Tour de France Stage 7: Second overall leader withdraws

Published 07/10/2015, 5:41 AM EDT

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Tony Martin will not be starting stage 7. The current Maillot Juane holder crashed in the final 800m of stage 6 taking down some of the top favourites for the tour. While the rest of the riders escaped with minor cuts and bruises, Martin was not that lucky. The German rider suffered an open fracture to his collarbone which has been shattered in many places and has now flown to Hamburg for surgery causing his withdrawal. He is the second rider to withdraw from the tour wearing Yellow this year, following Fabian Cancellara’s stage 4 exit.

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The Tour de France Stage 7 sees the Tour depart from Livarot and end at Fougeres after a 190kms. This will be the last sprint finish stage for a few days owing to the uphill finishes later on and the tours venture into the Pyrenees from stage 10 onwards.

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The stage today is littered with minor climbs and descents with just a sole category 4 climb 12.5kms into the stage. A little over 50kms from that point, will see the intermediate sprint. Expect Griepel and his Lotto squad to try and pull a break away back. With his lead down to 3 points in the Green Jersey standings he will want maximum points in this stage as he knows he cannot match Sagan in the mountains.

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This really could be a perfect stage with Etixx-Quick Step looking to either promote Uran up the rankings or power their missle, Cavendish to the finish. If they can control the pace in the final 3kms, ensure Cavendish is not separated from Renshaw the Manxman should pick up his 26 Tour de France stage victory. Tony Martin’s loss might damped his chances a bit, with the German being an integral part of the lead out train for Cavendish.

There should not be any drama in the general classification standings. That will resume from Stage 8.

The General Classification top 20

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The Points Classification Top 20

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What Jersey’s will be worn tomorrow?

 

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No one. With Tony Martin having finished stage 6, he finishes with the overall best time. With his withdrawal, Chris Froome is the defacto leader but has not really crossed Martin’s time (which stills stands). Therefore, no one will be wearing the Maillot Juane, but Froome should be in Yellow when he finishes the stage.

Andre Greipel continues to hold the Green Jersey although he now holds a slender 3 point lead over the Charging Slovakian, Peter Sagan. Greipel will need to win today’s intermediate and final sprint if he wants to keep the Green Jersey on for much longer.

The White Jersey is held firmly by Peter Sagan. The Slovak is making the most of the bonus time awarded at the end of stages in the first week and is just 2 seconds behind Tejay van Garderen who sits 3 overall. He holds a 52 second lead over Warren Barguil, but with the Pyrennes around the corner, he might be dropping down the order as he looks to win his 4 consecutive green jersey.

Daniel Teklehaimanot of MTN-Qhubeka is now the new leader of the King of the Mountains Jersey. He took all 3 points available on stage 6 to lead Rodriguez the previous bearer. He is the first black rider and first Eritrean to wear the jersey, a jersey he has dreamt of wearing since he was a kid.

Team Classification (Yellow Helmets and Yellow background numbers)

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BMC continue their strong performances as they lead the best team classification standings. They will now be concerned on getting through unscathed for the next 2 stages, before they aim for a strong team time trial performance.

 

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Perring Quemeneur was awarded the most combative rider for his role in doing the most work in the breakaway before being caught in the final kilometres of the stage. He has been in the breakaway for more than 400kms over the past 3 stages.

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