Without the addition of the Team Time Trial the first week of this years Tour de France seamed a bit longer than usual, day after day the tour featured (mostly) flat stages which nearly always resulted in the early morning “knuckle head” breakaway which would be caught in the last 15k’s and a sprint finish.
Yesterday’s first mountain stage was a warm welcome for most “tour” fans, while not the best stage profile for serious contenders to put time in their rivals (the last 40 kilometers were flat or downhill) it did provide plenty of exciting racing and gave us a look at who has good climbing legs and will likely attack on stage 11 which is one hell of a profile with 5 monster climbs and a mountain top finish.
Big winners of the day were two lesser known riders Cyril Dessel (Ag2R Prévoyance) and Juan Miguel Mercado (Agritubel) who both rode away from the peleton on the day’s toughest climb with a group that started with about a dozen or so riders. By the top of the climb Dessel (France’s latest here after his wonderful ride on this day) and Mercado were alone as no one else from the break could maintain their pace up the HC climb.
By the end of the day the two riders had more than 9 minutes on the peleton giving Dessel the yellow and polka-dot jersey and Mercado the stage win. Cyril Dessel has over 2 minutes on the GC to Mercado and nearly 3 minutes on past yellow jersey wearer Serhiy Honchar. However most seam to think these two riders will not be able to maintain their standings by the end of stage 11 (today’s stage).
Results: 4:49′10″, 39.527 K/h
1 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel
2 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
3 Iñigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.56
4 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis 2.24
5 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.25
6 Iñaki Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.03
7 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick-Step 5.35
8 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7.23
9 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram
10 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas
11 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française Des Jeux
12 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
13 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
14 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Milram
15 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
17 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner
18 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears
19 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears
20 Miguel Angel Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak
Related:
