After a well deserved rest days, the riders are back to tackle Stage 10 of the 2013 Tour de France.
The last three stages were pretty tough, so the riders will no doubt be relishing a predominantly flat stage that is almost certain to end in a bunch sprint.
The stage is 197 kilometres, departing from the town of Saint-Gildas-Des-Bois and winding through the midlands of France to the finish in the town of Saint-Malo.
The last five kilometres are corner free and a tailwind is expected, ensuring that the big sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) will have their sprint trains at the ready to set them up for a very fast finish.
With Peter Sagan (Cannondale) holding a 93-point advantage in the points classification, any sprinter with hopes of wresting the green jersey from his shoulders before they reach Paris will need to try and pick up points in the intermediate sprint (127.5kms after the start in the town of Le Hingle) and win the stage to move within striking distance.
Don’t expect to see Cannondale helping with the pacemaking duties at the front of the peloton today, as they will be conserving energy to try and set up Sagan for a crack at the stage victory himself.
After a tough Stage 9 when he found himself without any teammates to assist him over some arduous climbs, Chris Froome (Team Sky) will be relieved to have what should be a straight forward day in the saddle ahead of Wednesday’s individual time trial.
Join me for all the Stage 10 action from 10.00pm AEST.
Follow Jason on Twitter @jasonkohlmorgen
Parisien
Guest
Well done for the blog and commentary by the way! Keep up the good work!
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
And Cavendish has tweeted "Not seen a replay of the final yet, but was involved in an incident with Tom Veelers. Whatever has happened, if I'm at fault, I'm sorry." Almost sounds like an admission of guilt, but at least there is an apology. And that is all for now people, get to bed one and all.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Just in - it's being reported that the Commissaires will take no action against Mark Cavendish. Be interesting to see if Argos-Shimano are true to their word. Tom Veelers meanwhile is ok, no broken bones, just some nasty road rash.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
That concludes The Roar's coverage of Stage 10 of the Tour de France, a stage that saw young German Marcel Kittel of Argos-Shimano grab his second stage win with a very impressive sprint. Join us tomorrow for Stage 11 - the Individual Time Trial from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel, a distance of 33 kilometres.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
The commissaires are reviewing the Cavendish/Veelers incident. Argos-Shimano have already said that if no action is taken initially they will be appealing. Not a happy team, and rightly so.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Chris Froome very diplomatic as he pays tribute to his team for keeping him out of the wind. They did a good job - until the last 20 kilometres or so when it really counted. He also admits that the attention that comes with the yellow jersey is wearing him down. With regards to tomorrow's stage, he plans to extend his lead over his GC rivals with a good time trial.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
A hip and shoulder that an AFL football would be proud of.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
I really wouldn't think so, it didn't look great at all, surely it wouldn't be deliberate when it wasn't one of his rivals for the finish and it was still a decent way from home, but it did look like it may have been.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Nairo Quintana is dwarfed by the podium girls presenting him with his white jersey...made even more embarrassing by the fact he's standing on a rather large step and the girls aren't!
Parisien
Guest
Surely MC can't get away with that?
Parisien
Guest
That was one massive shoulder nudge!
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Peter Sagan's lead in the Points Classification has been cut to 83 points now. He's on 269 points, with Greipel on 186 points and Cavendish on 166 points (unless he is relegated from his position on today's stage)
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
A little gif of the Cavendish incident. I'm unashamedly a Cavendish fan, but this was pretty poor. Judge for yourself. http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/788976585.gif?1373385470
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Chris Froome presented with the yellow jersey. He'd be a little disappointed at how little support he had around him towards the end of a dangerous stage, Team Sky aren't the invincible outfit they were last year. This race is still wide open.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
That's one rather large smile on the face of Marcel Kittel! He's a happy camper as he's presented to the crowd as the winner of Stage 10.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
And another twitter photo of the stage finish - Kittel edging out Greipel https://twitter.com/pedalmagazine/status/354631194287149058/photo/1
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
A photo of the Cavendish incident from twitter https://twitter.com/ElPeloton/status/354630608560979970/photo/1
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Just to recap, the top 5 on Stage 10: 1. Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) 2. Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) 3. Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 4. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) 5. William Bonnet (FDJ)
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
The Argos-Shimano rider was Tom Veelers. I don't think he'll be saying g'day to Cavendish tomorrow, pretty poor from Cav, the replay makes it almost look deliberate as he leans across and puts his shoulder into Veelers.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
The big disappointment was Matt Goss. He somehow lost his team-mates wheel with a kilometre to go and his chances were blown. It seems a bit too often.