Young Riccardo Riccò timed his move on the final category 1 climb perfectly. He sprung clear of all the big favourites, caught and left behind the men further up the mountain and rode down the other side into the finish for an excellent victory. He only took a minute or so out of what was left of the peloton containing all the big contenders, but for the young Italian who said he was here to learn the Tour and pick up a stage win, things are going very much to plan.

None of the big favourites attacked each other today which was a little bit of a surprise because Cadel Evans had earlier crashed and picked up a few injuries. We’re not sure how hurt he was riding but I figured someone like Valverde might have had a kick. Still, with some huge mountains, and a mountain top finish, coming up the big boys probably wanted to conserve energy.

Brits, David Millar and Chris Froom came in with the top group which was excellent riding considering the climbs they faced. Cavendish however I don’t know what his finishing time was, at the time of writing his group at the back of the race still hadn’t come in.

Tomorrow has that mountain top finish and goes over two huge climbs. This will really seperate the men from the boys and will really shake out the GC and maybe even show us a winner and even someone who we expected to win cracking.

Category: Pro Road Racing » Riccardo Ricco, Tour de France |

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