Winners
Peter Sagan
If any other 22 year old had given himself the nickname ‘The Tourminator’ after winning one stage of the Tour de France we would think they were getting ahead of themselves. However such was the dominant nature of Sagan’s win today in a hectic finish, I think we can forgive him. The next three flat finishes will mean a third stage win may have to wait, but expect the Slovak to be eager to defend his lead in the green jersey standings.
Michael Morkov
It was no surprise to see the Dane on the attack again today, taking four of the six climbs, probably giving him enough points to keep the jersey till the weekend. As an added bonus, the English language commentators have now learnt to pronounce his name.
Peter Velits
Since winning the Tour of Oman back in February, the Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider has been very quiet so should be more than happy with beating Michael Albasini and Fabian Cancellara to third place. A good day for Slovakia!
Losers
Garmin-Sharp
Although Ryder Hesjedal recovered from a late puncture to finish 12th, the rest of the team managed to be involved in or get stuck behind every crash going. Christian Vande Velde and Dan Martin, two dark horses for GC, lost two and five minutes respectively, while the rest of the team, including Tom Danielson, rolled in eight or nine minutes down.
Kanstantin Siutsou
The Team Sky rider was caught in the first big crash of the day and was the first rider to retire from the race with a broken leg. The loss of the Belarussian will be a great loss to Team Sky, but such is the strength of the team Bradley Wiggins will still be the best supported rider once it comes to the high mountains.
Thomas Voeckler
Monsieur Panache saw all hopes of a repeat of last year’s fourth place, losing seven minutes. On the up side he should now be allowed on some characteristic attacks and may be eyeing up Sunday’s lumpy stage 8.
Student Cyclist 