Cavendish benefitted from having the most-organized lead-out in professional cycling; big George Hincapie pulled from almost a kilometer out, then Mark Renshaw took over. None of the other teams could even form up, coming through the narrow twisting turns of the town of Issoudun.
Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar did his best to break up the Columbia charge, but he ended up behind Cervelo’s Thor Hushovd, who got Cavendish’s back wheel.
Cavendish launched early, perhaps 300 meters from the line, and had to kick twice to hold off thundering Thor, but on a level road with the line in sight, no man on the planet is faster than Mark Cavendish.
This is Cav’s third stage win in this Tour. With two more flat stages, he has a chance to make it five overall.
The General Classification changed only minimally. Rinaldo Nocentini retained the yellow jersey, and Levi Leipheimer moved into fifth, giving Team Astana four riders in the top five.
Easier Stage
After three hard days in the Pyrennes, the Tour moved into the plains of Central France.
Stage Ten, 194.5 km from Limoges to Issoudun, rolls over the hills of the Limousin region, ending with a long flat road to the finish, perfect for setting up a sprint. However, July 14 is Bastille Day, the French National Holiday, and on Bastille Day French riders always try to escape the peloton and take a win for the Tricolore.
French pride aside, the big sprinters’ teams, Rabobank with Oscar Freire, Cervelo with Thor Hushovd, Garmin with Tyler Fararr, and of course Columbia with Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish—were determined not to let any escape spoil their contest at the line.
Despite Team Astana apparently working well without a designated leader, the press has been seeing competition between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador everywhere. Where did they sit on the airplane? Did they sit together on the team bus?
“In the first week they look for stories, the press room analyzes everything, he said. “‘Did you give a ‘high five’ after the Team Time Trial? They didn’t? ‘Oh, they hate each other!’ I don’t think it’s that way.
I’m not going to lie and say there’s not a little friction, not a little tension. We both want to win the Tour. You can’t deny that.
“But we’re both going to do the right thing he’s going to do the right thing, I think, and I’m committed to doing the right thing. I think the rest of the team is. The biggest tragedy here would be if we both want it so bad, somebody else gets it. That would be ridiculous; we’d all look like fools. We don’t want that.”
No Radio, Slow Race
Another commentator, Paul Sherwen, joked that in next year’s Superbowl, the coaches should not be able to talk to the players or call plays.
The team directors met before the race to discuss the radio ban and possible responses. A strike was discussed, but the teams couldn’t reach a consensus. Sixteen teams signed a petition asking for radios to be returned.
One visible result of the lack of communication was the increased presence of team cars alongside the peloton, as riders could not coordinate to send someone back for drinks and instructions. The presence of so many cars so close to the riders creates an obvious safety issue, which would be compounded on narrower roads.
Different riders expressed different opinions about how much effect the lack of radios would have.
Garmin-Slipstream sprinter Tyler Farrar said, “Once you get into the end of the race it’s really not going to matter that much, as far as sprinting goes. Julian [Dean, Farrar’s lead-out rider] and I know what we need to do. We’re talking more just next to each other rather than over the radio. It will make for some interesting tactics today but I don’t think it will make that much of a difference for me.”
Thor Hushoved said simply, “I don’t think it’s going to make too big a difference.”
“I will be so lost today without the radio. I am bringing my phone I am calling back to the States to find out what is going on,” Lance Armstrong joked.
“I like having them. There’re arguments to be made on both sides but at the end of the day I think it is better to have them.
We moved down that road we’ve evolved into that. The bikes look the way they look today, the wheels look the way they look today, the fabrics … Let’s not turn back now. We have other things in cycling we need to deal with. Whether or not we race with radios is not one of them.”
The French Attack—Slowly
Finally, at about 4 km, Thierry Hupont of Skil-Shimano made good on an attack. Benoit Vaugrenaud (Française des Jeux) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) responded. When the break was about one minute away, Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis decided to bridge the gap. This put three French riders in the breakaway; only Ignatiev, a Russian, was not racing for France.
The leading four opened a gap of three minutes and held that for about forty km, but 85 km out, the peloton decided to cut that in half.
No team took control of the peloton. AG2R did a good bit of work early on, then eased off. Lampre, Quickstep, Caisse d’Epargne and Columbia took the lead, but set a slow pace.
