39 tough kilometres on offer today, climbing up from Gap to Orcieres Merlette. We start with 12 mostly uphill kilometres, but then a mixture of downhill and predominantly flat roads follow until the next split - and then its uphill once again. A stage for the true stage racer, you would imagine.
Taylor Phinney is hunting for his 2nd TT stage win of the race, and as World Champion, is not somebody you want to bet against. But the likes of Pluchkin, Dekker, Uran, Spilak, Amador and Fothen all have the attributes to combine climbing with time trialling.
And in the seeming two-horse race for Yellow, this is surely a stage that Madrazo must use to gain back time on Cunego.
But just who is the course going to suit most? We have to wait 58 riders before the first real climbers turn up. Sebastian Ivars has 75 MO, 69 HL and 77 TT so could be suited to today. Soon after him is Teodoro Costagli. Very much a pure climber, with 77 MO and not much else.
As things stand, Maxime Bouet leads Jens Fiedler by 5 seconds, with Romain Vanderbiest as 29 seconds.
First Split
Second Split
Finish
M. Bouet
3rd - +26
2nd - +2
2nd - +17
J. Fiedler
4th - +31
3rd - +3
4th - +22
S. Ivars
2nd - +8
1st - 48'25
1st - 1h20'26
T. Costagli
1st - 26'13
4th - +26
3rd - +28
Costagli unsuprisingly impressed early on, and still did pretty well to limit damage on the flat - although he certainly seemed to run out of steam at the finish. Having earlier caught Ventoso, the Spanish sprinter re-passed and significantly dropped Costagli in the final few kilometres. Ivars then is the current leader, but he too faded towards the finish - highlighting the importance later on for the rest to pace themselves. The Frenchman will no doubt bring Cunego valuable feedback.
Christophe Riblon slotted inbetween Costagli and Ivars at the first checkpoint, but couldnt maintain his advantage on Ivars, eventually going 2nd at 11 seconds.
And how's this for a phenomenal finish. Yeison Delgado clocked through the second checkpoint at 28km in 28th place - 1'13 down on Ivars, and even slower than notable bad climber but decent TTist Bernaudeau. With just 11km to go, surely the Venezuelan climber has no chance of making an impression? Wrong!
Delgado is our new leader, 25 seconds faster than Ivars - riding the final climb a stunning 1 minute and 38 seconds faster than Ivars. That will certainly grab the climbers' attentions. And so unexpected was it, that the cameras missed him!
Instead they were focusing on Fabian Cancellara. A slow start saw him 17 seconds off Costagli, taking 6th at the first split. But he really motored the middle section to take a 34 second lead.
This gives Cancellara almost 2 minutes on Delgado - 1'47 to be precise. Bibby comes to the finish in 3rd, just behind Ivars. But what of Cancellara? He just holds on to the lead - just 5 seconds ahead of Delgado.
It might not last though, as his own teammate Suaza is looking strong. 1st at the first check, and limiting his losses to be just 46 seconds behind Spartacus at the second check.
But he is another to have badly paced himself. He takes 3rd, but is 27 seconds down on Cancellara still - embarassingly only outclimbing Cancellara by 19 seconds, despite having 80 MO and 65 HL, compared to 69 MO and 72 HL for Cancellara.
Next threat: Sylvain Chavanel. 27 seconds down on Cancellara ahead of the final climb, he goes 3rd in the end - reducing that gap to 8 seconds.
But these early times are sure to soon become forgotten - as we reach the higher placed GC riders, faster and faster times are coming through the first checkpoint.
Timofey Kritskiy is one to have gone off hard - and infact leads Cancellara after the flat section, by 11 seconds.
He must surely be our new leader, but struggles on the climb. Above we saw him ahead of Danilo di Luca, having caught and passed him - but by the finish, Di Luca is ahead of him once again. Still, he trashes Cancellara's team. 1st place for Kritskiy - and a 50 second lead.
We are into the final 30 riders now and all eyes on Markus Fothen as he destroys the time of Kritskiy - 1 minute ahead of him at the 2nd check - and by the finish, that is up to 1'35.
The former TDF winner has not had the luck this race with crashes, but that is a very strong ride.
Rodriguez Oliver finishes 1'57 down, while Peter Velits goes 2nd at 1'26.
But its not all about the finish. Every rider has now started. And not only that, every rider has now crossed through the first checkpoint. And really laying down the marker is a certain Yellow jersey...
1
D. Cunego
24'58
16
P. Velits
+ 44
2
A. Amador
+ 8
17
Y. Trofimov
+ 46
3
A. Madrazo
+ 13
18
J. Rodriguez Oliver
+ 46
4
A. Pluchkin
+ 14
19
F. Marquez
+ 49
5
M. Fothen
+ 15
20
D. Martin
+ 50
6
R. Úran
+ 21
21
D. Cataldo
+ 52
7
S. Spilak
+ 22
22
M. Ardila
+ 52
8
T. Dekker
+ 24
23
J. Gadret
+ 54
9
V. Karpets
+ 24
24
T. Kritskiy
+ 1'01
10
T. Phinney
+ 24
25
K. Siutsou
+ 1'06
11
A. Kashechkin
+ 31
26
P. Panayotov
+ 1'07
12
J. Popovych
+ 35
27
J. Suaza
+ 1'09
13
M. Keizer
+ 38
28
D. Moreno
+ 1'10
14
SL. Henao Montoya
+ 38
29
R. van der Hugenhaben
+ 1'11
15
R. Taaramäe
+ 40
30
R. Valls
+ 1'13
Everybody who thought they could gain time on Cunego today is going to really need to press hard over the middle section now, where Cunego should be at his weakest. Andrey Amador is well placed here though - he has already won one Grand Tour mountain time trial this year, let's not forget. This stage may be hilly rated, but it is more and more looking like a mountain kind instead.
