Three kinds of Tour stages

There are three kinds of stages in the Tour de France: Time trials, mountain stages, and Kittel stages. Yes, what was once sprint stages on the flat days, now belongs to a 29 year old German. Unbeatable on such days, or so it seems.

Marcel Kittel has won both stages since the rest day, and both with relative ease. Each stage was much like those that came in the first week of the Tour. A small break would go up the road early and get chased down late before the fast men finished behind Kittel. The only difference between yesterday and today was the margin of victory by Kittel. Today was a little closer, though never in doubt. Yesterday he won by several lengths. In truth there ought to have been a time gap to the rest.

Today finished in Pau. The city has a famous history with the Tour with stages having finished there 59 times dating back to 1930. Between 1971 and 1990 the Tour had a stage finish in Pau every single year. Since then it had been every couple of years until this decade. The finish today was the first time they rolled into Pau since Pierrick Fedrigo won in 2012. He also won there in 2010 and along with Bernard Hinault ('79 and '81) and Eddy Pauwels ('61 and '62) is the only two time winner into Pau.

There are at least two more stages that suit Kittel so a shot at 7 stage wins is possible. That would put him in a tie for second most with Bernard Hinault (1979) and Gino Bartali (1948). There are three men who have won eight stages at a single Tour; Eddie Merckx has done it twice. The number of sprint stages in this years Tour has put Kittel in a commending lead in the green jersey contest. He now leads Michael Matthews in second by 133 points. Before his disqualification last week, Peter Sagan was favourite to win this contest for a fifth straight year. It was often felt that Sagan could pick up intermediate sprint points on the lumpy stages where the rest could not. But in this Tour, with all these sprints, even if Sagan had lasted I still think Kittel might have beat him.

Kittel won't win tomorrow though. That much I can guarantee because tomorrow they hit the high mountains once again. Focus will move away from big sprinters and back to little climbers. The race for yellow will intensify once more.