Tour de France: Stage 8 Debrief

The first day in the mountains is always one of the highlights of any Tour de France, and today was no different as the 189 remaining riders - Chris Horner having abandoned overnight - fought their way up the first serious climb of this year's event, the 1451m Col-de-la-Croix-Saint-Robert, tackling thunderstorms and rain to get there and slippery roads on the way back down.

Col-de-la-Croix-Saint-Robert, the first big climb of the 2011 Tour de France

The race began at 12:26 and almost immediately hopefuls began attacking, trying to sense if a breakaway would be feasible on a tricky stage. It took a little while to happen, but eventually AG2R's Christophe Riblon managed to break through, taking another eight riders with him. It looked as though it wasn't going to last, however, as the peloton were moving along at a good whack and after several kilometres the advantage was only 35". This encouraged three riders from the pack to attempt to bridge the gap and pull them back in, but it wasn't to be - the lead group simply turned up the power a notch or two and before long the counter attack was reabsorbed. By 32km, the gap had been increased to 2'40" and not much longer to 4'10", meaning that leader Rui Costa - who started 4'02" behind Cadel Evans - meaning that had the race have ended there he'd have been the new leader in the overall General Classification.

It couldn't last, though, not with the peloton speeding along like they were. Could it?

By 13:48 the escapees had reached the foot of the stage's first climb, Category 4 Côte d'Évaux-les-Bains, and a few minutes later had reached the top. Confidis' Julian El Fares was the first one up - as it was a Cat 4 there was only one point on offer, but every point is worth having. By the time the BMC riders leading the peloton reached the summit the breakaway had lengthened the gap even further, stretching it out to 5'30".

Surely it couldn't last much longer, though, not with all the top drawer sprinters eyeing the points waiting at the sprint section?

Christophe Riblon was first through the intermediate sprint

31 minutes later and they'd passed the sprint; Riblon taking the 20, Costa taking 17 and Katusha's Alexandr Kolobnev 15. Omega-Pharma Lotto had taken over from BMC at the front of the peloton and had obviously had more than enough of the nine tearaways, picking up the pace even more in an effort to reduce the advantage. Philippe Gilbert was the first of the bunch through the sprint taking 6 points while Mark Cavendish was content to sit back and let it happen, apparently content for the time being with his 17th stage win yesterday. At 14:34 Romain Kreuziger dropped back to the medical car and spent some time talking to the doctor, leading to worries that he might be considering abandoning the race after he was involved in the same crash that saw Bradley Wiggins stretchered off yesterday. Europcar's Pierre Rolland was forced to stop and call for mechanical assistance after his waterproof became entangled in his rear wheel, losing quite a bit of time as they faffed about trying to free it. Minutes later, due to high average speeds, the race was already into its final 90km. The nine escapees were still ahead at the feeding station with a gap reduced to 5'10" from a maximum of a full minute longer.

Their time in the limelight was nearly up. There was no way it could last now they were approaching another Category 4 climb at Côte du Rocher des Trois Tourtes. No way at all.

El Fares had a puncture, but the team car was with him quickly and the mechanic changed his wheel in the customary few seconds so he was soon on his way and catching up with the gang. Back in the peloton, Samuel Dumoulin had one too just as the BMC riders at the front reached the climb, 4'55" behind the lead group who were just reaching the top. Kolobnev was there first and took a point.

Sky's Xabier Zandio led the race for a while.

Back in the peloton, Astana and Garmin were working together in an effort to squeeze out a bit more speed, eventually falling back and letting Omega-Pharma have another go in the driving seat. Power outputs had risen dramatically with some riders now producing over 500 watts as they powered their way upwards, reducing the gap to a shade over 2' by the time the breakaway - now led by Sky rider Xabier Zandio - began the long climb up Category 2 Col-de-la-Croix-Saint-Robert. The peloton was soon doing the same with Tejay van Garderen getting the escapees in his sights and locking on, applying sufficient pressure for three members to fall back. He soon caught Costa and Gautier too, getting ahead of them for a while - but it turned out these two were made of sterner stuff and immediately attacked him back, managing to make their way back to the frontline once again. Meanwhile, Johnny Hoogerland, Juan-Antonio Flecha and a trio of riders from Euskatel, Europcar and Astana were also attacking van Garderen who was now at the head of the race with Costa.

Costa had to drop at any second, hadn't he? He'd been leading since the 4th kilometre, on a mountain stage - General Classification contenders are hard-pressed to do that, never mind outside hopefuls in the Youth classification. Hadn't he?

As van Garderen and Costa entered the final kilometre of the climb, still slugging it out on the way to the high finish at Super-Besse, a new challenger in the shape of Alexander Vinokourov emerged from the peloton and began chasing them down. Vino may be 37 but he can most certainly still climb and just seconds later he flashed past those few riders who had managed to stay a little way ahead of the main group after dropping from the lead, seconds after van Garderen led Costa over the summit.

Oh come on, this was the end for Costa, wasn't it? He'd been working like a dog for 160km now. Wasn't it?

Vinokourov

The two riders entered the final 20km a mere 10" ahead of Gautier and Riblon who were still attacking. Vinokourov was still on the go too, now just 1'25" behind and showing no sign of slowing. Many people began to believe he was going to catch them and take the stage as he caught Zandio. Van Garderen launched another attack, but Costa, Riblon and Gautier remained with him until he eventually managed a small lead, but he couldn't increase it. Then, somehow, Costa passed him once again. Riblon and Gautier decided enough was enough and gave up the chase, being caught by Vino two minutes later. Then, Vino caught van Garderen too.

With 4km to go, Costa led by 20", retaining this advantage a kilometre later and news came through that van Garderen was top of the running to be awarded the Combativity award for his efforts just as the peloton - a minute behind Costa - caught him. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Alberto Contador was finding the climb much to his liking and had begun accelerating. However, he had company: Cadel Evans was following and so was Andy Schleck who sat in his usual place right on the Spaniard's rear wheel, grinning back at him every time he turned round to see if his rival was still there. For all Andy's nice-guy image, this has to be incredibly unnerving - and the Luxembourger is an intelligent enough rider to understand the value of psychological warfare. Perhaps that's why he didn't react when Evans dropped the pair of them.

So that's three of the very best riders in the world jousting with one another in the peloton? That must have upped the pace to a speed Costa wouldn't be able to beat. Mustn't it?

An amazing win for Costa.

Nope. He was already over the line, taking his first ever Tour de France stage win and the first for his Movistar team in this year's event. Since any sports report must by convention feature cliche, it's safe to say that a new star has been born.

