Winners
Jan Bakelants
Confusion reigned in another chaotic stage finale as commentators across the world struggled to decide whether it was Bakelants or his teammate Markel Irizar who took the win. However, it was the Belgian who followed joined a six man break with 5km remaining, before being the only rider prepared to put the hammer down before the flamme rouge as Chavanel hesitated. A desperate last push to the line saw Bakelants take his first professional victory, while a slim one second gap to second placed Sagan will mean that he pulls on yellow tomorrow.
Michal Kwiatkowski
The Polish champion rode incredibly well to take a surprise third place, only being beaten in the sprint by Peter Sagan, and taking the white jersey in the process With his good climbing and a strong Omega-Pharma Quickstep that could win the team time trial on stage 4, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 23 year old take the white jersey all the way to the Pyrenees.
Pierre Rolland
An interesting move in the middle of the stage saw the Frenchman lead the race over the second category Col de Vizzavona, giving him the polka dot jersey ahead of Blel Kadri. Rolland didn’t look to be in his best form in the Criterium du Dauphiné so might be feeling that a shot at the mountains classification may be more profitable than a GC challenge
Losers
Marcel Kittel
It was always going to be tough for the German to hold on to the yellow jersey on a stage with four categorised climbs, but if it hadn’t been for a fierce pace set by FDJ then Kittel may well have stayed in contact, or at least have been able to limit his losses and get back in touch on the descent. Nonetheless, the 25 year old should be happy with his performance and will be one of the few sprinters to have a yellow jersey on his palmarès.
Peter Sagan
The Cannondale rider seemed to be everyone’s favourite for today’s stage. However, an incredibly high pace over the Cote du Salario meant that a few of Sagan’s teammates were either dropped or had to use an awful lot of energy to stay in the front group. With only two Cannondale riders working with Garmin-Sharp, they were unable to bring back the impressive Bakelants to allow Sagan to challenge for the stage win.
Rein Taaramae
The Estonian was impressive in the Criterium du Dauphiné, but lost almost six minutes today on a stage that where he should have been fairly comfortable in the front group. Thankfully for Cofidis, this year they have Daniel Navarro to fight for GC, but Taaramae’s apparent lack of form will mean the Spaniard might find himself isolated later in the race.
Tomorrow’s Stage
The four categorised climbs don’t tell the full story of a stage with barely an inch of flat road all day. The route hugs the coast on the way up to Calvi before moving inland to tackle the final climb of the day. 3.3km at 8.1%, the Col de Marsolino seems to be an ideal launching pad for an attack, with the summit coming with 13.5km to go. However the second half of the descent into Calvi is on a wide, straight road and will be into a slight headwind so any move that goes away will have to work hard to stay clear
Scenario
With no chance for the sprinters to contest the finish, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the sprinters’ teams to keep the race together so they can fight for the full twenty points at the early intermediate sprint.
The Col de Marsolino will cause extensive damage, especially if the pace is high. Expect attacks, but the untechnical run in means that I would expect a group of around 30 riders contesting the finish. It will be very tough for Bakelants to stay in the front group, but he gained two top tens on tough Vuelta stages last year, so the Belgian is certainly capable.
Stage: Peter Sagan
Yellow Jersey: Jan Bakelants
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