It was a gloriously triumphant stage and a devastatingly disappointing stage, depending on which way you look at it. One man lifted himself above his limits to a well-deserved stage win, but another lost out at the last-minute on his hard-won stage victory after stretching his limits as well. The Tour de France is always exciting, but it's never quite so heart-breaking and heart-rending as this.
Sadly, but not unsuprisingly, today's stage also began with those who couldn't. Quickstep sprinter Gert Steegmans never made it to the starting line, and three riders didn't get much past it - Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha), Lars Boom of Rabobank, and Team Radioshack's last hope in German Andreas Kloden all felt they couldn't go on. The nasty crashes of the first week are beginning to take their deadly toll on Tour de France hopes. Russian sprinter Denis Galimzyanov was also absent, having finished outside the elimination time on Luz-Ardiden yesterday.
When it came to the day's breakaway it took the riders a while to figure themselves out. In the end FDJ's Jeremy Roy, clearly tired of all the fluffing around, decided that if no-one else was going to break away, he would. Several of the sprinters, realising there was now an echappee, opted to join in, including world champion Thor Hushovd and Italian Lampre sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. But this was Roy's breakaway, and the rules were clear: you keep up with my speed, and don't hold me back, or you can go back to the peloton. Most of the other nine riders were happy to abide by his rules, and some even took turns at the pace-making, such as Sky's young sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen, who is beginning to show some skill in climbing. Boasson Hagen also led the breakaway through the intermediate sprint, no-one bothering to race for maximum points. The peloton did, though, with Movistar's JJ Rojas and a teammate outmanouvering a very annoyed Cavendish for 10th place.
It was Thor Hushovd who eventually decided that he needed to increase the speed. The Norweigan accelerated out from the back of the group of 10, rocketing away up the hill. At first no-one reacted, but after a minute Roy decided that no-one was breaking away from his breakaway without his permission. He began chasing the powerful sprinter down and soon passed him, being a better climber. Cofidis' eccentric climber David Moncoutie also decided to farewell his fellow escapees and set off after Hushovd, for a while with the Tour's other Norweigan Eddy Boasson Hagen in tow. Moncoutie soon caught up to Hushovd on his own, and similarly dropped him later on.
Roy managed to acheive the aim of his breakaway - he crossed the Col d'Aubisque in the lead and took the 20 points for first over the hors-categorie climb, giving him enough points in the King of the Mountains classification to take the polka-dot jersey. But with an eight-minute lead over the peloton and more than a minute ahead of his nearest pursuers, Roy expanded his ambitions - go for the stage win.
And go he did. Roy shot off like a cat with its tail on fire, as did his pursuers, while the peloton was merely out for a Sunday ride, seemingly oblivious to all other considerations. By the time the peloton crossed over the non-categorised Col du Solour, the riders ahead had organised themselves into distinct groups - first there was Roy, doing his own little time-trial in the lead; then Moncoutie and Hushovd, who had caught the Frenchman on the descent of Solour and now had him in his slipstream; and then the trio of Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jerome Pineau (Quickstep) and Lars Bak of HTC-Highroad sitting in positions four through six on the road.
But now it was chase time, Leopard Trek sending some riders to the front of the peloton to up the pace as Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) jumped off the front with Rabobank's Bauke Mollema on his tail. While unconcerned by riders like Hushovd, Roy and Pineau, Gilbert is reasonably high in the overall classification and the leaders were a bit nervous about him getting too far ahead. He finished the stage just under a minute head of the peloton, vaulting him into ninth place in the general classification.
It was chase time for the breakaway too. The massive form of Thor Hushovd, with red-clad Moncoutie in his wake, was now bearing down on raceaway Roy, one and a half minutes ahead. Though the day was classified as a 'mountain' stage because of the HC climb in the middle, the road to the finish was flat, and Roy had to stay ahead if he wanted to win, as neither Frenchman could beat the Norweigan in a sprint finish. As the peloton continued its leisurely pace southwards Hushovd continued to eat away at Roy's lead, until by the 10 kilometres-to-go banner Roy was only 30 seconds ahead.
But 'Jeje' Roy stayed tantalisingly out of reach, stubbornly staying 15 seconds ahead of Hushovd for the next seven-and-a-half kilometres, until Hushovd decided it was time to shut him down once and for all to take the stage. Despite looking like he was flagging, Hushovd suddenly jumped forward, leaving behind Moncoutie (who refused to help with the pace-making so as not to be accused of preventing a French victory) and very quickly came up behind Roy, who didn't even have the energy to jump in Hushovd's slipstream and grab second place. A demoralised Roy rolled over the line 26 seconds behind the leader.
Though earning himself both the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains and the red number of the most combative or "spirited" rider, Roy was extremely disheartened to lose the stage so close to victory. "They [my wife and parents] were disappointed for me, they cried. They believed it too," he said in an article he wrote for French sports paper 'L'Equipe'. This is the heart-rending part - as a sprinter Hushovd was thrilled to take a 'miracle' stage win over the high mountains, but at the cost of "not a champion" man who had worked all day for the same prize. How do you choose who should win?
Nothing to report on the big names; the only major change in the GC is Gilbert's jump to ninth. Tomorrow on the road to Plateau du Beille is when the girls and boys may - or may not - come out to play. Whether Contador decides to attack and make up time or whether everyone waits til the Alps to go for gold (en jerseys) remains to be seen.
And for the record, I chose Jeremy.
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