Stage 8: Rennes > Mûr-de-Bretagne, 181.5km
It has been a quiet Tour for the French so far, some might say poor, but that all changed today in the heartland of cycling, Brittany, when in the tough final hill of the Mûr de Britannia, Alexis Vuillermoz surged clear of a reduced peloton and stayed clear when Dan Martin made his own late break for the line to win his first career Tour stage win and the first for the French this year.
Dan Martin will be disappointed with coming second again, especially given the amount of work his team had put in to hauling back the second break of the day. His late attack was too late, much like on the Mur de Huy when he couldn't catch Joaquim Rodriguez. Still, much like Cavendish who had botched two sprints, perhaps it will be third time lucky for Martin if he gets the chance again.
Chris Froome stayed in yellow. He led the majority of the short climb and came home 8th at 10 seconds, best of the big four, in the group sprint won by Alejandro Valverde in third ahead of an impressive Peter Sagan.
It was obvious Sagan was on his limit when he didn't react to the kick by Vuillermoz for the time bonus on the line for winning would have put him in Yellow. Still, the points he picked up were enough to put him into the Green jersey previously worn by Andre Greipel, who couldn't stay anywhere near the front on such a climb, and with the kind of terrain ahead that only a Sagan might pick up points on out of those in contention for the jersey, it's hard to see him losing it.
One obvious loser on the day was Vincenzo Nibali who lost contact near the top of the hill and rolled in 10 seconds behind the Froome group. Not a disastrous loss by any means but one that will test his adversity and confidence going into the Pyrenees on Tuesday; he now sits 1'48" behind Froome.
In a way I was surprised the peloton was so attentitive to the days early break. In fact they were so attentitive that the first break was reeled in a long way from the finish and never build more than a few minutes lead on the bunch. With a crucial team-time-trial tomorrow and some very tired legs I wondered whether many would have switched off leaving a break to go clear to fight out the win and he overall contenders to mix it amongst themselves on the run up to the line.
We'll find out how that affects various teams tomorrow.
| Result: | Classement: |
| 1. Vuillermoz (ALM) in 4h20'55" 2. D. Martin (TCG) +5" 3. Valverde (MOV) +10" 4. Sagan (TCS) 5. Gallopin (LTS) 6. Van Avermaet (BMC) all s.t. | 1. Froome (SKY) in 31h1'56" 2. Sagan (TCS) +11" 3. Van Garderen (BMC) +13" 4. Gallopin (LTS) +26" 5. Van Avermaet (BMC) +28" 6. Uran (EQS) +34" |
