Robbie, Robbie, Robbie

Stage 11 of the Tour de France wasn't supposed to be one for the books, but it ended up being one of those stages where throwing out Phil Liggett's phrase, "What is this Tour de France?" would only be fitting. Although not as significant to the overall picture as last year's Stage 13, today's stage saw the fracturing of the peloton, the resurgence of a GC contender [in Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), who worked through his kinks and even attempted a solo 3km from the line], the fall of another [as Christophe Moreau (Ag2R) along with several noted sprinters were caught napping when Astana put down the hammer], and a first for South Africa [as Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) became the first South African to win a stage in the Tour de France].

Wasn't this just supposed to be a transitional stage?

Next:
Continuing our preview of the stages which may ultimately decide the General Classification, let's take a look at Sunday's Stage 14 - Mazamet to Plateau de Beille (197km).

There really isn't much to say about this stage except two Hors Categorie climbs with the second being the mountain top finish on Plateau de Beille. There will be no GC contenders crossing the finish line in a bunch as we saw in the Alps. These climbs promise to leave riders strung out from base to peak.