Wow what a stage. Gotta lol at all the Lance haterz and fanboyz here.
My 2 lasting impressions of the stage ... Cancellara recognizing the split was happening and nailing it in the opposite lane then bunny hopping the median to just grab the caboose of the front group.
Yeah, I've been shelled like that a ton in crosswinds because I'm not strong enough. But it does not happen by magic ... the guys at the front were too freakin strong to stay with. Its not like they have motors, they had to fight the wind too. If you are a legitimate tdf contender and the gap happens right in front of you, you are either not strong enough to contend, too lazy to notice, or tactically choose not to respond.
The finish was awesome. Team Columbia burned all their matches making the split stick. Only Renshaw left to lead Cav out into a head wind finish. Thor, The God of Thunder stuck to Cav's wheel ready to roar. Renshaw seems to go a long way out and he's slowing almost 200m out forcing Cav to come around and put his nose in the wind with Thor glued to his rear tire. I thought Thor was set up perfectly, no way even Cav can hold off one of the fastest men in the world who was perfectly in his draft for 200m into the wind ... and Cav just freakin rode him off his wheel to win by a bike length while phoning home to HTC. A dominant finish by Cavendish to cap a brilliant stage by Columbia/HTC. I'm going to look for a pic of Cav making his call to make by wallpaper for the next 24 hours while you guys argue about Lance some more.