Stage 7

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Stage 7

Day 7 Lisieux - Vitre 184 km

Analysis

Pineau's BTL team did try to keep the breaks in until the only KOM prime at 27.5 km but failed as a break escaped with a few kilometers remaining before the prime. BTL did manage to bring back all but two riders and set up Pineau for third place points.

Following the KOM prime, they were close enough to the first road prime that Vaugrenard made a really great strategic move by attacking and staying away long enough to win the first road prime along with the 6 second time bonus. Since Vaugrenard was only 3 seconds down on Fothen, he moved into the lead for the White or Youth Jersey. He was able to take GST by surprise and take the lead. You can bet the GST coach will yell a little tonight. He will want to know why Fothen wasn't marking Vaugrenard's wheel with them that close to a road prime and time bonus.

Then 14 riders, including Boonen and Hushovd, bridged to vaugrenard's break of three setting up a 17 rider break that was doomed. CSC (who didn't have a rider in the break), DVL (McEwen), and LAM (Bennati) gave chase to bring the break back in. With the break losing time and doomed with top placed riders in it, three riders attacked the break, the remaining 14 chased the new break of three for a while, and then the 14 rider break sat up permitting the new three rider break to become the controlling break for the day.

You can bet that the three riders who attacked the main break understood why the break was doomed and decided to get out of Dodge knowing that, if they left the three dangerous riders behind (Vaugrenard, Boonen, and Hushovd), their break would be let go. That is why it is important to know the things I am teaching on this site and in my e-book, "A Better Way To Train". If you have trouble understanding or following the tactics and strategies of the Tour, I have an entire section in my book teaching those strategies in detail. It will help you follow the Tour much better.

Today, McEwen proved beyond any doubt that he is the fastest sprinter in the Tour this year. The man has legs of steel and can fly but he can't climb worth beans and will most likely lose ground on the Points Title in some of the more climbing stages. The big question is whether he can gain enough points in the remaining flat stages and hold on enough to win the Points Title. We will see.

Second, I didn't see O'Grady in the top 20 for the stage finish telling me he is probably really hurting from his back injury and will certainly drop out of the race when the climbing gets hard enough. That is always a shame to see happen to anyone.

Tomorrow

Those of you who know this sport well enough have been waiting all week for this stage. It will be the first significant sort of the top riders on GC for the Yellow and White Jerseys and team GC. Tomorrow will be the 52 km individual TT and we will see the TT specialists and GC riders move up with everyone else moving down on GC. Remember that the GC riders don't want to lose more than a maximum of one minute to the top GC rider in this stage because, the more time they lose in the TT, the more time they will have to gain in the mountains just to break even. This will be one of the most critical stages in this Tour.

Following tomorrow, the sprinters who are currently in the top 10 on GC will start racing for just the Points Title because they will no longer be in contention for GC. They should lose quite a bit of time in the time trial.

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