Geraint Thomas has a fractured pelvis; Boasson Hagen is ill with either stomach bug or flu; Kennaugh crashed; Porte was heat-knackered from yesterday; Kiryienka missed the cut (so has been dropped by officials). Hopefully Monday/rest day will help....
The reality was four cat one climbs and another hill for good luck. The heat was terrible and even Froome said it was hard as he had experienced. I have never seen so many groups pass through on the run in. Just a really rough ride and with the crashes it destroyed any teamwork for sky and isolated them. Oh and other riders took the race on and made them work. Valverde put a right shift in. And I wasn't on the highlights :-(
On a side note. During yesterday's stage, amongst the name written onto the road, I swear I saw a giant cock drawn on. Sorry to bring the tone down, but these things amuse me.
Stage 10: Saint-Gildas-des-Bois - Saint-Malo (197km) A rolling stage, with only one (Cat. 4) climb - so it looks like a day for the sprinters. Maybe Cav will win his 25th? Sky (if well recovered) will try and control the race and prevent any breaks going off with Froome's rivals.
Stage 10 Result 1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 4:53:25 2 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol 3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling 5 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ.fr 6 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha 7 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 8 Kévin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar 9 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team General classification after stage 10 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 41:52:43 2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:25 3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:44 4 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:50 5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:51 6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:02 8 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:28 9 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:02:31 10 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:02:45
not the one you mention, but there was a twenty foot one in thick white paint where I was stood... The Spanish came out at 2am next to my mate's motor home the night before and daubed it on the road... The caravan's advance cars included a works van that had blokes with white paint and rollers, and they changed it to half rocket, half rabbit about an hour before the race. They come prepared for such naughtiness!! You can see it on the Horquette descent on Sunday's killer stage at almost exactly 27km as the camera cuts off an overhead view. Sadly, the camera cut just before me stood about 10 yards up! I did 95 miles yesterday with the Aubisque half way (then back) in 30 plus heat... the pros are machines!!
Did anybody see the crash as the jockeying for the sprint started? Cavendish and Simon bumped and Simon went down.....might have cost Cav the victory.
Cav had lost it by then - he was well off the front wheels... He was trying to hook onto Griepel to give himself half a chance. His lead out train was pants and that's what cost him.
You can tell when Cav has no hope as he just sits up and rolls in. Today he was no where near and had no one to guide him through and show him clear air. He was freewheeling over the line as a spectator. He needs a better team, not one that gets bullied and sidelined.
