2012 Tour de France Stage 7, 7/07/12

July 7, Stage 7: Tomblaine - La Planche des Belles Filles 199km

Froome leads double Sky success on La Planche des Belles Filles

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-7/results)

In shades of the 2011 Vuelta a España, Christopher Froome  led a doubly successful stage for Team Sky on the first mountaintop finish of the 2012 Tour de France. He was the only one who could match and top Cadel Evans (BMC) in the brutal final 100 meters of the climb up La Planche des Belles Filles in the seventh stage. Evans was second, with Sky's Bradley Wiggins third.

Fabian Cancellara fought long and hard but had to drop back on the climb. Wiggins thus moved into the overall lead. Evans is now second at 10 seconds, with Vincenzo Nibali third at 16 seconds, as the top ten was tossed around.

“It wasn't the plan to go for the stage, it was just keeping Brad up there,” said an overjoyed Froome. “But we came to see the climb previously and I knew what the finish was like. I thought, 'I'm there, I've got the legs, why not give a kick and see what happens?' I gave it a nudge and couldn't believe when Cadel didn't follow my wheel."

The end result was the icing on the cake of a dominant performance by Team Sky, who drove the pace and whittled down the field on the newest climb in the Tour. They dropped several big names along the way, due to either crash-related injuries, mechanicals or simply an inability to stay with the high speed set mainly by Edvald Boasson Hagen, Michael Rogers and finally Richie Porte.

In the end, Froome and Wiggins led the high-powered group with Evans and Nibali into the final kilometer. The Froome-Wiggins combination was a familiar one from the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, and once again Froome showed his superior climbing abilities. Evans was the first to jump from the group as the gradient eased, and only Froome could go with him. As the road kicked up again, Froome passed the Australian to claim his first Tour de France stage victory.

“I was expecting someone to surge on that flat bit, and Cadel came through. I jumped onto his wheel. I could see him slowly hurting as the climb got steeper. that was fantastic for us. Having Bradley right there 2 seconds behind, We couldn't ask for more. It puts the team in a fantastic position going forward.

“I'm speechless. That was a dream come true. I never thought of winning a stage here. I'm chuffed to bits.”

While the main battle played out between Evans and Froome for the stage win, Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramae had minor victories of their own, becoming the only other riders to hang onto the front of the race. The Cofidis rider moved into the white jersey of best young rider after Tejay Van Garderen was dropped early in the climb, while Nibali moved into third overall, now 16 seconds behind Wiggins.

With his stage win, Froome also displaced Michael Morkov as best climber, while Peter Sagan padded his lead in the points classification in the intermediate sprint.

A reduced field

There were 12 fewer riders at the start of the seventh stage, four of them having abandoned during Friday's stage. All eight DNF's today were victims of the many crashes in the sixth stage, including Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal. They were soon enough joined by Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun.

About 20 km into the stage, an escape group formed and got away: Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), and Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge). The gap reached a maximum of about six minutes before settling in at around five and a half minutes.

The only excitement in the first half of the stage came at the intermediate sprint. Orica-GreenEdge looked to determined to take the remaining points for Matt Goss, but the team seemed to have started its jump far too early. In the end, Peter Sagan of Liquigas sailed on by the Australian to add to his lead.

The first two climbs of the day – the Col de Grosse Pierre and the Col du Mont de Fourche (both category three) - did nothing at all. The seven leaders rolled right over them, although on the approach to the latter, Sanchez complained about the fans running alongside.

The gap finally started coming down for good with about 40 km – and the final category one climb – to go. As the road went up and the gap went down, more and more sprinters and injured riders fell back.

The Planche de Belles Filles was an unknown factor, as it was making its Tour debut. The 5.9km closing climb featured an average gradient of 8.5 percent, with sections up to 13 percent, and the final 100 meters at 14 percent.

