We reach this 1st climb without any escapees.. it´s when A.Roux decides to attack, followed by C.Riblon(ALM)..

At the descent, race leader S.Vanmarcke(BEL) hits the tarmac... he will stay with the pack..

47kms, front duo can´t increase their gap, mainly due to Belkin´s pace in peloton..

On top of the 2nd kom sprint, M.Ladagnous manages to gain couple of pts.. Roux is about to get caught while Riblon has 1´00"gap.. 15kms to go..

With Riblon caught, the final sprint is about to get started.. our main sprinter, N.Bouhanni follows E.B.Hagen..

A.Greipel(LTB) leads but there´s a big fight for 2nd and 3rd place..

N.Bouhanni comes fast.. will it be enought to win?

No.. A.Greipel wins with Nacer making 2nd..

R.Taaramäe(COF), M.Landa(AST) and
F.Felline(TFR) form the 1st break today.. 18kms to the first kom sprint..

With kom jersey being a personal goal, F.Mourey attacks with 12kms before the kom sprint.. 3´06" to the break..

Mourey catch up with the front after the 1st kom sprint..

3rd kom sprint is behind them, peloton rides with 5´25"gap..

Strange thing happens when Taaramäe gives up from the break after the first Int. sprint..

4th kom sprint ahead and with the break almost caught, T.Pinot and A.Geniez take the lead in the pack.. 37kms..

Somehow after the top, F.Mourey finds himself alone at the front..

One more kom sprint to go, H.Zubeldia(TFR) and
R.Majka(TCS) attack.. this aren´t good news for Mourey who´s getting tired..

Majka quickly reaches Mourey at the front.. some riders are attacking in peloton.

After the top, main favourites take a small advantage over the pack.. Pinot and Mourey are here too..

Final sprint starts.. J.Roy and P.Fédrigo come from behind and try to surprise the main group..

Fédrigo is looking good...

But it´s R.Costa(LAM) who takes the win..

F.Mourey... today, he will not win but tomorrow he has good chances to win King of Mountains jersey..

Far from his best days, T.Pinot really needs to step up..

M.Kwiatkowski(OPQ) blows everyone today..

With more then 200kms to ride, T.Dumoulin(GIA),
A.Contador(TCS), G.Thomas(SKY) and
J.Kern(ALM) decide to get away from the pack..

With Contador´s group 5´04" away, Y.Offredo starts to push hard in peloton with 3kms before the top of 1st kom sprint...

1st Int. sprint, Offredo managed to reduce the gap to 2´20"..

At the small descent after the sprint, A.Schleck falls down... he fights his way back in peloton..

After Offredo´s work, we thought Belkin would continue our work but they didn´t and the gap increased again.. J.Veikkanen steps up and raises the pace again.. 107kms and 2´12"gap..

60kms, 2nd climb... A.Jeannesson and K.Elissonde take the front now, we hope to get away with our high pace.. breakaway is 2´45".. wtf is Belkin doing..

A.Schleck broke the entire peloton on the last kms before the top but S.Vanmarcke is still at the front.. HOW?!!

Complete mess at the 2nd Int. sprint... there are riders all over the place.. R.Urán(OPQ), T.De Gendt(OPQ) and
Y.Trofimov(KAT) lead the race.. D.Martin(GRS) follows behind with Dumoulin and Contador..

5kms.. R.Urán leads now followed by
D.Martin

2kms.. D.Martin catch up with Urán..

Martin VS Urán

D.Martin wins..

All we can win is the kom jersey and the stage...
E.Vorganov(KAT) 3rd in kom ranking with 16pts tried to take the jersey away from us but F.Mourey defended himself greatly and won the 1st kom sprint... this was enought for us..

We tried all the way with T.Pinot when he catched up with the break but they were caught with 10kms to go, so the stage win with
A.Demare was the only thing left for us..

.. but we failed that... Giant dominated once again with M.Kittel winning the stage and Degenkolb making 2nd.. Demare went out of gas just by following Kittel..

We tried... we really tried.. but we hadn´t no chances.. the race comes to the final 10kms with C.Froome(SKY) launching an attack..

It was no wonder to see many riders struggling, even some top10 riders finished worst as we did..

A.Jeannesson fights to keep up with the 3rd main group.. K.Elissonde wich was in the break is up there but completly empty..

C.Froome with great dificulties to maintain his advantage over the 2nd..

C.Froome eventually manages to stay clear and wins today..

The breakaway reach the final 6kms with 7´32"gap to peloton.. those guys in blue are M.Ladagnous and K.Elissonde(behind)... some riders are riding between the peloton and them..

The final sprint is won by the weakest rider.. A.Vuillermoz(ALM) takes it..

Who talked about give up?.. not yet.. this is our quest, our own battle against the odds.. M.Ladagnous goes again for the kom points, E.Battaglin(BAR) is with him.. they reach the 1st kom sprint..

Provisional kom ranking shows Paolini with 18pts and Ladagnous with 11pts.. 2 kom sprints, each give 5pts to the first on top.. Ladagnous only needs to win 1.. the other can go for Battaglin..

It was a fierce battle against Battaglin at the 1st kom sprint but our man was stronger...

Behind at peloton, we had M.Fischer leading the pack at the top, it was looking good as Paolini was not to be seen at the front.. ok, but we just forgott this one.. T.Dumoulin(GIA) is with 16pts and somehow he manages to get 2pts here.. this means, Ladagnous has to win the 2nd kom sprint..

Things couldn´t get worse when Ladagnous hits the wall at the 2nd sprint...

With 20kms to go, peloton speeds up to catch the break.. they will get caught up ahead..

The last kms were made with attacks and an amazing speed..
D.Impey was one that attacked but was brought back...
T.Boonen was all the time at the front making the pace.. our man, N.Bouhanni is already empty as we start the final sprint..

Coming from behind, D.Impey wins with Boonen making 2nd after all the work they have done..

This late happenings made me to make and take the decision to drop the dificulty to HARD..