[ritchiebaby]

A case of deja vu today although it was so close to being different. Maciej Bodnar was part of a 3 man breakaway and, when the chasing peleton got within half a minute, he took off on his own and held off the peloton until the last 250m. When the sprinters took over, there was only one outcome. Marcel Kittel cruised to yet another victory and surely ownership of the Green Jersey all the way to Paris (barring pestilence and famine!). Dylan Groenewegen was 2nd and Edvald Boasson Hagen 3rd. Britons Dan McLay and Ben Swift were 5th and 9th. Kittel has a lead of 133 points over Michael Matthews, who finished 4th today.

All credit to Bodnar, though. He showed what can be done if you have the courage. Another couple of willing workers could have done wonders.

For such an innocuous looking stage, there were a few crashes involving Romain Bardet, Jacob Fuglsang and Alberto Contador plus Dario Cataldo, who was forced to withdraw.

Tomorrow has the chance to be another day of carnage in the mountains. The 214.5km stage from Pau to Payregudes has 6 categorised climbs (4,2,1,H,1,2) and the obligatory intermediate sprint, although as the sprint comes after the first mild climb, it could still feature all of the sprinters before they drift off the back. At the finish, though, it'll all be down (should it not be up?) to the climbers. As good as Chris Froome is, a real combined attack with purpose is the best chance we have of a real contest. The stage should be perfect for Bardet and Aru. Any of you who have seen Tomorrow Never Dies will recognise the finish, especially from the helicopter shots.