Tour de France 2011 View RSS

Cancellara unsurprisingly set the best early time with a 57:15. First to top his time was Saxo Bank's Australian Richie Porte, taking the lead with his 57:03.

Edvald Boasson Hagen and Vacansoleil's Thomas de Gendt both flirted with the stage lead at their intermediate time checks, with Boasson Hagen setting the best time at Time Check 1, and de Gendt hitting Time Check 2 24 seconds faster than Cancellara.

Saxo Bank's Richie Porte came through in 57:03 to take the stage lead.

De Gendt finished in 57:02, taking the stage lead.

Tony Martin, who won an identical stage at the Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré in June, set the new best time at Time Check 1 in 20:12, :22 faster than Boasson Hagen. Boasson Hagen broke an aerobar extension, and finished in 57:43, 4th at that point.

Tony Martin looks like he could repeat his Criterium du Dauphiné victory, hitting Time Check 2 in 40:26, 37 seconds faster than anyone else so far, and Time Check 3 in 49:53, more than a minute faster than any other rider so far. At the finish, it's Martin in 55:33 taking the lead of the stage.

When the GC men took the course, it didn't take long to see that Cadel Evans was putting a serious hurt on the times of both Schleck brothers.

At the first time check, Evans and Contador were even, :21 behind Martin, :34 ahead of Frank Schleck and :36 ahead of Andy Schleck.

At TC2, Contador faded, but Evans closed on Martin's time with a 40:33, just :07 behind HTC's German. GPS put Evans into the virtual lead of the race, with his lead growing steadily. The Schlecks hit TC2 more than 1:40 down on Evans.

By the third time check, it was clear all Evans had to do was stay upright to the finish to take the yellow jersey and very likely the overall Tour victory. The big question was whether his scorching time would be enough to bring him the stage win, as well. At the finish, Evans clocked a 55:40, seven seconds off Martin's stage-winning time. When the Schlecks finally arrived, they clocked almost identical times, in 58:14 for Frank and 58:12 for Andy.

Pierre Rolland held a 1:36 lead over Estonian time trial champion Rein Taaramae in the white jersey competition, but ceded just :48 on the day to hold the jersey, and a place on the final podium for himself and his Europcar team.

Notable times:
Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad, 55:33
Cadel Evans, BMC, 55:40
Thomas de Gendt, Vacansoleil, 57:02
Richie Porte, Saxo Bank, 57:03
Fabian Cancellara, Leopard Trek, 57:15
Peter Velits, HTC-Highroad, 57:36
Tom Danielson, Garmin-Cervelo, 57:41
Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky, 57:43
Andy Schleck, Leopard Trek, 58:12
Frank Schleck, Leopard Trek, 58:14
Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Cervelo, 58:33
Danny Pate, HTC-Highroad, 59:03
David Millar, Garmin-Cervelo, 59:14
George Hincapie, 1:00:22
Brent Bookwalter, BMC, 1:01:24
Mark Cavendish, HTC-Highroad, 1:04:08

As so often happens, the Tour will be decided in today's final time trial. It's a 42.5 km course, with the start and finish in Grenoble. It's not pancake flat, with the high and low points of the course differing by almost 400 meters in altitude. It's on the hilly side of rolling.

There are two primary hills on the course, and time checks are in Vizille, after the first descent, and Saint Martin d'Uriage near the top of the second hill and before the 15-kilometer descent to the finish.

The exact same course was used in the 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré in June. There, it was won by Tony Martin, followed by Brad Wiggins, Edvald Boasson-Hagen, and Dave Zabriskie, with Cadel Evans in 6th, 1:20 behind the leader. Both Andy and Fränk Schleck used the Tour de Suisse instead of the Criterium du Dauphiné in their preparation, so we don't have a direct comparison of their times.

When Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck have gone head-to-head in Tour time trials, Evans has won every time but one, last year's final TT when Evans, riding with a broken arm, finished more than 10 minutes off Fabian Cancellara's winning time. In that TT, Andy Schleck beat Evans by 4:41. In every other Tour TT they have both raced, Evans has beaten Andy by at least :30: 2008 Stage 4, it was 1:02; 2008 Stage 20, it was 2:00; 2009 Stage 1, it was :37; 2009 Stage 18, it was :34; and in the 2010 Prologue, it was :30. Today, Schleck starts with :57 on Evans (and Fränk Schleck sits in the middle with just :04 advantage to Evans).

