Tour de France 2010 – Stage 7

This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 2nd full tour.

Chavanel’s second coming !! The 7th Stage of the TdF was from Tournus to Station des Rousses a distance of 165.5km is the first of the mountain stage at this year’s TdF.  With the race now being passing through the hills & the valleys, the beauty of the country is definitely going to be showcased for the world. Though yours truly doubts if the riders have any time at all to even look around, as the race goes through climb after climb to its finish. The major surprise for the day was the second coming of the Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel into the Yellow jersey, as he pushed his small frame to the brink after breaking away from the main group & snatched back the Yellow jersey from Cancellara in pure poetic justice. Tournus, with a population of almost 6,000 is becoming a part of the Tour for the first time. Situated between the River Saône and the Monts du Mâconnais, this town is just 100km north of Lyon and to the south of Dijon. Places to see include the Saint-Philibert Abbey from over 10 centuries back,  which has retained almost all of its conventional buildings – the church, the crypt, the cloisters as well as the refectory and the monks’ cellar, which are now used for shows and exhibitions. The painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze was born in Tournus in 1725 and has a museum dedicated to him.

The finish town of Station des Rousses also has a population of almost 6,000 and is joining the Tour for the first time. A scenic village in Haut Jura this town along with three other towns in the surrounding area – Bois d’Amont, Lamoura, Prémanon – forms a family summer vacation and winter ski resort and is also known as the birthplace of skiing in France. It is also known all over the world for the famous Transjurassienne event (76 km of cross-country skiing). The stage began at Tournus with all 187 riders, with Juan Jose Oroz of Euskaltel – Euskadi calling it quits. The race route for this stage was one with six climbs –  2 Cat II, 2 Cat III & one Cat 4 climbs spread over the course with the descent from the last climb running into the finish. Just as predicted in yesterday’s post – Jerome Pineau of Quick Step wearing the Polka dotted King of the Mountain jersey launched out in a bid to garb the points in that category & stay on as leader for one more day right in the very beginning of the stage. Joining him soon were Christian Knees of Milram, Danilo Hondo of Lampre, Perez Moreno of Euskaltel – Euskadi & Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis. Working together this breakaway made very deep inroads into time as at one stage they were ahead of the peleton by over 8 minutes!! With all the GC riders content to keep their team together, the race in the front peleton was flagging. After the flat stage of almost 40km the first of the climbs started and by then the Bbox telecom team which had missed the breakaway put its riders in the front & started churning out a very good pace. Their strategy was to catch the breakaway for Thomas Voeckler so as to look at a stage win. But it was not to be as this relentless pace in the front made the peleton explode at the back with riders getting dropped like nine pins. In the meanwhile Pineau quietly went about collecting the points for the King of the Mountain category by winning the top points for 5 climbs. It was after the fourth climb when Chavanel broke away and attacked in a solo bid to catch up with his team mate Pineau who was slowly faltering in his pace. At the back of the peleton – Cancellara in the Yellow jersey was finding the pace too hot & got dropped but he put in all his mite to soon rejoin the peleton. This was happening to many other riders as well, with Andreas Kloden of Team Radioshack also getting dropped (though me thinks this was team strategy to preserve him for today’s stage) At the front of the GC riders group, it was a joint effort by Astana, Radioshack, Saxo Bank & BMC riders all of whom at some point or the other came forward to drive the group. Daniel Navarro of Astana was the rider who bore the brunt of the job and he did keep a terrific pace all through out. With 17km to go Chavanel caught up with Pineau who just waved him and Chavanel continued his flight to finish. An attacking rider with superb form Chavanel today showed why he is one of the best and literally blew the Yellow jersey race into open as his pace not only ensured that Cancellara lost his place on the top it also saw to the decline of Geraint Thomas of Sky who when starting today would have dreamt of being in the Yellow jersey by the end of the day!! The one rider who came out of this stage with an exceptional ride was Rafael Ferri Valls of Footon, a debutant at this years’ tour who after joining the Chavanel group in the middle tried to catch Chavanel in the end with a strong solo effort and came home to finish 2nd in the stage. Truly an effortless ride and a rider destined for much more…watch for him in the years to come. The GC riders – all showed good form & none of them were in any spot of bother. This reads for a good race tomorrow when the hills of today will give way to mountains. Though the peleton was broken and riders kept coming in to the finish, the GC riders group came in as one and thus there is not much movement in the overall standings. They finished 1min 47sec behind Chavanel. Cancellara’s stint in Yellow ends for TdF 2010 as he finished 14min behind Chavanel and from now on his role will be that of Andy Schleck’s super domestique!! After crossing the finish Pineau celebrated in style and had this to say, “The work of a team has been fully rewarded. It was a beautiful sight, and is also the victory of friendship, of complicity. When Sylvain caught up with me, I already knew he did it because he felt strong. And when he was next to me, I saw in his eyes that no one would be able to take him back. I am happy for this team, because many people said we can do nothing without Tom (Boonen). I like this polka-dot shirt and I have good legs, so we do not set limits.”

Sylvain Chavanel having won the stage and the yellow jersey was high on adrenaline said, “I had legs of fire, and I knew I was on climbs that suited me very well – a gradient of four per cent, hills more than mountains. At first I was afraid to attack, because I did not want to take any riders up to Jérôme (Pineau). We started with the whole team, and it goes perfectly. What we did in the stage to Spa was extremely rare. But to do it twice… oh, it’s wonderful. Now we will try to win a third! I began to think of the yellow jersey on the last climb, and I told myself that after having lost, it was quite a coup to take it back again. Tomorrow I will do everything to defend it, but I know that the battle will mainly concern Contador, Schleck and Evans. In the midst of it, I’ll always give everything but if I lose it does not matter. Right now I’m on my little cloud, I’m floating and I don’t know how else to describe it. But I see that I have great support on the road and everywhere. It warms my heart.” At the end of Stage 7 the over all race results areas follows. Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step in the Yellow. Thor Hushovd continues in the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank takes over the White jersey, Jerome Pineau of Quick Step keeps the King of the Mountain jersey. But Team Astana now takes over as the best team in the race.

The Tour de France Stage 8, is from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz  a distance 189 km with 2 Cat IV climbs. Will Chavanel get to wear the yellow jersey for Stage 9? Or will he succumb to the effort put in today. Me thinks – Contador will attack today just to prove to himself that he is the best & also thus checking out the form of the other GC contenders. Team Radioshack will line up at least one rider to attack the group as with a rest day coming up there will be time to recuperate also. So till tomorrow …. Au revoir… Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com