Honour – it is one of the heaviest six letter word, yet some may say is used almost nonchalantly in today’s day and age. However this word has long been associated with the Tour, almost since its inception 99 years ago. Yes there is honour in finishing – let alone winning – such a gruesome event, but right now am talking of the honour these riders feel for the race and its traditions.

When Henri Desgrange introduced the maillot jaune in 1919, the Tour leader was immediately conspicuous among the peloton and had to abide by a code of conduct to justify his exalted status. This has evolved over the century and today not only the rider, but his team follow certain unwritten rules to honour the jersey and justify wearing it (many in the past have refused to wear the hallowed jersey when they have considered themselves unsuitable for it).

Fabian Cancellara and his team maintained that sanctity yesterday as they guided the stage almost from start till finish in style. It was the Radioshck outfit which did most of the chasing at the head of the field, putting their body on the line to protect their team leader. Special mention must be made of that veteran fighter Jens Voigt (40), who has always been a figure of suffering & determination, dutifully putting in long turns with his nose in the wind to keep the breakaway in check.

But then some might say it is less out of tradition and more out of pragmatism that the teams do this. Riding at the head of the field ensures they can control the pace of the race, while also keeping their leader out of troublesome crashes (which generally occur in the middle of the pack). Certainly true, but even that line of argument would not hold weight considering the way Cancellara led the finish in the final kilometer.

He attacked with venom just under the red kite, when none had expected it, and continued to fight alone till the finish. It is generally not expected of the Tour leader to attack towards the end of a routine stage, when he is already assured of a safe finish to keep the lead at the end of the day. But what was even more surprising is that the Swiss attacked at the steepest part of the climb, which is his Achilles heel.

Only Peter Sagan and Boasson Hagen could respond to the big man’s challenge, with the Slovak playing a cheeky tactic of riding in the slipstream of the Radioshack rider till just before the line. Cancellara urged Sagan to share the work at the head, only to be disappointed; and to rub insult to injury, was pipped to victory in the last 150mtrs. But his actions were worthy of a deserving maillot jaune, and though have lost out on a stage victory, he gained further respect of the field, and millions watching.

Even the Tour’s official site had this to stay about the defending Olympic champion, “With his second place today, Fabian Cancellara has proven how versatile he is. He might not have been able to beat Peter Sagan in the stage but he’s still the leader of the Tour de France.” In fairness to the Slovak, he played a typical predator’s ploy, waiting in the slipstream and pouncing right at the death (and is said to have apologised after the race). In doing so he became the youngest rider to win a stage since Lance Armstrong in 1993 (his pre cancer days).

The day began at an awkward note when the peloton was forced to a halt in the neutral zone by people blocking the road for some kind of a protest. It wasn’t for long though, and when the race director dropped the white flag to start the day’s racing, six men immediately launched into a breakaway. Of the leaders, only Michael Mokrov was close to Cancellara (24” behind him), hence they elicited no response from the main field.

This year’s first crash came early, a mere 11km into the stage when Tony Martin and Robbie Hunter were caught in a fall. Both remounted and continued to finish, with Martin  requiring regular medical attention on his wrist and elbow. He visited a hospital at the end of the day, and according to the team will continue with a plastic cast, but there are doubts if he can risk his body and continue for long (especially with the Olympics just round the corner). The rider brushed away his injuries in his typical fashion, “If necessary I would have come to the finish as the last rider.”

There was a lighter incident at the 24km mark as the leading pack of six had to wait around 45sec for a level crossing. According to the rules, level crossings are considered part of the race and therefore the riders had to build up the gap once again the harder way. This year race organisers have introduced a new rule requiring the leaders of the team classifications to wear yellow helmets. This meant all Sky riders donned yellow lids, and this caused much debate among the riders, commentators and twitterati (with the general consensus being that the organisers had gone a little overboard with the yellow effect, and should revert to just the yellow bibs for the leading team).

For much of the stage, action was limited to the leading pack fighting for points in the “king of the mountains” classification (Mokrov coming out on top eventually) and the intermediate sprint points. Yohann Gene was the first man of the leading six over the green line, and behind him there was a stiff fight among the peloton, with Matt Goss beating hot favourite Mark Cavendish on the day. Both would be happy to collect some points, ahead of all major contenders for the maillot vert.

The breakaway were comfortably reeled in with around 40km to go, thanks majorly to Cancellara’s Radioshack team. There was a big pileup however as an enthusiastic (read stupid) spectator got too close trying to click photographs and clipped a rider. Among those who fell were Valverde, Monfort and Voeckler, thankfully with no injuries sustained. Certainly its is a bit idiotic to see such incidents every year, conversely it is one of the charms of the Tour that fans are able to get up-close to the action like no other sport. They should use this privilege with caution though, lest come a day when we have to watch the race from behind fences as in most motorsports.

The stage finale was a steep 2.5km climb and all top riders were present among the leading bunch; some gunning for a win, while most just ensuring they lost no time on each other. France’s Sylvain Chavanel was the first to attack with under 2km to go, but was pulled in immediately by Albasini. And as the pack was looking towards riders like Gilbert, Sagan and Boasson Hagen to attack, it was Cancellara who shocked one and all by surging ahead with a serious attack.

It was the sheer unpredictability of his move that stupefied everyone but Sagan and Boasson Hagen. The best that home favourite Philippe Gilbert could do was to finish fourth in the wake of the three attackers. Cancellara though was not pleased with Sagan’s poker tactics, and the (debatable) cheeky manner in which he brought up his victory. The Swiss champion tweeted after the day’s events:

Big losers on the day were Sky’s Chris Froome and Euskaltel’s Samuel Sánchez. Froome suffered a late puncture costing him 1’ 25” on the leaders, and while he is working for Wiggins, Sky would still prefer to have two riders in the GC leader board. Sánchez though suffered far worse, finishing a huge 4’ 05” behind Sagan, and his GC hopes are all but over for this year (barring a miracle).

World champion Mark Cavendish too could not sustain the pace on the steep climb and finished 2min in arrears to the leader. His eyes though would be on today’s stage which keeps us in Belgium and is as flat as they come. The solitary category 4 climb is quite early in the stage for it to have no effect on the end, and the finish is all downhill making it  a classic sprinter’s stage. Though I would not risk a prediction today (after Gilbert embarrassed me on stage 1), however it is safe to say that we will definitely get to feast our eyes on a mad dash to the finish. How mad, well that can be gauged by Matt Goss’ statement couple of days back, “Tour de France bunch sprints are always brutal. They could be even more brutal.” Bring it on then…

ps: If you want an idea how tough is it to ride a stage in Le Tour, Cancellara’s body language at the end of yesterday’s stage is a good judge (and remember he is nicknamed ‘Spartacus’ for being one of the toughest men on the Tour):