The stage to Aubenas, one of the hardest in this year’s Tour de France. A big break away established itself early on up the road, with 20 riders. It was very unmanageable; however no leaders were in the pack. One team that has done nothing in this year’s Tour de France to speak of so far is the very proud and very well backed financially Team Rabobank. Because they missed the break away, they were put on the front to chase down the break before team Astana. They do have one very fast rider in their midst, the winner of last years green jersey, Oscar Freire has won a stage and Denis Menchov has had a very difficult Tour de France after winning the Giro d’ Italia. So Rabobank set an unbelievable tempo throughout today’s stage. Eventually they caught the break away and then it was an absolute free for all to the line.
Mark Cavendish did the ride of his life to come to the top of the climb still in the peloton. Alessandro Ballan, the current world champion, put in a scintillating attack, putting in 15 seconds between him and the peloton. Cavendish’s team had to do a huge amount of work to catch Ballan and lead him in for a possible win; there was only one option for him. And that was to win. A great ride from Mark Cavendish with an unbelievable tempo set by Rabobank and Oscar Freire. Oscar eventually finished 5th. The main beneficiary of the fast tempo was Mark Cavendish, with perhaps the best of his Tour de France career. Lance had a very tough day in the saddle along with all the other riders. Because Rabobank missed the split they set an absurd tempo. The average speed was unbelievably fast. They clocked in at well over 40 kilometers per hour, approaching 50 kilometers per hour by the last climb. And for the overall contenders, Contador, Schleck, Wiggens, it was a very tough day in the saddle.
Because it was an unbelievably furious dash to the line for the sprint win, there was a gap in the field. Only 12 riders were accredited the same time as the stage winner. The only leader out of those was of course Lance Armstrong. He finished 12th. The Schlecks and Wiggens didn’t see the danger that Cavendish posed. And it docked them 4 seconds. And at the end of tomorrows mountain climb, that may be the difference of being on or off the peloton. Lance may have gained enough breathing room to stay on the podium until the final stretch in Paris. Lance is a veteran of this sport. He’s won the tour 7 times. He remains very astute tactically. He has stayed at the front, even thought it is painful. The temptation is to filter back through the group and take it easy to the finish line and save your strength. But lance realizes the danger of that strategy and he always stays right at the front. You don’t win 7 tours with out that uncanny ability to pay attention. For lance a rendezvous with destiny falls tomorrow. The biggest climb in all of cycling. Tomorrows stage, Mont Ventoux. Can lance stay on the podium? I think so.
Wiggens has had the dream tour of a lifetime and I’m sure would love to find himself on the podium. I’m sure that Frank Schleck would like to join his brother Andy on the podium.
The Tour de France is on the line. Contador looks supreme in the yellow jersey. But a few difficult kilometers and everything could be up for grabs. Mont Ventoux is so hard that anything can happen, all the way to the finish line if you watch one hour of bike racing in your hole life, this should be it. Tune in tomorrow on Versus 7am ET.
