Wiggins Out as Cavendish Wins Stage 7

Bradley Wiggins

It was flat and a sprint was expected. A slow start was animated by a spate of accidents that slowed down some of the favourites for the Tour but that was then the speed was relatively tranquil.

Then a tailwind started to blow and when the speed picked up at the 180km mark of the 218km stage from Le Mans to Châteauroux, Sky’s hopes for a good position in the general classification for Bradley Wiggins ended. The leader of the British squad crashed to the ground and was taken away from the race in an ambulance. 

The accident that ruined Wiggins’ bid to improve on his fourth place overall from two years ago split the peloton and only 61 riders held position in the front group while everyone else fought to minimize their losses but it was a futile battle as they finished over three minutes behind HTC’s dominant sprinter who reaped another reward for the express delivery that his team conjured for him. This is the 17th time that the Manxman has won at the Tour since the stage to Chateauroux in 2008.

The long, flat stage from Le Mans to Chateauroux began at 12.22pm with 193 riders at the sign on. The Belorussian Movistar rider, Vasil Kiryienka finished outside the time limit in stage six and didn’t start stage seven. The 218km journey from the Sarthe department to Chateauroux in the Indre department featured no climbs. 

The intermediate sprint was late in the stage, at the 192.5km mark. It was overcast but dry at the start with a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius. 

In the first kilometre four riders broke free of the peloton and quickly built a solid advantage in a fast start to the seventh stage. The escapees were: Urtasun (EUS), Talabardon (SAU) and two from FDJ – Delage and Meersman. The best of this quartet on GC after six stages was Meersman who was 56th overall at the start of the day, 3’22” behind Hushovd on GC. 

The average speed for the opening hour was 37.9km/h. By 35km, the peloton was 7’00” behind the four escapees. Garmin was at the front of the peloton essentially since the start of the stage. The average speed for the second hour was 38.9km/h. Around the 75km mark the escapees had their maximum gain: 8’10” and then HTC joined forces with Garmin to set the pace of the peloton.

At the 90km mark, Tom Boonen (QST) stepped off his bike and got into the team car. 

The peloton was down to 192 riders. It rained a little at the midway mark of the stage but it wasn’t anything like the downpour of stage six. The sun began to shine again but little else changed in the race: there were four men at the front, the peloton hung back about 4’30”- 5’00” behind them for much of the stage and the pace was calm: 35.5km/h for the third hour and just 33.1km/h for the fourth hour.

Kreuziger (AST), Popovych and Zubeldia (RSH) and Gallopin (COF) were caught up in a crash at the 167km mark but all got back on bikes quickly and rejoined the peloton relatively quickly. 

At the 180km mark, just as the pace had increased to around 60km/h thanks to a tailwind, there was a crash near the middle of the peloton. Involved were a range of riders including the rider in sixth overall Bradley Wiggins (SKY). He was forced to abandon because of injuries sustained. 

Others caught in the crash were Horner (RSH), Pauriol (FDJ) who also had to abandon because of his injuries, Boasson Hagen (SKY), Farrar (GRM)… only about 60 men made the front group. With 20km to go, the escapees were 30” ahead of the yellow jersey’s peloton that was led by Leopard-Trek and BMC. There was 1’33” between the front peloton and the second one. The escape was over with 12km to go. Liquigas, HTC and Leopard-Trek led the peloton at that point.

With 10km to go the lead peloton had a lead of 1’40” over the second group. 

There were 61 in front group at the finish including the yellow jersey and most of the surviving GC favourites. The HTC team controlled the lead-out to the line as we’ve been accustomed to seeing: ie. Eisel first, then came Velits, then Martin, then Goss, then Renshaw and finally Cavendish who opened up his sprint with about 250 meters to go after a perfect delivery to the line. 

He was pushed all the way by Greipel on the far right of the road, Feillu in the centre and Petacchi who took second place in what is the Manxman’s 17th stage victory at the Tour de France.

Rojas finished ninth in the stage and is back in the green jersey with a lead of 167points to Gilbert’s 156pts. Cavendish now has 150 points but he’s yet to spend a day in the lead of the points classification in 2011. Robert Gesink (RAB) took over the lead of the youth classification as Thomas (SKY) was in the group that finished 3’06” behind the stage winner.

Thor Hushovd finished sixth and retains the yellow jersey for stage eight but there was a significant change to the top 10 of GC with Wiggins eliminated from the Tour because of his accident and Thomas, and Boasson Hagen slipping down the rankings.