22-year-old Peter Sagan marked his first ever Tour de France stage with a stage win. Must be very rare for a débutant to win their first stage, although Cancellara may also have done this when he won the Prologue in Liège back in 2004. Looks like an odds-on bet that this won't be the last Tour stage that Sagan wins. Not only did he ride the race brilliantly reacting quickly to Cancellara's attack but he remained cool in the lead up to the sprint content to sit on Fabian's wheel, while the rest of the bunch started to catch up.
In the steep climb towards the finish he was the only rider able to match Fabian Cancellara's late attack towards the top of the steep climb. On the flatter section that followed he was able to just hang behind Cancellera and then sprint for the win with Edvald Boasson Hagen third. Philippe Gilbert took fourth as the first of the bunch to cross the line. The climb proved to be too steep for Mark Cavendish. Cadel Evans showed well on the early to middle part of the climb but, in the end, was unable to take any time from Bradley Wiggins.
Cancellara holds on to Yellow and all the overall favourites finished in the same time with the exception of Levi Leipheimer, who lost 17 seconds and is now 45 seconds down overall. Also Chris Horner, who had been cited as a possible challenger, lost 55 seconds and is already 1.29 down overall.
Fabian Cancellara holds on to the Green Jersey as well, with 55 points to Sagan's 49, with Boasson Hagen on 42. Cavendish picked up eight points at the intermediate sprint. As Cancellara can't wear both jerseys Sagan will have the Green jersey tomorrow.
Fabian Cancellara holds on to the Green Jersey as well, with 55 points to Sagan's 49, with Boasson Hagen on 42. Cavendish picked up eight points at the intermediate sprint. As Cancellara can't wear both jerseys Sagan will have the Green jersey tomorrow.
As feared there were a number crashes. An early one involved Tony Martin, who had the bad luck to puncture yesterday, today it was worse – a broken collar bone, so he is reported by Eurosport as the first rider to abandon this year's Tour. If this is correct, Martin's ride today is amazing as he finished at the same time as the winner – some 180 k after the crash!
Latest: mixed message about Tony Martin's condition: in or out – will see tomorrow.
Latest: mixed message about Tony Martin's condition: in or out – will see tomorrow.
4 comments:
Sagan is a beast. What he did in the Tour of California is amazing, and this tops it: what a climb, what a finish!
Hugely impressive to date with the slight exception of yesterday's Prologue.
Jim, I will not ride my favorite horse this time, the one with special oats.
No, I will once more point at the total lack of professional conscience of sport physicians.
You don’t let anyone ride another 180 km with a broken collar bone. It could bleed, it could cause a pulmonary fat embolism, it could puncture not a tube but the pleura or, even more dangerous, one of the subclavian blood vessels. It could injure nerves, it could ... here I stop my list.
Fortunately, it did not.
Shame on sport doctors, shame on team directors, shame on bloody big money involved !
And full marks to the courageous Tony Martin: respect, man !
Good to see that the horse is out to pasture – tends to assume without evidence that everyone is on special oats.
Respect Tony Martin. Certainly if if it turns out that the injury is to his wrist and not collarbone.
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