Mark Cavendish’s aerodynamic position always makes me think of a child doing an impression of a cyclist sprinting. I don’t know why. I think it just looks a bit try-hard.
It seems more silly when he loses. You think: “Why were you being all aero? You didn’t even win.” But it is of course a vital ingredient and on stage seven it was one of many things that helped him to the win.
It’s been two years since Cav won a stage in a Grand Tour, which is as long as he’s ever gone. In a sense, normal order has been restored. But at what cost? Peter Sagan came third, not second, so the new normal order has now gone to shit.
Lord knows when a composite normality will have a chance to appear. There aren’t too many more sprint stages in this race.
Anyone kicked off the race after testing positive for cocaine today?
Yup. Fun-loving Italian beardster, Luca Paolini.
Stage eight
Not quite a reprise of the Mur de Huy stage, but a similar beast. Stage eight’s final mur is the Mur de Bretagne. Not quite as brutal as its Belgian cousin, but it will again reward a short, hard effort and should see the leading contenders to the fore.
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