Live Coverage - Stage 5 Tour de France, 2008
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12:14 PM: Good day and welcome
To VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the fifth stage of the 95th edition of the Tour de France, a 232 race from Cholet to Chateauroux.
This is the longest stage of this year's Tour. Indeed, the prospect of five fast hours in the saddle - and the tough stages ahead - have finally convinced Barloworld's climbing ace Juan Mauricio Soler to call it quits. He's been suffering from wrist injuries he suffered in a crash earlier in the Tour and has called it quits. He had been hoping that yesterday's time trial would allow him an opportunity to recover, but he was clearly hurting this morning and he quit the race at the 12km mark today.
Despite this being the longest stage of the Tour in distance, the peloton will likely be racing for only five hours on a course that has no categorized hills (although plenty of rollers) on its passage across the southern part of the Loire Valley. The finish straight is 2km long on the flat Avenue de la Chatre after heading through the city of Chateauroux. The profile just begs for a mass gallop to the line, so it may be worth considering the chances of the sprinters and the race for the points jersey.
Right now, those points standings look like this:
1. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Columbia, at 81pts
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR), Credit Agricole, at 64
3. Oscar Freire (ESP), Rabobank, at 55
4. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne, at 49
5. Erik Zabel (GER), Milram, at 46
6. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA), Cofidis, at 43
7. Robert Hunter (RSA), Barloworld, at 40
8. Jerome Pineau (FRA), Bouygues Telecom, at 39
9. Will Frischkorn (USA), Garmin-Chipotle, at 38
10. Romain Feillu (FRA), Agritubel, at 36 -
12:16 PM: One jersey not on the line today
is the polka-dot. Thomas Voeckler is leading the KOM contest and there are no points on the line today:
King of Mountains
1. Thomas Voeckler (FRA), Bouygues Telecom, at 19pts
2. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA), Cofidis, at 11
3. Bjoern Schroeder (GER), Milram, at 9
4. David De la Fuente (ESP), Saunier Duval, at 4
5. Lilian Jegou (FRA), Francaise des Jeux, at 3
6. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Agritubel 3
7. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA), Agritubel, at 1
8. David Le Lay (FRA), Agritubel 1
9. David Arroyo (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne 1 -
12:20 PM: An early attack
Three riders attacked at the 11km mark today.
The three are now at the 30km mark and have an advantage of 4:20. For the record, our three escapees (with their relative positions on GC) are as follows:
94. Lilian Jegou (FRA), Francaise des Jeux, at 5:45
117. Florent Brard (FRA), Cofidis, at 6:56
119. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA), Agritubel, at 7:02 -
12:22 PM: The last stage finish in Chateauroux
On an almost identical course from Cholet to Chateauroux, in 1998, also stage 5, Mario Cipollini took a tumultuous 180-rider sprint finish ahead of Zabel - after east Europeans Jan Svorada and Jaan Kirsipuu were relegated for dangerous riding. But most of the headlines that day concerned the Festina doping scandal after the French team's director Bruno Roussel and doctor Eric Ryckaert were taken into custody by French police the previous evening. And virtually no attention was paid to George Hincapie waging a stage-long (but unsuccessful) challenge for Aussie Stuart O'Grady's yellow jersey.
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12:25 PM: Picks?
There is a 15kph tail wind today and our leaders are already 5:05 ahead of the peloton at the 32km mark. Sure, they'll get a ways down the road, but with the stage 4 time trial winner Schumacher defending the yellow jersey, and the sprinters' teams getting a last shot at a stage win for several days, a mass field sprint is almost guaranteed.
The run-in is along wide, straight boulevards and favors a rider with a strong lead-out train, so expect someone like Columbia's Cavendish to be on the stage podium, perhaps with McEwen, Freire, Forster, South African Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) or Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas).
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12:29 PM: Best young rider
With Columbia aiming for a stage win with someone like Cavendish or Kirchen, the American team also has another contest of interest. The team's Thomas Lovkvist has an 11-second lead over Liquigas's Vincenzo Nibali in the race for the white jersey.
