O'Grady's day in calm before the storm

The stage of transition from Provence to the Alps yesterday was surely the calm before the storm. Today's three major climbs - the Croix de Fer, the Galibier and the drag to the finish at Les Deux Alpes - will be decisive in the battle for the yellow jersey and there is a chance the weather will break and we will have thunderstorms. Meanwhile, the police heading drug investigations across France will, no doubt, return from their weekend break refreshed for the fray.

Even though the 116-mile stage from Valreas included the eight-mile climb of the Col de Rousset, Jan Ullrich and his rivals were aware it was merely a foretaste of what awaits. With the minds of the stars elsewhere - on saving strength rather than worrying about the latest drug revelations - it was a day for journeymen, and six relative underdogs were allowed to gain more than 10 minutes.

The Italian Giuseppe Calcaterra and the Portuguese Orlando Rodrigues had been liberated by the departures of their respective team leaders Mario Cipollini and Abraham Olano. The other four, former maillots jaunes Stuart O'Grady and Laurent Desbiens, the US Postal Service team's Dane Peter Meinert-Nielsen and the Pau stage winner Leon van Bon are men of the autobus, and can be expected to take their places in the group of non-climbers as it chugs to the finish today.

They left the bunch behind amid deep-blue lavender fields, fortified stone-built hilltop villages and rocky hillsides covered in scrubby oak trees. The tunnel at the top of the Rousset marked the entry to the dramatic limestone plateaux and gorges of the Vercors, and the last 40 miles into Grenoble were a sub-Alpine melange of hayfields, chalets, and the occasional ski lift.

Ullrich's Telekom team have continually let riders who are no threat overall depart to contest stage wins; on Saturday's stage to Carpentras, un bon de sortie - cycling slang for a day ticket to the front line - was given to a large group, with the young Italian Daniele Nardello fastest in the six-man gallop for the honours.

Having sped down into Grenoble from the Vercors, the sextet feinted and sparred their way into the final 500 metres, where the stage finish turned into a straight fight between Calcaterra and O'Grady. The Italian was a fine sprinter in his youth and he duly got the jump on the Australian. But his speed is fading with age and O'Grady nipped past in the final metres. Since winning the Tour of Britain in May, the man from Adelaide has not looked back.

At the start, the delicate scent wafting from the lavender fields seemed almost to have expunged the stench of scandal which has hung over this Tour since news started filtering through from the Continent at the prologue in Dublin. It was almost festive business as usual yesterday, with little of the tension which was in the air before the riders' strike on Friday. The stress will again be palpable this morning as they prepare to face the Alps.

However, there were reminders that all is not well. The TVM team turned up at the start with set faces, knowing their days in the race may be numbered.