Garmin was suffering the loss of three riders, with others having dropped back, but those remaining riders spent much time at the front of the field. They were finally replaced by Bosson Hagen, who led the capture of Gautier, the first rider to fall out of the lead group.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) suffered a mechanical with about 11km to go, and had to race hard to try and catch the field again. Adam Hansen was there to help him, but it was a long haul. Alejandro Valverde punctured shortly thereafter, so another top rider had dropped out of the main field.

Boasson Hagen put up such a speed that the field split. And only moments after starting the final climb, the lead group was caught. But the brutal pace and the new climb did their work, as more and more riders suffered, including Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) ad Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

With five km still to climb, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) had to bid farewell to the lead group, the overall lead and his yellow jersey. Only a small group went into the final four km – but neither Fränk Schleck nor Andreas Klöden was among them.

In there, though were Wiggins, Evans, Nibali, Boasson Hagen, Froome, Richie Porte, Rein Taramaae and Denis Menchov.

Froome, who proved himself in last year's Vuelta a Espana, took over from Boasson Hagen and pulled the increasingly smaller group up the final climb. Even Menchov fell back with less than two km to go.

Froome, Wiggins, Evans, Nibali and Taaramae went together unter the flamme rouge. Evans moved into the lead with 400 m to go and the sprint started. Taaramae was dropped it was Froome who made his move on the 14% gradient to take the win, with Evans taking second and Wiggins third.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:58:35
2	Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team	0:00:02
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
4	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:07
5	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne	0:00:19
6	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:44
7	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	0:00:46
8	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
9	Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team	0:00:50
10	Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:56

Favorite Pictures of the Day:

Sagan doing a wheelie as he crosses the finish line

L. Sanchez awarded Most Agressive Rider...after punching a spectator who got too close. :)

2012 Tour de France Stage 4, 7/04/12

July 4, Stage 4: Abbeville - Rouen 214.5km

Greipel wins Tour de France stage in Rouen

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-4/results)

Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) opened his account at the 2012 Tour de France with a sprint victory in Rouen. The German came off the wheel of lead-out man Greg Henderson and powered to the stage win ahead of Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) and Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano).

However, the build-up to the sprint was marred by a crash with 2.5km remaining as several sprinters hit the tarmac, including world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky). Bernhard Eisel, Cavendish's teammate and Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) also hit the deck, with Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) lucky to escape the carnage.

But Lotto made their own luck, controlling the peloton through the final few kilometres and delivering Greipel to a winning position. It drew memories of HTC's former dominance, not just in the fact that five of Lotto's current cast came through the Highroad ranks but also in their efficient nature. While they assumed the mantle of responsibility the other sprinters, including Cavendish, were left fighting for their positions.

"I'm so happy today. I am so happy to have those guys on my side, such strong riders to lead me out. This is what we wanted to reach today, winning a stage," Greipel said at the finish.

Greipel, it must be noted, was the only top level sprinter to pass on competing in the intermediate sprint but Peter Sagan consolidated his lead in the battle for green with a sixth place in Fécamp. He also navigated through the crash to finish 5th on the stage, just one place behind Matthew Goss, who was never able to come on terms with his ex-teammate. Sagan now leads the race for green with 147 points with Goss next on 92.

The top of general classification remains unchanged as Fabian Cancellara continues in the yellow jersey with a seven-second lead over Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Battered riders welcome calm start

After yesterday's chaos came the calm, with a 214 kilometre stage from Abbeville to Rouen. With no wind and only four fourth categorised climbs the peloton was in no mood to see a repeat of yesterday's events. So there was little surprise when a three-man break, comprised of Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) and David Moncoutie (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne), was allowed to escape.

With no GC threat in the break's ranks the trio was allowed to build its lead to over 8 minutes while the bunch meandered along the French coastline. RadioShack-Nissan, with Cancellara in yellow, was obliged to keep the gap in check and dutifully set tempo on the front.

At the back of the bunch Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) nursed their broken bones, riding in single file with the sole ambitions of finishing. The gradual pace was a godsend.

