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96th Tour de France

Stage 10 - Limoges to Issoudun - 194.5 km (120.5 mi)

14 July 2009

It's uncanny, really. I sat up last night, rolling like driftwood on waves of insomnia, allowing the pleasant tap and rattle of the computer keyboard and my fingers to create their own rhythmic drone. What transpired was a piece of pure clairvoyance...

On this day without radios, the riders predictably rode together, neutralizing the breakaway and setting the stage for the first road stage of the second week of the Tour to begin just like the first one did -- with the sprinters dueling once again, and Manx Missile Mark Cavendish taking his familiar place at the front to claim the victory. Maillot vert Thor Hushovd finished second, with Tyler Farrar in third. The finish was easily foreshadowed in every way...

The stage began around 12:40 PM local time with a rolling skirt to the outskirts of Limoges, where the riding began in earnest. On this Bastille Day in France, the French resurgence in the peloton marked by three stage wins in the first nine had the domestic fans thinking once again that, after a four-year-drought, one of their own compatriots might replicate the feats of David Moncoutie -- the most recent Frenchman to win on the national holiday in the national race, when he did it in Stage 12 of the 2005 Tour. The early breakaway, sneaking up the road soon after the rolling start, reflected this hope. Three of the riders -- breakaway instigator Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano), Benoit Vaugrenard (Francaise des Jeux), and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) -- were French. Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) was the fourth member of the quartet, a Russian along for the ride in an effort to spoil the patriotic dreams of the Gallic trio.

Just as predicted, the leaders were allowed only a short leash up the road. Ignatiev led the others over the top of the fourth-category Cote de Salvanet, with the lead having grown to a minute and a half. They gained their maximum advantage of 3:50 when Ignatiev again led the break over the summit of the second climb, another fourth-category bump in the road known as the Cote de Saint Laurent-les-Eglises coming just 27.5 kilometers into the stage. The gap only grew this high, though, because of the traditional urine break at the beginning of most stages. The peloton was expectedly uncomfortable allowing the leading quartet too much leeway in the stage, pulling the reins back a little after relieving its collective self. With so many breakaways in recent days receiving leads of ten to fifteen minutes before the chase started in earnest, the absence of radios did make the riders more pensive.

It comes down more to an absence of confidence in each rider's own abilities to cognitively analyze the race as it unfolds in real time than it does in the superiority of racing brought about by radio communication. While riders sulked and threatened protests before the stage began, the president of the French Association of Professional Cyclists (CPA), former veteran rider Cedric Vasseur, told cyclingnews.com that the absence of radios was far from dangerous and more exciting to boot. With the breakaway being kept steady out in front of the pack, he got one of these two things right.

It might not have been safer, as ASO asserted, but today's stage proved no more dangerous than any other we've seen so far at this year's Tour. If anything, the field seemed reticent to make any serious challenges. We never did see that true classics-style selection form out front. The four guys in the lead didn't let up in their paceline as they crossed the first intermediate sprint in Lauriere, with former Tour stage winner Samuel Dumoulin taking the six points as he led the group over the line.

The group was being held at around two and a half minutes, an arm's length by the standards of the peloton as the last fourth-category climb, the Cote de Benevent-l'Abbaye. As Ignatiev, the winner of the previous two climbs, played the ever-dutiful wheelsucker while the Frenchmen made pace. The trio took their revenge by beating out the Russian to the line, refusing him any of the final KOM points. But this was the full extent of the drama, because other than Ignatiev's reluctance to assist the breakaway, the stage progressed in a largely ceremonial manner.

Vaugregand took the second intermediate sprint in Aigurande, the countrymen sharing the work and the points all around on this day commemorating the camaraderie of their ancestry. The gap didn't deviate far from ninety seconds in either direction, the peloton content to leave the four riders up ahead as a deterrent to other attacks. The chase came from the sprinters' teams, with Columbia heading to the front around 35 kilometers from the line. Pulling for Mark Cavendish, the Columbia riders soon had everyone pulling at a faster pace. The gap came down below a minute by the final intermediate sprint in Saint-Aout, with Hupond earning the final of the three sprints taken all by the Frenchmen doing the work at the front. But Ignatiev still lingered there behind, still biding his time.

All the while the gap kept melting away as the field of hounds sniffed the rabbits up the road. Passing through Meunet-Planches, the final town fifteen kilometers prior to Issoudun, the gap was around 41 seconds. The time came down steadily over the final few clicks of the road, and the quartet was caught less than two kilometers to the line. First Hincapie and then Renshaw led out Cavendish, who blew past the early-streaking Tyler Farrar to take his third stage of the 2009 Tour, driving his overall haul to seven during the two editions of his still-burgeoning career.

No jerseys changed backs, with Thor Hushovd right behind Cavendish to take second ahead of Farrar and gain enough points to stay ahead in the green jersey hunt. The mountains were lacking, keeping Egoi Martinez safe in the polka-dots for another day. And with the group all finishing mostly together, all the riders in both the yellow jersey run for the overall general classification and the white of the young rider's competition were bunched together, all staying in position. The radios, in the end, did little to affect what has so far been a jittery Tour devoid of too many bold moves. For all the breakaways that have succeeded, one almost wishes we would've seen the national pride that would be hoisted upon any of these three Frenchmen in the break had they succeeded in staying away and fulfilled those Bastille Day dreams... the drought extends to five and they'll come back next year feisty as ever, trying to take it once again...

RESULTS - STAGE 10

1. Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 4:46:43
2. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam)
3. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream)
   
4. Leonardo Duque (Cofidis)
   
5. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne)
6. Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale)
   
7. Kenny Robert van Hummel (Skil-Shimano)
   
8. William Bonnet (BBox-Bouygues Telecom)
   
9. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas)
   
10. Said Haddou (BBox-Bouygues Telecom)
    

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) 39:11:04
2. Alberto Contador (Astana) +0:06
3. Lance Armstrong (Astana +0:08
4. Levi Leipheimer (Astana) +0:39
5. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) +0:46
6. Andreas Kloden (Astana) +0:54
7. Tony Martin (Columbia) +1:00
8. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) +1:24
9. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +1:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +1:54

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam) 147
2. Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 141
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) 97
4. Gerald Ciolek (Milram) 81
5. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) 80
6. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) 73
7. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) 55
8. Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale) 54
9. Romain Feillu (Agritubel) 49
10. Thomas Voeckler (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) 47

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

1. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 78
2. Christophe Kern (Cofidis) 59
3. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) 55
   
4. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) 49
5. Pierrick Fedrigo (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) 49
   
6. Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale) 46
7. Sandy Casar (Francaise des Jeux) 43
8. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 38
9. Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R-La Mondiale) 35
   
10. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) 34

BEST YOUNG RIDER

1. Tony Martin (Columbia)  39:12:04  
2. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +0:49
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:54
4. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) +1:40
5. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) +3:26
   
6. Peter Velits (Milram) +4:28
7. Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank) +7:06
8. Pierre Rolland (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) +8:59
9. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) +15:45
10. Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne) +16:07
    

TEAM CLASSIFICATION

1. AG2R-La Mondiale -- 115:59:24
2. Astana -- +0:03  
3. Columbia -- +4:45
4. Milram -- +5:20
5. Saxo Bank -- +5:24
6. Garmin-Slipstream -- +5:56
7. Caisse d'Epargne -- +7:05
8. Cofidis -- +10:00
9. Rabobank -- +11:11
10. Francaise des Jeux -- +12:59