Stage 8 results:

1. FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto 4h 36' 46"  
2. GILBERT Philippe + 00' 12"
3. EVANS Cadel + 00' 15"
4. SANCHEZ Samuel + 00' 15"
5. VELITS Peter + 00' 15"
6. DEVENYNS Dries + 00' 15"
7. CUNEGO Damiano + 00' 15"
8. CONTADOR Alberto + 00' 15"
9. SCHLECK Andy + 00' 15"


Overall General Classification after Stage 8:

1. HUSHOVD Thor 33h 06' 28"  
2. EVANS Cadel + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank + 00' 04"
4. KLÖDEN Andréas + 00' 10"
5. FUGLSANG Jakob + 00' 12"
6. SCHLECK Andy + 00' 12"
7. MARTIN Tony + 00' 13"
8. VELITS Peter + 00' 13"
9. MILLAR David + 00' 19"
10. GILBERT Philippe + 00' 30"


White jersey: Robert Gesink; Polka dot jersey: TeJay van Garderen; Green jersey: Philippe Gilbert; Team: Garmin-Cervelo; Combativity: TeJay van Garderen (not yet confirmed).

Giro Donne Stage 9 - Vos victorious

Vos at 24 is compared to Eddy
Merckx. The way things are
going, she's going to be even
better in another couple of years.

There were no surprises at the end of today's Giro Donne when Marianne Vos was the first to cross the finish line; in fact, with the stage ending near the summit of a 1620m high mountain, it would have been more a surprise had she not have done. But then why beat around the bush here? With the 24-year-old Dutch cyclist going from strength to strength it's a only a surprise when she doesn't win anything she enters.

Vos is that very rare thing: a cycling polymath. She excels in all disciplines, which has drawn comparisons to Eddy Merckx, including time trialing - and with tomorrow's final stage being a TT, which would be her 30th triumph this season alone, she's an easy favourite for the top spot on the podium. In addition to the overall General Classification, she also leads the Points and Mountains classifications.

Stage 9 Results:

1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) Nederland Bloei           3:12:03  

2. Emma Pooley (UK) Garmin - Cervelo                   +0:00:12  

3. Judith Arndt (Germany) HTC Highroad Women     +0:00:22  

4. Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) SC MCipollini Giordana     +0:00:25  

5. Mara Abbott (USA) Diadora - Pasta Zara          +0:00:33  

6. Tatiana Antoshina (Russia) Gauss                           +0:00:50  

7. Ruth Corset (Australia) Bizkaia-Durango          +0:00:57  

8. Claudia Häusler (Germany) Diadora - Pasta Zara    +0:01:03  

9. Emma Johansson (Sweden) Hitec Products - UCK +0:01:33  

10. Elena Berlato (Italy) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo         +0:01:55

General Classification:

1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) Nederland Bloeit              25:20:08  

2. Emma Pooley (UK) Garmin - Cervelo                       +0:02:48  

3. Judith Arndt (Germany) HTC Highroad Women        +0:08:07  

4. Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) SC MCipollini Giordana        +0:08:21  

5. Ruth Corset (Australia) Bizkaia-Durango              +0:11:48  

6. Tatiana Antoshina (Russia) Gauss                              +0:12:01  

7. Sylwia Kapusta (Poland) Gauss                                +0:12:18  

8. Mara Abbott (USA) Diadora - Pasta Zara             +0:13:47  

9. Emma Johansson (Sweden) Hitec Products - UCK  +0:14:20  

10. Shara Gillow (Australia) Bizkaia-Durango               +0:14:38

Tour de France: Stage 8 Preview

Aigurande

"First of the mountains today profile is more or less just climbing all day." (@swiftybswift, Team Sky's Ben Swift, Twitter)

The sprinters have had a fun week up in the flatlands of Northern and Western France where the racing has been all on their terms, but their games come to an abrupt end today when the Tour de France - en route for the Pyrenees - turns south and into the Massif Central. More than anything else, this means that the race favourites begin to emerge: whoever does well on the climbs is a safe bet to do well in the Tour overall, especially in one such as this which is very much a race for the grimpeurs.

Today's start town is Aigurande with its unusual church that has a heavily-buttressed octagonal tower, close to the physical centre of France. With a population of under 1,700, the town is fortunate in having a cinema, a building which in part looks like the typically modernistic cinemas of the late 1940s and in part like one of the traditional houses of the region: an odd mix. The route soon travels through the flat and marshy land into the department of Creuse, which for many centuries provided architects and builders of cathedrals and other large projects. Known as the Masons of Creuse, they built the dam at La Rochelle and much of Baron Haussmann developments in Paris. The first village we come to in the department is La Forêt-du-Temple, site of what is reputed to be a Templar temple. Another few kilometres brings us to Nouziers, the northernmost town in Limousin, so expect some footage of large cows. 34km from tha start, we come to Boussac, location of the Chateau-Boussac-Sur-Petite-Creuse which is a long way from the prettiest of the chateaux but cannot be doubted as a contender for one of the most interesting-looking.

Lavaufranche

After 40km, we come to Lavaufranche which is home to a remarkable 12th Century hospital and commandery established by the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Then, 13km on at Lépaud, the riders should be able to catch sight of the rising terrain ahead. Is the name an omen in favour of "LépaudTrek?" Does LeopardTrek's success over the coming mountain stages even need to be preceded by an omen when they have both Frank and Andy Schleck?

At 65.5km is the first climb of the stage, a Category 4 which won't cause any serious problems but could prove to be the undoing of breakaway groups, especially if they're composed of riders who are already tired from earlier attempts.

After 83km comes Auzances which brings today's intermediate sprint, once again in its usual place near the halfway point rather than near the end as was the case yesterday. This really is the last chance for the sprinters, so expect a breakaway early on to make an attempt at getting there first. The big-hitters such as Cavendish and Hushovd may try to chase them down - and the breakaway isn't likely to last long if those two go after them - to take the top points for themselves as sprinting opportunities are somewhat limited for a while now, or they may let them go and settle for the smaller point allocations; content just to conserve energy that can be spent later when the climbers are having it all their own way.

Blimey, that's a big dog. Puy de Dome.

Soon, the route passes Puy de Dome, a dormant - note dormant, not extinct - volcano which is well-known and notorious among cyclists as a challenging climb, very much this region's Mont Ventoux. The Tour has featured the climb on a number of occasions, including its first appearance in 1952 when Fausto Coppi was first up the long spiral road to the summit to win the stage and 1964 when Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor fought one another all the way to the top (I have footage of this on video, it's one of the all-time greatest Tour battles). The Tour does not climb it this year, however, and sadly probably never will again - organisers say that the roads to the summit are simply too narrow since the construction of the funicular railway. A great pity - but have a look on Google Earth, it's quite an amazing sight: 45° 46′ 20″ N 2° 57′ 57″ E.