At the intermediate sprint in Fécamp, Arashiro took the maximum points but the race behind briefly came to life when the peloton approached. Cavendish showed a clean pair of heels to Goss and Renshaw, with Sagan sweeping up a consolatory 9 points. Greipel's absence from the action was an ominous sign, though, and in his post-stage press conference he confirmed that the battle for green was of no interest.

With RadioShack-Nissan having performed the majority of the chase work it was the sprinters' teams who finished off the break's last ray of hope with 8.5 kilometres to go. FDJ-Big Mat, Katusha, Orica GreenEdge and Lotto Belisol showed their intentions while Sky and Rabobank briefly sat back.

An immediate counter-attack containing Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), only seven seconds off the race lead of Fabian Cancellara, plus Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) gained a small advantage, but this trio, too, was neutralised with 3.5 kilometers to go.

And then the crash: Cavendish, Eisel and Hunter were among those involved, the Austrian left with a gash on his forehead, while the world champion was left sitting on the French tarmac, his stage hopes and green jersey aspirations almost over.

Sagan and Cancellara avoided the bodies and bikes but the peloton was shattered to pieces. Argos-Shimano, Lotto Belisol and Orica GreenEdge had virtually intact lead-outs but Lotto, with Henderson, Hansen, Roelandts and Sieberg, had the survivors in check.

"We had Lars [Bak] up at the front working," Hansen said at the finish. "Towards the end there was a bit of a climb and Lars held his position well. Then we had Jelle doing the climb. Then from the top of the climb, it was my job to keep them in front, using the guys from the other teams and sitting on them, always keeping a good position and then I let go about two and a half and there were two guys behind me from different teams and that was good. And behind them there was Sieberg, Roelandts, then Greg did his work and André finished it off. It was perfect."

Goss and Petacchi, the latter racing without a final lead-out man, were left to fight it out for Greipel's rear wheel but this was textbook Greipel. Often he can go missing in the messy sprints but if delivered to the final 200 meters he is Cavendish's closest rival. Petacchi made a late surge on the German's right but it wasn't enough, the Italian no longer the sprinter he once was.

Full Results

 

1	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team	5:18:32
2	Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
3	Tom Veelers (Ned) Argos-Shimano
4	Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
5	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
6	Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
7	Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
8	Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
10	Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

2012 Tour de France Stage 1, 7/01/12

July 1, Stage 1: Liège - Seraing 198km

Sagan triumphs in Seraing

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-1/results)

Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale took his first Tour de France win in the first stage of his first Tour de France, outsprinting yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) for the victory. The trio had escaped from the field in the final 1.5km of the stage, under the impetus of a powerful surge from Cancellara, and charged their way up the closing climb in Seraing, Belgium.

There were no changes in the top five of the GC, but the pure time trialists fell out of the top ten. Cancellara easily retained his seven second lead over Sky's Bradley Wiggins with Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) holding third place overall, tied on time with Wiggins.

The stage was marked by a breakaway group which enjoyed approximately 190 kilometers of freedom, but the finale went to the top guns. Although a large group came to the end and was given the time of the winner, the usual sprinters were not involved.

Sagan had been a favourite to take the win on this tricky finish, and Boasson Hagen was no surprise either. But it was not so expected to see Cancellara fighting those two for the stage win, and he has now really shown that he is recovered from his shattered collarbone at the Tour of Flanders and has his self-confidence back.

"Of course people told me I was the favourite," said Sagan. "I knew that Chavanel would try something at the end. I wanted to attack at the hardest section. It was very, very good that Cancellara was there. I saw that he had strong legs. It was good to take it easy behind him."

From the gun

The full complement of 198 riders started on Sunday for the 198 kilometers from Liege to Seraing. And almost immediately after the sharp start, six riders attacked and proved to be the break of the day.

The RadioShack-Nissan-led field was happy to let Yohann Gène (Europcar), Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) and Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) go. Their lead jumped around from 1:10 (after being stopped at a level crossing) to 4:50 but RadioShack-Nissan never let them get too far away, and their advantage settled around the three-minute mark.

