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Tour de France 2010: Stage 18

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Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews coverage of stage 18 of the Tour de France.

The mountains are behind us now and the peloton faces 198km of flat roads between Salies-de-Béarn and Bordeaux.

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The flag is dropped and the racing is underway. Seemingly ideal racing conditions facing the riders today. Warm sunshine and clear blue skies, with the temperature a pleasant 25 degrees.

It's a rapid start to the stage. Even at this point in the race there's no such thing as a relaxed moment on the Tour. A seven-man break has jumped clear and has about 10 seconds on the peloton.

Matti Breschel, Remy Di Gregorio, Yarsoslav Popovych, Marcus Burghardt, Carlos Barredo, Linus Gerdemann and Mathieu Perget are the men in the break.

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There's an intermediate sprint 29.5km into today's stage at Castelnau-Chalosse so it's hard to see a group getting clear without a fight before then. The mighty Thor Hushovd is in green this morning, but his lead over the increasingly-controversial Alessandro Petacchi is a mere 4 points. Meanwhile, the fastest man in the race appears to be Mark Cavendish, and although he is a hefty 29 points down on Hushovd he remains an outside threat, especially if he wins today and in Paris.

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Meanwhile BMC are clearly keen to put a gloss on their Tour. Burghardt is off the front of the bunch again trying to get across to the Breschel quartet and Alessandro Ballan has come with him.

Burghardt and Ballan have been swallowed by the peloton, but the escapees have opened out a lead of 30 seconds. HTC-Columbia and Lampre have come to the front of the bunch now, they want to bring it all back together ahead of the sprint.

Jerome Pineau has been a wonderful contributor the narrative of this year's Tour. His teammate and friend Sylvain Chavanel may have taken the stage wins and days in yellow, but Pineau has done more than his share of rampaging off the front and he's at it again today. The talented Frenchman appears to have rediscovered his confidence after winning a stage at the Giro in May.

Pineau wore the polka jersey with some distinction earlier in the race and meanwhile the man who will wear it to Paris has punctured. Anthony Charteau will get back on easily, the peloton appears to have slowed a little.

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There are still some HTC-Columbia riders at the head of the peloton, but with the gap stretching out to 2:50, they clearly aren't putting the hammer down.

Speaking of which, Lance Armstrong, the man who used to be the hammer but is now the nail (his words), met with French president Nicolas Sarkozy after yesterday's stage atop the Tourmalet.

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One man who was rather less impressed by Monsieur le Président's visit was Jurgen Van den Broeck. He'll be relieved to know that there will be no presidential visits on today’s stage. It seems that the Belgian grimpeur had not one but two contretemps with M. Sarkozy and his entourage after the finish on the Tourmalet yesterday.

This break seems to be fairly well established now, with a lead of 3:25 over the peloton. They'll be left out here for the day before HTC-Columbia and Lampre-Farnese Vini wind things up in the finale.

The Tour makes its 80th visit to Bordeaux today. Only Paris has featured more often as a stage town in La Grande Boucle. Like Pau, Bordeaux benefits from its strategic position as a natural stage town for the race either on its entry to or exit from the Pyrenees.

The Tour has been coming to Bordeaux ever since the first race back in 1903. Charles Laeser of Switzerland was the winner and in doing so became the first foreigner to win a stage of the Tour de France. It was the shortest of that first Tour’s six stages, a 268km run from Toulouse and it came on the back of three consecutive rest days. Who says things were tougher back in the day?

It’s also worth noting that Laeser actually abandoned the Tour on the previous stage but the rules of the time allowed riders who had abandoned the overall race to continue to contest individual stages.

To return briefly to Laeser and the 1903 Tour, lest anyone think those early convicts of the road had it easy, the next day the peloton pedalled 425km to Nantes and the final stage was not a relaxed jaunt around Paris but a 471km epic from Nantes to the capital!

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An average speed of 45.4km/h for the first hour's racing. The speed should settle slightly over the next hour, though not by too much, these are fast roads.

