[ritchiebaby]

With Peter Sagan withdrawing because of a knee problem, his teammate Nils Politt took full advantage of his new-found freedom to easily take the stage win. Politt finished 31 seconds ahead of Imanol Erviti and Harry Sweeney with the peloton around 15 minutes behind. All the main protagonists are in the peloton having a relaxing day out and having time for a picnic along the way.

Tomorrow might be a little more nervous for the sprint teams, as I'm sure Cavendish will have a proper dig at winning the stage. It's 219.9km from Nimes to Carcassonne with an intermediate sprint roughly halfway. I'll be posted absent for tomorrow and Saturday entering the Pyrenees, but should be back for Sunday in the proper mountains.