Stage 4: Nice - Nice
Team Orica Greenedge have not been afraid of taking centre stage in this year's Tour de France. On the first day their team bus got lodged under the banner over the finish line and caused chaos for the riders and tour officials alike. Yesterday, they put on a solid performance in the breakaway with rider Simon Clarke, before Simon Gerrans sprinted his way to a first stage victory for the team. Today, they featured again, this time in a somewhat more emphatic fashion. In a powerful performance over the 25km team time trial route, they raced their way to victory and put Simon Gerrans in the maillot jaune.
It was a day of some surprises, which is, in itself, somewhat of a surprise. Team time trials have a tendency to be straightforward affairs; the teams that appear to be strong usually are and the teams that are expected to lose time usually do. In yesterday's blog post I said that I expected strong performances from teams BMC, Sky and Garmin-Sharp, and a slightly weaker performance from Omega-Pharma Quickstep due to the injury to Tony Martin.
Quickstep immediately proved me wrong when they flew through the course and posted a time of just 25 minutes and 57 seconds. It was a time that seemed to turn the race into a race for second place, as team after team ended the time trial far behind the time set by the Belgium-based team. Strong performances from both Team Sky and Saxo-Tinkoff put them just 2 and 8 seconds behind Quickstep respectively. This secured positions towards the top of the general classification for both Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. However, the show was stolen moments later when Orica Greenedge stormed across the finish line just 75 hundredths of a second ahead of the time set by Quickstep, catapulting them into the lead in the teams classification and placing the yellow jersey on the shoulders of Simon Gerrans. It has been a dream start to the Tour for the Australian team, who will most probably hold the yellow jersey until the mountainous stage 8.
BMC had a somewhat underwhelming performance on the day's stage, finishing in 9th place and losing 26 seconds to the yellow jersey. As a team with two very strong time trialists, Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen, they were expected to challenge for a top spot at the end of the stage.
A big surprise came from team Lotto-Belisol, who finished 5th on the stage. It was a solid display of team cycling that placed Jurgen van den Broeck in a good position in the general classification. Team Radioshack-Leopard performed as expected, losing some time on the stage and relinquihing the yellow jersey, but overall not losing too much time for team leader, Andy Schleck.
The time trial put the first important time differences into place in this year's Tour. Orica Greenedge don't have a rider challenging for the top spot in the general classification, so their win today won't effect the standings at the end of the tour. Froome is the best placed rider of the overall contenders, currently in 7th place overall, and just 3 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Alberto Contador lost some time to Froome, but a deficit of just 6 seconds is unlikely to bother him. Jurgen van den Broeck and Ryder Hesjedal are each 14 seconds behind Froome and, although they probably won't challenge for a podium position, they are in a good position overall. The biggest time losses of the stage went to Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans who are 26 and 23 seconds behind Froome respectively. Schleck will probably be less bothered by this deficit, as he will feel confident in his ability to outperform Froome in the mountains - and he will have to do so if he wants to win the yellow jersey, because he will undoubtedly lose time in the time trials. The time lost is more worrying for Cadel Evans because he doesn't have a distinct advantage over either Froome or Contador.
A stage for the sprinters
Cavendish, Greipel and Kittel must be itching for an opportunity to stretch their legs in a bunch sprint after the past few days on hilly Corisca. Tomorrow's stage will offer them the perfect opportunity to do so. It is a relatively flat stage over 228 kilometres that should allow the riders to rest their legs as they ride steadily towards the foothills of the Pyrenees. The sprinters' teams will be watching closely, and it is unlikely that they will let a breakaway build too large a lead over the peloton.
After a strong performance in today's stage, Omega-Pharma Quikstep must be feeling confident about the prospects for Mark Cavendish on tomorrow's stage. Tony Martin seems to be recovering well, and his presence will have a big impact on Cavendish's lead out. Andre Greipel has been sprinting well at the intermediate sprint points and will provide some tough competition for Cavendish. Sagan has come close to a stage win on the hilly days in Corsica on two occasions. Only a daring break by Jan Bakelants and a final surge from Gerrans kept him away from claiming two stage victories. The support from his Cannondale team has been superb and he will be relying on them to do the same for him tomorrow.
Marcel Kittel, currently second in the green jersey classification, will be right up at the front contesting all the point on offer on the stage. However, with his competition being the likes of Cavendish, Greipel and Sagan, it is quite likely that he will find himself scrapping for positions slightly down the order.
The time trial put the first important time differences into place in this year's Tour. Orica Greenedge don't have a rider challenging for the top spot in the general classification, so their win today won't effect the standings at the end of the tour. Froome is the best placed rider of the overall contenders, currently in 7th place overall, and just 3 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Alberto Contador lost some time to Froome, but a deficit of just 6 seconds is unlikely to bother him. Jurgen van den Broeck and Ryder Hesjedal are each 14 seconds behind Froome and, although they probably won't challenge for a podium position, they are in a good position overall. The biggest time losses of the stage went to Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans who are 26 and 23 seconds behind Froome respectively. Schleck will probably be less bothered by this deficit, as he will feel confident in his ability to outperform Froome in the mountains - and he will have to do so if he wants to win the yellow jersey, because he will undoubtedly lose time in the time trials. The time lost is more worrying for Cadel Evans because he doesn't have a distinct advantage over either Froome or Contador.
A stage for the sprinters
Cavendish, Greipel and Kittel must be itching for an opportunity to stretch their legs in a bunch sprint after the past few days on hilly Corisca. Tomorrow's stage will offer them the perfect opportunity to do so. It is a relatively flat stage over 228 kilometres that should allow the riders to rest their legs as they ride steadily towards the foothills of the Pyrenees. The sprinters' teams will be watching closely, and it is unlikely that they will let a breakaway build too large a lead over the peloton.
After a strong performance in today's stage, Omega-Pharma Quikstep must be feeling confident about the prospects for Mark Cavendish on tomorrow's stage. Tony Martin seems to be recovering well, and his presence will have a big impact on Cavendish's lead out. Andre Greipel has been sprinting well at the intermediate sprint points and will provide some tough competition for Cavendish. Sagan has come close to a stage win on the hilly days in Corsica on two occasions. Only a daring break by Jan Bakelants and a final surge from Gerrans kept him away from claiming two stage victories. The support from his Cannondale team has been superb and he will be relying on them to do the same for him tomorrow.
Marcel Kittel, currently second in the green jersey classification, will be right up at the front contesting all the point on offer on the stage. However, with his competition being the likes of Cavendish, Greipel and Sagan, it is quite likely that he will find himself scrapping for positions slightly down the order.
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