Friday, August 23, 2013

Teejay Sets New Course Record

As the last rider of the day Van Garderen had a tall task, as Garmin-SHARP's Andrew Talansky had crushed the course record by 42", setting a time of 25' 05".  It appeared that he wasn't quite up to the task as the coverage showed him crossing the line at 25' 15" but the time was immediately announced as 25' 01" giving Teejay the stage win, a new course record, and a race lead of a minute and a half over his teammate Mathias Frank.  Tommy D finished 3rd on the stage, 1' 02" back, and is also 3rd overall int he race, 1' 42" back.  None of the ongoing jerseys changed today, and Talansky was given the orange most aggressive jersey as a consolation prize.

At this point, barring a complete tactical blunder by BMC, Teejay has won the race.  That sets tomorrow up as a great day for a break to get away and win and that usually means Jens Voigt.  Since the group staying together would mean a bunch sprint, only Cannondale is likely to chance since no other team will want to help set up Peter Sagan.  His closest competitor, Greg Van Avermaet, races for BMC who will be more interested in protecting Teejay's yellow jersey than hunting down a break.

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