The feeding station comes a little later, and the domestiques are going to be working hard to ferry back the musettes to their team's climbers who will wanting their energy gels (that's how seriously they take the Tour - they actually want to eat energy gel) because, from this point onwards, it's uphill almost all the way. Since the finish line is still 85km ahead, that means a lot of climbing. In the 15km immediately after the feeding station, it rises 117m which doesn't sound especially testing but the majority of that rise comes in one short, steep section called the Côte du Rocher des Trois Tourtes. A bigger, uncategorised climb of around 200m leads up to Briffons where there was once a fluorspar mine which brought prosperity to the area thanks to its use in the steel industry. Workers were permitted one fifteen minute break during the long and hard working day - according to Google's translation of French Wikipedia, "the teams had to surface a quarter of an hour to enjoy the snack time, it pulled the bagpipes of course." Not quite sure what that's all about.

Next comes flatter section which climbs just 72m in 17km. However, though this is a very low gradient, it's sufficient to take the parcours up to 1022m which means the effects of altitude become an issue for the first time in the 2011 Tour. It's here that those who are naturally better-equipped to perform at altitude and those who, through sheer hard work, have tuned their bodies to work in rarified air begin to dominate - which means Andy Schleck and, provided he isn't subjected to the bad fortune that has dogged him all the way since the Passage du Gois, Alberto Contador begin another epic battle for supremacy which will last through the majority of the rest of the Tour. That race-within-a-race begins in earnest over the coming kilometres when we reach the hardest climb of the 2011 Tour so far in the shape of the Category 2 ascent of the Col de la Croix Saint Robert, the first of the high mountain passes. This is an area that is frequently subjected to very high winds so climbers may wish to regroup with their teams at the summit and tackle the steep descent in echelons.

Super-Besse

There are few villages up here, but one worth looking out for is Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, often known by its old names Besse-en-Chandesse or Besse, which marks the beginning of the climb up to Super-Besse Sancy where the stage ends. With some 1,600 inhabitants, it's really more a small town than a village but has retained its character and there are a number of interesting buildings, including Le Beffroi (the belfry) and the Mediatheque. Besse was the site of the first meeting in 1935 of the Bourbaki, a group of mathematicians that had a revolutionary effect on the subject and its teaching. The Tour has been this way before with Super-Besse having been a stage finish town three times since 1978. The last time, in 2008, was won by Riccardo Riccò who was later ejected from the Tour after providing a positive sample to anti-doping control. He was fired by Vacansoleil in February this year after a self-administered blood transfusion led to kidney failure and suspended by the Italian Olympic Committee in June for "use or attempted use of prohibited methods." All in all, a rider that the Tour and cycling as a whole is better off without.

Sammy Sanchez

Predictions: Well, it's going to be a climber, innit. But who? Will Andy Schleck want to use the stage as an opportunity to say to the world, "You know how last year you all said I was going to be a great rider? Well, watch this!" Will Contador want to use it to say, "You know how you all wrote me off as a great rider? Well, suck on this!" And, if Contador does want to win today, is Andy now strong enough to prevent him doing so - or on the other hand, will both of them sit back and let this first climb go to a mere mortal since they can play all they want on the big mountains to come? Of course, Frank Schleck can climb with the best of them too, so he's in the running. Don't forget that Euskaltel-Euskadi have been lurking in the peloton in the flat stages: Euskaltel are a team composed of Basque hardmen who ride up mountains like this one just to wake themselves up in the morning and, probably, to relax in the evening. Flat stages are not their thing at all, so today is an opportunity for them to start gaining points. For that reason, we're going to nominate Sammy Sanchez and Amets Txurruka as favourites, provided Andy Schleck and Contador don't lock horns. If they do, we'll be backing Schleck all the way.

Weather: It's not looking that good for Aigurande - while it's dry at present, there are grey clouds and showers forecast for the next couple of hours so a wet start is very likely. It's much the same for Nouzerines and Lavaufranche, the latter having a probability of thunderstorms this afternoon. Heavier rain is forecast for Chambon-sur-Voueize but it should have lightened to showers by the time the peloton hits Rougnat, Tralaigues, Briffons, Mont-Dore, Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise and Super-Besse. Mmm, cycling up mountains in the rain. Fun. The temperature should top out in the low 20s and the wind is light, coming from the south east, but may be considerably stronger on the summits especially Col de la Croix Saint-Robert.

DEVIL WATCH: The mountains may be grimpeur country, but they're also the natural habitat of the Devil because steep climbs offer an ideal opportunity to run along with the riders and cheer them on. Luckily, the Tour Devil is considerably less evil than most other devils and so the Cross of Saint Robert won't be any impedance should he choose to appear nearby.

Tour de France: Stage 7 Debrief

"No...I didn't know that...oh shit...I'm gutted for him..." (Mark Cavendish, told Bradley Wiggins had abandoned)

So the flattest, least interesting stage of this year's race turned into a disaster. The dreams of Team Sky and every cycling fan in Britain lie in tatters: Bradley Wiggins has crashed out of the Tour de France. The 31-one-year old came to this year's event looking leaner and stronger than he has ever done before, having instantly become a favourite for the podium in Paris when he triumphed in the Critérium du Dauphiné and British National Championships earlier this year.

Bradley Wiggins' 2011 Tour de France is over.

 His popularity in the UK is as near to superstardom as any British cyclist has ever been - he's far short of the sort of exposure given to the likes of Eddy Merckx in Belgium and Bernard Hinault in France, but his successes are included in national TV news broadcasts. Now at an age where the careers of many cyclists begin to wind down, it will be uncertain whether or not he is ever able to regain the level of fitness he had this year.

The Team Sky leader was caught in a pile-up involving a large number of bikes around 40km from the finish line. At first, he looked to be hurt but then stood up, fooling many into thinking he was alright. However, he clutched his arm as though it was broken and his face contorted in agony when medics checked his collarbone, suggesting it too is broken. His jersey ripped and dirty, he was placed on a stretcher, taken to the waiting ambulance and was reportedly in hospital by the time fellow Briton and possible future team-mate Mark Cavendish crossed the sprint finish line in 5th place some 15km up the road. Edvald Boasson Hagen and Geraint Thomas, who had waited with him, then had to force their way as far back to the front as they could, eventually crossing the line in 39th and 38th place respectively - meaning that Thomas now hands over the youth category white jersey to Robert Gesink of Rabobank.