Best Young Rider
1. Thomas Lovkvist (SWE), Columbia, at 14:05:28
2. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas, at at0:11
3. Maxime Monfort (BEL), Cofidis, at 0:37
4. Andy Schleck (LUX), CSC, at 0:42
5. Roman Kreuziger (CZE), Liquigas, at 1:42
6. Yury Trofimov (RUS), Bouygues Telecom, at 2:20
7. Romain Feillu (FRA), Agritubel 2:20
8. Riccardo Ricco (ITA), Saunier Duval, at 3:21
9. John-Lee Augustyn (RSA), Barloworld, at 3:51
10. Niki Terpstra (NED), Milram, at 3:53 -
12:30 PM: Drop us a line
If you have a question, comment or complaint, let us know by hitting the "Contact our editors" link below the Live Update Window. We do try to address your concerns and answer your questions and we'll even post a few along the way today.
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12:35 PM: The gap
our three leaders are at 37km and leading the peloton by 5:45. There a good crowds out on the road today and folks are clearly pleased to see three French riders on the attack.
Our three leader cruised through the first sprint mark at Argenton-les-Vallees without contesting it. Of course, they still award points, even if there isn't a sprint. Lilian Jegou earned six points for cruising across the line first. Vogondy took second and earned four points, while Brard took two points for third. Again, there are no time bonuses awarded in this year's Tour, so it's just sprinters' points on the line ... those and a bit of cash, of course.
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12:41 PM: Reader question
Reader Justin from South Africa wrote in to ask:
Hi Guys,
Thanks again for all of this great live coverage!I just wanted to ask about the GPS systems being used by the Garmin-Chipotle team. I saw the behind the scenes photo galley from yesterdays stage and noticed the GPS units on the hood of the team car before the TT began. Are the team using the Edge 705’s and if so, do they load the stage profile, sprint point, feeding zones etc into the units? Have you guys ever done a review of the Garmin stuff being used? I’d enjoy hearing about any detail you know.
Thanks again for the coverage
Regards,
JustinWe checked with Garmin team manager Jonathan Vaughters about that one. He said "Yep, we are using the 705. And yes, we have all the stages loaded on, with all the critical points, elevations and turns. Allen (Lim) is in charge of this project."
We'll track down Allen Lim for more details Justin.
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12:47 PM: Speaking of Garmin
The U.S. team's riders are sporting yellow dossards (race numbers) again today. That's because the squad is leading in the Tour's overall team standings, which are calculated by adding up the times of each team's first three riders to cross the line. Of course, the squad got a big boost with Will Frischkorn's long escape on Monday. Top finishes in the time trial yesterday helped, too.
It is a good sign that the team contest is currently led by the three teams with the most transparent anti-doping programs in the peloton. This could signal a change in the sport, folks. At least we're hoping that's true.
Overall Team
1. Garmin 42:13:59
2. Columbia, at 1:44
3. CSC 2:35
4. Cofidis 3:20
5. Gerolsteiner 3:31
6. Caisse d'Epargne (BalŽares 3:43),
7. Liquigas 4:30
8. Quick Step 5:08
9. Barloworld 5:31
10. Euskaltel 6:14
11. AG2R 6:23
12. Rabobank 6:39
13. Lampre 6:47
14. Milram 7:06
15. Agritubel 7:07
16. Silence 7:19
17. Bouygues Telecom 8:03
18. Credit Agricole 8:13
19. Saunier Duval 8:43
20. Francaise des Jeux 9:17 -
12:48 PM: At 50km
Our three leaders are 5:25 ahead of the peloton. That's down from the 5:45 they had at 45km. Already a pull-back? We'll see. The Gerolsteiner team is leading the peloton, protecting the lead of Stefan Schumacher ... and ultimately aiding in the team's search for a new sponsor, too, no doubt.
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12:56 PM: A note from Iraq
Marjor Russel S. writes in to say:
There are a few us here in Tikrit, Iraq keeping up via Velo News; please keep us posted on Big George Hincapie>>>tell him we are pulling for him!!!!!!!!
We'll do that major. We'll forward your note.
For now, Hincapie is looking relaxed and comfortable in the peloton, as the early chase duties have fallen to Gerolsteiner. You can expect Hincapie's Columbia team to ramp up the chase as the finish approaches. They'll be setting up for Mark Cavendish, but who knows? Remember, Hincapie scored a nice win at the Dauphine on June 10th, even though he was originally working to set up Andre Greipel, he was given the green light to try for a stage win and attacked out of the field, pulled back Gerolsteiner's Sebastien Lang and had plenty of time raise his arms.
