Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) confirmed his status as one of the fastest riders in the world when he won his second Tour de France stage just days after taking his first one. In a dramatic finale, early escapees Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) and Martin Elmiger (IAM) were caught less than 100m from the line before the Norwegian powered down the finishing straight to hold off Heinrich Haussler (IAM) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) with a big margin.

 

Just three days ago, Alexander Kristoff broke his grand tour drought when he took a convincing sprint win in Saint-Etienne but people still questioned his speed in a pure bunch sprint at the end of a completely flat day. Today the Norwegian proved his excellent sprinting skills by taking his second win and this time all the big sprinters were there.

 

However, it had nearly come to nothing for Kristoff as a very strong early break with Martin Elmiger and Jack Bauer was about to deny the sprinters their time in the spotlight. As they passed the flamme rouge, the pair was still 20 seconds ahead and most of the sprint teams had used up their firepower.

 

Tony Martin was still dangling a few metres ahead of the peloton after a late solo attack but when his Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates realized that he would not bridge the gap, they launched their train. That made the difference as Matteo Trentin hit the front and upped the pace significantly.

 

When the Italian swung off, Kevin Reza took over for Europcar before Alessandro Petacchi made his lead-out for Omega Pharma-Quick Step. Up ahead, Elmiger tried to attack his companion but when he sat down, Bauer took off on his own.

 

The Kiwi powered towards the finish and looked like a winner of the stage but a few metres behind Mark Renshaw had launched a long sprint. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Kristoff moved up alongside him and had no trouble passing the Australian.

 

While Bauer and Greipel faded, Kristoff maintained his speed and he passed the Garmin rider less than 100m from the line. Heinrich Haussler and Peter Sagan both came fast at the end but were not even close to passing the big Norwegian.

 

For big favourite Marcel Kittel, the stage was a big disappointment as he was well-positioned for the sprint. When it was launched, however, he quickly sat down, realizing that he had no power left, and he finished the stage outside the top 10.

 

Going into the stage, many riders had feared the fierce crosswinds that could potentially create havoc on the peloton and even though Omega Pharma-Quick Step and BMC both tried to split things, there was nothing to be done against their attentive rivals. Instead, the race ended as a traditional sprint stage which was giving an interesting twist due to the very strong breakaway.

 

For Vincenzo Nibali, the day ended well and he goes into the second rest day with an advantage of 4.37 over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). The Italian faces his next big test on Tuesday when the race resumes with the first stage in the Pyrenees that is the longest of the race. After a flat start, it comes to an exciting conclusion as the riders face the Port de Bales before a tricky descent leads to the finish in Bagneres-de-Luchon.

 

A flat stage

After two big days in the Alps, the Tour de France continued with an almost entirely flat stage from Tallard to Nimes. The stage didn’t have a single categorized climb but as strong winds were forecasted, many riders feared the day more than a hard mountain stage.

 

The riders left Tallard under a cloudy, rainy sky and all riders who finished yesterday’s stage, continued their journey through France. Everybody knew that the early break had virtually no chance and so the first attack was the one that worked.

 

The break takes off

Martin Elmiger (IAM) and Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) were allowed to build a massive gap while Astana set a steady pace in the bunch. After 25km of racing, they were already 8.50 ahead but now Giant-Shimano showed their interest in a sprint finish.

 

The Dutch team put Cheng Ji on the front at he started to chase, keeping the gap stable for a little while. Moments later, Lotto Belisol joined the action as they asked Lars Bak to contribute to the pace-setting and the pair started to bring down the gap.

 

Katusha join the chase

After 50km of racing, the gap was 7.15 and Katusha now also decided to take part in the chase. With the added firepower from the Russian team, the gap continued to come down and with 135km to go, it was only 5 minutes.

 

Albert Timmer took over from Ji and he started to trade pulls with Bak and Simon Spilak (Katusha). However, the trio decided to slow down and with 118km to go, the gap had grown to 6.35.

 

Mollema is caught out

Moments later, the peloton was warned of the danger when a group was tailed off. While it was mostly made up of climbers, Bauke Mollema (Belkin) was also there and his teammate Maarten Wynants had to chase hard to bring it back together.

 

The peloton again hit an easier section which caused the pace to go down and while Timmer, Bak and Spilak went back to work, the gap hovered around 6.15. With 75km to go, however, things again got dangerous.

 

The peloton splits

Lotto rode hard on the front with Tony Gallopin and this was enough to drop a few riders, including Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Thomas Voeckerl (Europcar) who never made it back to the front. That was the signal for Omega Pharma-Quick Step to drop the hammer and as a consequence, the gap dropped to just 3.15.

 

Richie Porte (Sky) was one of several riders to get dropped but when the peloton briefly slowed down, he managed to rejoin the group. Lieuwe Westra, Michele Scarponi and Alessandro Vanotti took over the pace-setting for Astana but the peloton was extremely nervous.

 

Ag2r and BMC attack

With 60km to go, Ag2r tried to attack with Matteo Montaguti, Christophe Riblon and Sebastien Minard upping the pace but they were passed by BMC. The American team used its big classics guys Marcus Burghardt, Greg Van Avermaet, Daniel Oss and Michael Schär to ride really hard in the windy conditions.

 

Vincenzo Nibali realized the danger and showed impressive strength when he sprinted back up to the BMC riders. With 56km to go, however, BMC stopped their attack and instead Astana went back to the front with Westra.

 

A sprint for points

The gap was now only 1.50 and all the teams were riding very attentively near the front. Meanwhile, Elmiger led Bauer across the line at the intermediate sprint.

 

Cannondale hit the front to set up Sagan for the sprint but it was Bryan Coquard (Europcar) who beat Mark Renshaw (OPQS) and the Slovakian in the battle for the points. The nervous riding continued for a little while but soon after Westra, Maxim Iglinskiy and Andriy Grivko started to set the pace for Astana while the bunch calmed down.

 

Lotto and Giant start to chase

With 30km to go, the gap had grown to 2.15 which prompted Lotto and Giant to restart their chase. Albert Timmer and Bak did a bit of work but soon after, Timmer was the only rider to set the pace.

 

The Ducthman brought the gap down to 1.30 but with 22km to go, OPQS tried to disrupt his work by sending Michal Kwiatkowski up the road. The Pole got a 15-second advantage but as Bak joined Timmer on the front, he was brought back 6km later.

 

Lotto start to fade

Timmer blew up and so Bak and Tony Gallopin did all the work. With 10km to go, however, the gap was still 50 seconds.

 

When Bak finished his work, Adam Hansen joined Gallopin but the gap wasn’t really coming down. With 6km to go, it was still 40 seconds.

 

Martin attacks

With 5km to go, OPQS took over with Kwiatkowski and Trentin. Moments later, they sent Martin off in ana attack but when he was marked by Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol), he stopped his efoort.

 

Gatis Smukulis hit the front for Katusha but as he received no help, the gap was still 30 seconds with 3km to go. Moments later, Jan Bakelants launched the next OPQS attack and he managed to stay clear for a little while before Cannondale took over.

 

Bad luck for Bennati

When Bakelants was about to be brought back, Martin launched his next attack and this time he got a small gap. Luca Paolini started to chase for Katusha before Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) made a smart mov e to bridge across to Martin.

 

Unfortunately, the Italian punctured and instead Martin had to press on alone. Further back, Giant-Shimano had taken over the pace-setting and they led the peloton under the flamme rouge.

 

Martin was now about to get caught and so OPQS launched their lead-out train. Trentin hit the front, setting the scene for the dramatic finale.