Levi Leipheimer isn't having a good
Tour so far, but expect him to win a
stage sooner or later.

Tyler Farrer and Chris Horner were also in the crash and at first also appeared to be injured as they lay in the roadside ditch, but after a quick check-up and a chance to catch their breath they were able to continue. The accident split the peloton into two with the second including our wildcard favourite Levi Leipheimer. Coming so near to the finish line, they were not able to make up the gap and the overall standings look dramatically different tonight as a result.

"#tdf stage 7 predictions: Cav all over." (@GLetten, Twitter)

The 218km flat stage was once again characterised by an early breakaway when Mikael Delage, Gianni Meersman,Yannick Talarbardon and Pablo Urtasan split from their teams in the first few minutes, rapidly building up their advantage to over a minute. Talarbardon punctured but was able to catch up, by which time the lead was at the 6km mark and 3'40" ahead. Little more than five minutes later, they had added almost a minute and looked set to increase it futher still. By 13:14, group leader Meersman would have been awarded the maillot jaune had the race hae been stopped.

Another half an hour later and the peloton had reached 46km, putting them in the vicinity of Ruillé-sur-Loir and very close to the border of Loir-et-Cher. Garmin seem to be doing by far the greater portion of the work at the front of the peloton so far this year and that's exactly where they were by this point, yet they seem happy enough to be there. HTC-Highroad, the team that has dominated sprints for some years now, were right behind them though, and the combined effect of the two teams on the peloton's average speed may be the reason that the breakaway's advantage, which had been as high as 7'20", dropped below 7'.

By 14:30 it had become clear that even though there was still a long way to go, the peloton was not to be afforded the luxury of taking it easy and letting the lead group tire themselves out and return to the flock - they were obviously enjoying their time in the limelight and perhaps even having the legs to keep it up to the sprint at 192.5km and possibly even to the bitter end. Early days it may be and none of the lead group members have a dog's chance in hell (cats being Satan's favourite animals) of winning the Tour, but allowing imoudent scamps such as they to win a stage is simply not the done thing. Thus, they were going to have to be chased down and put back in their places; the naughty little monsters. The Garmin and HTC guys continued working together - they can operate almost as one superteam - to apply pressure and the lead's advantage began correspondingly to fall, soon dropping to 6'15".

Tom Boonen has one of the best senses of
humour in professional cycling, and the
Tour will be a poorer place without him.

Bad news arrived at 14:52 when Tom Boonen, the Belgian who was left bloodied and bruised after a nasty crash a couple of days ago, intercepted the QuickStep car and asked for a lift to the finish. His decision to abandon was announced a minute or two later. Ten minutes later, the peloton had whittled down the gap to under 6' as rain began to fall. Average speed had dropped in the third hour to 35.5kmph, slower than than the overall average of 37.5, but by this stage that by no means constituted a let-up and the gap was down to 5'25" as the race leaders reached the feeding station at 114km, a little over the halfway point.

A small descent at Montrichard upped the ante a bit, generating speeds of 60kmph as they entered the town,  but accounted for Sky's Rigoberto Uran who crashed on a sharp bend. Andrey Zeits of Astana went down with him, but both men were back on their bikes and catching up within a minute. Meanwhile, the breakaway riders had settled into an efficient routine and were sharing duties at the front, enabling them to maintain the gap at 4'30" for a while. Another crash at the back of the peloton took down Europcar's Thomas Voeckler and several others, but again nobody was injured and all were soon once again on their way.

"Well, the easiest day on paper turned into this. Cycling is far from predictable." (@craiglewis85, Twitter)

The average speed for the fourth hour had dropped right down to 33.1kmph, causing race organisers to predict that the peloton would not arrive in Châteauroux until 18:00, half an hour after the expected time. It did the escapees no favours though, and their lead fell below 3'. Shortly afterwards, another crash took down Tony Gallopin, Yaroslav Popovych, Haimar Zubeldia and Roman Kreuziger, fortunately once again without serious injury. The first three had made it back to the peloton within a minute or two, but Kreuziger's mechanics took their time getting him a replacement bike, leaving his stranded for over a minute so he had to work hard to make up the difference, eventually taking his place among the rest some minutes later. Gallopin required further on-the-go attention from the team car but was able to continue without problems.

Mikael Delage deserved the 20 sprint
points after leading a breakaway from
the first kilometre.

The peloton was beginning to apply the gas now, raising their speed to around 47kmph as they headed for the intermediate sprint. This was when the big crash happened, causing enough confusion for it to be unclear who was affected. It soon became apparent that many riders were down, including Wiggins. Sixty riders were in front and continued, while the rest regrouped 20" further back. It took a while for precisely who was in which group to be confirmed - not least of all because of the concern for Wiggins which dominated race radio - but before too long it was known to include many of the favourites including Thomas, Boasson Hagen, Hoogerland and Levi Leipheimer. The chaos left the breakaway free to sail through the sprint with FDJ's Delage and Meersman taking the top 20 and 17 point prizes, Talabardon 15 and Urtasun 13. Cavendish was not far behind them, rocketing through for 11 and then Rojas for 10.

As the sprint was left behind, there were just 20km left - an unusual situation, as sprints usually fall towards the middle of a stage. Precisely why organisers positioned it so late today is not known, but the most obvious reason is that it was done purely for the hell of it, to see if the sprint specialists were capable of moving from a sprint directly into a fast ride and then speeding up again for a final sprint over the finish line. If that was indeed the reason, we liked it - and if it isn't, we liked it anyway. With 10km to go, the lead group's advantage had been chopped right back to 1'40" and with HTC arranging themselves about the front of the peloton, lying in wait just behind Omega-Pharma Lotto and ready to start their customary and deadly final moves, the escapees' time was almost at an end.

With the last 1.5km being almost perfectly straight HTC formed the train with usual pinpoint precision, an aerodynamic hive of minds and bodies working in perfect unison. There was now only one way that this could go, and so it proved to be - no other team can even begin to compete with the HTC train when it works like it did today. As the finish line came closer, the inevitable: the train split to leave the way ahead clear for the Missile who leapt forward, easily passing all others for his 17th Tour de France stage win. The British may have lost its greatest ever overall General Classification hope, but they can still rightfully claim that the fastest rider in professional cycling is theirs. Wiggins may well have another few years left in him yet - look at Leipheimer and Hincapie, or Jeannie Longo - but even if today is the beginning of the end of his career it most certainly won't be the end for Sky: Thomas, Swift and the rest are all superb riders in their own right, but if the rumours are true and Cavendish joins them they'll be unstoppable.

