Yesterday Team Sky was in pretty happy place. Their 2011 Tour de France was going according to plan. They had just celebrated a stage win by their young sprinter, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and their lead rider, Bradley Wiggins, was only 10 seconds behind the yellow jersey.
They also had the bonus of Geraint Thomas, in possession of the white jersey for the best young rider.
Fast forward 24 hours and their Tour had turned upside down.
A massive pile up 38km from the Stage 7 finish in Châteauroux took down over 20 riders and split the peloton in half.
As the dust settled and the riders got back on their bike, attention turned to Bradley Wiggins who was in the middle of the road, in obvious pain and in the hands of the team doctor.
His Sky team mates waited patiently as the doctor assessed the injury, the lead peloton disappearing in the distance.
In the wash up, the doctor’s initial prognosis was confirmed. Wiggins, Olympic champion, the great hope of Britain in this year’s tour, had suffered a broken collarbone. His tour was over.
Team Sky got back on their bikes and finished three minutes behind the lead peloton.
An understandably disconsolate Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford said: “It’s obviously a devastating day for the team. He’s in great shape, team leader, it’s the end of his Tour. It’s a shame we never got to see him going in the mountains. He was in the form of his life.”
The eventual winner of today’s stage, Mark Cavendish, was distressed up hearing the news of Wiggins misfortune. “I’m gutted for him, he was probably in the best form of his life.”
For Cavendish and his HTC Highroad team the day could not have gone better.
In an utterly dominant display, the HTC team controlled the front of the race and poured on the pace as the finish approached.
In the final kilometre, Cavendish was launched into his winning sprint by the lead up work of Australians, Matt Goss and Mark Renshaw.
Unlike his almost superhuman first win of the 2011 tour, this was a clinical victory and a tribute to the strength of his team.
This was his seventeenth tour victory, and after also dominating his rivals in today’s intermediate sprint, Cavendish is now only 17 points green jersey holder, Phillipe Gilbert.
Thor Hushovd retained his yellow jersey and except for the unfortunate Wiggins, the race for the General Classification winner remained unchanged as Hushovd (7th), Andy Schleck (16th), Cadel Evan (22nd) and Alberto Contador (33rd) all recorded the same time as the stage winner.
Tonight’s much anticipated Stage 8 of the Tour heads into the Massif Central. Cavendish and his fellow sprinters will be just concentrating on finishing the stage as the battle for yellow jersey takes centre stage.
The 189km stage from Aigurande to the ski station at Super-Besse Sancy includes a 6km, category 2, climb over the Col de la Croix Saint-Robert and 1.5km, category 3 at the finish.
There is great speculation as to what Cadel Evans will do tonight. This is the sort of stage where he can make up the solitary second separating him from the yellow jersey.
He is almost too well placed in the overall standings and might find himself reluctantly wearing the coveted jersey by day’s end.
It will make for a fascinating night’s viewing.
Stage 6 Results
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. CAVENDISH Mark HTC – HIGHROAD 5h 38′ 53″
2. PETACCHI Alessandro LAMPRE – ISD 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
3. GREIPEL André OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
4. FEILLU Romain VACANSOLEIL-DCM 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
5. BONNET William FDJ 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
6. GALIMZYANOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
7. HUSHOVD Thor 51 TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
8. TURGOT Sébastien TEAM EUROPCAR 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
9. ROJAS Jose Joaquin MOVISTAR TEAM 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
16. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
22. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
33. CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD 5h 38′ 53″ + 00′ 00″
Overall Standings
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. HUSHOVD Thor TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 28h 29′ 27″
2. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 28h 29′ 28″ + 00′ 01″
3. SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29′ 31″ + 00′ 04″
4. MILLAR David TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 28h 29′ 35″ + 00′ 08″
5. KLÖDEN Andréas TEAM RADIOSHACK 28h 29′ 37″ + 00′ 10″
6. FUGLSANG Jakob TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29′ 39″ + 00′ 12″
7. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 28h 29′ 39″ + 00′ 12″
8. MARTIN Tony HTC – HIGHROAD 28h 29′ 40″ + 00′ 13″
9. VELITS Peter HTC – HIGHROAD 28h 29′ 40″ + 00′ 13″
10. GESINK Robert RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 28h 29′ 47″ + 00′ 20″
Green Sprint Jersey Standings
Rider Team Points
1. ROJAS Jose Joaquin MOVISTAR TEAM 167 pts
2. GILBERT Philippe OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 156 pts
3. CAVENDISH Mark HTC – HIGHROAD 150 pts
4. HUSHOVD Thor TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 130 pts
5. FEILLU Romain VACANSOLEIL-DCM 99 pts
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