Winners
Orica-Greenedge
A superb ride by the Australian team to take their second stage in as many days. I thought that they were one of a number of teams that had a decent shot at the podium, but really didn’t expect them to end up winning the stage. Excellent rides by Svein Tuft, Cameron Meyer, and Brett Lancaster saw Orica-Greenedge go through the first time check just three seconds behind Omega Pharma-Quickstep, before shedding riders in the second half of the course to take the victory by the narrowest of margins.
Alberto Contador
With a line up of mainly of climbing domestiques, I was expecting Alberto Contador’s Saxo-Tinkoff team to lose much more than six seconds to Sky. Instead he should go into the Pyrenees well within touch of the Brit. Perhaps more importantly it was Contador who was driving the pace on for the team. Taking massive turns on the front the Spaniard looked much more comfortable than in the Dauphiné time trial when he shelled over three minutes to Froome. This seems to bode well for the time trial to Mont-St-Michel.
Chris Froome
As expected Team Sky produced an excellent team time trial, with third place putting Froome and the team in pole position heading into what should be three reasonably easy stages for the GC contenders. This was probably the ideal result for Sky, as Froome is now the best placed of the GC men, but the team does not have the burden of having to defend the yellow jersey for any longer than necessary.
Losers
Daniel Navarro
One of my outsiders for the podium, Navarro was always going to lose time today thanks to a weak Cofidis team, with all of Navarro’s teammates having fallen during the first few days in Corsica. However, the Spaniard now finds himself over a minute down on most of the other GC contenders, a gap which he may need to make inroads into in the Pyrenees seeing as he is likely to lose more time in the two ITTs.
Pierre Rolland
Another GC man who finds himself well adrift of the yellow jersey thanks to a poor team time trial performance. Europcar finished in 19th place, well over a minute down on Orica-Greenedge, leaving Rolland with a large disadvantage, made even worse by the fact that, like Navarro, the Frenchman will lose more time in the other two time trials. The only saving grace was that Rolland had ditched the polka dot shorts. Hopefully they won’t be making another appearance.
BMC
One of the favourites for the win, BMC ended up finishing in ninth place, almost half a minute behind Orica-Greenedge, fading badly in the second half of the stage. This means that Cadel Evans and Tejay Van Garderen both find themselves with a twenty second deficit to make up to both Froome and Contador. Not a big gap in the grand scheme of things, but definitely one that places both of the BMC riders at a slight disadvantage, forcing them to go on the front foot.
One of the favourites for the win, BMC ended up finishing in ninth place, almost half a minute behind Orica-Greenedge, fading badly in the second half of the stage. This means that Cadel Evans and Tejay Van Garderen both find themselves with a twenty second deficit to make up to both Froome and Contador. Not a big gap in the grand scheme of things, but definitely one that places both of the BMC riders at a slight disadvantage, forcing them to go on the front foot.
Argos-Shimano
The first team off, setting a benchmark that was beaten comfortably by every other team in the race. Argos-Shimano really did have a shocker. I certainly didn’t expect them to be challenging for the win, but with a team full of powerful riders such as Tom Dumoulin who was third in the Dutch Championships, while Marcel Kittel came to the team as a time triallist. Lotto-Belisol seem to have a similar line up on paper, and managed to come fifth. Certainly Argos-Shimano shouldn’t have been over twenty seconds behind Euskaltel.
The first team off, setting a benchmark that was beaten comfortably by every other team in the race. Argos-Shimano really did have a shocker. I certainly didn’t expect them to be challenging for the win, but with a team full of powerful riders such as Tom Dumoulin who was third in the Dutch Championships, while Marcel Kittel came to the team as a time triallist. Lotto-Belisol seem to have a similar line up on paper, and managed to come fifth. Certainly Argos-Shimano shouldn’t have been over twenty seconds behind Euskaltel.
Tomorrow’s Stage
There may only be four classified climbs, but the hills to the east of Marseille mean that the final third of tomorrow’s stage is constantly up and down. The finale follows the same route as the Grand Prix d’Ouverture La Marseillaise, the opening race of the French seas, with the unclassified Col de la Gineste perhaps welcoming attacks. However, none of the climbs are steep (all of the fourth category ones should be done in the big ring) so we should see our first sprint finish of the race with all the big names present.
Scenario
With Pierre Rolland holding a five point lead in the mountains competition and only five points available today, I would expect the fight for the polka dot jersey to calm down today, with the break forming before the early third category climb.
As for the finale, we may well see attacks on the run down into Marseille, but with the race on good roads any moves should be brought back by the sprinters’ teams. Hopefully we should see the first duel between Cavendish, Sagan, Greipel, and Kittel, which the Manxman really needs to win if he hopes to mount a challenge for the green jersey.
Stage Win: Mark Cavendish
Yellow Jersey: Simon Gerrans
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