Cannondale team time trial away from the sprinters and Sagan finally gets his win

It was a hilly-ish stage today and because the sprinters had been somewhat satisfied the past two days I thought a break might be allowed to go away as everyone else kept their powder dry ahead of the big mountains tomorrow. But then, I had also to consider the fact that Peter Sagan had yet to win a stage, had finished second on three occasions, third on another and with his Green jersey rivals Mark Cavendish and André Greipel sniffing close by, he might want to do something before those mountains arrived. The stage profile was ideally suited to a man of Sagan's abilities, though had you told me he'd go win the stage today -- as he did -- I'd have bet on him getting into a break and winning from that, much as he did during the spring classics. As it turned out though we got one almighty pursuit across southern France in an epic battle for the Green jersey.

It all kicked off on the first major (I say major, but it was a lump in the road for what's to come) climb. Sagan's Cannondale team went to the front of the race and put the hammer down and one by one the pure sprinters slipped out the back. By the time they rolled over the summit they had more than two minutes lead on a large group forming behind and the race was on.

Cavendish who was in the third group put his Omega Pharma Quickstep boys on the front and chased down the second group on the road containing André Greipel, and as both their teams set about chasing down the leading peloton, Cannondale remained on the front setting a vicious pace. Clearly those sprinters wanted one more shot at win after all, though I reckon most of their fear was the idea that up the road from them was Sagan riding away with all the points and their hopes of getting close to that Green jersey again.



Any small attacks that had went off the front of the race didn't last very long thanks to the speed. Sagan easily took the intermediate sprint points and just when you thought Cannondale might relent at that, with Sagan happy in the knowledge that he'd got a host of points over his rivals and that in the bunch sprint he could finish within a place or two of them, the Cannondale boys put the hammer down once more and rode away from those behind. As the gap continued to grow, those behind finally threw in the towel and the pressure went fully onto Sagan to reward the efforts of his team with his first win of this years Tour.

But that isn't to say he was going to have it easy. A couple of fast men had still made it across the rolling French countryside with Sagan's leading bunch -- that I must add, safely continued all the big-name favorites of this years Tour -- and could clearly smell the chance of victory. There was every chance that Cannondale and Sagan would blow up from their efforts and leave the Slovak short of strength for the final 200 metres. John Degenkolb no doubt fancied a shot and Edvald Boasson Hagen who had finished second to Mark Cavendish a few days before was also a threat. Yet when it came down to the nitty-gritty, despite being boxed in for a moment, Sagan had too much and roared away for that win, rewarding his team for a superb effort.

And thanks to Cannondale for they certainly brightened up a stage that might otherwise have been a little dull had a group of non-contenders rode away with the stage. This pursuit -- glorified team-time-trial, if you will -- was thrilling to watch.

Sagan now has a 94 points lead in the Green jersey competition over Greipel (224 to 130) and it's hard to see him coughing that up given what he can do when he needs to on the hillier stages. He may not be able to beat the likes of Cavendish and Greipel in a flat run to the line, but nor does he need to. He seems capable of beating one of them when the other wins and finishing on the wheel doesn't cost him enough points to put the jersey in threat.

He's one hell of a talent. Can you imagine if the ball had rolled his way just a little bit or had things gone slightly different in this first week. He might well have been coming out of today with a staggering five victories in six road-race stages. Of course, those are if's and but's and they can be levelled at anyone who comes close to winning, but you can't take away the fact that the 23-year old (yes, just twenty-three years of age) has been on the podium in five of six road stages so far this year and if that isn't points jersey worthy, then I don't know what is?

Stage 7 result

1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) in 4h 54'12"

2. John Degenklob (Argos-Shimano) s.t.

3. Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.

4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma Quickstep) s.t.

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) s.t.

6. Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) s.t.

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106. Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep) +14'53"

111. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.

General classification after stage 7

1. Daryl Impey (Orica GreenEdge) in 27h 12'29"

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) +3"

3. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) +5"

4. Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEdge) s.t.

5. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma Quickstep) +6"

6. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma Quickstep) s.t.

Points classification after stage 7

1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) - 224 pts

2. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) - 130 pts

3. Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep) - 119 pts