Maybe a few too many undulations for my taste, but I'm still looking for a good result.

7 riders tried to break today, and were successful.


Finally it wasn't the leader! Dalivier crashed with 88km left, but he got back to the peloton immediately without any help.


After the last Cat. 1, Sanchez and Van den Broeck went on the attack on the downhill. It was now time for Michael and I to go.


Somehow he managed to block me! This held me back a little bit but I don't think that it had a huge effect though.


In the favourites' group, we had just about 15km to go over the last summit. The breakaway had split into soloes and pairs, and the leader was 4'07" ahead of us, with Contador just ahead of us.

It didn't really matter though, because there was no potential for an important GC change.


Then came my stock move. With no more water, I head off with 8km to go. It was a long shot, but could I stay ahead for 9th, or even catch Contador and get 8th.


Meanwhile, NetApp were successful with their escapee, with De La Cruz taking the win. Ahead of Trofimov in 2nd a fair way back.


Under the flamme rouge, we had managed to catch some of the breakaway - somehow, and it was time for the sprint. Van den Broeck and Ion Izagirre were going fastest.


But it was El Pistolero who took the sprint, while I was good enough for the goal (although not in my imagined style) of 8th.






There it is! Finally Damuseau was ousted, while Jungels also had a day to forget. Great finish to my Spanish adventure.

John Darwin Atapuma


Virgilijus Grazhys


Fabio Melani


Leonardo Duque


Edwin Avila


Jarlinson Pantano


Wilson Marentes


Juan Pablo Valencia

The rebuilding mission begins, after that horrible TTT. Also, it's my first ever WT road stage! However, today will be one for Grazhys.

3 men broke from the pack early. They were

Flecha
Turgot
Quinziato

The Italian was dropped at the first sprint, while Flecha went solo after the Cat. 3. Despit the gap reaching a minute, Turgot got back on the flat between the climb, and was very surprisingly joined by Contador! However the Dutchman still took the Cat. 2.


Gaps started to appear in the peloton on the summit. Duque and Grazhys had some work to do, while Wilson and Edwin were futher behind.


It was all fine with 40km to go, and we made our train with about 15km left. Jarlinson put in a poor leadout, while Adwin was dead. This wasn't looking great.


John Degenkolb led the whole way, and only just held off a late charge. Cavendish just held off Sagan for 2nd, with Nizzolo taking a comfortable 4th.


Unfortunately we had no-one in the Top 10 . Not the best day, but a lot could've gone worse.

Another stage for the sprinters. Hopefully we can get a better result.

The morning breakaway consisted of

Hofland
Bono
Rosseler
Juul-Jensen


On the one categorised climb of the day, the peloton split into 71 up ahead. I also managed to make a small gap.


With 20km to go, the break split. I was chasing them, and the now 27 man peloton (with our riders Darwin and Virgilijus) was behind me.

With 6.5km left, a few favourites were behind.

Contador
Greipel
Kelderman

They were all in a group who had stopped riding completely.


The main sprinters made a small gap with their leadouts. I was the best placed out of the 3 of us in that group.


It was an easy win for Sagan. He was followed in by Cavendish and Thomas.


Virgilijus grabbed 6th and Darwin 8th.

Time for me to shine. A stage for the climbers.

The break of the day consisted of 3 very strong riders.

Wegmann
Chavanel
Nocentini


Greg van Avermaet tried to bridge the 9 minute gap, but failed. He stayed languished in between the break and the pack.


The first attackers from the peloton were Quintana and Pinot.


The situation with 11km to go for the leader:

Wegmann - Chavanel, Nocentini - Van Avermaet - Quintana - Rolland, Pinot, Sagan, Betancur - Thomas - Me and Darwin - Vanendert - Henao


We caught the GC leader Thomas, but I was dead at this point.


Fabian Wegmann took a fantastic solo win, ahead of his fellow escapees.


Quintana caught Van Avermaet but the Belgian still had it in him to sprint.


Thomas beat Darwin in the sprint for 10th.


And I came in after him in 12th.

Another good profile for me. Hopefully I can help Darwin again.

There was a 7 man break. Could they survive?


On the Cat. 1, 37 riders were in the top split of the peloton (only Me and Darwin for us), then 10 in A1, 16 in A2 and many smaller groups until we got to 22 in A5 and 28 in A8.


I was in better shape, so John Darwin led out the downhill attacks.

Atapuma - Quintana - Me - Rolland - Sagan

His attack was somehow too good, and was wearing me out. So, naturally, I stopped following.


We caught some of the break, and it was now a group of 21, with Darwin and me up front.


Away go 4 riders in chase of the remaining escapees.

Ulissi
Majka
Voeckler
Contador

They didn't get a huge gap from when they left with 40km to go.


They caught the remaining riders from the breakaway and the gap increased to 1'30. It was now time to act.


But, just as we were preparing to go, the others had the same idea, and got the early jump.


Quintana took an easy solo win. The Europcar rider you see there is Scipioni, still has 24km left to ride


I managed to catch the Ulissi, Majka and Contador, but they had the better sprint. I ended up 12th.