Rest Day 1 update: Froome attacks, Froome Defends

What a tremendous weekend of racing we were treated to! First on Saturday - Sky, and inparticular Froome and Porte, blew the race apart with some incredible riding, then on Sunday to see Sky capitulate as the peloton bit back at the Froome dog!

The first week has been pretty eventful - a spectacular and very tough opening few days in Corsica, which saw Orica Green Edge's bus cause consternation on Stage one, ending in a crash assisted stage win for Kittel, followed by two tough mountain stages which saw Bakelants hang on spectacularly to take stage 2 (ahead of my tip Sagan!) and then my place tip Gerrans beating my win tip Sagan on stage 3 (with my other place tip Kwiatkowski in 4th!). A hectic start to say the least!

When the race finally returned to the mainland for the Team Time Trial in Nice on stage 4, everyone expected Omega-Pharma to battle it out with Garmin-Sharp for the win. But the jokers in the pack turned out to be Orica-Green Edge who nicked it by less than 1 second at odds around 20/1 (highlighted in the morning they had been backed in from 30/1). Garmin had a poor day, Omega were injury affected with Tony Martin battered and bruised, but Saxo also rode a great TT, at the split they were only 3 seconds down. But nothing major changed in GC, the time gaps were pretty small. 

Stage 5 finally saw Cavendish get off the Mark with a trademark powerhouse sprint to deny our selection Greipel, but then Greipel turned things around on stage 6, easily outsprinting his rivals, although Cavendish was badly handicapped by a crash and a hard chase on his own with about 35km to go. We landed a 6/4 headline bet on Kittel getting placed though, as well as an in-play lay bet on Cav at evens. Stage 9 on Friday saw us land a 4/1 winner in Peter Sagan and a very tasty place bet on Degenkolb at 10/1 - My other place bet on Kwiatkowski at 15/1 narrowly missing out by one place!

But the action really hotted up on Saturday on the first foray in to the serious mountains. Kiryenka and Kennaugh drilled it for Sky on the road up to Ax 3 Domaines, but then suddenly Richie Porte put in a turn that blew the whole race to pieces. Evans went out the back door, as did many of the other GC rivals. Contador hung in there, but only until Froome stepped on the gas and pulled away with a stunning acceleration. Porte waited a while to see who could go after him, but when no one did, he attacked also to steal second place and second on the GC behind Froome. Oh how good it was looking for Sky, Froome's odds tumbled to 1/7 from 4/6 in the morning.. Quintana put on a show, but he jumped way too early attacking on the first climb with over 30km to go and had nothing left to answer Froome's acceleration when he did go. Contador cracked and lost over a minute - some thought the tour was over already with just one week gone.

But then the peloton bit back - Movistar, Saxo and Garmin-Sharp attacked relentlessly and their early round punches had Sky on the ropes and Kennaugh in a ditch. Suddenly with only about a third of the stage gone, Froome was isolated and under real pressure. For the rest of the stage we saw one of the most spectacular day's racing and attacking in many a year. And just as things eased off a little, when maybe Movistar et al should have been trying to twist the knife, Daniel Martin, our headline 55/1 tip skipped up the road.. he couldn't possibly hold off the GC boys with 34km to go could he? No chance... 

But he got some great help from Jacob Fuglsang and aided by indecision and lack of cooperation in the chasing GC pack they did stay away, with Martin landing the stage and a massive priced winner for us!

Observations so far? Froome looks incredibly strong - rode away from the rest of the peloton with ridiculous ease and recorded the 3rd fastest ascent up Ax 3 Domaines. Then when he was isolated and being punched from all angles he responded like a champion to every blow, fighting single handedly against the mob. There is a long way to go though, but it did show Sky are vulnerable and it will not be the last we see of the Saxo/Garmin/Movistar/Belkin/Katusha assaults I think, and hope - it makes for awesome racing. 

Evans looks like I thought he would look, tired and slow. Van Garderen has had a horror show, injuries from earlier crashes has drained him of power and he has lost a shedload of time already. Valverde has been riding steady and has slipped in to 2nd after Porte's demise, but he seems to lack the killer instinct to take on Froome and beat him by enough time to cover his likely TT losses. Contador has been interesting, he has been given great support by Kreuziger and recovered well on the second day after cracking on Ax 3 Domaines. His fight is far from over it seems. Scheck has been a revelation, rolling back the years and riding with the big boys, but he too lacks any killer instinct and is appalling at descending, so I can't see him challenging Froome! Dan Martin's ride on Sunday was superb and it lifts him up to 8th place - I think we will see more of him, probably enough to get him in the top 6 (hopefully to land my Top 6 bet at 11/2), but maybe no higher. 

Mollema and Ten Dam have been a real surprise too, maybe not Mollema as I really rate him as a rider (have him in my fantasy teams!) but the Belkin boys have been riding really well - can they raise it another level though? Who knows.. Quintana looks like an impatient, stroppy teenager who does what he wants, when he wants and has a lot to learn yet it seems about racing the likes of Froome and Contador, but expect him to ride maybe a bit cleverer come the Alps and maybe steal a stage. 

Sagan seems to have the Points jersey bet wrapped up, Movistar have jumped in to the team lead and our bet at 9/4 is now trading at 1/2. Mountains jersey now seems Rolland's to lose, especially as he has lost so much GC time, he probably will focus 100% on the Maillot au Pois. Quintana looks the most likely winner of white now, he's trading at 1/4, Kwiatkowski his only likely rival it seems, my Van Garderen bet in tatters! 

So it's been pretty awesome so far, some great racing, some spectacular crashes, but above all, some great winners to take us in to next week!

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