I never pick against Fabian Cancellara in a time trial. Tony Martin's obviously another favorite, having already won on the same course.

Stage 13 started fast, with five or six atttempts to make a breakaway all being chased down and the field averaging around 50 km/hr or 31 mph.

The high pace put Andreas Klöden in trouble off the back of the peloton. Klöden is still suffering from injuries to his lower back suffered in a crash in Stage 9, and with about 40k ridden, Klöden abandoned the Tour, barely able to climb off his bike, or to stand up once he was helped off. His abandon leaves just 5 Radio Shack riders in the Tour.

Also put in trouble early was Rabobank's Lars Boom who trailed the field by more than 3:00 on the first climb of the day, the 3rd Category Côte de Cuqueron. Yesterday's 2nd-place finisher, Jelle Vanendert, led the peloton over the climb, with occasional attacks still trying and failing to get clear of the field.

3rd Category Côte de Cuqueron:
1) Jelle Vanendert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, +2 pts
2) Niki Terpstra, Quick Step, +1 pt

With more than 50k ridden, a breakaway group was finally successful, and had more than 1:00 in hand after 60k. In the group were Thor Hushovd, Jerome Pineau, Martin Tjallingi, Dmitri Fofonov, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Alessandro Petacchi, Lars Bak, Vladimir Gusev, David Moncoutie, and Jeremy Roy. With these 10 away, the pace in the field finally dropped a bit, and the gap quickly pushed out toward 2:00.

Lars Boom and Vladimir Isaichev, both gapped way before the Tourmalet, abandoned the race on the road.

4th Category Côte de Belair:
1) Jeremy Roy, FDJ, +1 pt

Gap went out beyond 4:00 as the field worked the climb.

For the intermediate sprint, Hushovd and Petacchi were expected to go for max green jersey points, but the group pretty much just pacelined through the sprint line. In the field, Philippe Gilbert launched an attack from way too far to the line, then was easily swamped by Rojas and Cavendish and their teammates. At the line, Rojas nipped Cavendish, who gestured angrily, but didn't appear to be impeded in any way.

Bielle sprint:
1) Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky, +20 pts
2) David Moncoutie, Cofidis, +17 pts
3) Vladimir Gusev, Katusha, +15 pts
4) Dmitri Fofonov, Astana +13 pts
5) Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre, +11 pts
6) Martin Tjallingi, Rabobank, +10 pts
7) Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Cervelo, +9 pts
8) Jeremy Roy, FDJ, +8 pts
9) Lars Bak, HTC-Highroad, +7 pts
10) Jerome Pineau, Quick Step, +6 pts
11) José Rojas, Movistar, +5 pts
12) Mark Cavendish, HTC-Highroad, +4 pts
13) Francisco Ventoso, Movistar, +3 pts
14) Mickaël Delage, FDJ, +2 pts
15) Mark Renshaw, HTC-Highroad, +1 pt

Soon after the leading 10 hit the Col d'Aubisque, the group was shredded by an attack by World Champion Thor Hushovd. Hushovd may have had visions of his 2009 Stage 17 spent in a long solo break, but he was quickly joined by Jeremy Roy of FDJ, with David Moncoutie and Edvald Boasson Hagen close behind, and the other break survivors fading away. Hushovd's lead on the field stretched out over 6:30, while Delage, Mollema and Gadret counterattacked off the front of the field.

With a little more than 50k to race, gravity returned to normal, and Roy, then Moncoutie were able to come around Hushovd. Edvald Boasson Hagen initially had followed Moncoutie, but never made the bridge to Hushovd.

Atop the Aubisque, Roy held his lead of about :50 on Moncoutie, and coupled with his points from the Tourmalet yesterday, Roy will take the King of the Mountains jersey if he finishes the stage.

HC Col d'Aubisque:
1) Jeremy Roy, FDJ, +20 pts
2) David Moncoutie, Cofidis, +16 pts
3) Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Cervelo, +12 pts
4) Vladimir Gusev, Katusha, +8 pts
5) Jerome Pineau, Quick Step, +4 pts
6) Lars Bak, HTC-Highroad, +2 pts

Moncoutie began the descent :50 down on Roy, with Hushovd chasing more than a minute behind Moncoutie. Hushovd reeled in Moncoutie on the descent. On the uncategorized climb of the Soulor, Roy saw his lead on the pair at 1:27, but over the last 25 kilometers of the stage, Hushovd did most of the work to close on Roy. At 20k, the gap was 1:10, but over the next 4 km, Hushovd cut that lead in half. In the next 4 km, he cut it in half again, leaving Roy a bare :20 in front with 12 km to the line.

