A relaxed day at the Tour (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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A relaxed day at the Tour
8:02pm Monday 16th July 2012 in Bob Hart's cycling blog
By Bob Hart, Web editor
IT'S been a very relaxed day for the peloton as they've cruised towards Pau.
The Pyrenean town hosts the Tour's second rest day tomorrow, and none of the riders felt like working too hard as they prepare for a horrific couple of days this week.
Normally I'd find a quiet day on the Tour immensely frustrating, but with a British rider looking likely to take a historic win I'm just happy just to see the riders arrive without mishap.
The real work begins again on Wednesday, when the race hits the big mountains again.
Anybody who fancies a chance of snatching the yellow jersey from Bradley Wiggins knows that Wednesday and Thursday will be days to attack.
Wednesday takes the riders over the legendary passes of the Col d'Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet - Wiggins and the rest of Team Sky will know that Cadel Evans and Vincenzo Nibali will be planning to attack, and that's probably why they've all been happy to take it easy today.
Mark Cavendish was widely expected to be looking for a win on today's flattish stage, but in the end a breakaway was allowed to fight it out for the win.
There's something interesting going on behind the scenes here though I suspect. Watch out for Cav on the Champs Elysee on Sunday and in the Olympic road race next week.
It's going to be fresh, well-rested world champ who takes on his rivals in those races . . .
Rest day tomorrow - another chance for an evening bike ride!
