Stage one was set up for a sprinter to win and take the yellow jersey, for the first time in a lifetime, with no prologue time trial to ensure the jersey went to a non-sprinter. Cav, understandably, fancied his chances to wear the only Grand Tour jersey he hasn’t so far. It was all looking like it would work out that way, with the GC contenders sitting in calmly (after Froome recovered from a crash in the neutralised zone) until there was a bit of a snag:
Slight issue at the finish line of the #TDF #BusGate (via @m_xl) pic.twitter.com/xzqIJs8vaw
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) June 29, 2013
The organisers pulled the finish back to the 3km mark in a panic and the sprint teams started to ramp up the effort to work their key riders into position. Then the finish was put back to the original point and the resulting confusion seemed to contribute to a massive crash. The crash took out Tony Martin who was reported to have broken his collar bone and to lose consciousness twice later in the bus, and caught up many of the favourites both for the sprint and the GC. Cav, Greipel and Sagan were caught behind the carnage and the only remaining sprinter left, Kittel, took the win a little way down the road.
In the disorganisation the GC was neutralised, with everyone getting the same time, but the Green jersey competition stayed as at the finish, adding insult to Cav’s injury as he failed to be able to contest the points.
Sunday’s stage went into the climbs straight away and wasn’t going to be one for any of the sprinters unless they could make it over the hills Really the most likely to win was Sagan, if he could make it to a sprint. It did give the GC contenders a chance to show what they had and Froome did that with a bit of a chase out of the front of the pack to bring in a breaking rider. It all came together after the hills at about 6km and the counter attacks started to try and spoil it for the remaining sprinters. Chavenal was the key player in this on his birthday as Cannondale tried to gain control, and six riders went clear while Garmin looked to bring Millar into yellow and Cannondale looked to lose control.
The break fell apart at 1km to go and was sucked up by the peloton, leaving the sole figure of Bakelants, from Radioshack holding them all off, barely, to win by the smallest of margins, and with a large amount of confusion over who he actually was for a time.
Aside from all the action have a look at this year’s Tour in numbers from the Guardian:
If you’re missing a bit of dirt jump action and don’t want too much road cycling then here’s the answer to the question you’ve been asking yourself; can you backflip an e-bike?
Seems you can.
A
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