Roy fought valiantly, but the Norwegian world champion chipped away at his lead, until inside of 3 kilometers to the finish, Hushovd used a small hill to thunder away from Moncoutie, catching and riding straight past Roy. Hushovd rode alone to the finish for his 8th career stage win. Moncoutie also passed a dejected Roy to take 2nd on the stage.

Stage 13 sets up as a bit of a palate-cleanser for the GC riders, fresh from the first big all-you-can-eat hurt buffet of the Tour.

The major feature of the stage is the Col d'Aubisque, an hors categorie climb that could put some of the GC pretenders to shame. The summit comes with 35 kilometers to the finish, so there will be ample opportunity for a regrouping on the descent to Lourdes. Two other categorized climbs are on tap: the 3rd Category Côte de Cuqueron at 42.5 km is short and steep, and could be a spot for a breakaway, and the 4th Category Côte de Belair, which comes at the end of about 8.5k of rising road, even though the official climb is just 1 km.

The intermediate sprint comes between the two lower category climbs and Col d'Aubisque, at 82.5 kms. This is one of the stages where Philippe Gilbert might be able to make up green jersey points on Mark Cavendish, either through Cavendish falling off the back on the big climb, or through Gilbert making a break on the long descent.

It's doubtful the course will rip the yellow jersey from Thomas Voeckler's shoulders; that's more likely tomorrow as the race heads up to Plateau de Beille. Arnold Jeannesson of FDJ wears the white jersey, Sammy Sanchez the polka-dots, and Cavendish the green jersey for Stage 13.

Stage winner is likely to be somebody like Stage 12 winner Sammy Sanchez or French champion Sylvain Chavanel, a strong rider well back in the GC who can get in a break over the Aubisque and help it stay away from the chasing field all the way down to Lourdes.

HTC-Columbia's Mark Cavendish continued his reign as the Tour's dominant sprinter, riding clear of André Greipel and Tyler Farrar for his 18th career Tour stage win.

The day's breakaway, and a competing effort to set up their sprinter by Garmin-Cervelo, splintered HTC's leadout train, but Cavendish and Mark Renshaw followed Sky's Geraint Thomas (rumored to be a teammate of Cav's in 2012), with Renshaw, then Cavendish going hard up the right side of the road. Stage 10 winner André Greipel and Stage 3 winner Tyler Farrar couldn't bring the speed to close down the Manxman, and Cavendish had his third stage win of the 2011 Tour.

The win gave Cavendish the lead in the green jersey contest, which up to now had favored Belgium's Philippe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto. There are two likely sprint
stages still to come, Stage 15 and the Stage 21 finale.

Green jersey:
1) Cavendish, HTC, 251
2) Rojas, Movistart, 235
3) Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 231
4) André Greipel, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 164
5) Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Cervelo, 163
6) Romain Feillu, Vacansoleil-DCM, 141
7) Cadel Evans, BMC, 135
8) Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Cervelo, 106
9) Sébastien Hinault, AG2R, 82
10) Denis Galimzyanov, Katusha, 81

The overall race leadership was unchanged. Here it is before the big changes that are likely to begin tomorrow:

GC, after Stage 11:
1) Thomas Voeckler, Europcar, in 4:52:39
2) Luis-Leon Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:49
3) Cadel Evans, BMC, at 2:26
4) Frank Schleck, Leopard-Trek, at 2:29
5) Andy Schleck, Leopard-Trek, at 2:29
6) Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad, at 2:38
7) Peter Velits, HTC-Highroad, at 2:38
8) Andréas Klöden, RadioShack, at 2:43
9) Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 2:55
10) Jakob Fuglsang, Leopard-Trek, at 3:08

Basso's at 3:36, Cunego 3:37, Roche 3:45, Gesink at 4:01, Contador 4:07, Danielson 4:22, and Samuel Sanchez at 5:01.

In the KoM, Johnny Hoogerland's time in the lead will soon come to an end:

KoM, after Stage 11:
1) Johnny Hoogerland, Vacansoleil, 22 pts
2) Thomas Voeckler, Europcar, 17 pts
3) Tejay Van Garderen, HTC, 5 pts
4) Marco Marcato, Vacansoleil-DCM, 5 pts
5) Rui Costa, Movistart, 5 pts
6) Sandy Casar, FDJ, 5 pts

Gesink holds the white jersey for at least another day. Europcar holds the team lead, while Mickael Delage of FDJ took the combativity prize for his role in the break on Wednesday.

More:
VeloNews.com | Mark Cavendish wins stage 11 of the 2011 Tour de France, takes over green jersey

cyclingnews.com | Cavendish gets stage win number three and green jersey in Lavaur

There's really not that much to say about today's stage. It's another day for the sprinters, and Cavendish will be super motivated after coming up a little short in Stage 10.

Just two categorized climbs today, as riders face a 3rd Category climb at the 28.5-km mark, and a 4th Category at 135.5 km. This means Johnny Hoogerland will hold the King of the Mountains jersey into the high mountains tomorrow, since he leads by more points than are on offer today.

Voeckler will hold yellow for another day, barring a lightning strike. There's no way a meaningful breakaway stays away today. And with the mountains looming, even meaningless breakaways are going to get reeled back in by the sprint teams.

There's an intermediate sprint very close to the middle of the stage today, just 11 kilometers after the feed zone. Philippe Gilbert continues to lead the green jersey competition, but the lead is shrinking. Gilbert sits with 226 points, José Rojas 209, and Cavendish 197. With a stage win today, and roughly equal points in the intermediate sprint, Cavendish could take over the green jersey.

Thing to watch today: HTC's train. HTC has had to do a lot of work to bring back the breakaways, and the only time they've been able to work their train to the line, Cavendish won. The peloton and the parcours have conspired to effectively disrupt Cav's leadout twice, and in those stages, Cav has “just” one win.

Hats off to Greipel, who just flat outsprinted Cavendish in the stage yesterday, with Goss and Renshaw shredded by Gilbert's late attack. Greipel will look to come off Cav's wheel in the finishing sprint today. José Rojas has been close in every sprint, and hasn't quite pulled off a win; Tyler Farrar hasn't factored in sprint since his win in Stage 3, so both will want to score here, for different reasons.

Smart money has to be on Cavendish, though, who will be looking to erase the memory of yesterday's narrow sprint loss with an 18th career Tour stage win.

This is the shortest stage of the 2011 Tour at 158 kilometers/98.2 miles. The profile looks a little easier than Stage 9, with four categorized climbs, alternating 3rd-4th-3rd and 4th category. The last climb of the day comes with about 15k left after a 20-kilometer downhill, and could possibly be a springboard for an attack to the line.

More likely, though, we'll see the breakaways kept under control. With Thomas Voeckler in yellow, Europcar will check any move that would threaten his lead, and HTC and Garmin (heck, maybe even Movistar for Rojas) will likely work to set up a sprint finish. There are just 4 more stages that look to favor the sprinters: today, tomorrow's Stage 11, Stage 15 on Sunday and the final stage into Paris on the Champs-Élysées. Make me choose a winner for today, and I've gotta go with Cavendish.

The intermediate sprint is only 37 downhill kilometers into the race, so we'll likely see it contested by all the riders with an interest in the green jersey: Gilbert, Rojas, and Cavendish included.

If Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland can ride after his horrific Stage 9 injuries, he should hold the King of the Mountains jersey through the day; he's up by 6 points on Voeckler with only 6 points available to any one rider today.

Stage 9 looked like one for the break, but no one could predict just how many breaks we would see.

Juan Mañuel Garate of Rabobank didn't make the start, leaving 188 riders active. Early in the stage, there were three more abandons: Pavel Brutt of Katusha, Wouter Poels of Vacansoleil, and Amets Txurruka of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Veteran escape artists Thomas Voeckler of Europcar, Luis Leon Sanchez of Rabobank, Juan Antonio Flecha of Sky and Sandy Casar of FDJ broke away with Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland. All but Hoogerland are past stage winners, while Hoogerland, in his first Tour, was apparently in search of the King of the Mountains jersey, where he started the stage a point behind Tejay Van Garderen. They were initially joined by Quick Step's Nicki Terpstra, who faded back to the field when the group found the mountains. Hoogerland would take maximum points over most of the day's climbs, with Voeckler, best placed of the breakaway, looking to finally take the yellow jersey from Garmin-Cervelo's Thor Hushovd, who had held it since the team time trial last Sunday.

There were a few minor falls early in the stage, including one by defending champ Alberto Contador that looked like he had had been body-checked off the course Katusha's Vladimir Karpets. After the stage, Contador and Karpets agreed that Contador had caught his brake hood on Karpets' seat.

