Honestly I expect a selection here. But will it stick, probably not likely. Could be a dash between tired sprinters who caught back on today.

If you wanted an obligatory breakaway picture, then you got it.

Skip to the final climb and Sagan is the first to attack! Maybe he wants to force other sprinters off the back?

Whatever, the reason, he inadvertently drew a huge breakup, and only 7 riders remained at the front! I was one of them! Slowly but sure we climbed the mountain, but nobody really wanted to push the pace. And our gap was going down as the breakaway's went back up. 1km to the top.

Suddenly I just felt like gold. So why not give it a go! I pumped every last bit I had into it; I could always recover on the descent.

By the time I looked back we were going downhill, and only the race leader had followed me! The break still was ahead, but we were gaining on the favorites!

Sagan attacked again behind. At this point I don't know what he was doing, unless this was some kind of conspiracy to help his former teammate, Nibali.

Unfortunately it just acted as a launching pad for my biggest rival, Valverde to leap across to us. We caught the remnants of the break and we had to keep pulling. Even if he was there we were gaining time on everyone else.

Nibali, Sagan, and Betancur followed at around 25 seconds behind. Nibbles made several digs to close it, but we were just working too well!

Even farther behind was the peloton at 50 seconds. Uran, who made the initial split, had been left behind, along with Evans and Contador.

With 2 km to go Rodriguez took a huge pull. No doubt he would be spent in the sprint, but at this point GC matters much more.

Valverde hit the front with a ton of pace and 1 km to go! I was struggling to follow! Twice I tried to open up but he just kept flying!

And Alejandro Valverde won the stage! I'll have to settle for 2nd and lose out on the time bonus to him.

The GC guys take the same time as the break, led home by Pirazzi at 39 seconds.

Rolland and Ulissi gained a few seconds, while the rest were behind, losing 1'14''.

I did it! I moved on to the podium! But not ahead of Valverde! Vincenzo Nibali lost out today because of my attack and sits in 4th. And I can still pass Valverde. At this point I could easily end up 2nd or 4th. Who knows.

Great day today, even if I just missed the stage win! Tomorrow is the TT, which I look forward to much less, but I'll be okay I hope!

This is he flat TT. Still quite hilly, but flatter than the mountain one coming later.

Svein Tuft took the first substantial lead, but with the hills there was no way he was going to be anywhere near the top in the end.

[img]Bradley Wiggins. He was a master of the first part of the course. Dominating the time checks. But in the end he lost a lot of time, finishing not much above leader Thomas De Gendt.[/img]

With his losses to me, perhaps Nibali felt motivated for a good ride. it worked, as he set the new best time at the finish. Not great for my hopes.

Time to go! I pumped out of the starting gate and got in my aerodynamic tuck. Pedaling for my life, but at the first time check I was over 100 places back!

Valverde wasn't letting me go either at the time checks. This wasn't good.

Rodriguez was never going to win, but he'll be satisfied with 26th, 1 and a half minutes back.

But I will not be satisfied with my ride. Valverde, my 2 minute man, almost caught me. This was disastrous. 64th, 2'37'' back. Not in the top 3 places anymore.

This ride moves me down to 4th overall, and I'm pretty tied in there. From now it's a pretty tough way to gain over 2 minutes on my opponents. I might switch my focus to Points and stages now.

Pretty flat so no matter what I am resting up, but it might be a little tougher than a pan flat stage.

You know what. No breakaway picture today. Take that! But here we are with 10 km left and the breakaway is actually in the front. So yeah. I was just relaxing while Raymond and Steele tried to make it to the front.

From the break Rebellin attacked with less than 5 km to go!

Behind, Viviani was almost leaving Sagan behind, but the gap was too large to do much.

Because Sagan was way too far behind to impact the front of the race.

[img]Up front Battaglin was giving Rebellin a run for his money in the final straight![/img]

But Rebellin just hung on! Gesink snatched 3rd. Sagan won from the pack in 8th, and Steele, who lost a lot of energy in the scramble finished17th. I was just nicely in the pack, staying true to my word of resting. GC stayed the same.

Tomorrow is a huge mountain stage! Time to bounce back after the TT! Who's with me?!

A high mountain stage and I guess I should get used to it. It will be the them for the upcoming week.

After a one day hiatus the breakaway picture is back! Thank me later! Some big names here: Pirazzi, Mourey, Riblon, Lopex, and yesterday's winner, Rebellin.

Up the first climb of the day we controlled the race. It didn't lack steepness, and despite the kms still to go, many riders were shed out the back.

Katusha attacked the descent hard, putting everyone at the front to prevent riders from getting back.

So it wasn't a surprise when Purito jumped first on the bottom of the final mountain.

Tommy Danielson did an amazing job to pull it back for me as a bunch of GC riders threatened to gain time. I still had him and Acevedo with me.

But J-Rod went again, followed by Valverde! I was not in a position to respond so Janier just upped the tempo and we stayed put.

And their gap grew as no one was stronger than them that could pull them back, even if we worked hard. Meanwhile, Uran had attacked across, but was struggling to actually hold the wheel.

And in the blink of an eye Nibali was gone. Every guy above me in the GC was ahead. I still had a lot in the tank, and I felt everyone getting weaker around me.

So with 2 km to go I could no longer just wait to sink backwards even farther! I put in a dig that, as I predicted, no one could follow.

Remember that breakaway? Well they were surviving together, until Christophe Riblon decided enough was enough and voyaged out on his own.

And Riblon takes the solo victory in stage 14!

4 minutes later Purito finished with Valverde behind him. I think he just attacks for the fun of it now. But on the Movistar rider's side, he makes up time on Nibali from this.

Nibbles will be sorry he didn't miss the move, as he loses 22 seconds on Valverde do to it.

A further 16 seconds down I finished on the back of Uran's wheel. I didn't lose time to anyone behind me. it looks more and more like I will be in 4th. But with the last week still to come, who knows.

40 seconds later Contador led the main group home. Glad that I left them behind when I did.

Very close race on the podium, as Valverde is now exactly tied on time with Nibali for 2nd. Nothing too interesting for me though.