Stage 6
July 10 Troyes - Nevers 196 km
The race started as I expected with a lot of attacking. The break
that stayed the longest started with 14 riders which should tell you
that all of those and other teams spent last night discussing
sending riders up the road early. At the start, the race got so fast
that the peloton broke into three sections for a while.
USP sent Heras off in the big break which doesn't make sense. It
would have made more sense to not send one of their best climbers up
the road. It would have made more sense to send a rider like
Hincapie.
You need to know that pro's don't like really big breaks of more
than six or eight riders. That is why the break riders began
attacking until they had a front break of only five riders, of whom,
Finot was going after the KOM Jersey and got it.
Even after the big break was caught towards the end of the stage,
riders kept attacking. That was the reason the teams pulled the
break back to where it was almost caught but let it regain some
ground before pulling it in. They didn't want to catch the break too
soon because they knew other riders would attack causing confusion
which would interfere with their sprint trains being able to control
the peloton for the sprint. But they still caught the break too soon
and a number of breaks did briefly get off until the sprint teams
finally took control of the peloton and brought order to it.
I hope you noticed that the teams who worked against the break were
defending jerseys or a stage win. USP very successfully used this
action to control the peloton and race to keep the Yellow Jersey
without having to do any defensive work. Pena got another day in the
Yellow Jersey for free.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is a 230 km flat stage which is the last flat stage before
the mountains begin. There will be very fast and aggressive racing
by the teams fighting for one last chance to have early control of
the jerseys because many of them will be out of contention for these
jerseys within the next four days.
Tomorrow's stage is particularly interesting in that about two
thirds of the way into the stage are three primes very close
together which present a great opportunity for attacking close to
the finish. There are two road primes very close to and just before
the first cat 3 climb of the Tour with rollers for about the last
third of the race.
If there isn't already a break off, look for an attack at this
point. With the decent hills towards the end of the stage, it is
more likely that a break will stay off.
Watch for USP to use the same or similar tactics with there being a
lot of attacking from the other teams. Look for the riders low on GC
or chasing jerseys trying to make a last grab for a jersey. The next
day, these races will be taken over by other riders for the next
three days.
