Stage 10/11: Brawlin

Stage 10: WW(td)F
OK, that title's double meaning may be a bit of a stretch, I was attempting to reference ye old World Wrestling Federation (sorry World Wildlife Fund).  Stage 10 played out mostly to expectations, with the early break getting caught (quite late, actually) and setting up for a sprint of the world's fastest men on a bike.  But then things got weird.  It seemed to start with the medians on the road, that kept splitting the peleton, and causing ripples back through the group and people tried to rejoin a slip-stream.  And as fascinating as I always find it to watch the dynamic nature of the peleton at high speeds, this just seemed chaotic before it got to the final sprint.  The teams weren't able to set up as efficiently as they're used to... and then it got downright fighty.
I've been looking for solid video to post here, but it seems there is little to find.  If you find some, pay attention to Peter Sagan and a Movistar guy I haven't been able to identify.  They repeatedly are biking in to each other.  There's always bumping, but this just looked like a little battle between the two.  Someone must have been talking smack.  Ahead of them, shortly before the finish, as Cavendish attempts to get involved in the sprint that's leaving him behind, he clearly (imho) shoulders in to Tom Veelers at high speed and knocks him to the ground.  He was not penalized, and the race official even said that if anyone were at fault it was Veelers.  Go check it out, there's no way.

Kittle edged out the Gorilla

This left Stage 1 winner (thanks to the cluster that was Stage 1) Kittel to battle with what appeared to be an exhausted Greipel, and Kittel was the first man to take 2 stage wins this year.
There was essentially no change in standings, as everyone finished at the same time.  A couple more sprint days ahead before the Alps for them to deal with their emotions and try again.  Deep breaths, guys, use your ears not your elbows.
Another Sky note: Froome's teammates fell off again.  He's clearly shown he doesn't need them, but he was not surrounded by his Team Sky guards as is typical of the Yellow Jersey wearer.  This will probably not matter, but I imagine it keeps him up for a little bit at night.

Stage 11: No Pain No Gain
World TT champion Tony Martin, who I've mentioned a couple times sustained some pretty serious injury on Stage 1, stayed in this race for this stage.  And his suffering over the last week and a half paid dividends today, as he went very early in the day and his time held up all the way through to Chris Froome, and he gets to tack on a TdF stage win to the resume.  Froome's second place increases his lead on the GC, and Kwiatkowski's strong 5th place showing increased his lead for the White.

Parting Thought: 2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven.