Rest day at last! After my fifth stage win at this year’s Tour, we sprinters have had to survive some hard days until tomorrow’s rest day. I have concentrated on gathering as many points as possible at the intermediate sprints, which I have been able to do. And I even sat in an escape group for the first time in my pro career – and in a mountain stage, at that ;-) - in order to secure the points.

The rider behind me, Matthews, gets up the climbs better, and with his stage win and a few intermediate sprints has gotten a little closer to me. But I am still well off and will give everything to hold on to my lead and to continue to increase it. Now we can all breathe deeply and then it’s back to business on Tuesday. Maybe we will even have another sprint.

Photos: roth-foto.de