A Return to the Flats

Stage 10: Saint-Gildas-des-Bois - Saint-Malo

Today's stage was a welcome return to the flat roads for the riders and, in particular, the sprinters. A breakaway of five riders led for most of the stage, but they were caught with just under 6 kilometres to go to the finish by a peloton driven by the sprinters' teams, and rather surprisingly Saxo-Tinkoff. It was all to set up the bunch sprint to the finish line, and Marcel Kittel made full advantage of that to sprint clear and earn himself another stage win.

It was a sprint to the finish that was set up by Andre Greipel's team Lotto-Belisol. Greipel's lead out man, Greg Henderson, pulled him towards the line and unleashed him with just over 150 metres to go. However, he seemed to be struggling with the larger chain ring on his bicycle and didn't quite have the pace to take out the win. Kittel had no such problems, and bolted from Greipel's slipstream to take the stage win by a wheel.

His win however, was somewhat marred by his teammate's high speed crash in the last few hundred metres. Tom Veelers had just pulled up after leading Kittel onto Greipel's wheel, and was slipping backwards in the bunch when Mark Cavendish tried to move past him and ended up knocking him off his bike. It was a rather horrible crash; Veelers hit the tarmac very hard and tumbled forward like a ragdoll. He seemed to fall on his shoulder and looked to be in serious trouble as he lay on the road while the peloton passed him by. Thankfully he was able to get himself upright and make his way to the finish line.

Kittel's stage win ahead of Greipel, Cavendish and Sagan (in that order) took vital points away from Greipel and Cavendish in the green jersey classification. Although they both finished ahead of Sagan the points advantage they gained was minimal. Stage finishes like today's only reinforce the idea that it will take a huge mistake from Sagan to allow the other riders to compete for the green jersey. Greipel remains second in the classification, 83 points behind Sagan. Cavendish is third, 103 points behind.

Racing against the clock

Tomorrow's stage is the first of two individual time trials in this year's Tour. It is a very flat race against the clock over 33 kilometres and it presents an opportunity for the time trial specialists to claim a stage victory. Also, the main contenders for the yellow jersey will be given a chance to gain time on or over their competitors.

I love individual time trials, perhaps even more than I love team time trials. They're one of the great displays of individual strength in cycling, right up there with a solo ascent of a hors categorie climb. They have a way of separating the contenders that is unlike anything else in cycling. The separation is as much a separation of physical strength as it is of mental strength, and as such it can truly show who is in contention to win the Tour.

Ton Martin has recovered quite well from his crash on the first stage, and will no doubt be targeting tomorrow for a possible stage win. As the World Time Trial Champion, he enters tomorrow's stage as the favourite to win it. However, the maillot jaune wearer, Chris Froome, could upset Martin's hopes as he has the advantage of starting last on the day, and will know what his target time to beat will be. Froome was the bronze medallist at the Olympics last year, and enters the time trial as one of the favourites. 

For the other contenders in the yellow jersey classification, tomorrow's stage may well be one of damage limitation. Valverde's ability against the clock is not of the same calibre as Froome's and the second placed rider could well drop further behind Froome by the end of the day's racing. Mollema and ten Dam are in a similar position. Contador is a strong time trialist, but it is unlikely that he will make up time on Froome tomorrow. Instead, his aim will most likely be to diminish the gap between him an second place - to put him in a position to challenge Froome in the mountains. The time trial is Andy Schleck's worst discipline (apart from sprinting I would imagine), and he will probably lose large chunks of time over the course of the stage tomorrow. The news is rather better for Cadel Evans who could find himself nearer the top end of the standings tomorrow night. I'm unsure of the ability of Quintana and Kwiatkowski as I haven't seen them ride a time trial, but my gut feeling is that Quintana is going to struggle tomorrow and Kwiatkowski will probably fare somewhat better. Will the difference between the two be enough for the white jersey to change hands? Only time will tell.