Finally even France, which hasn't seen a rider win the Tour since 1985 (the last triumph of Bernard Hinault), can rejoice in the stage that ended in the mountains of the Swiss Jura: Thibaut Pinot, the youngest rider in the race, won in this Tour, a hopeful Frenchman, with a solitary action that began on the last of the seven hills of the day, the Col de la Croix. Reached and overtaken before the climax by the Swede Fredrik Kessiakoff, in a breakaway from about ten kilometres, Pinot resisted the pursuit of a squad of about ten riders, the best of the Tour classification, and among the enthusiasm of Marc Madiot, old fox of French cycling, now team manager of France des Jeux, crossed the finish line with raised arms, 26" ahead of Cadel Evans, the Australian, who after attempting a push in the final, contented himself with outsprinting Gallopin , Wiggins, Nibali, Van Den Broeck, Froome, Menchov, Zubeldia, Frank Schleck and Christopher Horner (the latter American is with the German Voigt the oldest cyclist on the Tour with his 41 years on October 23rd).
Let's also remove grandfather Horner and Gallopin, but in the top ten of today's arrival order there is certainly the winner of this Tour who tomorrow with the 39 km time trial in Besançon offers the yellow jersey Wiggins the opportunity to extend the advantage against his two fiercest rivals, Cadel Evans and Vincenzo Nibali (in the standings just 10 and 16 seconds behind the British). There is great curiosity to also see Froome at work who is a very special wingman, so much so that he appears fitter and stronger than his own captain, that is Wiggins. Fabian Cancellara will also have his say for the stage victory after two medium mountain stages were enough to drop him to 36th place in the general classification, more than 13 minutes behind Wiggins. Among the favorites there would also be the German Tony Martin, world champion of the specialty, but the micro-fracture on his wrist has been tormenting him for days.
It is a Tour which, even before the test in the Alps and the Pyrenees, is selecting the candidates to win it day after day. But it's also a Tour so far too conditioned by crashes that are a constant danger for everyone. The list of retired and wounded is impressive and gets longer from stage to stage. Yesterday the painful and sad retirement of Ryder Hesjedal and Oscar Freire. Today another dramatic abandonment, that of Samuel Sanchez, motionless on the asphalt, half passed out, crushed under the pile of cyclists who had fallen to the ground in a stretch of slight slope where it seemed impossible to fall. For the Iberian, Beijing Olympian on the road, the Tour ends on a stretcher about one hundred km from the Swiss finish line in Porrentruy. Freire and Sanchez: in the space of two days Spain lost – short of a miraculous recovery – its best men for the London games. Alejandro Valverde remains in the race but also today, involved in the crash of Sanchez, the winner of the Vuelta in 2009. he had to chase, with his mood in his heels, losing more minutes in a ranking that sees him 28th at 6'45" from yellow shirt.
Thus the only Spaniard left in the standings is Radioshack's Haimar Zubeldia fifth at 59” from Wigginds. A series of injuries has also put Robert Gesink out of action for days, who started from Liège as one of the most popular men in the standings: for the Dutchman today's leg was another ordeal, a continuous suffering from hill to hill, at the finish line he recorded a delay of more than 16 minutes. It wouldn't be a surprise if he doesn't start tomorrow's time trial.