On the descent from the Puy Mary, the field carried too much speed into too little corner, and a number of riders went down. Astana's leader Alexandre Vinokourov tumbled down an embankement into some trees, and was helped back to the roadside by his teammates. Omega Pharma's GC hopeful, Jurgen van den Broeck, his teammate Frederik Willems, and Garmin-Cervelo's Dave Zabriskie were alll down in the same crash, and all would have to abandon the race. Zabriskie apparently fractured his hand, van den Broeck his shoulder blade, and initial reports were that Vinokourov had fractured his pelvis and femur, ending the Tour he had said would be his last.

Caught in the crash but continuing were Christian Vande Velde and David Millar of Garmin-Cervelo and RadioShack GC hopeful Andreas Klöden, who went to the hospital for X-rays after the stage. Klöden was heavily bruised on his back, but X-rays showed no breaks.

At the front of the pack, Cancellara and Gilbert neutralized the chase, allowing many of the downed riders to rejoin but also giving new life to the breakaway, which saw its lead balloon from around 4:00 to nearly 8:00 before the field could reorganize.

With around 43k to race, a television car tried to pass the lead group, cut back to avoid a tree, and took out Flecha and Hoogerland. Hoogerland was propelled off the road, into the air, and onto a barbed wire fence. After medical attention, and needing only to reach the finish line to take the King of the Mountains jersey, Hoogerland mounted up and rode, bleeding heavily from his left leg. Voeckler, Casar, and Sanchez considered waiting for Flecha, but finally had to continue as a trio, with Hoogerland, then Flecha being reabsorbed by the peloton and finishing with the laughing group, which was undoubtedly dire today.

The day's intermediate sprint came with only about 30 kilometers to ride, and Philippe Gilbert led the field in to hold the green jersey and widen his lead on Cavendish, Rojas and Hushovd. Garmin-Cervelo rode to limit Voeckler's gains until about 12k to the line, then handed the job over to BMC, then LeopardTrek.

Voeckler, who spent 10 days in yellow back in 2004, was clearly burying himself for a chance to repeat the experience. In the last kilometer, Voeckler tried to lose his passengers, but Luis Leon Sanchez was waiting for the move and easily distanced Voeckler, with Casar unable to even respond, to take the third Tour stage victory of his career. Voeckler would take yellow with a 1:49 advantage on Sanchez and 2:26 on Cadel Evans.

Philippe Gilbert would again lead in the field sprint, in a group with Evans, both Schlecks, Martin and Velits of HTC, Cunego, Contador, Danielson and Sanchez (among others) at 3:59 and Leipheimer, Gesink, Thomas, Basso, and Klöden (among others) at 4:07 down on Voeckler.

Stage 9:
1) Luis-Leon Sanchez, Rabobank, 5:27:09
2) Thomas Voeckler, Europcar, at :05
3) Sandy Casar, FDJ, at :13
4) Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 3:59
5) Peter Velits, HTC-Highroad, same time
6) Cadel Evans, BMC, s.t.
7) Andy Schleck, Leopard Trek, s.t.
8) Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad, s.t.
9) Frank Schleck, Leopard Trek, s.t.
10) Damiano Cunego, Lampre, s.t.

GC, after Stage 9:
1) Thomas Voeckler, Europcar, in 38:35:11
2) Luis Leon Sanchez, Rabobank, at 1:49
3) Cadel Evans, BMC, at 2:26
4) Frank Schleck, Leopard Trek, at 2:29
5) Andy Schleck, Leopard Trek, at 2:37
6) Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad, at 2:38
7) Peter Velits, HTC-Highroad, at 2:38
8) Andréas Klöden, RadioShack, at 2:43
9) Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 2:55
10) Jakob Fuglsang, Leopard Trek at 3:08

More:

VeloNews | Thomas Voeckler takes lead in 2011 Tour de France as Luis-Leon Sanchez wins stage 9
cyclingnews.com | Luis León Sánchez wins crash-hit stage
GrahamWatson.com | Tour de France: Stage 9

From the Tour's longest stage on Thusday to the flattest on Friday, Stage 7 ends in Chateauroux, where HTC sprinter Mark Cavendish took his first stage win back in 2008.

