Stage 7: Saturday, July 10 – Tournus to Station des Rousses (165.5km)

The first mountain test of the Tour – 6 climbs up into the Jura mountains on the edge of the Alps range, culminating in a plateau finish 4km after the final climb. With very hot weather, and a field who had nearly all acquainted themselves with the road surface at some point in the last week, this was always going to be a hard day.

Starting at a disadvantage was Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen, who injured his back when he was knocked off his bike by an idiot TV journalist after the finish of yesterday’s stage. The journo did well to scarper, as Robbie is not someone you want to cross.

Back to today: a five-man breakaway went off the front shortly after the start, with King of the Mountains leader Jerome Pineau asserting his position by leading the race over the first five climbs. That ensured he would hang on to the polka-dot jersey for one more day. Pineau is not a full-on mountain specialist, and is likely to concede the jersey in the next stage or two.

On the fifth climb, the Bbox-Bouygues Telecom team went to the front of the main pack and cranked up the pace by several notches to try to bridge the gap to the break. This caused the pack to stretch and fracture, with the sprinters and other non-climbers falling off the back, including white jersey Geraint Thomas and yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara.

Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Bbox’s French national champion Thomas Voeckler and Quick Step’s Sylvain Chavanel continued to chase after Pineau. Chavanel had, of course, worn the yellow jersey for one day before a series of mechanicals and punctures on the cobblestones put Cancellara back in first place overall. Eventually Chavanel overhauled his exhausted team-mate Pineau 12km from home, and rode off into the lead.

At the pleateau-top finish, Chavanel took the stage – a gritty and determined effort. Tour virgin, Spain’s Rafael Valls Ferri (Footon-Servetto) put in a great performance for second place. The main pack came over 1′47 back, including Contador, Evans, Schleck, Armstrong, Wiggins.

Geraint Thomas came in 5′18 back, relinquishing his white jersey on the process. In a TV interview later, he seemed to suggest that, as well as the heat being a factor, he may have had energy issues or perhaps had not fed correctly during the stage.

Fabian Cancellara clearly didn’t have the legs to defend his yellow jersey today, and dropped back to a trailing group, hoping to conserve some strength for his team role in supporting Andy Schleck. He eventually rolled over the line 14′12 behind the stage winner. Alessandro Petacchi came in 19′14 behind – he generally retires around now. The proper autobus of stragglers finally rolled in 22′17 back – including Cavendish, the luckless McEwen, and Husovd.

Therefore, a lot of changes to the overall competition. Sylvain Chavanel takes the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara for a second time. Cadel Evans’s quiet consistency puts him in second place, 1′25 back. Andy Schleck is 4th (1′55), Alberto Contador 6th (2′26), Bradley Wiggins 11th (2′35), and Lance Armstrong 14th (3′16). All to play for when the mountains hit the Alps proper tomorrow.

Leader board after this stage:

Overall GC
Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step)

Points
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)

King of the Mountains
Jerome Pineau (Quick Step)

Young Rider
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)

Tomorrow’s stage is 189km from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz. The sting is in the tail; after a fairly simple start, the final third of the stage takes in two 1st category climbs – Col de la Ramaz and the mountain-top finish at the ski resort above Morzine. If it stays hot, there will be a lot of suffering on those roads. And we may get our first inkling of the select handful of riders who will contest the overall Tour victory. The following day is a rest day, so expect maximum effort all-round – only that will be good enough. Bring on the Alps…