Todays stage was a tough 197km from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer. The route featured six climbs, including four in the final 16km.
At the 5km mark a group of five riders broke free of the peloton. Ruben Perez (EUS) began the attack and was joined by Grivko (AST), Minard (ALM), Bernaudeau (EUC), and yet again, the polka dot jersey Morkov (STB) who has been in breaks on the previous 2 days.
For the intermediate sprint Orica-GreenEdge tried to set things up for Goss, however thanks to the previous days intermediate sprints most of the other riders in contention for the sprint knew it was coming. Goss was subsequently passed by Cavendish, Sagan and Renshaw to name a few, with the world champion taking 10 points for 6th place
At around 140km there was an incident that involved several riders including Farrar and Sivtsov (SKY). The worst affected was the Sky rider who was sat on the road for quite a while, ultimately being forced to abandon because of his injures.
With 40km remaining, and the peloton only 2'30” behind, Grivko accelerated at the front of the breakaway. Bernaudeau didn't have the legs to keep up, leaving four left at the head of the race. Morkov led over the second climb, bringing his total KOM tally for the day to 3. At the 168km mark, there was a big crash at the front of the bunch, many riders were affected, the most notable being Rojas (MOV) who was the second rider to abandon the tour.
On the approach to the third climb, Grivko attacked and only Morkov could respond. Morkov was caught 8km from the finish, with Grivko being picked up 1km later. Shortly afterward Chavanel (OPQ) attacked, on a climb he knows well and will have ridden many times. He was, very briefly, the virtual leader of the Tour gaining an advantage of 12” on the peloton but his attack came just too soon as he was caught with only 500m to go.
In the final sprint Westra (VCD) got tangled up with a Katusha rider and fell, holding up a large proportion of the peleton, but by then Sagan had already kicked to gain 1 second on the whole peloton. Edvald Boasson Hagen came a very respectable second, showing he is capable of winning stages of this calibre. Sagan crossed the line in what he called 'a tribute to Forest Gump", smiling as if he had already won 2 stages of his first tour... He increased his led in the points classification by a long way, now being 42 points clear of the yellow jersey, Fabian Cancellara.
Cancellara himself had a good day, finishing in 4th place to show he is willing, even though he is in yellow. He will most probably be in yellow until the weekend when the tour heads towards the mountains for the first time this year.
In the final sprint Westra (VCD) got tangled up with a Katusha rider and fell, holding up a large proportion of the peleton, but by then Sagan had already kicked to gain 1 second on the whole peloton. Edvald Boasson Hagen came a very respectable second, showing he is capable of winning stages of this calibre. Sagan crossed the line in what he called 'a tribute to Forest Gump", smiling as if he had already won 2 stages of his first tour... He increased his led in the points classification by a long way, now being 42 points clear of the yellow jersey, Fabian Cancellara.
Cancellara himself had a good day, finishing in 4th place to show he is willing, even though he is in yellow. He will most probably be in yellow until the weekend when the tour heads towards the mountains for the first time this year.
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Top 5 Today
1. P. SAGAN (LIQ) 4H 42' 58"
2. E. BOASSON HAGEN (SKY) 0' 01"
3.P. VELITS (OPQ) 0' 01"4. F. CANCELLARA (RNT) 0' 01"
5. M. ALBASINI (OGE) 0' 01"
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