Stage 6 Recap; Stage 7 Preview

Poor Thomas Voeckler, France's favorite champion, tried a cheeky attack in the pouring rain with less than 3km to go with an Omega Pharma-Lotto rider, but the pair was caught to set up a bunch sprint. Other riders tried to make their breakaway's stick earlier in the day, but the sprinter's team would have none of it, ensuring the the time gaps were never out of their reach and collective power.

After the race was back all together, Norwegian strongman Edward Boasson Hagen timed his ripping attack perfectly to take Team Sky's first Tour Stage win. Boasson Hagen's family was in attending the stage, and witnessed first hand their son's win. Their presence might have provided their boy just a little bit more umph than the rest.

The big loser on the day was Team Radio Shack's Levi Leipheimer who crashed into a guardrail just outside of the 3km safe zone, within which his loss of time would have been negated, and lost over a minute on the stage. The American is now 1:23 down in the overall classification with the first mountain stage looming just two days away.

Stage 7
Tomorrow, the race heads south and the profile is about as flat as they come and there is almost no chance that a breakaway could succeed under the watchful eye of the sprinter's teams. The peleton will be roaring into Chateauroux for a battle royale. Unless Mark Cavendish or his team screws something up, he'll take the stage. He's been here before, as his first stage win occurred in Chateauroux in 2008.

Tweet

Get Follow Me Buttons