Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) recorded back-to-back Tour de France stage victories with a perfectly timed sprint in St Quentin.
A four-man break went clear early in the stage and stayed away until the final 300m in a thrilling finish before being swept up by the Lotto-Belisol sprint train.
And Greipel capitalised on the work of his team-mates to outsprint Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) and JJ Haedo (SaxoBank-Tinkoff) to record his second successive Tour de France stage victory, while Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), possibly feeling the effect of Wednesday’s crash, finished fifth.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) maintaining his seven second advantage over Team Sky leader Bradley Wiggins.
“I’m happy because I won another stage in the Tour de France,” said Greipel.
“There was a bit of a crash and I was behind it at 3km to go but Greg Henderson was waiting for me. The Lotto-Belisol train was working perfectly. It was a hard sprint. I think it was one of the hardest sprints I’ve ever done.”
Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-BigMat) initiated the break after just two kilometres and the Frenchman was soon followed by Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis) and Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun).
The peloton was happy to to let the quartet build up an advantage of around three minutes with the knowledge that, on a pan flat stage with no categorised climbs, the break was almost seemingly doomed to fail.
Team Sky’s tactics were markedly different to those of the previous day, when Cavendish, riding without the support of his team in the bunch sprint, was caught up in a crash in the final kilometres. This time, however, the British-based squad moved to the front of the peloton in order to keep both Cavendish and general classification contender Wiggins out of trouble.
Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford said: “After Mark got caught up in the crash yesterday, we decided that the risk of riding in that zone in the middle is too much. So we decided today to take it up early doors and commit the whole team and I think its easier to ride with a purpose, riding on the front with intent. Unfortunmately the stage victory didn’t come Mark’s way but credit to him for being there.
“The way we rode today was the best way to keep Brad out of trouble and to increase out chances of winning. It’s taken a few stages to get that going. “
The team’s revised tactics proved sensible when a crash near the front of the bunch with 2.7km to go brought down a number of riders, including Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), both contenders for the stage victory.
The escapees, still out front despite the prospect of a bunch sprint for the sprinters’ teams, looked to be faltering with 1.5km to the line but Ghyselinck put in a huge dig, with his fellow breakaway riders responding to once again jump away from the marauding bunch, led by Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) with Cavendish on his wheel.
But their brave bid for glory was thwarted with the line in sight, leaving Goss to open up the sprint before Greipel came past the Australian to claim victory.
Result
1) André Greipel (GER) – Lotto-Belisol – 4:41.28 hours
2) Matthew Goss (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE – same time
3) Juan José Haedo (ARG) – SaxoBank-Tinkoff
4) Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) – Cofidis
5) Mark Cavendish (GBR) – Team Sky
6) Tom Veelers (NED) – Argos-Shimano
7) Oscar Freire Gomez (SPA) – Katusha
8) Alessandro Petacchi (ITA) – Lampre-ISD
9) Sébastien Hinault (FRA) – Ag2r La Mondiale
10) Yohann Gene (FRA) – Europcar
General classification
1) Fabian Cancellara (SWI) RadioShack-Nissan-Trek – 24:45.30 hours
2) Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky +7″
3) Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +7″
4) Tejay Van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing +10″
5) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – Team Sky +11″
6) Denis Menchov (RUS) Katusha +13″
7) Cadel Evans (AUS) BMC Racing +17″
8) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Liquigas-Cannondale +18″
9) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda – same time
10) Andreas Klöden (GER) RadioShack-Nissan-Trek +19″
