This is one of three stages left that the sprinters can flex their muscles in. It’s undulating and not completely flat but the sprinter should have no problem in getting to the finish for the sprint. One sprint prime at the half way mark will offer up valuable points for the likes of Cavendish and Rojas who will be spending quite a few days in the bus. For those of you who are not familiar with the cycling, yes the teams do have busses for transport but the bus I’m talking about is the slowest group on the road where all the injured and sick riders hang out trying to get to the end of a stage and also the sprinters get together early on the mountain stages and set up the bus in order to finish each stage within the time limit which is usually 25% added to the winners time. I your outside that time the rider will definitely be on a real bus home. This looks like a Cavendish stage today but Greipel will be on a high after yesterday and could do it again.

As the riders are moving south the drink consumption will go up so we should see a lot more domestique’s fetching water from the cars. Should a rider get even slightly de-hydrated on a stage it is extremely difficult to claw that back as the bodies usage is generally so high that the body just can’t process enough liquid. This can lead to a drop of 5 – 10% in power output rather quickly.