On a day that many in the field thought would be one last stage for the greatest American cyclist of all time, yet another French rider came in and spoiled the party. Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo outsprinted Lance Armstrong and other riders to the line to grab the third straight stage won by a French rider and the 6th of the Tour. This is a remarkable accomplishment for the host country, who were expected to get no more wins than perhaps 1 or 2. Fedrigo was one of the strongest all day in the breakaway, and used his fresh legs at the finish to beat out a tired Damiano Cunego (who was predicted by many as the best sprinter in the breakaway). Lance was expected to attack, and he did not disappoint.
Armstrong made one of the first moves of the day on one of the early climbs (and there were MANY early climbs), and tried to go out on his own. Little by little, smaller groups of riders began to catch up with him and the breakaway stabilized once it hit 10 riders. The ten men (Armstrong, Cunego, Fedrigo, Carlos Barredo, Ruben Plaza, Sandy Casar, Chris Horner, Christophe Moreau, Jurgen Van de Walle, and Ignatas Konovalovas) worked very well together and started to pull out quite a gap. Armstrong again tried to attack and succeeded in temporarily breaking up the group but eventually everyone but Konovalovas got back together for the final descent.
After the breakaway reached the long flat stretch on the way to the finish, Carlos Barredo made a move over the top. Barredo was intent on giving it his all, and managed to cling onto a small advantage of around 30 seconds longer than I have seen in a long time. (for an advantage that small)
Barredo came so close to victory, that the rest of the breakaway did not catch up to him until around the 1 km to go banner. It was a tough break for the Spaniard, whose biggest headline of the Tour before today was his post-race fight with rider Rui Costa. The other "big story" of the day turned out to be not much of a story at all.
Both Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador were content to just sit in the slumbering peloton for the entire day and keep a watch on the rest of the race. Contador was seen riding up to Schleck and they talked for a while and seemed to be in a good mood. Both riders downplayed yesterday's incident through multiple sources (via twitter, youtube, and interviews) and said that they are both still good friends. Thor Hushovd won the sprint to the line for 10th place, and took just enough points to reclaim the green jersey from Petacchi (Petacchi had been dropped early and finished in the Grupetto).
So, there will be a much-needed rest day tomorrow followed by likely the most grueling stage of the Tour. Contador will be taking the yellow jersey and a slim 8 second lead over Andy Schleck.
On a day that many in the field thought would be one last stage for the greatest American cyclist of all time, yet another French rider came in and spoiled the party. Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo outsprinted Lance Armstrong and other riders to the line to grab the third straight stage won by a French rider and the 6th of the Tour. This is a remarkable accomplishment for the host country, who were expected to get no more wins than perhaps 1 or 2. Fedrigo was one of the strongest all day in the breakaway, and used his fresh legs at the finish to beat out a tired Damiano Cunego (who was predicted by many as the best sprinter in the breakaway). Lance was expected to attack, and he did not disappoint.
Armstrong made one of the first moves of the day on one of the early climbs (and there were MANY early climbs), and tried to go out on his own. Little by little, smaller groups of riders began to catch up with him and the breakaway stabilized once it hit 10 riders. The ten men (Armstrong, Cunego, Fedrigo, Carlos Barredo, Ruben Plaza, Sandy Casar, Chris Horner, Christophe Moreau, Jurgen Van de Walle, and Ignatas Konovalovas) worked very well together and started to pull out quite a gap. Armstrong again tried to attack and succeeded in temporarily breaking up the group but eventually everyone but Konovalovas got back together for the final descent. 
After the breakaway reached the long flat stretch on the way to the finish, Carlos Barredo made a move over the top. Barredo was intent on giving it his all, and managed to cling onto a small advantage of around 30 seconds longer than I have seen in a long time. (for an advantage that small) 
Barredo came so close to victory, that the rest of the breakaway did not catch up to him until around the 1 km to go banner. It was a tough break for the Spaniard, whose biggest headline of the Tour before today was his post-race fight with rider Rui Costa. The other "big story" of the day turned out to be not much of a story at all.
Both Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador were content to just sit in the slumbering peloton for the entire day and keep a watch on the rest of the race. Contador was seen riding up to Schleck and they talked for a while and seemed to be in a good mood. Both riders downplayed yesterday's incident through multiple sources (via twitter, youtube, and interviews) and said that they are both still good friends. Thor Hushovd won the sprint to the line for 10th place, and took just enough points to reclaim the green jersey from Petacchi (Petacchi had been dropped early and finished in the Grupetto).
So, there will be a much-needed rest day tomorrow followed by likely the most grueling stage of the Tour. Contador will be taking the yellow jersey and a slim 8 second lead over Andy Schleck.
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