"If they were in the Giro, after those crashes they would ask the head of "Zom". But they're in the Tour, doesn't matter if all is dangerous!" (@evicennati, Twitter)

Overall Stage Results:

1. CAVENDISH Mark HTC - HIGHROAD 5h 38' 53"  
2. PETACCHI Alessandro LAMPRE
3. GREIPEL André OMEGA-PHARMA LOTTO
4. FEILLU Romain VACANSOLEIL-DCM
5. BONNET William FDJ
6. GALIMZYANOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM
7. HUSHOVD Thor TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO
8. TURGOT Sébastien TEAM EUROPCAR
9. ROJAS Jose Joaquin MOVISTAR TEAM
10. HINAULT Sébastien AG2R LA MONDIALE (all same time)


Overall General Classification after Stage 7

1. HUSHOVD Thor GARMIN - CERVELO28h 29' 27"  
2. EVANS Cadel BMC                                 28h 29' 28" + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29' 31" + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR DavidGARMIN - CERVELO 28h 29' 35" + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas RADIOSHACK 28h 29' 37" + 00' 10"
6. FUGLSANG Jakob LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29' 39" + 00' 12"
7. SCHLECK Andy LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29' 39" + 00' 12"
8. MARTIN Tony HTC - HIGHROAD 28h 29' 40" + 00' 13"
9. VELITS Peter HTC - HIGHROAD         28h 29' 40" + 00' 13"
10. GESINK Robert RABOBANK         28h 29' 47" + 00' 20"

Tour de France: Stage 7 Preview

Can you believe that today marks the end of the first week of the Tour de France? All those weeks of waiting and we're a third of the way through already... but, let's not think about that just yet: we have a whole fortnight to go and should make the most of it while it's here. It's a nice stage today, too: long at 218km, taking us from Northern France right into the nation's heart, and although it has no real hills - the most formidable is a 56m climb over 21m, which doesn't really count - the entire parcours slopes gradually, imperceivably upwards. A rise of 100m over the entire route sounds like nothing, but it does contribute to overall fatigue and, since the intermediate sprint starts at the 192.5km point today, will make a difference to the similar feel that the last few days have had.

It's a day for the sprinters but it's not a day for early breakaways, that being a tactic much used thus far in this Tour. Of course, it might still happen - get a lead group going and drive it all the way to near the end and you've pretty much got the Combativity award in the bag, but very few riders have the capability of breaking away in the first few kilometres and keeping it going until the sprint; so it could be that the big hitter sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd find themselves in a position to go for the 20 points today before settling down in the last 20km and preparing for the mass sprint to the finish line which will surely happen today. There's one other rider who might show an interest in 20 points too - Ben Swift is making his Tour debut this year and has shown a hell of a lot of promise so far. Encouraged by his team's stage win yesterday when Edvald Boasson Hagen worked with Geraint Thomas to defeat Hushovd, he might pick today as the day to make his mark.

The start, Le Mans, is a town that will always be associated with motor racing as it's hosted the world-famous 24-hour race of the same name since 1923 (the stage begins on the hallowed track), the world's oldest endurance race and which has given rise to such iconic sports cars as the "Blower" Bentley and the Porsche 962. Le Mans' history stretches back a lot further than that, however, the earliest mention of the town being found in the writings of Ptolemy and the ancient amphitheatre providing more physical proof. It has traces of other ancient buildings, but these were largely destroyed by their own builders during the Roman Crisis of the Third Century when the Empire came close to collapse and Le Mans' baths (thermae) were demolished so that the masonry could be reused to build the city walls which today are among the best-preserved Gallo-Roman defensive walls anywhere in France. Medieval Le Mans was built on top of earlier architecture; creating an attractive mixture of styles which in some parts gives a strangely Middle Eastern feel not unlike the old sections of Jerusalem or an Arab casbah.

It's yer usual rolling Northern French countryside, pretty churches'n'chateaux and - no doubt - giant bikes made of hay bales all the way today; notable highlights being the Chapel of Our Lady of Pity at Parigné-l'Évêque (21km from the start) which out-goths anyone you can mention by having a Lantern of the Dead, a tower much older than the chapel to which it is attached that contains a lantern kept burning to guide souls upward. Le Grand Luce is host to a number of chateaux, including one enormous example with vast formal gardens on the southern edge of the town.

Should you ever happen to be in this part of France, the little village of Trôo should under no circumstances (well, maybe under some extreme circumstances, zombie apocalypse and the like) be missed because some of its 326 inhabitants still live in caves. We should point out at this time, so as to avoid insulting the troglodytes and disappointing visitors who rely on no website more serious than this one before travelling to little French communities, that when we say that we don't mean the locals are slope-browed cro-magnons who subsist on berries and mammoths: many of the caves, dug into the soft limestone cliffs, are very comfortable and desirable cottages. Trôo is also home to two unusual wells - one being a petrifying well (there are others in various limestone regions around the world) which, if any object is placed into its water, will coat it with a layer of limestone making it look as though it's been turned to stone and the other being a talking well of all things (we can't quite work out what it does from the official commune website, but it appears that the well is constructed in a shape that returns a booming echo if you shout into it). Herbault (95.5km from the start) is a town that exists only because one man wanted it to be there - Dodun was Louis XV's minister of finance and seems to have built the town simply because he felt that his new chateau needed a town to go with it. The locals are called Herbaltois, which sounds like something irritatingly pretentious people might ask for in Waitrose.

The chateau at Chaumont

The feeding station comes at the 104km point today and, since it's a fast stage and the weather looks set to be wet, may be the site of crashes. The area, Chaumont-sur-Loire, boasts an especially popular chateau that looks like it comes straight from a Disney film about a princess and which like a lot of chateaux that resemble castles probably wouldn't resist a siege for five minutes. Montrichard (130km from the start), despite the name, doesn't have a hill. It does, however, have a large underground quarry that was used by the Nazis as a bomb-proof ordnance storage facility. They attempted to destroy it when American troops got uncomfortably close, but most sections have since been cleared and guided tours are conducted. Nouans les Fontaines is the home of a large sports equipment manufacturing family which can be expected to make the most of some free publicity with some sort of construction or event easily noticeable from the helicopters. 17km further on is Écueillé, a hotbed of Resistance activity during the war.

