7/17/15 7:14 PM

Sagan traded a flying start on Van Avermaet for nothing and gave Van-Ave a head start instead.

Sagan has got to be kicking himself for that hesitation.

He got tactical. Maybe he couldn't believe it could be so easy. He certainly had matches to spare. But so did Van Avermaet, and a head start.

What a great charge for the line, and a couple of times it looked like Sagan might pull it off, but Van-Ave had an answer for every jump. The boxing-in and hooks were textbook.

But watch out, Sagan might have ten years left in him to make up for that mistake. He rides like the early years of King Kelly.

7/17/15 8:38 PM

Sagan closed the gap only to burn out, plain and simple the dig to close the gap tapped him out. Like you said his hesitation for the initial jump cost him the win.

BMC is having a pretty good tour in case folks have not noticed.

7/18/15 1:57 AM

He had a really nasty fall about 60km from the finish - ripped up both arms and left hip and groin, and his nuts were just about hanging out of his knicks. But he got back on the bike, was patched up by the doc while rolling along, and as he was making it back to the bunch even picked up some waterbottles from the team car to distribute to his teammates. I thought, given his injuries, that the referees might excuse him the extremely sticky bottle he took from the team car, but no, he was fined 50 francs.

Video of the crash here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfOYZ2Esomo&hd=1

7/18/15 5:59 AM

Bridging burnout: Yep, after the catch and the hesitation it really did seem like a long time before the line. Part of me wonders if from Sagan's perspective the line looked too far to blow past so he chose to use the standard 'scorpion on the frog' tactic.

--okay, not a perfect metaphor, got a better one?

7/18/15 4:54 PM

There was actually a smaller line marked on the road about ten metres short of the actual finish line. I wondered if he mistook that for the finish, as he was just in front of Van Avermaet at that line.