There's a tailwind today to keep the pace high all the way the Bordeaux.

In the overall standings, of course, Alberto Contador leads Andy Schleck by eight seconds. The general consensus is that Contador should defend his lead quite comfortably, but when the margins are that tight anything is possible. In some respects it's a pity that there aren't still time bonuses on offer at the Tour. It would have been a fascinating sprint atop the Tourmalet yesterday...

The pace is beginning to pick up a little in the bunch and the gap has come down slightly. They certainly won't want to let the break open out a lead of anything much over the three or so minutes they have now.

There are two riders celebrating their 34th birthdays today, although neither one is here today.

Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ) is riding strongly on the front of the break. He had a strong underage career in France and has since developed into a very solid pro. For his debut Tour in 2006, Vaugrenard was shadowed by Paul Kimmage as he saw the Breton as the Tour debutante most similar to himself in 1986. Kimmage's verdict on Vaugrenard's Tour diary? "Benoit's a better cyclist than I was, but I showed more promise as a journalist."

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Alberto Contador punctures at the rear of the peloton. The pace isn't too high so he'll get back on without any problems. And no, Andy Schleck won't attack....

For those of you playing our Easton-Cyclingnews Wheelset a Day Giveaway during the Tour de France, here is your trivia question for the day:
What was the narrowest margin by which the Tour has been won?

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Bordeaux became a cornerstone of the early Tour, as the first eight editions of the race all had stage finishes in the city. It also featured every year between 1925 and the outbreak of World War II, but it was in the postwar period that it began to build its reputation as a sprinters' finish.

Back in those days, stages finished on the steep banks of the Lescure Velodrome rather than the graceful banks of the Garonne like they do now. Andre Darrigade, Rik Van Looy and Walter Godefroot were among the fastmen to triumph at the Lescure.

Incidentally 1975 was the first time the Tour finished on the Champs-Elysees, with the organisers having decided to bring the Arrivée out of the Parc des Princes and in to the heart of the capital.

HTC-Columbia and Lampre are sharing the work on the front of the peloton. Meanwhile Alberto Contador is surrounded by a phalanx of powder blue Astana jerseys just a little further back.

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Now the breakaway are at the feed zone. If they want to stay away until the finale they'll need to take advantage of the peloton slowing slightly as it passes through in a couple of minutes.

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As expected, the pace slackened somewhat in the second hour of racing. 40.6km/h to give us an average of 43km/h thus far.

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The bunch is riding through the Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne, a magnificent woodland area.

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Some other great sprinters to have won in Bordeaux include Eric Vanderarden (1985), Jean-Paul Van Poppel (1988) and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (1993).

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Daniel Oss is looking very comfortable in this breakaway.

Long straight roads through the woodland towards Bordeaux now. It's hard to see how the break can possibly stay clear today. Lampre and HTC are simply keeping things ticking over, holding the gap at around 2:20.

Lance Armstrong is smiling in the middle of the bunch. To his credit, the American seemed to become considerably more relaxed once it became apparent that he didn't have the legs to be a factor in the general classification this year.  He may be facing into a rather more turbulent period after the end of the Tour mind.

As well as being synonymous with sprint finishes, Bordeaux also had a spell as the capital of World Hour Record attempts. After Milan's Vigorelli and Mexico City before it, the Velodrome du Lac became the place to go to try and break the record in the early 1990s

Chris Boardman kicked it off in 1993, and the following year the record was raised no fewer than four times by three men: Graeme Obree, Miguel Indurain and Tony Rominger. By year's end, Rominger had brought the record up to 55.291km/h.

Chris Boardman then put the record on the shelf in Manchester in 1996 with 56.375km/h using the now-outlawed "Superman" position. Meanwhile Bordeaux's status as the perfect setting for a record attempt was dealt a blow by Evgeni Berzin's shambolic effort in 1997.

