The drama and heartbreak of the first quarter of the 2015 Tour continued into Week 2, with the Fab Four of Nibali, Quintana, Contador, and Froome still looming as likely General Classification contenders, speed machines Cavendish, Greipel, and Sagan trading blows for the sprinters' prize, and Daniel Teklehaimanot making history by being the first African rider to wear the Climbers' Polka Dot jersey.
Stage 6: Abbeville - Le Havre
In a day packed with drama for Team Etixx- QuickStep, Zdenek Stybar used his speed and power to win in a daring solo attack, but the yellow leader's jersey of team mate Tony Martin was surrendered when the German was entangled in a crash on the final climb of the day, breaking his collarbone and effectively ending his Tour. Because race rules say a rider held up in an incident in the final three kilometers of a stage is credited with the same time as the winner, Martin was awarded the same time as the main peloton as he was helped across the line by his faithful domestiques, but the sight of his jutting collarbone threatening to break the skin was enough to make it clear he would not be remounting his bike for Stage 7. It was a bittersweet day for the team – celebrations for a brave win mixed with commiserations as they bid farewell to a brave warrior, overshadowed by the nagging question of whether sprinter Mark Cavendish could step up and snag a much-needed win before the mountain stages began.
Stage 7: Livarot – Fougères
Cavendish answered his critics in brilliant fashion to win his 26th Tour de France stage, third only behind the immortals Bernard Hinault and Eddy Mercx. Improvising brilliantly, he played the waiting game to perfection, tucking onto Greipel's wheel before barging his way through a gap between John Deginkolb and Peter Sagan to cross the line punching the air in triumph.
Stage 8: Rennes - Mûr-De-Bretagne
Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale) took out a fabulous win on the eighth stage of the Tour de France, finally notching up a victory for a Frenchman on home soil. Charging up the final metres of the famed Mûr-de-Bretagne, Chris Froome briefly surged to the front before Vuillermoz hit back, streaking away from the field in a brilliant display of climbing strength. Ireland's Dan Martin was the only one to react to the attack, but not quickly enough – he had to settle for second place, with big hitters Valverde and Sagan taking out third and fourth places respectively.
Stage 9: Team Time Trial (28km), Vannes - Plumelec
World team champions BMC Racing took out the spectacular team time trial, just nudging Team Sky out of the stage victory by fractions of a second when Sky's leader Froome had to drop back to shepherd his fifth rider, Nicolas Roche, over the finish line. The Movistar team came in third, another four seconds behind. Sky's second place meant Chris Froome was able to hang on to the yellow jersey , but the stellar performance of the BMC squad launched American Tejay van Garderen into second place overall, only 12 seconds behind Froome. Third, fourth and fifth respectively were the Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana teams of the remaining superstar contenders in Quintana, Contador and Nibali.
Looking Ahead...
The unforgiving climbs of the Pyrenees loom over the next few stages, and BikeRoar's favourite son Teejay van Garderen looks poised to strike. He has managed to slip underneath the radar to some extent thus far, but by climbing to second place overall he now has a target firmly affixed to his back. He is not quite a god of the mountains like Contador or Quintana, but he is in great form, is quietly confident, and seems to have the happy knack of staying out of trouble. Froome is still in the driver's seat for overall glory, but don't write van Garderen off.
Talented but temperamental French bad boy Thibaut Pinot has dropped to 29th overall, more than eight minutes behind the yellow jersey. A podium position is now an impossibility, and while he claims he will now make an assault on the climbers' polka dot jersey, we at BikeRoar think that's equally unlikely. The polka dots are currently in the possession of Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot of Team MTN-Qhubeka – he has made history by being the first African to wear a leader's jersey of any color: well-spoken and disarmingly humble, he is a wonderful ambassador for the sport and a great cycling talent.
The battle for the green jersey of the sprinters is an intriguing one. Nobody is a match for Andre Greipel for pure horsepower, but as the road becomes lumpier it gets harder for the muscle-bound German to blast away from his rivals. Cavendish appears to have recaptured some of his old form, and Peter Sagan has such enormous talent that it's surely only a matter of time before he trims down and becomes a genuine GC contender. BikeRoar's prediction? Sagan from Cavendish, with Greipel abandoning in the next couple of days and John Degenkolb taking out third place.
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