21 Days to Glory

ROUTE/ One of the longest stages, and relatively flat, the route looked tantalising for sprinters. With 100km of the action rolling south-west down the Picardy coast, high crosswinds and uneven exposed roads heightened the possibility of crashes.

THE CHALLENGE/ Not necessarily a routine sprint. Troublesome crosswinds could split the field. If a breakaway included one of the top contenders, they could opt to emulate the tactics beloved of Tour legends Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong; i.e., putting the hammer down to stay unreachable.

HOW IT UNFOLDED/ Yukiya Arashiro, of Japan, and the French pair David Moncoutie and Anthony Delaplace, launched an audacious break within minutes of the start in the Normandy sunshine and at one point held a lead of nearly nine minutes. Initially the wind remained gentle. A topless couple in novelty wigs amused the peloton at the halfway point of the race.

Within a few kilometres of the finish, the trio were reeled in, and though a handful of riders – including Samuel Dumoulin, Sylvain Chavanel and Wouter Poels – broke out again, the peloton soon reeled them in to set up a bunch sprint finish.

At 4.39pm, with the peloton travelling at 44mph, and 2.6km from the end, a huge clattering crash saw Robbie Hunter suffer a horrible fall after clipping a wheel. Cavendish, well positioned to launch a bid for his 22nd Tour stage victory, went down hard. Eisel also hit the deck. Both Team Sky riders got back to cross the line, but the race was won by a bike-length by Greipel, a former team mate of Cavendish. Tom Veelers of the Netherlands took third with Peter Sagan in fifth retaining the green points jersey.

‘It was certainly not what we wanted to see. Nobody wants to see crashes for anybody and we were among the victims again today. They are fine, nothing broken, although there are always a few bumps and bruises when you hit the deck at that speed,’ said Sean Yates, Team Sky’s sport director. ‘They are not happy, though; there was a fair bit of bad language because it was a chance missed at a win. A bit of massage and physio should sort it, but obviously it’s not ideal that the next stage is a sprint as well. When you do cut yourself, your body requires strength to heal itself; it can take the edge off your sprinting.’

Cancellara, who has led the GC since winning the opening prologue, retained the yellow jersey after narrowly avoiding the pile-up and managing to safely cross the line. The overall standings were unaffected, with Wiggins still seven seconds behind.

‘Ouch. Crash at 2.5km to finish today. Taken some scuffs to my left side, but I’ve bounced pretty well again. Congrats to André Greipel.’

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