Tony Martin's problems in the 2012 Tour de France continued. After the time trial world champion suffered a puncture in the prologue, he proceeded to crash early on in this stage, and seemed to have difficulty staying up with the field much of the day. Open wounds could be seen on the Omega Pharma-QuickStep German's elbow, and it was said he had injured his wrist as well.

The July weather in Belgian is no better than that during the Spring Classics, and the peloton went from overcast to rain to sun, and back again. Fortunately the dry weather prevailed during the nervous finale.

The day's only intermediate sprint came at 139km , and it was hotly contested by both the break group and the peloton. Gene took maximum points at the head of affairs, while in the field Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) claimed seventh place ahead of Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol).

The oldest of RadioShack's oldies, 40-year-old Jens Voigt, proved why he was named to ride his 15th Tour. He put in many kilometers at the head of the field and was especially vigilant on the front when the gap to the break had crept up again. The German veteran was instrumental in keeping their lead pegged at a comfortable level, ably assisted by Yaroslav Popovych

Along the way, Morkov and Urtasun fought it out for every mountain point. The Dane was the lucky winner, raising a "number one" finger as he took the penultimate climb, but the Basque rider was quick to congratulate him.

With 50km to go, RadioShack-Nissan turned on the speed again and, helped by a tailwind, brought the gap to under two minutes. The Luxembourg-based team was still, as they had all day, doing all the lead work alone.

The escapees hung on gamely to their lead, even as it dropped. With just about 30km to go, though, it finally fell beneath the one minute mark as behind them the other teams started bringing their captains into position. Finally, too, other teams were seen at the head of the field but the impetus in the field momentarily stalled as the gap to the break slowly crept back up again.

At just about the 23km mark four riders crashed, including Mick Rogers of Sky, two Movistar riders and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), who remained on the pavement a long time but eventually got up and continued. Shortly thereafter there was another large crash when a fan saw the need to stand in the road to make photos. The speed had been turned on for good by that time, and the lead group took only 28 seconds into the last 20km. The field, scenting the catch and possibly affected by the crashes, was much more hectic than the six escapees.

It was a rolling, curving lead in to the finale, with everyone going all out. BMC, with Marcus Burghardt, had now moved to the front of the field. The inevitable ultimately happened, and with 9km to go the six leaders were caught. Bouet held out longest, but he had no chance against the field now led by Lotto Belisol. The appearance of Andre Greipel at the head of things showed, though, that the Belgian team was not looking for a mass sprint.

The peloton was strung out as it started up the final climb, but it was still a large group. All the big names were at the front, as Orica-GreenEdge pulled them along. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) jumped at the 2km marker, but Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) caught him on the steepest part of the climb. Cancellara pulled the rest of the field up to the two.

And then Cancellara took off with 1.5km to go! Sagan attached himself to the yellow jersey's rear wheel and the two pulled away. Cancellara was unable to drop Sagan and the lead duo were joined by Boasson Hagen with just over 500m to go, and the three went into the closing – and very high-powered – sprint.

As the field came closer and closer Cancellara opened the sprint at the 150 meter marker. Sagan moved easily around the yellow jersey holder and proudly took the win, sitting straight up and appearing to do a victory dance on his bike.

Full Results

1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	4:58:19
2	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
4	Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
5	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
6	Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
7	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8	Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Sharp
9	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Sharp
10	Dries Devenyns (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

2011 Tour de France, Stage 18

Today’s stage was 200.5km, starting in Pinerolo and taking the riders to Galibier-Serre Chevalier. There were 3 HC climbs today.

An early breakaway of 20 didn’t last long. Then there was an attack by Meersman and Marcato, which again didn’t last. However, right before the intermediate sprint, a group of 16 fled and got the points: Duque, Posthuma, Delaplace, Devenyns, Tjallingii, Bookwalter, Irizar, Erviti, Hondo, Navardauskas, Perez, Urtasun, Ignlinsky,  Monfort, and Roche. Hoogerland is the 16th man. Burghardt, Delage, and Silin were able to bridge to the breakaway.

With 115km left, the breakaway has almost 9 minutes.

