July 14th. Bastille Day.
Oh how the french boys want to win on this day!
But so does everyone else, the peleton is well rested, the sprinters have recovered from the torture of the Pyrenees and everyone will love heading into central France through the countryside and no mountains in sight. But the French will no doubt ruin it for everyone, set out on a dozen attempts at a breakaway, finally succeed, roll at the front for 50 kms and then realise that Columbia want Cavendish to win the green jersey so they are being closed down at a great rate and it will end up being a bunch sprint.
but.....
It is very different winning a bunch sprint in week 1 of the tour compared to week 2.
The sprinters that have survived the Pyrenees will all be raring to go, but usually a few have very sore legs and they fade away. Cavendish managed to win 2 stages last year after his first lot of climbing so its not a problem for him. The bigger guys like Hushovd and Boonen usually have suffered a bit but their strength gets them through, although thor looked to have sprouted wings on stage 8 when he climbed like a guys half his size and raced away to claim enough points to get the green! Boonen has been involved in 3 crashes already, he might be hurting, he certainly has been keeping his head low. Look for him to finally get his lead out men working for him, he is too far back to win the points though, does not mean he does not want to win stages. Oscar Freire has been quietly chipping away as well, he was 3rd yesterday at the head of the peleton and despite being some 60 points behind Hushovd, will be going after intermediate sprints and looking to get stage wins as well, he will be hunting everything and he might actually get some help from his team for once with Menchov out of contention and gessink out of the race. Bennati has not even come close yet. Im hoping the good form of the young guys Ciolek and Farrar continues, they are gong really well against the best sprinters in the world and its great to see.
But cav remains the one to beat.
There are 3 liitle climbs
Km 12.5 - Côte de Salvanet - 1.8 km climb to 4.5 % - Category 4
Km 27.5 - Côte de Saint-Laurent-les-Eglises - 2.0 km climb to 5.3 % - Category 4
Km 58.5 - Côte de Bénévent-l'Abbaye - 1.8 km climb to 3.4 % - Category 4
With the Pyrenees behind us we have to wait until next Friday – Stage 13, a 200-km trek from Vittel to Colmar that traverses four categorised climbs – before we are presented with a stage with the potential to evoke any real change to the overall classification. However Armstrong will be looking for any opportunity to gain time, and if crosswinds or any opportunities present themselves as they did in on Stage 3, he will take them.
This said, there is one important thing of note in this stage.
No race radios.
The teams are not happy, apparently it is 'an experiment'. Tour spokesman Christophe Marchadier said "It's old-time cycling, where the riders will think more about the race and talk more to each other, they won't just be machines listening to people tell them what to do."
Jens Voigt countered "You could also have two days without a helmet. How about that? Or two days where we cut the cables from the brakes."
Interesting. Im not sure how much information will or will not be available to the riders, it might mean that breakaways get lots of leeway because the peleton will not know times, then again they might be able to get them from the cars trailing the peleton with no need for radios?
It might mean that breakaways will not succeed because they will not be given the leeway.
Anyway there are rumours of a riders strike which has been downplayed but it will be interesting to see how it evolves - Lance might take his chance here!
Stage 13 will also be without radios.
Betting.
It's a short price but even money for Cavendish is easy money.
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