchez is just tapping out a rhythm whilst Contador and Schleck mess around ahead of him.
With the break away extending their lead over the Yellow Jersey to nearly 8minutes they start the 30km descent. Contador and Schleck agree to work together and set off down the mountain at speed.
Sanchez is the solo chaser, pedalling furiously to try to catch Schleck and Contador.
Armstrong and Basso cross the summit and begin descending, no sign of Cadel Evans yet or any of Team Sky.
With 3km to go the break away is nearly 9minutes and 30seconds ahead of the Yellow Jersey.
They group of 4 (Moreau dropped off) as it is now begin to size each other up for the upcoming sprint.
Ahead of them are a few corners then the last corner before the line.
Unbeknownst to them Schleck, Contador and Moreau are closing in at a rate of knots.
Coming into the penultimate corner Schleck dives up the inside much to the other riders surprise.
Alas the break away riders out sprint Schleck and Contador, with Sandy Casar taking the win ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez and Damiano Cunego. Samuel Sanchez threw his all into chasing Contador and Schleck but is paying the price. The poor lad looks exhuasted as he cruises over the line solo 52seconds behind.
Armstrong and Basso cross the line 2mintues and 47seconds after Casar, and Wiggo 5minutes
The Yellow Jersey of Cadel Evans crosses the line 8minutes down. Exhausted and emotional the weight of the Yellow Jersey was borne heavily by Evans who relinquishes to Andy Schleck.
In last place was Britains David Millar, 42minutes down having been out on the road for 6hours and 20minutes.
The reason why was revealed later, riding with ripped intercostal muscles round his ribs, his body was over compensating and the left side of his back was causing him pain, in turn over stretching his left thigh. So with the whole of his left side severely weakened he hit the Col de la Madeleine, the scene of his only retirement from the Tour in 2001. Already 30minutes down before the 25km climb and with 80km remaining, Millar found a second wind and dragged himself up the climb and hurled his broken body down the descent to finish the stage, remarkable given his condition and the fact he'd been riding solo for nearly 6 hours.
Stage 10: Chambery > Gap: Wednesday 14th
Happy Bastille Day everyone! Despite the usual plethora of French riders breaking away to gain vicotry on their most famous of days, this stage was last claimed by the froggies back in 1995! Will their luck be into today?
Standing in their way will be 3 big climbs, the toughest of which is a category 1 Col de Leffray a 7km with a 9% gradient.
After several failed attempts a four man break goes clear, joined a bit later by two more riders as they approach the Category 1 climb. With a 14minute lead over the Peleton in places the break away seems certain to stay away today.
With the spectacular final descent under their belts the escapees begin to attack each other. Sergio Paulinho of Radioshack claims the satge win by the width of a wheel rim from Vasil Kiryienka.
The peleton cruised in 14 minutes behind with the exception of Nicholas Roche. The Irish rider made a jump with a couple of km to go and pulled out nearly a minute on the Peleton, enabling him to leapfrog a few riders including Wiggo, and claim 15 place in the GC. Shrewd riding indeed.
David Millar finished at the back of the Peleton, happy to have an easier day than yesterday!
Stage 11: Sisteron > Bourg-les-Valence: Thursday 15th
Robbie Hunter withdraws from the race before the stage start, after breaking a bone in his elbow after a fall yesterday.
The first Brit to leave the Tour this year is Charlie Wegelius, after coming down with a stomach bug and unable to keep any food or drink in he has been withdrawn.
Now safely out of the Alps, this stage had sprinters written all over it.
Come to think of it every stage has sprinters and riders written all over it:
Still you know what I mean.As per usual the early break went away but there was no chance the sprinters teams would let them stay out all day.
Saxo Bank have the Peleton stretched out as the crosswinds and headwinds wreak havoc. Jens Voigt and Fabian Cancellara once again doing the lions share of the work to keep Andy Schleck safe up front.
With 20km to go the Peleton haul in the remaining two from the early break and normal sprinting service is resumed as HTC head the pack.
With a few hundred metres to go Mark Renshaw is leading Cav out perfectly with Garmin coming up on the outside. Julian Dean the lead out rider for Tyler Farrar of Garmin shifts his weight towards Renshaw who responds by thrusting his head towards Dean. Four times this happens as Dean visibly leans on Renshaw and changes line, then they realise their respective riders.
Cav powers to a comfortable victory, his 3rd stage of this years Tour and his 13th Tour stage in total.
Behind him Renshaw sees Farrar coming up and shifts to block him and slow him, cynical and deliberate, no doubt seeking revenge for Dean's interference a moment before.
And thus the furore began.
The commissars decided that Renshaws actions were unacceptable and he was declassified from the results immediately, then they decided to expel him from the Tour entirely.
To quote the chief commissar moron, Jean-Francois Peschuex
"We've only seen the pictures once, but his actions are plain for all to see. This is a bike race, not a gladiator's arena."
Now don't get me wrong, Renshaw was out of order for blocking Farrar and that deserved a fine or declassification. But to throw him out, incidentally the first rider in 13years to be thrown out, for his reaction to a dangerous move by Dean, is a massive over reaction.
Its no secret that the comissaires don't like Cav, that was evident enough last year when he was penalised for shutting out Hushovd when it was the course that narrowed and Cav stayed on line. His declassification from the stage cost him the Green Jersey and it looks like the ruling today may well do the same.
The power tripping commissars obviously watched the replay on a fuzzy hand held TV somewhere because they seemed to have missed the infringement by Dean and run out of batteries to watch it a second time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L8VLgLX7AM
It remains to be seen what impact it has on Cav's Tour.
Tomorrow its a bit of a curve ball, normally an easier day between the Alps and Pyrenees, its set to be a tough one with numerous climbs scattered through the day. Maybe sees some major losses by the already suffering GC contenders who aren't called Schleck or Contador. Maybe the commissars will step in and go on a power trip again? Who knows?
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