With 99 to go, Zeits and Gilbert have attacked the peloton. They were soon joined by Barredo, Leipheimer, Riblon, Di Gregorio, and Koren. Meanwhile, Hondo have dropped from the lead group. Cavendish and Petacchi are being dropped from the high-paced peloton.

Leipheimer, Di Gregorio, and Westra have attacked the chasing group. They get 30” clear of the peloton and are joined by Gesink and Moncoutie. The rest of their groupare back to the peloton.
Duque, Delage, Erviti, Irizar and Bookwalter are all being dropped by the leaders.

Ignlinsky is the first man over the summit of the first climb. Hoogerland, Devenyns, and Monfort follow, but Ignlinsky continues solo.

Gilbert, Voeckler, and Vanendert bridge to the Leipheimer, but the peloton is closing in. A lot of the riders in the lead group are also falling back.

With 60km left, A. Schleck attacks and opens up a good gap. Rolland tried to follow, but couldn’t. With 58km remaining, he has a 45” lead over the group with the Yellow Jersey. Schleck was able to make it to Posthuma, who fell back from the leaders. Posthuma is working hard for his team leader. Three kilometers later, Schleck takes off on his own. He now has a 2 minute advantage over the other GC contenders who are working hard to chase him down.

No surprise, Ignlinaky is first over the 2nd summit. As the peloton continues the climb, Uran is dropped off the back.

Monfort waits on the descent for Schleck. The two soon join forces with Devenyns and Silin. Only Roche is between them and Ignlinsky. And soon, they are with Roche. Only Monfort seems willing to work with Schleck.

With 30km remaining, the Schleck group catches Ignlinsky. With 20km remaining, they have almost 4 minutes over the Contador group. But then there were 3, as only Ignlinsky and Roche can hold Schleck’s wheel.

The Yellow jersey group can not seem to work together. The leaders are gaining more and more of a gap. Schleck is soon up to 4’15” with 11km left.

With about 9km left, Evans attacks the Yellow Jersey group. Soon the others are back with him, but they are chasing A. Schleck harder.

With 2km from the finish, Contador is dropped!

In the final kilometer, F. Schelck attacked the Yellow Jersey group to make it a Schleck-Schleck 1-2. Voeckler keep the Yellow by just 16 seconds!!

Stage 18 Results:
1 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 6:07:56
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:15
4 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:02:18
5 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:21
6 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:27
7 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:02:33
8 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:03:22
9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:03:25

Cavendish and others come in over 35 minutes later. They were not disqualified but they did loose points.

2011 Tour de France, Stage 15

Today's stage is a 187km ride from Limoux to Montpellier. This is only one category 4 climb today and the intermediate sprint fairly close to the finish.

Bonnet didn't start today, after missing the time cut yesterday.

The breakaway of the day started as soon as the race began. Delage was first to attack, and was joined by Terpstra, Dumoulin, Ignatiev, and Delaplace. The maximum gap was 4 minutes with 122km left.

At the top of the first climb, Igantiev gets the one lone KOM point.

Delage crossed the intermediate sprint first, taking the majority of the points and Cavendish led the peloton over.

With about 25km left, Ignatiev attacks the leaders and is followed by Terpstra. The duo had a maximum gap of 46 seconds with 14.6km to go. The remaining 3 were caught with a little more than 10km to go.

With only a 12 second gap left, Ignatiev gives up as Terpstra continues on his own for a few more minutes. Right before the peloton catches Terpstra, Gilbert and two other riders attack and pass the lone original attacker. This new trio is caught before the last kilometer.

With a nice leadout by Renshaw, Cavendish takes the win!

Stage 15 Results:
1 Cavendish
2 Farrar
3 Petacchi
4 Oss
5 Rojas
6 Swift
7 Ciolek
8 Gallopin
9 Ventoso
10 Hinault

2011 Tour de France, Stage 10

Today’s stage is 158km and it takes the riders from Aurillac to Carmaux. There are 4 categorized climbs today, two category 3 climbs and two category 4 climbs. The riders had a rude awakening today, a hailstorm to ride through!

