A crash on the descent of the climb led to yet another retirement; Pearson the unlucky rider this time. Sky and Bahrain led the chase in the pack. Gasarotto, Kreuziger and Kruijswijk attacked with 12 km left. They were caught 2 km later. The break split up soon after. Gasparotto attacked agin with 8 km reamining, with Thomas in tow this time. They too were reeled in. Two from the break were caught with a kilometer to go. The three that survived fought for the win, with Boivin taking a huge win for Israel Cycling Academy. Haig was 2nd and Samoilau was 3rd.

Both Tornell and Christiansen finished in the small group behind the peloton.

A very quiet stage all around. Quickstep, Trek and UAE did most of the work in the pack to chase down the peloton. The break started getting caught with 15 km to go and all were reeled in at the 10 kilometer banner. Holst Enger got the better of Gaviria and Modolo in the sprint.

Tough day for both of our neo-pros as they finished among the final five positions.

Pinot crashed twice on this stage but he was able to carry on. Landa and Viviani were among the other big names to go down. Two riders from the rbeak were dropped and caught with 45 km to go. The break was completely over with 10 km remaining. The peloton was 121 riders strong when it approached the finish. Gasparotto took the win ahead of teammate Nibali with Malori rounding out the podium.

Another day of survival for both Tornello and Christiansen.

The break formed early to take advantage of the intermediate splits. One break was dropped on the second climb while Santaromita crashed on the descent and never made it back. The break split again with 12 km to go, with De Gendt going off on his own at the front. Behind, in the pack, Aru attacked, with Quintana, Majka and Pinot chasing. Majka was caught soon, with Quintana being caught with 8 km remaining. Van Garderen, meanwhile was dropped from the peloton, which had shrunk to 30 riders. Pinot and one rider from the break were caught with 6 km left. Aru was extending his advantage while Spilak, Meintjes and Kreuziger were the next to lose touch.

De Gendt won solo, with Didier dropping King in the run-in to claim 2nd. In the pack, Quintana, Pinot and Landa attacked. Thomas, Mollema, Kruijswijk, Majka, Pozzovivo and Rosa were in the next group. Nibali, Dumoulin and Yates were in the next group yet. The two chase groups came together with a kilometer to go while Aru was caught by the attacking trio. The group behind broke up again, leading to Nibali losing time to Quintana on the stage. The latter became the new GC leader, with Nibali falling to 8th!

Tornello and Christiansen lost nearly half an minute on this tough finish, but they finish ahead of man riders, which should give them some cofidence for the future.

Dumoulin took the expected win, climbing all the way to 4th in the GC, where Quinatna extended his lead. Nibali's good ride sees him climb to 5th in the GC.

Both riders finished near the 150s with Christiansen slightly edging it.

Higuita and Wurtz Schmidt were dropped from the break on the second climb and later caught by the pack. Barbin was dropped after the second climb. Pinot, Kruijswijk, Felline, Frank and Caruso were involved in a crash but were unhurt. Felline crashed again later! Movistar led the chase on the third climb as Haga was dropped. Berhane couldn't keep up with the break on the final climb.

There was a split in the pack which caught out Simon Yates. Some of the break break survived, with Villella winning the stage ahead of Jesper Hansen. Dupont edged out Verona for third. Yates did make it back to the pack of the favourites.