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Francaise des Jeux's new all-white strip has had quite an airing off the front in this year's Tour. For the most part it's been the irrepressible Sandy Casar flying the flag for Marc Madiot's men, but Vaugrenard has had a few sorties of his own before now.

The gap is hovering just above two minutes now, but the breakaway will stay clear for a little longer. In the final 30km we'll see the pace shoot up rapidly in the peloton.

It's a strange scenario for the four up front. In their heart of hearts they know that they won't stay clear until the finish and that's probably why they aren't riding with quite the same fanaticism we saw from similar breaks earlier in the Tour.

Speaking of fanaticism, there's a healthy smattering of support on the roadside and among their number is Tom Cruise. He appeared to be standing with Cameron Diaz. It's a sign of the escapees' hopes of stage victory in Bordeaux later that even they appeared to slow and do a double take as they went by.

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Now Tom Cruise is now waving from a car just in front of the peloton and France Television's cameras are lapping it up. So is Cruise.

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Alberto Contador is looking calm and collected in the peloton. It will be interesting to see if he time trials as well tomorrow as he did at Annency last year. In any case, he may not have to, he just needs to match Andy Schleck.

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Mark Cavendish is in relaxed form today too. He hams it up for the cameras by miming a whip and pretending to be HTC's slave driver. It seems that the poor peloton have been forced to resort to tomfoolery to get the cameramen's minds back on the task in hand.

Andy Schleck is back at race doctor Gerard Porte's car. Luckily Tom Cruise is slowing things up front so Fabian Cancellara won't have to...

Schleck waves away the cameras, so it's not quite clear what the Luxembourger's ailment is.

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No further news on Schleck's problem, but it appears that he has rejoined the peloton.

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We haven't seen Cervelo on the front yet today. At the start this morning, Hushovd said that his men would ride at the head of the bunch if the situation required it, but clearly the breakaway is already well-patrolled.

Hushovd is battling to defend his green jersey. He said this morning that he will ride 100% to win the stage and not just to pick off a high placing. He was also hopeful that the Pyrenees might have drawn a little of the sting out of Petacchi's sprint.

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The gap is still around the two minute mark. The bunch has kept a fairly tight rein on the breakaway. There was never a chance that it would build up any kind of insurmountable lead.

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Mark Cavendish is pedalling with great fluidity in the peloton. He's really come back in to form after a difficult start to his Tour and a disastrous early season. Meanwhile, Alessandro Petacchi doesn't look quite as comfortable, but all will be revealed on the Quais Louis XVIII.

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Luis Leon Sanchez has punctured but Vasily Kyrienka is towing him safely back up to the main field.

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It's a perfectly flat run-in to the finish as the bunch bowls through the vineyards of Bordeaux.

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Pineau is reeled in and then Daniel Oss goes and he immediately opens up a decent advantage.

Oss puts his head down and goes for it, while his three erstwhile companions have sat up and been caught by the peloton.

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Cervelo have come to the front now too, in support of Thor Hushovd.

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Freire on Boasson Hagen's wheel.

Cervelo lead it out.

Hushovd goes first but Cavendish rips clear!

Cavendish wins ahead of Julian Dean and Alessandro Petacchi. Petacchi should have done enough to move back into the green jersey.

Huhsovd went early and faded. When Petacchi went he had Cavendish on his wheel and the Manxman had the race won 200m from the line. His best sprint in the Tour to date.

Provisional stage result:

General classification after stage 18

Hushovd could only manage 13th on the stage, he'll be very disappointed with that. He'll have his work cut out to wrest the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi now.

A dominant sprint win for Cavendish. He even had time to look around as he crossed the line. When he's on form like this he is basically unbeatable.

Overall, Alberto Contador still has those 8 seconds in hand over Andy Schleck ahead of tomorrow's time trial.

Thanks for joining us for today's stage to Bordeaux.

Provisional stage result:

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia 4:37:09
2 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin - Transitions
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha
5 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team
7 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
8 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
9 Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini
10 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

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