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12:57 PM: At 55km
the gap has grown again. Our three leaders are now 6:50 ahead of the field.
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01:05 PM: Strike a pose!
We got an interesting note from reader Tim R. in Illinois:
I am a US Masters 40+ racer with a long record of not winning races. However, I am preparing for when I win with room to sit up and showboat. I have practiced the poses listed below. Are there any finishing gestures I am missing from the Tour pros?
Rock the baby (although my kids are older)
Point at the dead person in the sky who inspired me
Shoot an arrow at someone
The Zabel - 11:20 on the clock face - "oops I didn't win" - pose
The nipple pull - aka, look at my sponsor on my jersey
TimThat's a pretty complete list Tim. We first saw the "Rock the Baby" when Festina's Neil Stephens won a Tour stage in 1997 (if memory serves). He had just become a dad and that resonated with the Live Update Guy who is also a "sappy pappy," but you left off our favorite: Carlos Sastre's habit of pulling a pacifier from his jersey pocket, popping it into his mouth and raising his arms. Sastre now pops two into his mouth. He carries his kids' pacifiers in his jersey pockets as good luck charms and then celebrates his stage wins with his kids in mind as he crosses the line. Now who can't like that gesture?
Good luck, Tim. We hope you can display one of those finish-line salutes some time very soon.
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01:07 PM: At 64km
the three leaders - Lilian Jegou (Francaise des Jeux), Florent Brard (Cofidis) and Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) - are now 8:15 ahead of the peloton. That makes Jegou the virtual race leader, but there are still 166km to go. We'll see how it develops.
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01:12 PM: Another question from South Africa
Tania W. writes in to ask:
Why is Christopher Froome considered a British cyclist when he is from Kenya? Sometimes they show a Kenyan flag – other times it’s the Union Jack. Any ideas?
Tania, Froome was indeed born in Kenya and lists his nationality as Kenyan. Nonetheless, he's listed as a Brit' by the Tour. He does carry a British racing license, but that shouldn't have an impact. Do recall that Michael "the Chicken" Rasmussen was licensed in Monaco, but still listed as Danish. We'll look into it.
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01:13 PM: At 67km
Gerolsteiner has picked up the pace. The gap is now 7:40, down from the peak of 8:50.
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01:23 PM: More on Soler
Mauricio Soler, who won the "King of the Mountains" title last year was forced to pull out of the Tour this morning.
Soler, who rides for the British-registered Barloworld team, fractured a bone in his left wrist in a crash on the chaotic 197.5km first stage of the tour on Saturday.
He managed to complete the following three stages but was languishing down in 176th place nearly 18 minutes behind tour leader Stefan Schumacher on Wednesday when he decided to call it a day shortly after the start of today's stage.
It's a sad end of the Tour for the Colombian rider, who made a big impression on last year's Tour.
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01:32 PM: Another question from Africa
Man, we're getting quite a number of e-mails from Africa today. John in Windhoek, Namibia, writes in to ask
I noticed that Jeannie Longo has won yet another national championship title. Is she ever going to retire?
You know, John, we asked her that very question ourselves. She responded with her own question: "Do people ask you when you're going to retire? Why do people always ask me that? I think I am pretty good at what I do and will retire when I don't enjoy cycling any longer."
Given that the exchange took place ten years ago at the HP Women's Classic in Idaho, we have to assume that she's still enjoying herself. Of course, winning is kind of fun. Longo turns 50 in October and she shows no sign of slowing down. We'll be cheering for her at the Olympics this year, that's for sure.
Also John, the Live Update Guy wants to give a shout out to those of you keeping track of the Tour from Windhoek. He was there in March and absolutely stunned with the beauty of the country and the capital city.
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01:36 PM: Red Dossard
By the way, while we mentioned that the Garmin boys are all sporting yellow race numbers, as the top team at the Tour, there is one exception. Will Frischkorn is wearing the red number he earned as most combative rider in Monday's stage. Since yesterday's stage was time trial, the award carries over.
We wonder, however, if a rider did one of those Bjarne Riis bike pitches (which he did in the Euro-Disney time trial in the '97 Tour) would they make an exception and award the aggressive rider prize in a race against the clock?
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01:38 PM: At 83km
the three leaders are holding their 7:15 advantage over the peloton. It looks like Gerolsteiner is simply doing what it takes to keep the gap at managable levels, leaving the big chase work to the sprinters' teams as the finish line comes up in 148km.
