Albertville to La Toussuire – Les Sybelles

Distance: 148 kilometers.

This is a brutal mountain stage with two Hors Catégorie [HC] climbs, a Cat 2, and then a Cat 1 crawl to the finish. This stage will probably break chains and sprockets, as well as people.

The menu: HC – Col de la Madeleine (2000 m), intermediate sprint, HC – Col de la Croix de Fer (2067 m), Category 2 – Col du Mollard (1638 m), Category 1 – La Toussuire (1705 m).

While Fabian Cancellara withdrew before the start to be with his wife who is having their second child, 5 riders had to withdraw during the race, and two more were outside the time limit.

It was a good stage for Pierre Rolland who was the first into La Toussuire and picked up the Red Numbers for being the most combative, and for Fredrik Kessiakoff who won back the Polka Dot jersey.

Cadel Evans attempted a breakaway, and ended up in trouble, falling to fourth place, 3 minutes and 19 seconds behind Bradley Wiggins.

[Note: the official site hasn’t updated everything for some reason, so the results are from Cycling News.]

Bradley Wiggins ( GB – SKY – 101 ) [Yellow]
Peter Sagan (Svk-LIQ-057) [Green] 232 points
Fredrik Kessiakoff ( Swe – AST – 187 ) [Polka Dot] 66 points
Tejay Van Garderen ( USA – BMC – 009 ) 7 [White]

Team: RadioShack-Nissan ( 011-019 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 029 )
Combative: Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 029 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Bradley Wiggins ( G B – SKY – 101 )
2 Christopher Froome ( G B – SKY – 105 ) + 02′ 05”
3 Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – LIQ – 051 ) + 02′ 23”
4 Cadel Evans ( Aus – BMC – 001 ) + 03′ 19”
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck ( Bel – LTB – 111 ) + 04′ 48”
6 Haimar Zubeldia ( Esp – RNT – 019 ) + 06′ 15”
7 Tejay Van Garderen ( USA – BMC – 009 ) + 06′ 57”
8 Janez Brajkovic ( Slo – AST – 181 ) + 07′ 30”
9 Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 029 ) + 08′ 31”
10 Thibaut Pinot ( Fra – FDJ – 146 ) + 08′ 51”

The Rest of the Top 50:
[Read more →]