Near the halfway point, a crash slowed the peloton. Apparently Saxo Bank rider Kurt Asle-Arvesson touched wheels and went down, taking a few riders with him. Danny Pate of Garmin also went downbut was uninjured. All were able to continue, but Arvesson was badly banged up and moving quite slowly for a while. Without radios, it took a minute for the doctor to find the injured rider.
The whole field was riding quite slowly, particularly after the rest day. The peloton was averaging 36 kph; the pace one might expect from a really difficult mountain stage.
There was much speculation about whether riders were holding back in protest, or were being extremely cautious, not wanting to push the pace because, with no team communication, the riders were afraid to split or string out the peloton, which would make tactics impossible.
Whichever the case, the breakaway riders were also riding in leisurely fashion. The gap hovered around 1:30.
With 40 km to go, the attackers and the peloton slowly accelerated. At 25 km out, the gap had dropped to 0:45.
Finally, the Race Begins
About 20 km out, the racer proper actually started; the silent protest apparently was over. The peloton raised the pace from 35 to 60 kph, reeling in the breakaway, which also turned up the wick.
With ten km left, the peloton got very serious. Columbia and Garmin started setting up in the peloton for their lead-outs. Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire, Gerald Ciolek, and Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish began preparing themselves for all-out effort.
The attackers had plenty left in their legs after the slow stage, but so did the peloton. The attackers entered the town of Issoudun with only a short lead, but the sprinters were determined. With three km left, Liquigas turned on the jets, running down the breakaway and hoping to set up their sprinter, Daniele Bennati.
Garmin rider Julian Dean attacked at 750 meters and pulled even with Hincapie, trying to break up the Columbia lead-out. Cavendish didn’t budge off Renshaw’s wheel, and when Hincapie pulled off to the left after his stint, Dean was forced wide left as the leaders rounded a sharp right bend. Thor Hushovd, expecting a collision, slowed momentarily. Hushovd grabbed Cav’s back wheel with Farrar right behind.
Hincapie rode hard, and Renshaw even harder, to get their man ahead of the competing teams. When they launched Cavendish, there were only sprinters left, and among sprinters, Cavendish is the fastest.
The next two stages are over similar terrain, and will probably offer up similar results: long breakaways and a hard chase at the end looking for a final sprint.
Stage Thirteen, Vittel to Colmar will be the start of the second wave of mountain stages, with five categorized climbs including the Category One Col du Platzerwasel, an 8.7 km climb with a 7.6 percent grade, plus a pair of twos and threes. There the field will be put to the test, and only the best riders will survive.
| Stage Ten Results | |||
|
| Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Team Columbia-HTC | 4:46:43 |
| 2 | Thor Hushovd | Cervelo | 4:46:43 |
| 3 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin-Slipstream | 4:46:43 |
| 4 | Leonardo Duque | Cofidis | 4:46:43 |
| 5 | Jose Joaquin Rojas | Caisse d’Epargne | 4:46:43 |
| 6 | Lloyd Mondorry | AG2R | 4:46:43 |
| 7 | Kenny Robert Van Hummel | Skil-Shimano | 4:46:43 |
| 8 | William Bonnet | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 4:46:43 |
| 9 | Daniele Bennati | Liquigas | 4:46:43 |
| 10 | Saïd Haddou | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 4:46:43 |
| General Classification After Stage 10 | ||||
| Rider | Team | Time | Gaps | |
| 1. | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R | 39:11:04 |
|
| 2. | Alberto Contador | Astana | 39:11:10 | + 00:06 |
| 3. | Lance Armstrong | Astana | 39:11:12 | + 00:08 |
| 4. | Andréas Klöden | Astana | 39:11:58 | + 00:54 |
| 5. | Levi Leipheimer | Astana | 39:11:58 | + 00:54 |
| 6. | Tony Martin | Team Columbia-HTC | 39:12:04 | + 01:00 |
| 7. | Bradley Wiggins | Garmin-Slipstream | 39:12:05 | + 01:01 |
| 8. | Christian Vande Velde | Garmin-Slipstream | 39:12:28 | + 01:24 |
| 9. | Andy Schleck | Team Saxo Bank | 39:12:53 | + 01:49 |
| 10. | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas | 39:12:58 | + 01:54 |
| 11. | Luis-Leon Sanchez | Caisse d’Epargne | 39:13:20 | + 02:16 |
| 12. | Frank Schleck | Team Saxo Bank | 39:13:29 | + 02:25 |
| 13. | Maxime Monfort | Team Columbia-HTC | 39:13:40 | + 02:36 |
