After two brutal days in the mountains, we are back to the
flatlands for the second week for the Tour De France with the overall portfolio
in pretty decent shape. Chris Froome kept his commanding yellow jersey lead
despite being alone for the whole day yesterday and will be confident of
putting more time into his rivals on Wednesday, while Movistar hold a 4’11 lead
in the team classification and Nairo Quintana holds a 1’23 lead in the white
jersey. There’s a lot of racing still to come – with the bulk of the real race deciding
stages still to come in the brutal third week.
On a negative note, our match bets and support for Richie
Porte’s podium challenges are down the drain, while Mark Cavendish’s green
jersey chances all but died when Cannondale brutalised the opposition on the
way to Albi with Peter Sagan taking all the available points, even taking into account
just how many more points are on offer for flat finishes such as today.
Cavendish hasn’t had the tour he’s wanted so far, but today’s
stage is the most perfect for him so far – with only one categorized climb –
and the biggest worry is the crosswind when the race reaches Cancale with 23km
to go and turns west to track the coast. Cavendish was only fourth for the last
full bunch sprint, but spent himself beforehand with a crash and 8KM chase
which came without significant aid from his Omega Oharma squad which was anonymous
at the finish, leaving him with the most ground to make up after Greipel’s
Lotto Belisol squad led him out to perfection.
Today, with any luck, should be different and with today
being the first of the sprint finishes that dominate the transitional second
week to the Alps, and we’re still willing to bet that Cavendish himself is the
best of the fastmen in the Peloton.
Advice
2 pts Mark Cavendish (evs Skybet)
No comments:
Post a Comment