Business as usual in the Tour -- until the final kilometer. Early breakaway by six guys. Long chase by the peloton. Breakaway disintegrates as their cooperative turns into a dog fight. Peloton chases sprinter’s teams. Take over yellow jersey team. Wipe out the last advantage of the breakaway sprint to the finish.

Unfortunately, in this stage of the Tour, it was marred by a huge pileup with just one kilometer to go. The peloton caught Juan Antonio Flecha of Fassa Bortolo with exactly one kilometer to go. Flecha of course, after being in the break for 100 kms, was going considerably slower than the charging pack. As riders tried to dive out of the way of Flecha in the midst of the sprint, the inevitable clash of handle bars and wheels effectively closed the road for all but for around the first 50 athletes. Lance Armstrong himself was caught behind this gigantic pile-up and lost time to Tom Boonen, the stage winner.

There is a special rule in cycling, however, in that any problem caused by a crash in the final kilometer, and subsequent time loss, does not apply, and all riders in the pack at the time of the crash are given the same time as the stage winner.

Let’s hope that the riders can calm down a little bit and that no more of these huge pile-ups disrupt the Tour.