Some weird time gap settings in play there. Novatek and Matthews lucky to be able to ride away so well, so can't complain that Lavoine managed to get on the same time as them. Good GC points all-round there, particularly for Novatek, with a likely huge haul.
Thought Kuboki would have it in the bag with his hill advantage, but not sad to see him lose out given his manager's lack of activity. And I'm glad that none of the sprinters ended up being dropped from the peloton, so could hold on to some deserved GC placings.
I have mixed feelings right now, Luke (Lucky Luke reference) being able to hang on the Novatek train is making this stage deserved, but winning it this way is not that satisfying. Winning the two first stages was great, but doing badly in all the other stages are also makes the win a little undeserved.
Now my reaction to wining and taking 3rd place in the Rankings are :
Spoiler
Thanks for some excellent report and you didn't disappoint Weird race and hopefully we won't win a race like this again
Thank God for that. Was hoping Nateghi could back up the first 2 stages but no, he dropped. Stage win is a lovely consolation however. Some nice uphill races coming for us where we will hopefully score some good points and keep us well up in the top 5. Good win do Lavoine however. Definitely the surprise of the season for me.
WTF?? Same time??? Is Sepp Blatter in charge of Fablok?
But overall, we have to be happy with the race, after a slow start.
Thank you very much for your reports TR, you kept me at the edge of the chair in more than one finish
Well, happy that there hasn't been a time gap.
Not fair, of course, but happy. 8th spot is better than nothing and we need every point we can get if we want to finish CT top 10!
And then for the race itself. It's been a nice race to watch. I don't regret not bringing Richeze because his schedule is full enough as it is, but Andriato picked up on the challenge with style and a stage win, which was the most we could hope for here.
Dotti and others provided some aggressive riding and I'm happy to see that with our team of sprinters.
A good race, great reports and congrats to everyone who achieved their goals here!
Well, with the hills, Razzie was always gonna get tired. We end up with a couple of decent placings but pretty much empty from this one. It doesn't really matter though.
Honestly, I'm proud that 50 hill Rasmussen survived that long.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Weird race and hopefully we won't win a race like this again 