Two less riders took the start today: Popovych abandoned due to a fever he couldn’t shake and Kolobnev is our first rider in this Tour who has tested positive for doping.

After just 16km of racing, we have our first crash: Cancellara, Leipheimer, Leukemans and Galland were all involved, but everyone got back on their bikes.

The breakaway at the day was formed at 16.5km: Di Gregorio, Vichot, Minard, El Fares, Marcato, and Delaplace. The best placed rider here is El Fares, but he is more than 15 minutes behind the Yellow. At about 80km to go, the attackers had a maximum lead time of 3’47”.

At a very early intermediate sprint, Vichot was able to attack and takes the most sprint points, with Cavendish taking the peloton over the line.

At the first climb, a category 4, Marcato got 2 KOM points, while Delaplace grabs the remaining 1 KOM point. At the 2nd climb, a category 4, Marcato again takes the lead, but only gets 1 KOM point this time. Third climb of the day also Gave Marcato 2 KOM points.

When the gap got under 50” at about 20 km to go, Marcato and Minard took off on their own. They were soon followed by Vichot. Less than 4km later, Minard and Vichot shake hands as they are swallowed up by the peloton. Marcato tries solo for the last KOM point. He was caught too soon and Gallopin, Gilbert, Voeckler, Martin, and Devenyns go for the point. It is Voeckler who crosses first. Everyone was caught before the sprint finish.

Griepel and Cavendish both claim the win, but it was in fact Griepel who took it for his first stage win.

Stage 10 Results:
1 André Greipel
2 Mark Cavendish
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil
4 Thor Hushovd
5 Romain Feillu
6 Daniel Oss
7 Sébastien Hinault
8 Borut Bozic
9 Geraint Thomas
10 Samuel Dumoulin

2011 Tour de France, Stage 5

Stage 5 runs from Carhaix to Cap Frehel. It is 158 kilometers long with one category 4 climb, Cote de Gurunheul, which will be at 45.5km. It is a 2.3 km climb with a maxium gradient of 5.1 %. The day's intermediate sprint is at km 70.

The main breakaway of the day consisted of Gutierrez, Valentin, Turgot, and Delaplace. They had a maximum advantage of 6:00 at 101km remaining, but were caught at 46km  remaining. Toward the end, they were not working well together. Delaplace is not only the youngest rider in the break group, he is also the youngest rider in the Tour.  He is only 21 years old, with his next birthday coming up in September. The four man breakaway is pictured below.

At the top of the climb, Delaplace jumped out and claimed the one KOM point. For the intermediate sprint, Turgot got the points, ahead of Valentin and Gutierrez.

Today saw plenty of crashes with big names: First crash got Chavanel, Wiggins, and Leipheimer. All three continued on. Second crash got Brajkovic and Gesink. Gesink got back on the bike, but Brajkovic was taken by ambulance. Third crash got Contador, but he got back up. Fourth crash got N. Sorensen. He was hit by a race motorcycle. Fifth crash involved Boonen and Steegmans. Steegmans continued riding, but Boonen struggled with help from teammate Engels. It was unclear if he was going to make it to the finish, but he did with less than 4 minutes to spare before he got disqualified. (Picture below of Boonen being helped across the finish by his teammate.) Finally, the sixth crash involved a Euskaltel rider who wasn't named. Kern also had to abandon, although I am not sure if he was involved in a crash.

At 32km remaining, another attack formed. This time it was Voeckler and Roy. By 23km left, the riders had 1’05”. Roy was caught about 3km out, but Voeckler tries again. The lone attacker was caught less than a kilometer later.

As far as the finish, Cavendish was so close, but then got lost in the pack. However, he found his way back just in time and crossed the line ahead of Gilbert and Rojas. This was his 16th stage victory in the Tour de France.

Stage 5 Results:
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad
2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
2 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
3 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling
4 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
5 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
4 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo