Stage 10 went about how we all expected. A 2 man breakaway went off the front from kilometer zero, the peloton let them dangle out there until 10 kilometers to go where the sprinters teams went to the front and tried to organize the lead-out trains. Once again the final kilometers had several 90 degree turns that were taken at full speed, fortunately no one crashed this time. The finale was a mess with no one lead out able to take control of the race so it turned into a free for all at the end. Marcel Kittel was able to come down the left side of the group from way back to take the win easily. Kittel won his fourth stage of this Tour and thirteenth overall to set a new record for Germans. Right now there is not another sprinter in the world who can match Kittel’s speed the last 250 meters.
French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni was fined 200 francs and docked one minute on GC for taking a swing at a Quickstep rider who bumped into him during the chaos of the final kilometers. Bouhanni has a reputation for being a hot head and this is not the first time he has been involved in an altercation during or after a race. In what has to be the highest form of hypocrisy, Bouhanni was only fined and docked time instead of being relegated on the sprint or even disqualified. How taking a swing at another rider is not viewed in the same lens as what happened between Sagan and Cavendish is beyond me. It pays to be French in this situation I suppose.
Stage 11 Eymet to Pau 203.5km
Stage 11 should be another one for the sprinters before the race heads into the high mountains on Stage 12 Thursday. It doesn’t appear that anyone can beat Kittel even when his lead out train mucks it up like they did today. Eventually Greipel will win a stage…..or will he?
Kittel is my pick on sprint stages until proven otherwise.
Three Weeks in July 