15:35 - Lelangue: “We want to make gains...”
“It’s more important that we continue to concentrate on the main objective and that’s to win the yellow jersey in Paris,” said Lelangue of BMC earlier today. “There is no pressure for us to take it as soon as possible. That’s not the objective. What we want to do today is make a few gains on some of the other riders if we can and to not lose time on other contenders. If the yellow is part of that package, okay, we’ll take it. But that’s not going to be the big fight of the day.”
15:34 - BMC Doesn’t Want Yellow Jersey... Yet
This morning LeTour.fr contacted John Lelangue of the BMC team to find out about today’s stage. If we look at the general classification after six stages and profile of the stage to Les Rousses, it’s fair to say that Cadel will end the day in the yellow jersey… “No, there’s no need for that yet,” said the Belgian manager. “There’s no pressure for him to do that yet. There’s no emergency and we don’t need the yellow jersey yet.”
15:21 - Sanquer: “Cancellara can keep the yellow jersey...”
“We must not forget that the last week of the Tour will be very difficult. So for now we will continue an observation phase,” Yvon Sanquer of the Astana team told LeTour.fr this morning. “Tonight, I think Cancellara can keep the yellow jersey. He is very strong right now, and I think he can spend the day ascents. Unless the race appears to be very eventful, and in this case it becomes difficult.”
15:16 - Comments From Astana Directeur Sportif
“We cannot yet speak of a true mountain stage,” said a directeur sportif of the Astana team, Yvan Sanquer. “It is more like a hill stage. While the Jura is still difficult, the climbs of the seventh stage are not extremely steep. We will therefore continue to be vigilant, particularly with a likely escape route. Tomorrow we will talk about the first real ‘col’ of the Tour, and we will pay attention and use our strengths.”
15:40 - Peloton At 99km
With five kilometers to climb, the peloton is 4’40” behind the five escapees.
15:40 - Cavendish Dropped
The first rider to be dropped on the fourth ascent of the seventh stage is yesterday’s winner Mark Cavendish. He has been joined by his faithful team-mate Bernhard Eisel.
15:38 - Lead Under Five Minutes
The peloton is now 4’55” behind the five escapees. Here’s a reminder of the five who escaped in the first kilometer:
Jerome Pineau (FRA) QST
Christian Knees (GER) MRM
Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP) EUS
Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) COF
Danilo Hondo (ITA) LAM