Up to the finish comes Martijn Keizer, and he is the first to come close to Fothen's time. Well, I say close - he is still 37 seconds down - but he is comfortably 2nd, for now.
The middle section is a fast one, and already Cunego has passed through there. He isnt leading anymore. As expected, Taylor Phinney has risen to the top here - but is forced to share his lead with Amador. Fothen and Pluchkin's times are also looking strong here, but it is very close between the Top 11.
1
T. Phinney
46'30
16
P. Velits
+ 1'01
2
A. Amador
+ 0
17
T. Kritskiy
+ 1'07
3
M. Fothen
+ 6
18
F. Cancellara
+ 1'19
4
A. Pluchkin
+ 8
19
SL. Henao Montoya
+ 1'20
5
A. Madrazo
+ 17
20
J. Rodriguez Oliver
+ 1'27
6
D. Cunego
+ 18
21
F. Marquez
+ 1'36
7
M. Keizer
+ 18
22
D. Cataldo
+ 1'36
8
V. Karpets
+ 18
23
D. Martin
+ 1'36
9
T. Dekker
+ 18
24
M. Ardila
+ 1'38
10
R. Úran
+ 20
25
J. Gadret
+ 1'45
11
S. Spilak
+ 25
26
S. Chavanel
+ 1'46
12
A. Kashechkin
+ 47
27
S. Ivars
+ 1'54
13
J. Popovych
+ 50
28
R. Valls
+ 1'56
14
R. Taaramäe
+ 51
29
M. Bouet
+ 1'56
15
Y. Trofimov
+ 53
30
K. Siutsou
+ 1'56
There's also now just 16 riders left to finish, the first of whom being Taaramae.
He crosses a line in 3rd, and so here is a look at the finish line standings, with 20 left to finish.
1
M. Fothen
1h17'28
2
M. Keizer
+ 37
3
R. Taaramäe
+ 1'11
4
P. Velits
+ 1'26
5
T. Kritskiy
+ 1'35
6
J. Rodriguez Oliver
+ 1'57
7
D. Martin
+ 2'10
8
D. Cataldo
+ 2'13
9
F. Cancellara
+ 2'26
10
Y. Delgado
+ 2'32
11
C. Barredo
+ 2'35
12
S. Chavanel
+ 2'35
13
R. Valls
+ 2'49
14
K. Siutsou
+ 2'50
15
J. Suaza
+ 2'54
16
P. Panayotov
+ 2'55
17
R. van der Hugenhaben
+ 2'58
18
S. Ivars
+ 2'58
19
D. Moreno
+ 3'04
20
I. Bibby
+ 3'01
Kashechkin goes 58 seconds down to take 3rd from Taaramae. And chasing down Ardila, Karpets goes 2nd, 21 seconds down on Fothen.
Ardila equalled Cataldo's time, just slower than Dan Martin, 2'13 down - which is 10 seconds faster than Gadret could manage - sneakily riding in his French RR champions kit.
Having impressed yesterday, Henao struggled somewhat today. 1'39 down in 8th.
And finishing soon after him, is Taylor Phinney.
He takes the lead .... just. Thats very very close actually, only 1 second faster than Fothen.
In contrast, not such a great ride for Popovych - finishing a munte slower.
It's been a bit of a quiet ride in the mountains for Rigoberto Uran so far, more noticeable on the flat! He takes 3rd place though, 17 seconds down.
Time for Andrey Amador. Joint leader at the 2nd split, has he managed to outclimb Phinney and move into an outright lead?
Super ride from Amador - and it's a 16 second lead. Trofimov next. Good on the hills and good on the time trials, but he has been exposed a little on some of the steep roads here. Not his best day of the race for sure, finishing 1'31 down, to take a provisional 10th - he will be losing a GC position to Amador tonight.
Thomas Dekker is next on the road, and he takes 4th place. He won't be too pleased with a 32 second loss to Amador, but he at least managed to hold off Uran by 1 second.
Four riders left to go, and they are all within a kilometre and a half of the finish:
Spilak can only manage 7th. 39 seconds down.
Now for Pluchkin. He's been looking good today, but can he top Amador?
It's 2nd place for the Moldovan. 11 seconds down on Amador - but beating Phinney in a TT is always good, and he has gained over 20 seconds on nearest podium rivals Dekker and Spilak.
Feeling the pressure on the climb is Madrazo. Not becuase he is riding bad, but because Cunego is going so well. He really needs a time gain here, but the best young rider in the race must settle for 5th - 21 seconds down on Amador.
Which just leaves Cunego.
And it is 2nd place for the race leader. 9 seconds behind Amador, and a 12 second gain on Madrazo. One step closer to overall victory?
The only position changes in the GC Top 10 are Amador ahead of Trofimov, and Phinney ahead of Popovych, while Fothen's ride puts him up 2 spots to 25th.
Cunego now leads the Green jersey competition by 66 points, and moved 20 points closer to Duret (136th today, 5 minutes down) in the King of the Mountains competition. Only 25 points between them now.
A small gain for Pluchkin over Madrazo in the Young rider competition, but Madrazo still has a good 2 minutes advantage.
And over in the teams competition, UBS and Wiggle asserted their authority. Wiggle were best on the day, gaining 13 seconds on UBS - but pulling out 2 minutes on Vesuvio, and 4 minutes on Jayco Red Bull.
