Once again the stage surges towards the coast with the only noted climb of the day, a Cat 4, coming inside the first 50km. A sprinters stage if ever there was one. Nothing particularly taxing about the stage aside from the need to be near the front to avoid the crosswinds in the last 70km as it hugs the shoreline. The finish is on a slight uphill which could favour the likes of Gilbert, Hushovd maybe even Swift or Thomas.
Shortly after the descent of the Cote de Gurunhuel a crash brings down 12 riders, Wiggins, Chavanel, and Leipheimer the most notable. No one seems to be too badly injured and they dust themselves down as the Peleton gears up for the sprint point.
Cav, Boonen, Rojas, Feillu and a couple of others contest the sprint with the break away having mopped up some of the points already.
Rojas has a good lead out and with Boonen on his wheel the push forward, Cav makes a dash up the left hand side only for Rojas and Boonen to meander over and cut him off into the barriers then go to the other side. Cav sits up and shakes a fist in disgust! One for the commissaires to sort out. Or not.
The Peleton regroups only for there to be another crash, involving Gesink and Brajkovic. Gesink looks to be in pain with his wrist but eventually remounts his bikes and rides on to catch up the Peleton. Radioshacks Brajkovic isn't so fortunate looking bruised and concussed he is put on a stretcher and out of the Tour. Contador also takes a tumble requiring a change of bike.
The Peleton seem not to care with Leopard at the front forcing the pace.
Contador's team mate Sorensen tangles his handlebars with a photographers motorbike and his bike gets whipped out from under him sending him sprawling down a grass verge.
Europcar's Kern retires at the 90km mark.
Then its Boonen's turn to hit the asphalt hard, along with a team mate, looks to be a nasty one as well. He takes his time but eventually gets on an rides to the finish.
With the break swallowed up with 45km to go its down to the sprinters teams to up the pace and lead out their men. Voeckler and Roy lunch and audacious break from 30km to go but get caught with 3km left.
Its anyone's sprint as Boasson Hagen launches early taking Gilbert, Hushovd and Rojas with him, Cav's HTC are all gone and he's left following Geraint who inadvertently gives him a great lead out. With 100m to go Cav switches on the afterburners and pips Gilbert to the stage win and number 16 of his Tour career. And they said it was too uphill for him! Ha!
Better news follows with the commissaires ruling in favour of Cav and disqualifying Boonen and Rojas from the intermediate sprint. There nothing if not consistent these commissaires. Great day for Cav, woeful day for Boonen who limps across the line 13 minutes later.
Stage 6: Dinan > Lisieux: Thursday 7th July
Another coastal stage with rolling hills including two cat 3 climbs and one cat 4 and a short climb to the finish. Probably enough to separate off the pure sprinters but not enough to see off the punchy sprinters like Hushovd, Swift, Boasson Hagen and the like.
One non starter today, Valesco of Euskaltel who went down yesterday late on.
The Peleton sets off at a brisk speed averaging 50kmh for the first hour, but still a break goes off the front gaining nearly 10 minutes in just 66km!
A mixture of rain and sun with some wind gives the potential for some more crashes.
Gesink and Contador both have to change bikes after mechanical incidents.
At the sprint point Cav gets lead out to take the remaining points left after the break have been through and catch on those ahead of him in the Green Jersey.
Joogerland breaks off the front to get the King of the Mountains points.
The break is caught with 10km to go and with 6km remaining Leipheimer takes a tumble on a slippery white line.
The final km is peppered with mini breaks by Vino, Voeckler and a couple of others.
At 500m to go Geraint leads out Boasson Hagen who kicks off the front with 400m left. Chased down by Gilbert, Hushovd, Rojas and Goss (HTC) he holds them off til the end to take Sky's first Tour stage win!!
Gilbert holds on to Green by 1 point and Hushovd still remains 1 second ahead of Evans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment