The Cannondale team delivered one of the finer team performances I can remember on Stage 7, a 205.5km journey from Montepellier to Albi. After realizing sprint Kings Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel had been dropped from the group on the cat-2 Col de la Croix de Mounis, they put the hammer down for what seemed close to 120km to make sure they would not get back on. As a result, their teammate and green jersey leader Peter Sagan finally got his breakthrough victory in this year's event after a frustrating run of minor placings in the first week. With no real sprint rivals of his calibre left at the finish, Sagan won relatively easily from John Degenkolb and veteran Italian Danielle Bennatti. Daryl Impey finished in the main bunch and retained the Yellow Jersey.
The team rider brought back the days of Team Lotto chasing down breakaways for Aussie speedster Robbie McEwen, and Cannondale were brutal in the power which they hammered out to keep Cav and ze-German from getting back on board once they had been dropped. While one esteemed London based bond trader suggested they had got the tactics, as the points jersey is decided on points (obviously) not time, they in fact got their tactics 100% correct. Not only did Sagan take the stage honours, he also ensured Cav and ze-German got no points at the intermediate or final sprint, and as a result has basically locked up the Green Jersey competition inside a week. As long as he makes it all the way to Paris he will, deservedly, win the title for a second time. He is clearly the best all round rider in the race. In the end, after leading for over 100km, the Cannondale team nearly coughed up the race in the final one, messing up their lead up train and allowing Degenkolb to get on the last wheel of the Cannondale lead-out men. But Sagan was far too powerful, waiting for the final 200m to pounce over the top of Degenkolb and easily take the stage. Cav and ze-German arrived over 14 minutes later.
One classification that did change hands was the King of the Mountains jersey which passed to Biel Kadri, who set out in the day's break with Jens Voight and manage to capture enough mountains points to take a one point lead over Pierre Rolland. Australia's Simon Clarke remains in third in that competition.
Yellow Jersey - Daryl Impey
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Biel Kadri
White Jersey - Michal Kwiatowski
Tomorrow we enter the mountains.....GAME ON!
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