At the back of two consecutive mountain stages, a rather flat stage can go two ways. Either the peloton takes a day off and we get a large breakaway group, or the sprinter teams make sure their captain gets his chance to shine on this easier stage. Any GC actions today would be a surprise.
Sepúlveda bridged to the break of the day after the first climb. David Helling, Dimitriy Lukyanov and Steven Kruijswijk were his companions in front.
The time gap never got too big. Today, Katusha got help from Total and Team Dimension Data.
Only one man was still in front when the last labeled climb caused a surprisingly big split. The front group was just 11 riders strong with Barbero, Chávarri and Quintana representing our colors.
Of the GC riders, only Meintjes, Kelderman and Alaphilippe had made the cut too.
A group with Van Garderen, Pinot and Simon Yates caught up with just under 10 kilometers to go.
Right away, Wellens attacked from this group. Pinot, Sagan, Alaphilippe, Benoot and Simon Yates tried to go with him.
Wellens won the sprint of six ahead of his teammate Benoot. Simon Yates was the winner of the day, putting at least 40" into each of the other contenders. Pinot was dropped during the sprint and finished about half a minute down.
Our men all finished in the Groupe Maillot Jaune, just over a minute behind the winner. Quintana and Barbero sprinted to 8th and 9th respectively.
Poels, Van Garderen, Meintjes and especially Pardo (57th, + 3'43") ended up losing the most time.
A short but tricky stage ahead of tomorrow's crucial mountain time trial. Its profile is very similar to yesterday's yet it's a tad bumpier with two local laps, containing a steep wall, at the end.
After working his ass off for Eder multiple times, Dayer was allowed to ride for himself today. The breakaway he was in reached its final lineup at the third climb. Sepúlveda, Kruijswijk, Vichot, Le Lavandier, Parrinello and Kragh Andersen were the other names.
The wall on the local laps struck a little fear into our man's heart, which was why he took it rather easy on the first ascent, where Sepúlveda and Kruijswijk fought for two KoM points. The gap was 2'55" at that point.
Twenty-seven kilometers later, Dayer would play his card during the second passage on this climb. In his wheel, only Arthur Vichot could keep up. The two had 50" to the pack with still 18 kms to go.
Vichot eventually cracked too, but Dayer would have a hard time staying clear with an elite group chasing him down now.
He was reeled in five kilometers from the line, by a group consisting of Sagan, Alaphilippe, Simon Yates, Kelderman and Gallopin. Those five had been riding clear of the pack since that last climb.
Eder Chávarri was having a rough day and sat in the E3 at that point, 1'20" down.
Kelderman, Gallopin and Dayer were dropped from this front group, after which Sagan won the stage at the back of a thrilling sprint against Alaphilippe. Simon Yates came third, moving within 30" of the yellow jersey.
Eder caught a glimpse of Kelderman's group but still finished some 40" behind it. On this rough day for him, he was dealt quite a blow for the first time since the opening mountain stage.
Last but not least ahead of the second rest day, the mountain time trial on Outeniqua Pass; 8.6km at 6%, with far steeper (over 10%) sections halfway and near the finish.
The first of our men who did very well was our Venezuelan climber Francesc Palmero, who passed the man that had started in front of him. His time of 23'31" was a provisional best.
Shortly after that, it became clear some riders had saved some strength to strike today. Sicard, Nairo Quintana, Anacona, Ghilardi and Gallopin all finished within a 10" range.
Prologue winner Tom Dumoulin unsurprisingly registered the fastest time when he crossed the line after 23'13". Mikel Landa had a great day but finished several hundreds slower.
White jersey Eder Chávarri bounced back brilliantly after yesterday's bad showing, bettering Dumoulin's time by just 2". From then, only a few riders could keep him from his second ever TDF stage win.
Sadly Kelderman, who stopped the clock after exactly 23 minutes, would. His win put the time gap to GC second back to 58".
Honorable mention for Francesc Palmero, who secured a stunning 12th place on the day.
This week, three riders have confirmed they will no longer be racing for RuralvÃa next year. Several others are still considering our offers.
Enrico Battaglin, the Italian puncher, will leave the team after just one year. He took part in this year's Giro d'Italia, where he helped Ruben Guerreiro secure 4th overall. On stage 5, the 30-year old just missed out on a prestigious stage win. He's signed a deal at Bahrain Merida for next season.
Also leaving after one year is Ibai Olivares, 23-year old Spanish sprinter. His most noteworthy result was a top 10 stage finish in a Paris-Nice stage. For next year, he'll be joining the ambitious PCT ColoQuick team from Denmark, who also happened to sign Marcel Kittel.
