Chavanel wins stage and yellow, Thomas drops out of Tour's white

Sylvain Chavanel in lead, Tour de France 2010, stage 7


Tour de France 2010 stage 7 photo gallery by Graham Watson>>



Sky's Geraint Thomas lost the white jersey of best young rider on the Tour de France's first mountain-top stage today in Station des Rousses. However, the 24-year-old helped team-mate Bradley Wiggins stay with the favourites group ahead of tomorrow's stage to Morzine.

"My legs went with 10 kilometres to go," Thomas said. "I just didn't have it today."

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) took advantage of a stalemate within Wiggins' group to attack and ride ahead to his second stage win. His advantage at the finish also saw him take the yellow jersey for a second time, stripping it from Swiss Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank).

"I was thinking of only going for the stage win," Chavanel admitted, "but the yellow jersey was a bonus."

Chavanel previously held the yellow jersey after he won the stage to Spa, Belgium. That day, he was away in the final when a crash involved several of the overall favourites. Then race leader Cancellara organised a "go slow" within the main group to allow the favourites to lick their wounds, essentially hand the stage and yellow jersey to Chavanel.

Britain's Wiggins was happy with his performance today: "It was harder than a lot of people expected," the Sky leader said. "There was a bit of a stalemate going on and it turned out to be quite a hard stage but it's good to get one out of the way." 

First mountain day

The weather was quiet different than the wet day to Spa. The temperatures were made worse by the demanding day: six categorised climbs, with the last being the 14-kilometre climb up Lamoura.

Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) formed an escape group of five and helped himself to most of the mountain points. He now leads the competition by eight points over Chavanel.

However, only Thomas Voeckler's Bbox Bouygues Telecom lifted the pace for its rider and crushed the escape by the penultimate climb, Croix de la Serra. Their action paved the way for Chavanel to win the stage. Chavanel jumped ahead to join Voeckler's group and eventually rode clear on the final climb, with 14 kilometres to race.

Cancellara ends yellow run

Cancellara lost ground and his yellow jersey on Croix de la Serra. He yo-yoed off the back of the favourites group and eventually cracked, keeping Jens Voigt and Matti Breschel for company while Andy Schleck rode ahead with Chris Anker Sørensen.

Cancellara ended the day, up the Lamoura, 14'12" behind winner Chavanel and lost his yellow top. He has held the yellow for 21 days total in his carrier, including six days in this Tour de France.

Rafael Valls Ferri (Footon-Servetto) finished 57 seconds behind Chavanel. Wiggins' group came in at 1'47" later, ahead of classification riders Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) and Vladimir Karpets (Katusha).

Chavanel now leads the race by 1'25" over Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) and 1'32" over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions). Wiggins is 11th overall at 2'35".

RESULTS

Tour de France 2010, stage seven

1. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step

2. Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Footon-Servetto at 57sec

3. Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Rabobank at 1-27

4. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom at 1-40

5. Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne at 1-40

6. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 1-40

7. Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom at 1-47

8. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Transitions at 1-47

9. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 1-47

10. Eros Capecchi (Ita) Footon-Servetto at 1-47

Other

11. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2r La Mondiale at 1-47

13. Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana at 1-47

14. Cadel Evans (Aus) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 1-47

16. Lance Armstrong (USA) RadioShack at 1-47

20. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank at 1-47

32. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky at 1-47

Overall classification after stage seven

1. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step

2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 1-25

3. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Transitions at 1-32

4. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank at 1-55

5. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana at 2-17

6. Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana at 2-26

7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 2-28

8. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2r La Mondiale at 2-28

9. Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin-Transitions at 2-33

10. Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 2-35

Other

11. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky at 2-35

31. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky at 4-37

73. David Millar (GB) Garmin-Transitions at 20-02

Sylvain Chavanel wins, Tour de France 2010, stage 7

Sylvain Chavanel takes his second 2010 Tour stage win

Tour de France 2010: Latest news

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Analysis: The role of Renshaw

Cavendish strikes back in Tour de France

Thomas happy with Tour's white jersey; but says 'All for Brad'

Wiggins crashes on Tour stage start

Cavendish and Farrar return to top

Cavendish keeps up fight for first Tour win

Sky delivers Boasson Hagen to third without pressure

Thomas in tour's white jersey; Wiggins gains time

Evans and Schleck gain in Tour's hell of the north

The Feed Zone: Tour news and views (July 6)

Vande Velde abandons Tour following crash

Andy Schleck has a laugh after stage two crash

The Feed Zone: News and views (July 5)

Sky banks on Thomas ahead of cobbled stage

Cavendish's sprint train weakened with Hansen out

Armstrong under fire as Landis allegations reach mainstream

Team Sky's decision to put Wiggins off early back fires

Tour de France 2010: Stage reports

Stage six: Cavendish makes it two as Tour hots up

Stage five: Cavendish wins his first stage of Tour

Stage four: Petacchi wins into Reims

Stage three: Hushovd takes dramatic win; Thomas second on stage and GC

Stage three live coverage: As it happened

Stage two: Comeback man Chavanel takes victory in Spa

Stage one: Petacchi wins in Brussels as bunch left in tatters

Prologue: Cancellara pips Martin to win

Tour de France 2010: Photos

Stage six photo gallery

Stage five photo gallery

Stage four photo gallery

Stage three photo gallery

Stage two photo gallery

Stage one gallery

Prologue photo gallery

Tour de France 2010: Videos

Stage five video highlights

Stage four video highlights

Stage three video highlights

Stage two video highlights

Stage one video highlights

Prologue video highlights

Tour de France 2010: Race guide

Tour de France 2010: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

Official start list, with race numbers

Brits at the Tour 2010

Tout team guide

Tour jerseys: What they are and what they mean

Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Wiggins

Tour de France 2010: Pictures

Tour team presentation, Rotterdam

Tour teams take to the cobbles: Photo special

 

 

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