Today’s stage of the Tour De France – the last before we hit
the mountains for the first time – looks likely to be contested by the
sprinters as the battle of green jersey points steps up another notch. Four
categorized climbs cline a lumpy route today, including the Cat 2 Col De La
Croix De Munis. That should drop most
fastmen, but the last categorized climb of the day tops out a 30 KM before the
finish, with a relatively uncomplicated last 2KM barring a turn before the
finish.
With only two men in the day’s breakaway – the famous Jens
Voigt along with Biel Kadri - there will be plenty of points up for grabs at
the intermediate sprint, which comes well after the summit of the Col De La
Croix de Mounis, which should allow Lotto and Omega Pharma Quick Step to put Andre Griepel and Mark Cavendish back on.
Grepiel won his first stage of the tour yesterday and will
feel confident of taking a win again, while Peter Sagan will be looking to
break his duck once again, but Mark Cavendish can make amends for yesterday’s
horror day and is a worthy favourite.
Only fourth yesterday, Cavendish’s chances were wrecked when
he took a heavy fall 30KM, meaning that he has to fight for 8km in the firerce
winds to make it back onto the bunch with just one helper, while exhausting himself
before the finish, where his Omega Pharma Quickstep team wasn’t present in the
battle for the leadout, meaning that he had to start his sprint around Greg
Henderson before Griepel got going fully. With today another chance for him to
notch a stage win, there should be no such lack of focus and Bwin’s 5/2 for him
to take the honours today could be called value.
Advice
2 pts Mark Cavendish (5/2 Bwin)
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