Lastly, Juan Sebastian Molano has agreed to sign a contract with UAE.
We're yet to receive a definitive answer from Andrónico Mendigain, Jonathan Caicedo and three transfer targets with regard to the offers we made them.
Tamijo wrote:
Being a bit busy but looks like things are still fine in TDF, lost a little on a stage where you would not expect too but not bad at all
Eder's still in a good postion indeed, though the time lost on a seemingly easier stage was a bummer. Keeps exceeding the expectations for this race though.
The final week was kicked off with the penultimate mountain stage. Not very tough as the first climb would be over with still 93 kilometers to go.
Kittel's Sunweb team didn't resist when green jersey Carlos Barbero smartly bridged to the breakaway. His move resulted in him winning both intermediate sprints as he gained 40 invaluable points for the green jersey.
Inbetween those sprint, polka dot wearer Sepúlveda scored some more points atop the cat.2 Ruitersbos Pass.
The breakaway group was caught near the foot of the final climb.
Five kilometers from the Swartberg Pass top, it was Peter Sagan of all people who opened up a gap with a swift attack. A reborn Mikel Landa, Poels and Simon Yates went with him right away.
It took him some more time, yet Wilco Kelderman would catch up too. Behind them Barbero pulled the chasing group with i.a. Chávarri, Meintjes, Pardo and Pinot.
Barbero gave his absolute all to take Chávarri back to the first group. He had done so with 700 meters to go and would still hang on for 12th place.
In the final sprint it was again Peter Sagan, again of all people, who got Zabel'd by a very strong Mikel Landa. Eder came 7th in the same time and jumped past Pinot in the overall standings.
The flat 17th was a welcome opportunity for the sprinters, after they'd had a few easier stages that still didn't end in a bunch sprint.
A breakaway with strong rouleurs took off without any of our riders, which was ensured by Sunweb. After the climb, Bilbao managed to bridge by hemself, joining riders like Boom, Vandenbergh and Gougeard.
With Kittel having to make up tens of points in the standings for green, it didn't come as a surprise that Sunweb started to chase over the KoM climb. Despite a good understanding in the BOTD, the gap kept shrinking.
Fifteen kilometers from the line, Gougeard was the only man left out front, with a 1'10" lead. But the false flat section would cost him.
With Gougeard caught, Barbero chose Kittel's wheel for the final sprint. Sunweb's train came late but it did catch up with Lotto Soudal's one for Jasper Stuyven.
Inside the descending final kilometer, Carlos lost the wheel Kittel when Demare performed his leadout duties. By then Sagan had already launched on the very right.
The Slovak did us a big favor as he outsprinted Kittel and kept him from taking 50 points for the green jersey. Kittel's second place and Carlos coming fifth resulted in this new points standings situation:
valverde321 wrote:
Chavarri holding on well in the GC. Sagan looks very strong here though, doesnt matter what terrain by the looks of it.
It's insane how well Sagan is performing right now. Definitely helped by the fact that the mountain stages rarely count more than one major climb. Chávarri would better not lose too much time to him with the time trial still up ahead.
The final mountain stage began with a very strong BOTD, which had men like Dayer Quintana, Majka, Taaramaë and GC 10th Pardo.
Over the penultimate climb, the group had survived as a whole. They had lost half of their lead though, as the gap was down to 3'.
Marcel Kittel, Barbero's main rival for the green jersey, crashed in that same descent. Despite it, he could sprint at the second intermediate. However Carlos two more points for green that the German could today.
The break came to an end near the foot of the final climb, DuToits Kloof Pass. GC fourth Wout Poels attacked 12 kilometers from the top.
Chávarri overcame a hard moment with the help of Dayer Quintana, who had to let go with almost 7 kilometers to go. Poels had been caught by Landa, with Eder sitting in ninth position.
Eder really found a stunning rhythm when the roads started to get steeper. Only Pinot, Kelderman, Poels and Landa were still following under the red kite.
Knowing that GC 2nd Simon Yates, who is a better time trialist, was in trouble, Eder kept setting the pace to enlarge the gap.
With the gap increasing, Landa and Pinot cracked before the final sprint. Kelderman kept putting up a fight and passed Eder in the last hectometers.
Then again, Eder's time was spot on! Our man finally landed the win he's deserved for quite some time now. And oh yes, winning on a summit finish also made Eder move into the polka dot jersey.
The gap eventually wasn't big enough to even pass Simon Yates in the overall, and Chávarri couldn't put time into Poels or Pinot. It's going to be a real challenge to stay on this TDF podium.
Tour de France (2.GT) 
