2012 Tour de France: Sagan wins amid crash strewn stage to Metz

The remarkable 22-year-old Peter Sagan claimed his third Tour stage win in today's stage to Metz. He comfortably outsprinted André Griepel, who was on for his third successive stage win. Griepel, however, crashed twice today and his directeur sportive had said that he wouldn't be sprinting today leaving that to his team mate Greg Henderson. However, a big crash in the peloton at 24K from the finish must have changed that. Matt Goss was third and Kenny van Hummel was fourth. 

This crash held up a number of possible overall contenders and also Mark Cavendish, who again missed out on a sprint that might well have suited him. Although none of the big favourites were affected, following the crash there were some big  losses:

2.09: Frank Schleck, Janez Brajokovic, Michele Scaponi, Edvard Boasson Hagen and Alejandro Valverde 

3.31: Robert Gesink

13.24: Ryder Hesjedal (winner of the Giro) and Irish rider Daniel Martin


Following the crash Mikel Astarloza, Tom Danielson, Hubert Dupont (broken arm), Oscar Freire, Wout Poels (three cracked ribs and other injuries), Amets Txurruka, Davide Vignano and Martin Wynants are reported to have abandoned the Tour. Incredibly Wynants completed the stage with apparently two broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Whether this was a sensible thing to do, it does put the antics of football's drama queens into stark contrast! Also reports that Ryder Hesjedal and Johan Vansummeren may not be able to continue. 

Fabian Cancellara still leads overall by seven seconds from Bradley Wiggins and Sylvain Chavanel, followed by Tejay Van Garderen (10 secs), Denis Menchov (13), Cadel Evans (17), Vincenzo Nibali  (18), Peter Sagan and Andréas Klöden (19), and Maxime Monfort (22). In the Green Jersey competition Peter Sagan now has 209 points followed by Matt Goss on 178. 

Race standings here.  

  

2012 Tour de France: Epernay to Metz – final big sprint before mountains?

Late autumn in the vineyards of Champagne 

Today's 207.5K stage from Epernay to Metz looks likely to be a repeat of yesterday – a procession across north-east France with the racing starting in earnest around 30K from the finish. Most likely scenario is for a small break to go ahead early and stay out most of the day, while the overall favourites conserve their energies for the two semi-mountain stages to come on Saturday (Vosges) and Sunday (Jura). Possible light showers are forecast for today.

From the race profile the finish looks to be dead flat, unlike yesterday's finish in Saint-Quentin that had a rise at the end. There is a tight corner just before the 2K mark and then another less tight at the start of the final straight  – about 800 metres (?) from the finish.

As this is the last flat stage before the race finishes at Cap d'Agde on 14th July the sprinters may well be keen to catch the breakaways with more time to spare than yesterday when the last man wasn't caught until within the last 500 metres.

Will André Griepel get his third stage win in a row or will it be Mark Cavendish, who will have had another day to get over Wednesday's crash, or someone else – Matt Goss? Whatever, let's hope that everyone including Tyler Farrar stays upright today.