If Cavendish really wants to take 5-7 stages of this year's Tour, as he said before the race, he's going to need today's stage. A win here would also be a big help for Cav in the green jersey competition before the race moves into the mountains, where Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd are likely to find opportunities to collect points while Cavendish rides in the grupetto.

It's a stage with no real features to speak of. Johnny Hoogerland will hold the KoM jersey for another day if he can make the finish, with no mountains points on offer. The sprint configuration is interesting, with the "intermediate" sprint coming with 192.5 km ridden, just 25 k/15.5 miles from the finish. Will HTC let a breakaway stay away through the intermediate sprint, or contest two sprints in 16 miles?

Cavendish is the favorite, with Farrar, Galimzyanov, or Feillu possible alternates if HTC misfires.

Also:

letour.fr | Stage 7 - LeMan -> Châteauroux 218 km

forum.cyclingnews.com | Le Mans Châteaurou 218 km

Edvald Boasson Hagen won Stage 6 of the Tour on Thursday, holding off yellow jersey Thor Hushovd and Stage 1 winner Philippe Gilbert in the closing meters to take his first Tour stage and the first for his Team Sky.

The day's finish profile discouraged Cavendish, Farrar, and their ilk, favoring the torquier sprinters. With 1k to ride, Garmin-Cervelo's David Millar led the way, with Gilbert, Evans, and Hushovd close behind, and HTC trying to set up a leadout on the right of the pack, with Matthew Goss in its sweet spot. Astana's Alexandre Vinokourov tried to escape, but was countered by Rabobank's Bauke Mollema. With a few hundred meters to ride, Boasson Hagen launched off the wheel of teammate Geraint Thomas, outkicking Hushovd and Gilbert, stacked up behind him. At the line, in fact, it was Matthew Goss, closing fast, who would take 2nd on the stage, with Hushovd third.

Radio Shack's Levi Leipheimer suffered the only significant change in overall placing by a GC hopeful, limping in 1:05 back after falling on wet pavement late in the stage.

The break of the day at least factored in the jersey competitions, with Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil taking 3 King of the Mountain points to take over the jersey through Saturday, at least. Also in the break were Leonardo Duque, Anthony Roux, Lieuwe Westra, and Adriano Malori. The break surrendered bit by bit, with Malori holding out to about the 15k mark, and earning the most aggressive award for the day.

HTC's Mark Cavendish came out to play at the intermediate sprint behind the breakaway, easily taking 6th ahead of José Rojas, who was looking to get back into the green jersey after a nullification of points in Stage 5.

The selection at the finish demonstrates why Philippe Gilbert may be entertaining thoughts of competing for the overall green jersey:

Green Jersey Competition (after 6 stages):
1) Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 144 pts
2) Jose Rojas, Movistar, 143 pts
3) Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Cervelo, 112 pts
4) Cadel Evans, BMC, 98 pts
5) Mark Cavendish, HTC-Highroad, 94 pts
6) Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Cervelo, 76 pts
7) Romain Feillu, Vacansoleil-DCM, 73 pts
8) Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky, 51 pts
9) Sébastien Hinault, AG2R La Mondiale, 48 pts
10) André Greipel, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 48 pts

Cavendish complained after this year's course was unveiled that organizers included stages like today's to limit his opportunities for victory. That may be, but I would rather see a battle like today's than the HTC train catapulting Cavendish to a 5-bike-length victory, an all-too-common sight the last few Tours.

Tomorrow, look for the HTC train to catapult Cavendish to victory, as Stage 7 is the flattest of the Tour.

Today's the Tour's longest stage, with riders making their way into Normandy. Prevailing winds are expected to be from the west, making today's stage a fast one.

We've got three categorized climbs on the day, two 3rd Category at 99.5km/62 miles and 156.5km/97 miles and a 4th Category at 197km/132 miles ridden. With a maximum of 5 pts on offer over the 3 climbs, it's likely a rider in a long breakaway might take over the polka-dot jersey from Cadel Evans, currently leading the competition with 2 pts.

The intermediate sprint is in Vassy at 131 kms/82 miles ridden. Philippe Gilbert leads the category after José Rojas had his points from yesterday's intermediate sprint nullified.

With Gilbert showing interest in the green jersey competition, today is another day where he might be able to gain points on Cavendish, with the finish profile (below) featuring a healthy climb from 3k down to 1k to the line that might take a bite out of the pure sprinters' legs, tilting things to Gilbert or Hushovd. We might also see a gap in the field at the finish, so the GC hopefuls will have to be attentive to these last few kilometers.