I think everyone is pretty familiar with the profile of today's stage. To most it's just another parade, but for the Frenchmen, for the team's fans and stuff, and of course for us 9 who were there when it happened. For me it's even more special because I was with Thibaut when he made so many of his moves, I was with him on the hot seat before his fantastic time trial. But personally, a Top 10 in the Tour for me at such a young age, I can't even begin to describe how good that feels.

In the final break of this year's Tour there were 4 riders. It took them a full 40km to get away, but they were first onto the Champs.


The job wasn't over yet for anyone on our team, oh no. We made a 9 man sprint train to try and deliver the rookie Alec Diluca to a good stage result, but the Canadian was stuck behind and it ended up being more of a train for Virgilijus.


It seemed that Thibaut had even more to give! As we exited the tunnel for the final time and went up the sharp incline, he exploded to the front of the peloton and beyond. We couldn't really hold on, but we were still in a good position. 5.6km to go and 55 seconds to gain to the breakaway.


While unfortunately Virgilijus and the rest of us couldn't keep it together, Alec hopped on the wheel of fellow breakout rookie Max Assif of BMC.


Matthew Goss got the Champs win he's been gunning for for years. Maybe the change to Sky has done good things for him. ( )


Alec took a strong 9th on his first Champs finish, and that was that.


A picture's worth a thousand words. And in this case, an additional thousand tears, beads of sweat and drops of blood. I dropped back to finish with the "Nouveau Héros Français." I may've dropped back a bit too much, but what an amazing Tour, and what an honour to be part of this fantastic team performance. A Continental team winning the Tour de France!

Now thanks to Phil for this amazing banner which will be used from now on!

Jordan Kerby was a member of the 10 man break. It's been a while since we've had someone up the road.


They were caught after 28km, so the Australian went up in a group of 5. Unfortunately they were caught too so he stayed in the bunch.


Eventually a group of 4 got away with Ten Dam, Fernandez, Duenas and Garcia.


With 15km to go Bob Jungels attacked and bridged up. The group had 33 seconds - still a slight chance.


Jarlinson finally made the catch with 2.2km. Virgilijus was too tired to lead, so he was leading me out. Unfortunately he seemed unable to even do that, but there was only a small group in contention for the win.


Ultimately it was too much to handle for the Lithuanian. However, in dropping back, he caused me to lose a bit of ground. Jarlinson was doing well as we told him not to stop.


TJ Slagter got off to a flyer, and would probably win. With 500m to go, Jarlinson was third, while I was ready to fire in 5th.


I knew that to give myself a shot at a good result, I had to take the corner well. I decided to take a wide line so I could maintain my high speed.


I did it well. I kept myself in 5th with more speed than the riders in front of me.


It was no secret that Slagter would win. As we reached the star line, I had overtaken my teammate and was neck and neck with Ion Izagirre.


And I was able to pass my long-time rival as I finished in 2nd. Not quite a repeat of 2013, but still a good result which puts me in good stead for the Classica San Sebastian.

A very up and down circuit for today. It will be tough to maintain energy and stay patient.



We come in with a good team today. Most of our best hill riders are here, so we should do well.

A 5 man group got away with a 3 man chase group behind, however eventually they were caught.


It took 100m, but a 5 rider break was to last up the road.


The first attack came with 32.7km to go. At thjis point there were only 52 in the peloton with myself, Virgilijus, Jarlinson and Esteban - who as very tired from his water duties - were up there. Daniel Moreno was ahead on his own, with a 2'38 lead.


Gilbert and Wellens were the first to get away. Jarlinson started to pace.


When that didn't work, he attacked on the uphill to give me a slingshot.


I went solo but the gap was 41 seconds. It would be a tough job.


At the summit of the last major climb I had crushed it to 20". Only Nibali could stay there.


We made a downhill attack to catch up - probably the two most aggressive downhillers in the world.


With 15.1km to go for the lead we managed to catch up, with Edvald Boasson Hagen also staying with us.


We formed a relay. Moreno still had 1'25.


Nibali tried to attack on the incline with 11.5km and Gilbert went with him.


I brought them back, and gave them a quick lecture as to the fact that we could only do this together. Moreno still had 53" with 8.7km to go.


We could just see him ahead, but it looked like it would be too late. Eddy Boss tried to go for a VERY early sprint. I decided to stay off the front, hoping for a surprise top 3. I was very tired though.


Unfortunately I couldn't quite hold on for the sprint, and had to settle for 6th.


Honestly though, a great win by Moreno.


Honestly not a bad day for me. 6th place is quite good considering I had to do a lot of work.


Virgilijus crossed in 21st and Jorge in 23rd.