Result: André Greipel won the 161km stage from Aurillac to Carmaux in a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish finished second and José Joaquin Rojas came in third.
Here’s how it happened: Six riders formed an early breakway, five of whom were French as they attempted to nab France’s first stage win of this Tour. Although none of the breakaway riders were a threat to the major Tour favourites or to Thomas Voeckler’s overall lead, the sprinters teams conspired to spoil the day for the six out front.
The gap never went much above four minutes as the peloton reeled the escapees in with 16km to the finish. The bunch began to split as the race crested the final climb of the Côte de Mirandol Bourgnounac. We were treated to the unusual sight of the yellow jersey and the green jersey attacking with 14km to go as Voeckler and Philippe Gilbert went clear with three other riders.
But eventually they too were caught as the bunch once again regrouped 4.5km before the finish. HTC-High Road tried to organise their famous lead-out train for Cavendish but they didn’t seem to have enough men to drive it as effectively as they did on Stage Seven.
The Manxman launched his sprint coming off the wheel of Daniel Oss but Greipel came past in the final few metres to win his first ever stage of the Tour de France.
The Big Winner: Johnny Hoogerland. What a hero. Yesterday he was launched into a barbed wire fence by a television vehicle. The courageous Dutchman ended up with massive lacerations all over his legs but he finished the stage and soldiered on today. Before his accident yesterday, Hoogerland did enough to takeover the King of the Mountains’ polka-dot jersey which he wore throughout today’s stage.
The Big Loser: Mark Cavendish. The world’s best sprinter was beaten by his ex-teammate Greipel. The German has never ridden the Tour before this year as HTC-High Road always put its full weight behind Cavendish. But he decided he’d had enough this winter and he switched teams to Omega Pharma-Lotto in order to finally ride the Tour.
They famously never got on with one another and Cavendish once mocked Greipel saying he only ever wins ‘sh*t small races’, but they don’t come any bigger than this. Cavendish hates losing at the best of times, but this one will really hurt.
What about the Irish? Nicolas Roche was perfectly anonymous once more as he crossed the line in the peloton with the rest of the GCcontenders. He finished 19th on the stage as he continues to rack up a series of solid top 20 placings. He remains in 13th place overall, 3’45″ behind the race leader Thomas Voeckler.
So what happens tomorrow then? A relatively flat 167.5km from Blaye-Les-Mines to Lavaur. This is one of only three more opportunities for the sprinters to contest the stage victory. As such, there is very little chance of a breakaway succeeding.
Mark Cavendish’s team will take control as they attempt to make amends for today and launch him to his third stage victory of this year’s Tour. This will be the last day before the race reaches the high mountains of the Pyrenées.