The sprint comes 19km after Écueillé, 192.5km from the start which - as we pointed out earlier - means that any breakaway group that wants to build up a big advantage early on and then take the lion's share of the points before the main group arrive are going to be very hard pressed to do so. It's an almost perfectly straight road with a very slight upward kick in the final kilometre, encouraging high speed and a fight at the end - if it ends up as a battle between Hushovd and Cavendish, it should be quite a spectacle - comparisons to a Dodge Viper racing an Ariel Atom seem apt: pure, muscle-bound power against light-weight, acceleration and efficiency.

Chateauroux

It's not much further to the end once the sprint's over, but since this is the Tour de France there's enough time to squeeze in a few more chateaux and the ruined example at Villedieu-sur-Indre is a good one despite lacking windows and most of its roof - if anything, the ivy which is beginning to take over the structure adds to the overall effect. Châteauroux, the stage finish town, is home to more than 40,000 people - as the name suggests it features a chateau, in the shape of the very imposing Chateau Raoul dating from the 10th Century, which perches on the banks of the Indre river and looks like the wicked witch who wants to capture (and no doubt kill) the princess starring in the same Disney film that features Chaumont's chateau.

So, then. Winners. Edvald took us all by surprise yesterday - a lot of people expected Hushovd to take the stage, but Sky's secret plan worked brilliantly. Hushovd is an obvious choice again today, as is Bradley Wiggins and we wouldn't be surprised - delighted, they're both top guys - if one of them won. On the other hand, there are still a lot of stages to go and Bradley has the best chance of winning some for his team, so it's possible that if Ben Swift feels good today Sky will work a similar plan with the intention of getting him across the line first. However, this is a parcours which might prove to suit the Classics specialists and the most special of those in this Tour is Philippe Gilbert - unless he takes a backseat today and hands over responsibilities to Andre Greipel.  Wildcard - is it just us or is there something about today that says Levi Leipheimer?

Weather: Showers are forecast all day today in Le Mans, probably lighter than the downpours of yesterday but more than sufficient to make the roads slippery. It's more of the same around Trôo and Herbault and while it ought to clear up around the time the peloton reaches Orbigny, the waterproofs will be back out again at Écueillé and in all likelihood will stay out until Chateauroux. The real issue today is going to be the wind; it's coming from the south west, just as it did yesterday when it was blowing in the same direction the peloton was going and thus helped to achieve high average speeds, but today the route travels south east - and that means crosswinds. With windspeeds averaging about 20kmph and gusts up to 30kmph, expect echelons as the riders attempt to keep out of it.

DEVIL WATCH: Unusually, the Devil might put in an appearance early on in the stage today - there's a long forested section just outside Parigné-l'Évêque on the D304 which looks like a suitable Devil haunting ground. Failing that, there are woods on the way into Orbigny too. Our best bet, though, is the bend where D943 curves around Chambon before reaching Villedieu-sur-Indre.

Giro Donne: Stage 7 debrief

Marianne Vos - the best cyclist in the world ?

Another triumph for the truly remarkable Marianne Vos, which rather begs the question: is it time we stopped referring to the 24-year-old Dutch champion as "the best female cyclist in the world" and instead just called her "the best cyclist in the world" from now on? Watching Vos is like watching Hinault and Merckx rolled into one - she can do literally everything better than anything else. We're out of time for today, but as usual Podium Cafe have the best write-up on the race.

General Classification Stage 7 results:

1.   Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 03:39:00
2.   Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) + 01:13
3.   Lucinda Brand (Netherlands) + 01:21
4.   Judith Arndt (Germany) same time
5.   Emma Pooley (UK) + 01:34
6.   Carla Ryan (Australia) + 03:51
7.   Tatiana Antoshina (Russia) same time
8.   Mara Abbott (USA) + 04:29
9.   Emma Johansson (Sweden) + 04:43
10. Claudia Häusler (Germany) + 05:06


Overall General Classification after Stage 7:

1.   Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
2.   Emma Pooley (UK)
3.   Tatiana Guderzo (Italy)
4.   Judith Arndt (Germany)
5.   Sylwia Kapusta (Poland)

Tour de France: Stage 6 Debrief

If it's not smashes it's grotty weather so far this year - and it was so grotty today with near-constant rain that it's a wonder there weren't more crashes in the slippery conditions. In fact, Levi Leipheimer was the only accident we saw, his tyres losing grip on of those hideously slippery white lines and causing him to go into a slide which, once he hit tarmac, looked a lot nastier than it was. He looked a little achy as he got back onboard, but it's nothing the masseurs won't be able to sort out. Contador had another rough day - he had problems twice and needed to change bikes each time. It's really turning out to be a bit of a bad Tour for Bertie, but at least he didn't crash twice like he did yesterday. He made a brave attempt to attack near the end but couldn't do what was required.

Race commentators wondered if Lady Luck has deserted Contador this year, but as @craiglewis85 pointed out on Twitter, he's still pulling in 4 million euros a year. 

The stage, it must be said, didn't really turn out as expected. The general opinion was that the riders would form themselves into echelons and pretty much stick that way to combat the strong crosswinds that so often blow in from the North Atlantic and English Channel, but when it got down to it the wind was coming from the south west and moving at no more than around 20kmph. In other words, a pretty useful tailwind that helped them to tack along like landyachts at some respectable average speeds and played a part in powering the breakaway which - as we predicted - formed early on and then - the opposite of what we predicted - kept on building and building its advantage over Category 3 Côte de Saint-Michel de Montjoie, right where we reckoned they'be caught and shoved back where they belong. In actual fact, the five participants - Lieuwe Westra, Leonardo Duque, Johnny Hoogerland, Adriano Malori and Anthony Roux kept plugging away and got their advantage up to a little over 11 minutes at one point, far and away the most successful breakaway of the 2011 Tour so far. Hoogerland was first over, collecting the two points, with Roux just behind.

The peloton worked it on the downward slope, reducing the gap considerably which had us - and a good few other Twitterers - predicting that the breakaway would be caught before the intermediate sprint. After all, with Cavendish bolstered up by his stage win yesterday, anyone would have thought he'd fancy twenty juicy points, right? And we all, even those who were doubting his form this year, know that he's still got the ability to do it. Yet that also was not to be and the leaders took the best on offer, leaving Cav to go through in sixth place (leading the bunch, needless to say) for another 10 points. The breakaway kept going.

"190 cyclists stop for a 'natural break'. Quality daytime tv." (@dennisgbuckley, Twitter)

The weather did start to look up for a while shortly after the sprint and the pace picked up correspondingly: cycling in heavy rain - especially with the best part of two hundred either cyclists spraying water and filth all over you - is no fun at all and can even make the professionals plod along, heads down and trying to forget where they are until it's all over and the gap closed accordingly. However, the lead group was still ahead at the second climb and this time Roux and Hoogerland swapped places, Roux cresting it first.