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01:42 PM: More on Froome
David in the UK writes to clarify the Froome nationality question:
As a Brit reading your live updates I feel I should try to clarify the Chris Froome situation. As far as I understand it, he has always had both British and Kenyan nationality and has recently decided he would prefer to ride for British Cycling in order to compete in the Olympics etc. And I can't say I'm complaining...
Cheers for the great updates,
Dave in Sheffield, UKWell, thank you Dave. There ya go, Tania.
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01:46 PM: The GC picture
Yesterday's time trial has changed the GC picture at this Tour.
Top 12, after Stage 4.
1. Stefan Schumacher (GER), Gerolsteiner, at 14:04:41
2. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Columbia, at ˆ0:12
3. David Millar (GBR), Garmin-Chipotle, at 0:12
4. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto, at 0:21
5. Fabian Cancellara (SUI), CSC, at 0:33
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle, at 0:37
7. George Hincapie (USA), Columbia, at 0:41
8. Thomas Lovkvist (SWE), Columbia, at 0:47
9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas, at 0:58
10. Ivan Gutierrez (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne, at 1:01
11. Denis Menchov (RUS), Rabobank, at 1:12
12. Jens Voigt (GER), CSC, at 1:13
It's turning into an interesting Tour. Things will really begin to shake up with tomorrow's 195.5km stage from Aigurande to Super-Besse. It might not be in the high mountains, but the rugged terrain through the Massif Central has plenty of climbing to split the peloton into small groups. The stage into the Auvergne has four categorized climbs, including the Cat. 2 Col de la Croix-Morand (8km at 5.2 percent) and a summit finish at Super-Besse, but there are also dozens of unrated ups and downs. The climb to the finish is nor particularly severe, but it does finish on a 1.5km kicker averaging 10 percent, with some 12-percent pitches.
Yehaw. Looks like fun, no?
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01:51 PM: Nearing sprint No.2
Our three leaders are approaching the day's second sprint, which is followed by something more important to these three, namely the feedzone.
There has been a touch of wheels in the peloton. One of those who went down was Alejandro Valverde. He's back at the race doctor's car. We sure hope he's okay. We'll let you know.
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01:54 PM: The gap
is coming down by a bit. Our three leaders are at the 95km mark and they are currently 6:40 ahead of the peloton. The sprint in Richelieu at 98km.
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02:04 PM: No contest
Brard crossed the sprint at Richelieu first, ahead of Vogondy and Jegou. They did not sprint, more intent on maintaining their lead than wasting energy in a sprint. They are now heading to the feedzone, with a lead of 7:40.
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02:09 PM: Lunch
the leaders crossed through the feedzone 6:55 before the peloton came through for a bit of a gnosh.
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02:21 PM: Reader question
Robert in Baghdad writes in to ask:
While I'm familiar with most of the team tactics in the Tour, there's one thing I wonder about. If a team has a member in a long break, do they ever get to the front of the peloton and try to slow things down? Thanks for the great coverage!
Generally, the answer is no, particularly when the riders are well down the road. That said, there are ways to disrupt a chase when things get close. The best example of that came recently in the Tour of Switzerland. In the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse, you will recall that Fabian Cancellara attacked with five kilometers to go. The chase narrowed the gap to 10 seconds by the final kilometer. Cancellara's American teammate Bobby Julich worked his way to near the front of the chasing peloton and then simply slowed down when he was in the second position in the chase. That allowed small gap open up, just enough to disrupt the chase for a few hundred meters, and Cancellara won by about 20 meters.
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02:23 PM: With lunch over
the leaders and the peloton are getting back to the duties at hand. The leaders are now at km 114, with an advantage of 6:55 over the main field. Folks, we're not even halfway into the race. Our leaders still have 118km to go, so a seven-minute gap is not all that significant at this point.
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02:28 PM: Gerolsteiner
is still doing the bulk of the work at the front of the field. Schumacher is really enjoying his time in yellow. He sure earned it, with that win yesterday. Not many of us would have predicted that one.
Past the halfway mark in the stage, the lead is now down to 6:35. If we were bettin' men, we would have to say that this break is not going to last all the way to the finish.
