Cav takes the first sprint of the day

😀

did the break form late because the sprinters' team were concentrating on the first intermediate, or were people just feeling sluggish?

Formed late…

Only saw it as a replay but it looks like it was late

Thor just looks like he's given up trying!

Did you think Thor sounded like a beaten man yesterday? I did, but Farrar didnt, and congratulated Cav on the win..

i'd be pretty broken if i knew my main rival was leagues ahead of me and just toddled off up the road every time we went head to head!

Your right of course, but he sounded very deflated and to get 5th must have really upset him…

I thought Thor's lead out man sounded pretty annoyed with Thor when he was interviewed on Eurosport yesterday. It sounds like he wants to form their own train to launch Thor's attack, but Thor insists on following Cav's wheel.

Well maybe they should, following his wheel doesnt seem to be working, both Thor and Farrar took turns to attack him and they both lost out, as soon as they got about level, he just seemed to go again. It was quite impressive.

It looks like that'll be the only intermediate sprint that'll be contested by the front runners

so a big advantage to Cav

yup and if they wind the breakaway in then the final sprint has higher points as it's a hilly stage i think

i love the way Astana send back 4 riders to tow Armstrong back onto the slow moving peloton, really makes you wonder what the team order is!

That fella that won looks a bit … er … distant 😉

mrmichaelwright, its the other way round isn't it? less points for mountain stages, although I'm not sure that today would be classified as a proper mountain stage so i expect it would be normal points

Intermediate Mountain stage (or something like that) so 25 pts for the win vs 35 for flat satges

Anyway, Cavendish had the first sprint, and beat Hushovd to the line for 7th place or whatever it was, so gaining a slight advantage over the day.

i stand corrected 🙂

Cav on 200 points, Hushovd on 190. Be good if this one went down to the last sprint in Paris, I remember it did a few years ago with McEwen and Zabel, Zabel got it by 1pt at the end IIRC.