Following two tough days in the mountains we have our final big one with two big alpine climbs of the Galibier and the Croix de Fer to clambour over before the 1st category finish into St Francios - Langchamps. This new finish is 5 km from the top of the Col de Madeliane. Here the test is to see who still has excellent legs following the Ventoux and Izourd, three names to watch in particular is Fothen, Nibali and Spilak who are the top three on GC and only separated by 20 seconds.
The first climb of the day up the Galibier once again see's a lot of attacks with young German Bontenackets going clear on his own.
Lipton's youngster has had a quiet season, but here is making a move
With Giro GC man Sella and Vuelta GC man Arroyo here, Lipton Iced Tea have two top 5 candidates, both riders though did not find the long TT to their liking and currently sit the best part of four minutes back at 10th and 11th on GC. This move is a good one and only three riders are trying to bridge.
Gourev, Le Mevel amd Fahnert
Bacardi are our wildcards here and after two good performances in the mountain stages they will be pleased with Ricardo Ricco's performance here. In the Continental Tour the Cobra has struck to win the Giro del Trentino and the Tre Valli Varesine - his and Kim Kirchens contributions are pushing the newly formed squad into promotion contention. Le Mevel represents the Auber team who are just beginning to sink back into the pack, this part of the season is not really their cup of tea as they do not really have GC riders - they are with a Starbucks rider who will be bouyed by the performance of Visconti in the Tour de Suisse.
These three though cannot make it across to the young German who marks his name by being the first over the Galibier.
German has the nack of climbing
Behind him and the 3 man chasing group, three GC men sprint for the remaining KOM points.
Contador, Ricco and Pedraza go for points
Ricco who has been well placed at the end of both mountain stages so far gains on KOM leader Nibali who is sensibly saving his energies for later. All three riders sink back into the pack though on the descent they have to go up two more mountains.
Bontenackets takes the sprint at the bottom
At the bottom of the descent then the German has 1.10 on the three chasers and four minutes on the peleton. They almost immediately begin climbing the Col de la Croix de Fer, it is the climb that many dislike as it's gradient changes often and Bontenackets takes it easy to begin with, so easy that he is nearly caught by two of the chasers.
Gourev and Le Mevel move away from Fahnert and up towards Bontenackets
They do drop the Starbucks man, but do not quite bridge to the Lipton Iced Tea rider. The peleton are beginning to pick up speed also behind with two of the favourites teams chasing.
Warner Brothers and Domina Vacanze chase
The slopes of the Criox de Fer claim another victim as Gourev begins to puff out his cheeks and loses the wheel of Aubers Le Mevel.
Gourev begins to pedel squares
Meanwhile Bontenackets takes his second KOM prime over another legendary peak!
Memorable day for Bontenackets this one
Again the GC men behind are antsy for KOM points, with Vladimir Karpets going for them.
Karpets leads the rest over the Criox de Fer
Perhaps the Russian is feeling a little stronger today? He has drifted back down the GC rankings after siezing the lead on the Time Trial. Three riders decide to try and use this as a smoke screen for an attack on the descent, they bridge to Fahnert in no time.
Caruso, Ricco and Lovkvist have a go on the descent
Ricco is the biggest threat on the overall being 9th place just under 3 minutes down, we have seen Caruso attacking before and Lovkvist is trying to do something for the Philips squad. With 20km to go they have gone past Gourev and catch Le Mevel... this is the gaps situation.
e1Bontenackets e2 Le Mevel, Ricco, Caruso and Lovkvist at 1.23 peleton 64 riders at 2.54
As we move onto this final climb up most of the Madeliane these three riders move from Le Mevel up to and past Bontenackets.
Great day for Bontenackets comes to an end
Ricco and Caruso are dangerous here, it is mainly Domina Vacanze who are controlling this behind in the ever reducing peleton.
Nibali looking for yet another good stage
The first rider to twitch comes suprisingly from La Gazzetta as Agudelo makes his intentions clear.
Youngster from La Gazzetta makes a dig
If rumours of La Gazzetta's demise is true then it is not just Rogers and Cunego who will be hot property this race has showcased some of their other talents such as Mugerli, Flens and Osella.
The three riders up front look like becoming two as Lovkvist begins to look a but leggy.
Lovkvist is finding it tough to hang with Pedraza and Ricco
Indeed the Swede drops back to the disappointment of the Philips team, meanwhile an Italian moves out of the peleton past Agudelo and upto the lead two. It is not Nibali though it is Sella, in a move reminiscent of his great attack up the Terminillo this year.
Sella bridges to the two front runners with ease
This rings alarm bells in the peleton as virtually everyone who is placed well on GC now bridges across to the front men forming a massive 19 man group at the head of affairs.
Huge favourites group forms
The names: Contador, Ricco, Pozzovivo, Popovich, Sella, Gomez Marchante, Spilak, Agudelo, Fothen, Karpets, Intxausti, Nibali, Kiserlowski, Pedraza, Caruso, Plaza, Arroyo, Lovkvist and Ivars. That is pretty much everyone bar the helpers from the top 20 on GC, the question is has anyone got anything left to attack this lot in the last 6km.
Having seen everyone come back, Caruso is game to try once again...
Lafarge man tries again
This though sets off a chain of attacks and counters, but one rider looking very tired here is Marcus Fothen. As daylight begins to open ahead of him.
Fothen is not really responding to the attacks and looks like he is there for the picking
At the opposite end, Sella is opening up his own daylight, Contador and Spilak do not look like they can close the gap. Ricco seems to be waiting for one of them to go across.
Sella prises open an advantage
Ricco realises he has to close this himself, Spilak sensing Fothen is in trouble and noticing that even Nibali is nowhere near the front tries to match the Cobra's acceleration.
Ricco is trying for Sella's wheel, likewise Spilak with Ricco
A number of GC riders are strugglin here, already reported is that Fothen is just riding tempo. Another rider having his first bad day is Nibali, he is now under serious pressure from Contador and Intxausti who put on pressure in places 4th and 5th.
Fothen gone, Nibali next?
You can see Pozzovivo looking okay here, with Gomez Marchante and Arroyo attacking here. Popovich is providing a wheel for Nibali, behind a fading Caruso.
Up front Sella finds a spitting cobra for company...
Two front runners now
Meanwhile, Fothen can feel he just may have a chance of hanging on to the lead as he bridges to a perhaps blown Nibali.
Fothen, Nibali, Popovich and Karpets together
These four are losing time up front to Contador, but more notably Spilak who whilst not winning any stages is proving the most gritty. He is doing it again as he just about manages to catch Sella and Ricco.
Name on road perhaps inspires Spilak
Sella has saved something for this sprint and comfortably takes yet another landmark victory that should push him well up into the top 10 on GC.
Sella takes a great win for Lipton
Behind Ricco blows a bit as Spilak comes storming round for second and surely a GC lead. Good for him as tomorrows hilly stage should be easier to defend for a Dauphine win.
Spilak second and possibly Dauphine champ
Ricco is third and behind him comes Pozzovivo ahead of Contador and Arroyo. Great day for Lipton Iced Tea this.
Pozzo 4th, Conta 5th, Arroyo 6th
Yesterdays stage winner Gomez Marchante comes through for 7th, he will rue the early move on Ventoux, then Intxausti, Caruso...
7th through to 9th
Finally Fothen comes in 2.10 down on Sella and 1.58 down on Spilak, he has lost the Douphine here. As has Nibali who is 17 seconds further back with Popovich, Karpets is in between these two.
