Steve Cumming Takes Stage 7 in Solo Breakaway

Steve Cummings Makes an Olympic Statement

Steve Cummings, Dimension Data, won Stage 7 of the Tour de France in a late solo breakaway from a group of three other riders with 26 km to go. Cummings was not chosen for the 5-rider Great Britain Olympic road cycling team and perhaps he took this victory to rebut his snub. This was Cummings’ his first stage win this current Tour and his second Tour stage victory overall. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) jumped into the large second breakaway group of 29 riders and was able to add 40 seconds to his lead over Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Today’s stage was the first stage in the Pyrenees. This is where the GC cyclists typically move to the front of the standings.  The route runs from L'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle over 162.5 km (101 miles) over the Col d'Aspin. The Col d'Aspin is the first Category 1 climb of the Tour with 12 km (7.5 miles) of climbing at 6.5%, peaking at 7 km (4.3 miles) from the end of the stage at Lac de Payolle. The Col d'Aspin tops out at 1490 m (4888.5 ft.)  There is one other categorized climb, a Category 4 climb, Cote de Capvern. Otherwise, the route is filled with rollers.

A large 29 breakaway group formed at the 15 km (9.3 mile) mark of the stage. The breakaway group included the current leader of the Tour, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Fabian Cancellara and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo),Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step). At 93 km (58 miles), the breakaway group was nearly 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. This was a challenge for the peloton and especially the main contenders. If Van Avermaet were to add minutes to his current 5 minute lead then contenders like Chris Froome (Team Sky) would have to work that much harder to get onto the podium. Realizing this dilemma, Team Sky has lead the peloton 58% of the time.

The strong breakaway group stayed out in front of the peloton until Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) attacked on the Cote de Capvern. Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Matti Breschel (Cannondale), and Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie) bridged across to Nabili along with Cummings. As the group neared the Col d’Aspin at the 25.6km to go mark, Cummings pulled away, began the climb alone. Cummings went over the top, building a one minute lead on the way up. He then descended to the victory at Lac de Payolle. While Nibali rode better today, earning the Most Aggressive Rider award today, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) suffered on the Col d’Aspin, losing time to Van Avermaet. The inflatable air bridge displaying the flamme rouge collapsed just before the peloton arrived and the air bridge slightly injured Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) and prevented the peloton from passing through to the finish line. They were all given similar times by the judges.

Stage Results

1	Steve Cummings	Dimension Data	3:48:09
2	Daryl Impey	Orica-BikeExchange	0:01:04
3	Daniel Navarro	Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	0:01:58
5	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	0:02:57
6	Luis Angel Mate	Cofidis, Solutions Credits	0:03:37
7	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky
8	Wouter Poels	Team Sky
9	Gorka Izaguirre	Movistar Team
10	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team
11	Christopher Froome	Team Sky
12	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff Team
13	Richie Porte	BMC Racing Team
14	Julian Alaphilippe	Etixx - Quick-Step
15	Daniel Martin	Etixx - Quick-Step

Overall Standings

1	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	34:09:44
2	Adam Yates	Orica-BikeExchange	0:05:50
3	Julian Alaphilippe	Etixx - Quick-Step	0:05:51
4	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	0:05:53
5	Joaquim Rodriguez	Team Katusha	0:05:54
6	Christopher Froome	Team Sky	0:05:57
7	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team
8	Warren Barguil	Team Giant-Alpecin
9	Pierre Rolland	Cannondale-Drapac
10	Daniel Martin	Etixx - Quick-Step
12	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team
18	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff Team	0:06:08
23	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Team	0:07:18
27	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ	0:09:12