The last road stage of the Tour. The gradients aren't too big, so hopefully I'll have the stamina to be there at the end.

The break today consisted of 5 riders.


There was a split at the Intermediate Sprint. 73 riders were behind, including Wilson, Edwin and Geraint Thomas.


Again the attacks came just as we started getting ready. Both me and Darwin easily caught them though. I was blocked by Vanendert but it ended up being fine. There was never really any doubt that the break would win.


So we had a 9 rider E2. All the Top 10 were there, save Thomas and Vanendert, and with the inclusion of Cancellara.

We were actually caught by the peloton with 7km left. The group was now 104.


Nick Nuyens took the win ahead of Ruijgh and Caruso.




Sagan was the best of the peloton (in 5th) and I came in 12th.

Short, flat, time trial. All I gotta say

Today was all about a calm ride. I knew that 8th in the GC was almost assured, but I needed to prove to myself that I was good in the time-trial.


Well, so much for that. Provisional 69th at the checkpoint, 33 seconds behind.


And provisional 67th at the finish. Exactly a minute back.

I'm the favourite for this race, so hopefully I can live up to the hype.

Fabio Melani


Esteban Chaves


Juan Pablo Suarez


Juan Pablo Valenica


Dalivier Ospina


Carlos Quintero

First up, of course, we had the breakaway. 5 riders today.


With 38km to go, the first big split happened. 23 were caught out, including Valencia and Quintero.


The first attack came from Cam Meyer (OGE). He was followed by NetApp's Enrico Battaglin.


Soon it was time for us to act. I hopped in Esteban's wheel and with 8km left to ride I finally got away.


With my teammate out of energy, it was time for my stock move. I hopped out on the last big downhill, and gained some valuable time.


Esteban was doing well to stay up front, while it was one man vs 43.


I still had energy left in the tank. When Mikel Nieve jumped out of the pack, I knew it was going to be me versus him.

He had no hesitiations in launching the sprint first. This suited me well, as I could easily stay in his wheel.


I made the pass with 600 metres to go! Yes!


I was out of energy, but surely he was too! It may have been early, but I raised my arms in victory for the first time this season!


Wait what? This wasn't supposed to happen! The Spaniard somehow came up with a last ounce of energy! I lowered my hands and tried to reach deep into my reserves. Could I hold on?


Oh no! How cruel! You know the term Zabel'd? Yeah, well I didn't think it actually happened in real life, but now...