After dropping out of contention early, Lance Armstrong set his goal of getting a stage win for his first year Radioshack team. Sergio Paulinho beat him to the punch. Paulinho got into the early breakaway and stayed there all day while the peloton slumbered over 14 minutes down the road. Paulinho got into a breakaway with Vasili Kiryienka, Mario Aerts, Dries Devenyns, Pierre Rolland, and Maxime Bouet and the 6 of them opened a massive gap on the peloton. Once it was clear that they would survive, the attacks began. Mario Aerts was the first to attack, but was easily caught. Dries Devenyns then had a go at it, and Paulinho and Kiryienka were the only ones who could muster a chase. They both easily caught Devenyns and quickly passed him and dropped him from the group.
They worked well together and distanced themselves from the 3 chasers until the final kilometer, when the cat and mouse game began. Paulinho dropped behind Kiryienka, and timed his attack perfectly. He got a great jump and though Kiryienka made a huge surge at the line, it would not be enough to deny Paulinho and Radioshack of their first ever Tour stage win. This was a huge breakthrough for the first year team, and team leaders like Armstrong, Leipheimer, and Kloden were all estatic at the victory. Radioshack also kept second place in the team standings, as there was relatively no action from the peloton all day. The biggest move of the day came from Nicolas Roche, who attacked late to finish 7th for the day and move up 4 spots to 13th overall. Jerome Pineau also won the early mountains points to take back the KOM jersey after losing it yesterday to Anthony Charteau.
Thor Hushovd retained the green jersey, though he lost the first sprint to Petacchi and the final (for 9th place) to Cavendish. He will really need a great performance to hold it, as these next few stages will be flat and likely end in sprints. The rest of the contenders just stayed in place all day, and had an easy day. They had no interest on the breakaway, and just tried to finish the stage intact. This also meant that Andy Schleck had no problem keeping the Maillot Jaune, as his Saxo Bank teammates did a great job protecting him throughout the day.
After dropping out of contention early, Lance Armstrong set his goal of getting a stage win for his first year Radioshack team. Sergio Paulinho beat him to the punch. Paulinho got into the early breakaway and stayed there all day while the peloton slumbered over 14 minutes down the road. Paulinho got into a breakaway with Vasili Kiryienka, Mario Aerts, Dries Devenyns, Pierre Rolland, and Maxime Bouet and the 6 of them opened a massive gap on the peloton. Once it was clear that they would survive, the attacks began. Mario Aerts was the first to attack, but was easily caught. Dries Devenyns then had a go at it, and Paulinho and Kiryienka were the only ones who could muster a chase. They both easily caught Devenyns and quickly passed him and dropped him from the group.
They worked well together and distanced themselves from the 3 chasers until the final kilometer, when the cat and mouse game began. Paulinho dropped behind Kiryienka, and timed his attack perfectly. He got a great jump and though Kiryienka made a huge surge at the line, it would not be enough to deny Paulinho and Radioshack of their first ever Tour stage win. This was a huge breakthrough for the first year team, and team leaders like Armstrong, Leipheimer, and Kloden were all estatic at the victory. Radioshack also kept second place in the team standings, as there was relatively no action from the peloton all day. The biggest move of the day came from Nicolas Roche, who attacked late to finish 7th for the day and move up 4 spots to 13th overall. Jerome Pineau also won the early mountains points to take back the KOM jersey after losing it yesterday to Anthony Charteau.
Thor Hushovd retained the green jersey, though he lost the first sprint to Petacchi and the final (for 9th place) to Cavendish. He will really need a great performance to hold it, as these next few stages will be flat and likely end in sprints. The rest of the contenders just stayed in place all day, and had an easy day. They had no interest on the breakaway, and just tried to finish the stage intact. This also meant that Andy Schleck had no problem keeping the Maillot Jaune, as his Saxo Bank teammates did a great job protecting him throughout the day.
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