Three bike changes for Sylvain Chavanel cost him the yellow jersey on Tuesday as Fabian Cancellara regained the overall lead of the Tour de France.
Cancellara powered himself back into first place at the front of a peloton split into smaller groups by seven sections of cobblestones in the 132-mile stage in the Paris-Roubaix's “Hell of the North” locale.
Lance Armstrong fell out of the top 10 and lost time to other top contenders, such as Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador.
The RadioShack cyclist had a flat tire just as Contador had caught Armstrong's group. After a wheel change, Armstrong limited his losses by bridging across to the fourth group to cross the finish line. He's now in 18th overall, 2:30 behind the leader.
Canadian advances
One of the biggest winners of the day was Garmin-Transition's Ryder Hesjedal. The Canadian joined a seven-man breakaway, which he attacked near the end of the day. Hesjedal was caught by the Cancellara group near the finish, but hung on to jump into 4th place overall.
That's the kind of good news that the Garmin team needed, after their team leader Christian Vande Velde crashed out of the Tour on Monday.
Crash danger
Although the seven sections of cobblestones created havoc in the peloton, most riders escaped the type of crashes that have marred the Tour de France so far.
One of those who did crash was Frank Schleck of Saxo Bank. On Monday, Cancellara waited for the Schleck brothers to catch up after that massive crash on the Col Stockeu. With Andy Schleck and Cancellara riding at the front of the lead group on Tuesday, however, Frank Schleck was left behind to fend for himself.
Norwegian Thor Hushovd won the sprint among the riders in the lead group in Arenberg. He was joined by Australia's Evans (BMC Racing), who helped his cause and gained 3rd place overall.
Vino's antics
The strangest finish of the day came in the second group that included defending champion, Contador.
The Spaniard was joined in his group by his Astana teammate Alexandre Vinokourov. But as the group neared the finish line, Vinokourov powered at the front while Contador dropped back and lost valuable seconds. He now trails teammate Vinokourov by 9 seconds.
Top 10 overall
1. Fabian Cancellara, Saxo Bank
2. Geraint Thomas, Sky – 23 seconds behind
3. Cadel Evans, BMC – 39 seconds
4. Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin – 46 seconds
5. Sylvain Chavanel, Quick Step – 1:01
6. Andy Schleck, Saxo Bank – 1:09
7. Thor Hushovd, Cervelo – 1:19
8. Alexandre Vinokourov, Astana – 1:31
9. Alberto Contador, Astana – 1:40
10. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Omega Pharma – 1:42
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18. Lance Armstrong, RadioShack – 2:30
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