2009 Tour de France – Stage 10 Results
Welcome back to Bike World News for our coverage of Stage 10 of the 2009 Tour de France.
Mark Cavendish re-asserted his sprint dominance today while the race leaders rolled in comfortably with the rest of the peloton. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R) will get another day in yellow, with Astana’s Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong sitting dangerously close.
The Course:
After a long flight on Sunday night, the riders found themselves in the central France town of Limoges. Tuesday’s 194.5 km stage from Limoges to Issoudun heads further into the center of France, and it will give the sprinters an opportunity to show off their skills again.
There are no real climbs today to slow anyone down, just three Category 4 bumps to take on. The first (the Côte de Salvanet) comes at km 10.7 and will give a break an opportunity to get away. It runs just 1.8km at an average grade of 4.5 percent. The second climb, the – Côte de Saint-Laurent-les-Eglises, is a 2km climb that averages 5.3km that summits at 27.5km and the final climb, the Côte de Bénévent-l’Abbaye, is a 1.8km climb that averages 3.4 percent and summits at 58.5km.
The Breakdown:
It’s Bastille Day in France today, and French riders, swelling with national pride, may be wanting to make another go at a win today.
Sure enough, 4 riders breakaway at the 13 km mark: Benoit Vaugrenard (Francaise des Jeux), Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis). Ignatiev, Hupond and Vaugrenard took the points on the Côte de Salvanet.
The breakaway had its largest gap at the 32 km mark – just a little under 4 minutes, but the peloton kept the leash fairly tight today. Over the Côte de Saint-Laurent-les-Eglises, the mountain points once again went to Ignatiev, Hupond and Vaugrenard.
AG2R, Rabobank, Quick Step and Lampre are all took their turns at the front of the peloton. AG2R, of course, would like to keep Rinaldo Nocentini in yellow. I’m sure that Quick Step’s Tom Boonen would like to grab a sprint win today as well.
By the 84km mark, the gap had dropped under two minutes. It’s almost certain that the race winner would not come from the breakaway.
Columbia has made an appearance at the front of the peloton. Mark Cavendish did not get beaten up by the Pyrenees and is probably ready to get the green jersey back from Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team).
Saxo Bank’s Kurt-Asle Arvesen had a fall back in the middle of the peloton and looked to be suffering from a hurt shoulder. He managed to get back with the group with the assistance of teammate Fabian Cancellara, but made two visits to the race doctor.
With 60km remaining, the gap was holding steady at 1′30″. Despite the race radio ban, no one has been able to pull any big surprises. Levi Leipheimer had a brief chat with the team car just before Astana started to make their colors seen at the front of the peloton.
Columbia and Rabobank were driving the the peloton and the gap was down to 1′13″ by the 33km mark. Some were predicting a catch of the break by the 20km mark, others thinking that Ignatiev may be making a solo attack at some point.
At 22km, the gap was reduced to 40 seconds. When the advantage came under 30 seconds, Igantiev, as expected, kicked up the pace and was matched by his fellow fugitives. He had been sitting in for most of the race, so he might have had some spring/sprint left in his legs.
Columbia, Garmin and Quick Step were leading the charge in the peloton.With 3 km to go, the gap was down to 12 seconds. 7 seconds at 2 km. It definitely looked like there would be a catch.
The inevitable happens and the race is turned over to the sprint teams. It’s George Hincapie, then Tyler Farrar, then Mark Cavendish, blowing by everyone and making it look easy.
Results:
[...] Bike World News: Stage 10 Report. [...]
Just kind of curious how Mark Cavendish can have won 3 stages out of 10 and not be ranked in the top 20 overall.
Well, while he excels in the flat stages that demand a sprint finish, he is not really a time trial’er or climber, so in those stages, he built up a fairly heavy deficit that needs to be overcome.
He started the race 3 minutes and 14 seconds down after the opening time trial and lost another 59 seconds after the team time trial.
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