Thor Husovd. They call him the "God of Thunder". Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe

Wherever you are I want you to stand up and clap loudly for Thor Hushovd! How is he still in yellow? How did he manage to stay with Contador, Schleck, Evans, Vinokourov, Basso etc in last night’s hilly stage to keep the maillot jaune ? I mean, he is a sprinter, an excellent one at that having won two green sprinter jerseys (2005, 2009), but what he is not is an all rounder who can match the big names. He has certainly surprised everyone by keeping the yellow, even himself, he said this after the stage:

“After the stage yesterday I didn’t believe I could stay in yellow after this stage. But I also said I’d do everything I can to defend the jersey.”

It is great to see a sprinter going head to head with the great climbers.

Shame it won’t last.

Tonight, Hushovd will no longer be in yellow. Tonight is a sprinter’s nightmare and it will split up the peloton, shake up the leaders and (hopefully) put Cadel Evans in yellow. Tonight we will watch 208km of up and down and up again. Tonight the cyclists will climb three category 2 climbs, three category 3 climbs and a category 4 climb. The most impressive of which is the Col du Pas de Peyrol (Le Puy Mary) at an impressive 1589 m. There will be  7.7 km climb with a gradient up to 6.2 %, closely followed by  Col de Prat de Bouc (Plomb du Cantal) (1392 m) – 8.0 km climb to 6.1 %  154km into the race.

Stage 9 Profile. A sprinter's nightmare

Tomorrow is a rest day and the riders will be well and truly  earning it!

Cadel should be in yellow by the end of tonight, he has just been riding so well! A stage win a few nights ago and then that impressive finish last night – so close to breaking away from Hushovd and the peloton to get the yellow! Also, BMC have just been riding so well together – again demonstrated last night when they reeled Vinokourov back and removed any danger of him taking the yellow instead of Evans! They should be able to take Evans to the base of the Col de Prat de Bouc and launch him with the other lead riders to get away from Hushovd.

I may be horribly wrong, but we will see Evans receiving a yellow jersey at around 2am tomorrow morning.

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