Tour Méditerranéen

[Aperitif]

Anyone following this?
I read a bit this morning and saw that yesterday there were two stages in one day. Does this occur often or is it an interesting tweak on normal format?
Sanchez leads and Millar is tenth

 

[rich p]

First bit was 100k with an all out sprint and the second stage was a 25k TTT. Seems a bit strange but maybe designed to give the riders a bit of everything in a short tour.

It'll be interesting to see what sort of role Wiggins plays this year. He didn't want to be a lead out man for Cav, so he'll presumably be going for stage wins.

 

[Skip Madness]

I read a bit this morning and saw that yesterday there were two stages in one day. Does this occur often or is it an interesting tweak on normal format?

It is fairly normal in smaller stage races - even races as well-known as the Vuelta al País Vasco use it sometimes, I think. It is even more common in women's stage races - in fact, at a guess I imagine that more than half of women's stage races will have two stages on one day of the race.

There are six Brits at this race by my reckoning. The stages get better as the race goes on, culminating in the excellent climb of Mont Faron on the final day. I have not encountered any sign of this being broadcast anywhere, sadly.

 

[Skip Madness]

Today was the last stage, which finished on the difficult climb of Mont Faron. It was won by David Moncoutié, but an excellent ride saw Chris Froome finish third at 13 seconds - he is demonstrating class as a climber. Dan Martin managed to finish third on GC (mainly thanks to a good ride on stage four), with Froome, Cummings and Millar in 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.