One rider hungry for a win is Silence-Lotto's Robbie McEwen. He has to hope that other teams ramp up the chase, though. He's not getting a lot of support from his team, which is more intent upon protecting the GC chances for Cadel Evans, rather than putting a lot of energy chasing for and leading out Robbie the Rocket.
That said, McEwen is very good at grabbing on to other teams' leadout trains when he needs to. He did, however, have that support in the Tour de Suisse and did well with it.
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02:33 PM: At 120km
the leaders' advantage is down to 6:00. We have 112km remaining in today's stage.
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02:38 PM: Just an update
We have three riders off the front, who took off at about KM11 of this 232km race.
They are: Lilian Jegou (FdJ), Nicolas Vogundy (Agritubel) and Florent Brard (Cofidis).
The best placed of the three, overall, is Jegou, at 5:45 behind race leader Stefan Schumacher.
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02:45 PM: Nature break
Brard is spinning along alone, waiting for Jegou and Vogundy, who stopped for a nature break.
The gap is about 5:45.
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02:52 PM: The threesome again
They are trading pace again, working steadily.
The latest gap has them at 6:01 ahead of the Gerolsteiner-led peloton.
The winds that have pestered the peloton for this Tour so far seem to have abated today. Nice calm day, blue skies.
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02:55 PM: Back in the pack
AG2R's Cyril Dessel has flatted but got a quick rear wheel change.
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03:00 PM: 5:22
The 6:01 gap was before the threesome's nature break, apparently. The latest gap is 5:21. Coming down a bit with about 95km to go.
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03:05 PM: Speculation
We'll see if the gap goes back up after these fellows get back rolling again post-lunch. At the rate it's been coming down in the last 10km, they will be caught with plenty of time remaining. We suspect Gerolsteiner will let the gap go back up just a hair before the sprinter's teams take over to reel them in in the last 40k somewhere.
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03:08 PM: More victory poses
Darcy from Greenville, South Carolina ("Hincapie-land") reminds us of Ivan Basso's "Hold the photo of the new baby overhead when crossing the line" pose in the 2006 Giro.
Still available: the Michael Jackson "dangle-the-baby-over-the-balcony" pose. We'll be watching for that one.
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03:11 PM: Speculation caveat
We should point out that the previous speculation is courtesy of the Part-time, Occasional Live Update Guy, not your usual Live Update Guy, who is taking a brief break from the keyboard, at least until he sees the damage that the part-timer is doing.
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03:13 PM: 5:15
Gerolsteiner, we speculate, would be comfortable with keeping the gap at about 5 minutes. Our three off the front are still working well together; there is no frenzy yet.
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03:17 PM: George's new Web site
Mr. Hincapie has a new site design worth checking out.
www.georgehincapie.com has some video interviews (some courtesy of a partnership with VeloNews), Hincapie's blog, Graham Watson photos and live Polar data from his cycling computer during each stage.
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03:20 PM: Mass nature break
The race leader has invoked his traditional prerogative and stopped for a nature break. And now much of the peloton has followed his example.
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03:22 PM: 5:06
The latest gap, post-pee break.
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03:27 PM: Under five minutes
4:55 is the gap at the 151km mark.
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03:34 PM: Valverde's fall(s)
Alejandro Valverde is looking a bit battered today from at least one and maybe two falls. We know he fell at about the 90km mark and got some injuries on his knee and forearm.
That fall was apparently related to a rear wheel flat, according to Caisse d'Epargne. We thought we heard race radio refer to a second crash by the Tour favorite, but we haven't been able to confirm that.
The gap to our three leaders is now about 4:30.
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03:35 PM: Thor's men
Credit Agricole is joining the chase. They've got two riders helping at the front, along with the Gerolsteiner bunch.
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03:37 PM: Speculation alert
With the gap coming down and the sprinters' teams joining in, the three need to really pick it up and/or one or two might try to go it alone. We'll keep an eye.
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03:40 PM: McEwen's victory pose
Many readers have reminded us of Robbie McEwen's running-while-cycling victory salute. Never quite understood that one, myself.
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03:43 PM: 3:30 and holding
The pack has brought the gap down to about 3:30, now. Apparently the word went out that that's close enough for now, because the pack has sat up a bit. Catching the three too quickly could open the door to counter attacks that the sprinters' teams would not appreciate.
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03:45 PM: Columbia joining in
Columbia has sent at least one rider to the front to help.
