The recent days riding haven't been the most exciting of this tour, but to be fair, the first couple of weeks were exceptional. We've got to the point now, that Sagan is pretty solidly in Green, and Wiggins in Yellow, so it's unlikely that many of the teams are going to push things that hard, because they've got little chance of getting anywhere, unless something like an accident takes out one of the leaders. Even then, for teams who don't have a second or third placed contender, they've got little incentive. Of course, some teams will still try and get a stage win, especially if they've lost their team leader anyway, since it'll get them coverage which they're not going to get from winning an overall jersey.
The King of the Mountains seems less certainly decided, and the last couple of days haven't had a vast number of points for that. Wednesday and Thursday are going to be somewhat killers of stages in the Mountains, so the polka dot jersey could still be won and lost. For the same reason, many of the teams were also clearly taking it easier, leading up to the rest day, because they knew after that, there would be some very hard days, before the last few flatish stages, and the time trial.
I think there's still going to be some interesting riding in the mountains, it always splits the ride up more than the mass of the peloton storming along on the flat stages. It's easier for someone who is a good enough climber to jump away from the group he's in, and try and get to the front, or just gain some time or points on a rival. It also shows up anyone who has any issues with fitness, injures, or illness, since they can just drop off of the back of the race, and at this point in the tour, they'll have so much less effort available, that it can amplify the differences.
There's definitely some good days coming up.