Expect some quality stuff in the write-ups of today's stage - it may not have the natural grandeur of the Alps and Pyrenees, but this part of France has some of the nation's most beautiful features.

Jose Joaquin Rojas and Thor Hushovd developed mechanical problems in close succession, possibly caused by the wet weather which can rapidly wash lubricant from the chain and coat moving parts in a nasty mixture of filth and grit which causes no end of problems. The team cars were with them within an instant to sort things about and neither lost significant time.

The final climb, another Category 3, was soon within sight. The wind had picked up by now, splitting the peloton. The faster of the two groups succeeded in chasing down Duque, Roux and Hoogerland, but Malori and Westra were still out there and showed no signs of slowing - with 33km to go, they were still over two minutes ahead. The last climb really took its toll with a number of riders dropping back from the peloton, forming a trailing group ten riders strong 2'40" behind the bunch. Malori and Westra's lead dropped to 1'10" and it finally became clear that, despite earlier promise, they were not going to be able to drag it out all the way Then, incredibly, Malori attacked! Where he found the necessary reserve of energy is likely a mystery even unto him, but it was enough to start increasing the gap. Westra, realising that he was in the presence of either a superman or a madman, decided that now was the time to throw in the towel and he dropped back to join the pack.

"There's nothing quite like the exquisite misery of a 200+km bike race in the cold, driving rain. Sleep will come easy tonight." (@placemoregear, Twitter)

Even he couldn't keep going forever, though, and by the 12km it looked like he had just seconds left - but, somehow, he was still going with 6km to go despite the wet and technical roads requiring speed to be cut back. Back in the pack, Omega-Pharma Lotto had taken on lead duty. HTC didn't seem too bothered, even though by this time they're usually dominating the frontline and preparing to send Cavendish into battle. The last 3km included a climb of 88m, which made the final sprint difficult and exhausting, a battle for the strongest riders - in other words, very much the sort of place where yellow jersey Thor Hushovd might do well and it looked as though he would do as he muscled his way through. But other riders had plans - suddenly, Geraint Thomas appeared among the the contenders. The Welshman is a brilliant rider, but would he have the strength to defeat the God of Thunder?

Edvald Boasson Hagen took Team Sky's first stage win after a cunning plan
formulated with Geraint Thomas came to fruition.

Well, possibly not. It doesn't matter, because brains triumphs over brawn - just as the line approached Geraint cut the power and from within the slipstream emerged team mate Edvald Boasson Hagen for an explosive sprint across the line, thus scoring Team Sky's first stage win of the Tour. Now - can they win any more? With Thomas, Wiggins and Swift onboard, there's every chance they can.

Almost unbelievably, Malori was
Lanterne Rouge in 2010.

Stage 6 Results



1. HAGEN Edvald Boasson 5h 13' 37"  
2. GOSS Matthew Harley
3. HUSHOVD Thor
4. FEILLU Romain
5. ROJAS Jose Joaquin
6. VICHOT Arthur
7. GILBERT Philippe
8. CIOLEK Gerald
9. MARCATO Marco
10. JEANNESSON Arnold (all received same time)



Overall General Classification:

1. HUSHOVD Thor              22h 50' 34"  
2. EVANS Cadel         + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank         + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR David         + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas           + 00' 10"
6. WIGGINS Bradley         + 00' 10"
7. THOMAS Geraint         + 00' 12"
8. HAGEN Edvald Boasson  + 00' 12"
9. FUGLSANG Jakob         + 00' 12"
10. SCHLECK Andy         + 00' 12"


Green jersey: Philippe Gilbert; Polka dot jersey: Johnny Hoogerland; Youth: Geraint Thomas; Team: Garmin-Cervelo; Combativity: tbc - but we can probably assume it's going to be Adriano Malori with a high degree of certainty,.

Tour de France Stage 6 (1903) debrief

Stage 6 of the inaugural 1903 Tour de France was the final stage. It was 471km long, with the entire Tour being 2428km - giving an average stage length of 404.6km. They used to carry their own spares in those days, and the bikes were much heavier. A tougher breed than the cyclists of today!

Things have changed a little.

Tour de France: Stage 6 Preview

Each year brings new calls that the Tour de France is concentrating too much on the climbs, that it's becoming a race for climbers alone. This year is no different, for there are several blogs - some amateur, some maintained by professional journalists - claiming just that. However, there are also many who do not agree: the Tour is, after all, famed as the hardest race in the world and mountains are hard. They're also beautiful, and beauty is as important an aspect of the Tour as its difficulty.

Today, meanwhile, is one of those stages which anyone could win. It's most definitely not flat, or not once the first 86km are done and dusted anyway, but with the highest point at 335m it's not mountainous either which means it could be won by a strong sprinter having a good day or a grimpeur who can also ride fast on the flatter roads. In other words, it favours the puncheurs, those who are good on a variety of terrain and who are always ready to take advantage of any opportunity to present itself whether doing so requires clever tactics or sheer hard slog.


3D tour of Saint-Michel de Montjoie

Those first flat kilometres will encourage a breakaway, permitting those who have little chance of a high General Classification finish to have their chance in the limelight and even, if they can keep it up over the first and biggest climb of today at Côte de Saint-Michel de Montjoie, the opportunity to win valuable points by being the first through the intermediate sprint section. On the other hand, any sign of weakness on the climb and the peloton will reabsorb them, the points no doubt going to the big-hitters such as Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd and Geraint Thomas instead.

Three categorised climbs - two Cat 3s and a Cat 4 - are sufficient to change whatever order develops during the flat section entirely. Lead groups, having expended their energy through the hard work of getting ahead and remaining there for as long as possible will start to suffer, often falling right back to a lowly position. Sprinters who have tried to tire the climbers by keeping the peloton rolling along at high speed will need to have judged things just right, otherwise it'll be them that suffer. It is perfect, an ideal stage.

It's also long at 226.5km, not just the longest so far this year but the longest in this Tour and as ever passes through some of the best scenery on offer in a country renowned worldwide for its aesthetic charms. The starting point is Dinan, a medieval walled town on a hillside next to the Rance river which, a few kilometres to the north, is dammed at the world's first and largest tidal power station. Many of Dinan's buildings date from the 12th and 13th Centuries, including the imposing Donjon de la Duchesse Anne, also known as Dinan Chateau. 20km on is the bustling town of Dol-de-Bretagne, where legend has it that the Scottish Stuart royal dynasty originated and Welsh saint Teilo tamed a dragon which he kept tethered to a rock. The town boasts a cathedral dating to at least the 13th Century which has one-and-a-half towers. The left-hand tower, it is said, was partially destroyed when the devil (no, not the German one) threw an enormous stone at it - in actual fact, it was simply never completed and the stone, still standing nearby, is the enormous Dol Menhir which predates the church by thousands of years.