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03:50 PM: 3 minutes
The gap is spinning down. The three men off the front are working hard together, but look tired.
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03:56 PM: Exuberance
Someone could write a thesis on victory salutes, we think.
Or produce a calendar.
A reader reminds us of Paulo Bettini's machine gun finish at the World Road Championships last fall. He was peppering his official critics who almost prevented him for starting the race ...
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03:58 PM: 2:40
The gap at the 171km mark.
An alert reader reminds that we never reported the points at the KM152 sprint: Vogondy took the points ahead of Brard and Jegou.
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04:09 PM: Victory Salute blog
Well, of course there's a blog for victory salutes.
It's here.
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04:11 PM: Valverde dropping back
He's chatting with the team manager, looking over his wounds. He seems to be in a bit of pain, he's been not himself since that crash.
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04:12 PM: 50km to go
and the gap is an even 2 minutes.
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04:20 PM: 40k
Our men have just under 2 minutes with 40k to go. The Fat Man is warming up his voice.
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04:27 PM: Gerolsteiner still at the front
The Gerolsteiner men still rule the front, looking relaxed as they steadily reel in our three. Credit Agricole also is helping.
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04:35 PM: update
gap is down to 1:36 with 32 k to go
just a reminder, we have three riders off the front since KM11 or this, the longest day of the Tour.
Lilian Jegou (FdJ), Nicolas Vogundy (Agritubel) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) have been out there for more than five hours.
Jegou, you might remember, initiated a break on Saturday and won that day's Most Aggressive award.
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04:40 PM: 1:26
Credit Agricole is at the front with 26k to go. The pace is steady on this remarkable FLAT stage.
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04:42 PM: leaders at 25k
The three just passed the 25km sign, the gap still over a minute. Team Columbia's Sivtsov is at the front, helping out. FdJ, Credit Agricole and Gerosteiner are all up there.
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04:47 PM: the three
they are picking up the pace, if you can believe that.
The gap is up to about 1:20.
They are coming up on the 20k to go line
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04:52 PM: The peloton
The pack is kicking in as it heads up what passes for a hill in these parts. Columbia and Credit Agricole at the front, the gap at 1:09 ...
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04:59 PM: 38 seconds
The three are not giving up. Vogundy, in his new French national champion jersey, would like to stay away.
Back in the bunch, Liquigas is becoming more prominent at the front.
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04:59 PM: Hincapie
George Hincapie is off the back, chasing. Looks like he will catch back, but the pack is really screaming now.
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05:02 PM: 10k to go
35s gap.
Hincapie is back in the fold, headed back to the front to help his team reel in the break and set up Cavendish for the sprint. -
05:03 PM: heading in to town
Around a big round about and the pace is getting frantic.
The three still have 30s with 6.5km to go.
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05:04 PM: crash
a Saunier Duval rider hit a spectator. The spectator looks worse than the rider.
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05:05 PM: wow
the three still have 24s with 5k to go
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05:06 PM: 4k
and 19s.
The three are getting ragged. Crash in the pack - a Gerolsteiner rider
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05:07 PM: oh, it's gonna be close
we think they will be caught, but it's gonna be right at the line, almost.
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05:08 PM: 2.5km to go
Columbia is really putting on a show. 10s gap
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05:09 PM: Vogundy attacks
The French champ is attacking his companions
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05:10 PM: 1k to go
Vogundy is away, the others are caught
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05:10 PM: Vogundy
holding it at 300m
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05:11 PM: Caught!
Cavendish got it!
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05:12 PM: Columbia delivered him
Columbia really did its job today, and Cavendish delivered the goods.
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05:13 PM: Zabel and Freire
Freire was second, Zabel third.
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05:19 PM: Vogundy
wow, he almost held it, he was caught with about 50 meters to go.
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) THR
2. Oscar Freire (ESP) RAB
3. Erik Zabel (GER) MRM
4. Thor Hushovd (NOR) C.A
5. Baden Cooke (AUS) BAR -
05:22 PM: Closing up shop
Race leader Stefan Schumacher finished safely in the front group and easily retains his yellow jersey going into tomorrow's somewhat-more-challenging stage.
Thanks for following along and for all the questions. Don't forget to check back at VeloNews.com all day today for the latest video updates and interviews, photo galleries, complete statistics and other cyber-wonderfulness.
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