This being the flatter part of the parcours, the peloton will soon cover the 32km along the coast until it is adjacent to one of the world's best-known and most celebrated places, Mont-Saint-Michel. Work is in progress here to build a hydraulic dam designed to prevent silting up of the bay in which the World Heritage Site Mont stands so that it once again becomes an island. The monastery in Mont-Saint-Michel was established by St. Aubert, rather a lazy saint who required several visits from an angel instructing him to begin the monastery. Eventually, the angel became irritated with the repeated promises to get on with it and, using an angelic finger, burnt a hole through the saint's skull. That persuaded Aubert to get his act together. There is absolutely no way whatsoever that the camera operators in the helicopters will miss their opportunity to bring us footage.

As the peloton crosses the River Couesnon, it passes from Brittany into Normandy. This entire part of France was, in earlier times, the scene of countless skirmishes and invasions among the Bretons and Normans - in fact, the battles still take place but nowadays nobody is killed and the warring factions drink a lot of beer together afterwards. A little further on is the commune of Avranches where a more modern invasion took place: Patton Square, with an American tank displayed, commemorates the breakthrough of General Patton's Third US Army which began their heroic efforts to free France - and ultimately, all Europe - from the Nazis here in 1944.

Vire, following the accidental bombing in 1944.
Reconstruction did not begin until the 1960s.

Aside from a sharp bend leaving Avranches, the route stays straight as it passes through Brécey and up the 270m climb to Côte de Saint-Michel de Montjoie which at 2.4km has a gradient of around 5.9%, sufficient for it to be a Category 3. 15km further on is Vire, a town now home to almost 13,000 people, which in 1944 was almost entirely destroyed by British bomber aircraft due to a mistake in the positioning of signal flares. The peloton will have covered 114km by this point and riders will doubtless be happy to reach the feeding station.

Next up is the sprint. Who can tell what will happen here today? Will it be like the last few days, when an early breakaway has seen a lead group of riders take the lion's share of the points and the peloton have fought it out over the scraps? Or will any such breakaway be caught on the climb? Will Mark Cavendish, enthused by his remarkable stage win yesterday, go for glory? The one thing of which we can be certain is that it'll be a spectacle, as is apparently guaranteed by the new intermediate sprint rules which must be among the most popular UCI regulations among spectators for many years since they really do seem to encourage thrilling competition.

After another km comes Côte du Bourg d'Ouilly, the first of the two Category 4 climbs, with a maximum gradient of 5.6% in its 2.7km ascent - not a mountain by any standards, but noticeable even to the likes of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador after 157km. Since this is such a long stage, many riders will need to very carefully pace themselves here in order to avoid using energy upon which they'll rely to complete the 70km that still remain to the finish. On the way down, the route takes in Falaise which was the birthplace in 1028 of none other than William the Conqueror - according to legend and some local tour guides at the impressive Chateau de Falaise, but in fact the castle wasn't begun for around a century after William's birth. Falaise was also the location in the medieval period of the famous Rabbi Yom Tov, grandson of the most famous rabbi of them all, Rashi, who produced comprehensive commentaries on both the Tanakh and Talmud which are now an essential part of Jewish study. Like Vire, Falaise was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War 2. However, here it was deliberate, a precursor to the battle of the Falaise Pocket which resulted in the deaths of 10,000 Nazi soldiers and the capture of 50,000 more. Epic win, as they say.

Soon enough is the last categorised climb for today, Cat 4 Côte du Billot. At its highest it's only 196m above sea level but it reaches this height in 1.3km which creates a maximum gradient of 6.5%, the steepest section of this stage which, after 197km, is going to test the riders' strength. 197km is around the average length of a stage, but today they still have 29.5km to go. There's a sharp bend in the road at Livarot, just before the 20km to go point, with the final section passing through Saint-Germain-de-Livet which is the location of one of the most beautiful chateaux in the whole of France.

Yesterday, Mark Cavendish mentioned his belief that the Tour's organisers have deliberately arranged final kilometres to prevent the HTC-Highroad's trademark lead-out tactic that has seen them dominate sprint finishes in recent years. If this is indeed the case, today appears to be another example of it with a steep 88m climb over the two kilometres preceding the last. However, the team - known as master strategists - have responded with a new plan, as seen yesterday when Cav emerged from the pack and exploded over the finish to win the stage.

Paul Cornu's 1907 helicopter.

Today's finish is in Lisieux, once the capital of the ancient Celtic people named the Lexovii by the Romans and who were brave enough to take part in an uprising against the mighty army of Caesar in 52 BCE despite being massively outnumbered by their highly-trained and well-equipped enemy. The town was the site of the world's very first successful helicopter flight in 1907 by Paul Cornu, a bicycle manufacturer, in a craft which relied heavily upon the bicycle technology of the day. It is also home to the remarkable Basilica of St. Thérèse.

So, can he do it again? You know what? We think he probably can. However, the Missile is not known for his skills in the hills and so the climbs may take their toll, preventing him from managing another first place. He's the fastest rider around, but if today is won by a sprinter it'll more likely be one of the hardmen such as Thor Hushovd. A tough all-rounder like Cadel Evans is a definite favourite - and that's a category which also includes Bradley Wiggins who has come to this Tour looking like a half-starved wolf, a very dangerous animal indeed. We did say earlier that a fast-on-the-flat climber could do well today, which introduces a few wild card possibilities - one name that springs to mind is Frank Schleck, another is (of course) Alberto Contador who, unusually for a climber, can hold his own in any sprint.

DEVIL WATCH: A difficult one today, because it's well-known fact that the Devil likes climbs - but there are three choices, and he could appear on any one of them. We think that the Côte du Billot is the most probable because it's near the end and, with the steep gradient, should slow the riders - and hence the camera motorbikes - sufficiently for him to get in shot.

Weather: It's fairly cool in Dinan right now, 19 degrees C and not predicted to get any warmer due to the overcast skies, which also bring an 85% probability of rain which may be heavy. The wind is coming from the south-west, but at 20kmph shouldn't cause major problems and in fact as a tailwind will likely generate high average speeds if it doesn't alter direction - it may, however, be stronger and changeable on the summits, which can be subject to southerly blasts coming from the English Channel. The rain should stop later on and breaking clouds in Lisieux later may allow the sun to dry the roads for a fast stage finish.