Yesterday Spilak Valverde Gesink
tried to shake Phinney
Though, only the first succeeded getting a gap to the American. Today it’s back to the mountains, and after Phinney’s show on Mont Ventoux, it’s him Contador Alarcon
who are favourites for the stage win according to the bookmakers.
It’s hard to tell if the riders are looking forward or not to this monster stage, but at least all 174 line up for the start in perfect racing conditions. Different from yesterday, there’s no wind to influence today’s stage.
Already at the summit of Col Bayard we have a breakaway of four riders. They’re Rosch Mat Senan Santamorita Margaliot
having a three minutes lead down to the peloton. It’s Rosch
going over the mountain top first and taking the 10 mountain points on offer.
Back in the peloton Geslin
in the polkadot attacks for the final two points, and he easily takes them.
The breakaway riders aren’t much up for the mountain points, as they’re not attacking for them going over the fourth category climb 152 kilometers away from the finish line in Valloire. Their lead back to the peloton is growin, now being 5’20.
Geslin
actually continued his attack after Col Bayard, but 60 kilometers later he still hasn’t made contact! But you got to credit him for his will to defend his jersey. He has 124 kilometers left to race, and finds himself 1’30 behind the front four, but 6’35 in front of the peloton.
Still no interest shown in the mountain points by the four breakaway riders, and it’s Santamorita
rolling first over Côte du Motty 108 kilometers away from home. Their gap back to the peloton is a massive 9’45, with Geslin
being 2’15 behind them.
At the foot of Col de la Croix de Fer the peloton is 11’30 behind with only 83 kilometers to go! It’s Wikipedia
having no rush to chase them down, as none of them are threats to Phinney’s
overall lead.
As a HC mountain the breakaway riders finally do care about the mountain points, and it’s Santamorita
proving strongest and getting those 20 points, which could prove vital to his polkadot ambitions at the end of the day. And look at the gap back to the peloton! It’s no less than 13 minutes with 65 kilometers left. This definitely looks like a golden opportunity for the breakaway.
Geslin
hangs in there, riding over the summit in fifth place. That gives him eight mountain points and a total of 30. It will be hard to defend the jersey if he can’t join the breakaway, and it doesn’t look like he’s able to do that, as he’s six minutes behind them, but five minutes ahead of the peloton.
The peloton is still going slow, just like Wikipedia
has been doing the whole day at the front. Is this a sign that no other teams believe they can match Phinney
on the mountains?
Santamorita
wins another mountain sprint as he’s first over the second category climb 44 kilometers away from home. He is starting to look really good for that polkadot. The gap back to the peloton is still a healthy 12 minutes. They will literally need to do a standstill here in the mountains to get caught!
Just to prove his point Santamorita
wins the fourth category climb only 24 kilometers away from the finishing line, getting another six mountain points. The gap back to the peloton is still 12 minutes.
And finally, on that fourth category climb, things kick off in the peloton! Moschella Gesink Valverde Hacecký
seemed to be bored by the slow pace, and attacks 26 kilometers from the finishing line! Interesting to see Gesink Valverde
get involved this early, though, both of them were active yesterday, so why not?
Though, the only thing it does is forcing Wikipedia
to make the workers go faster, and so they do, as they shut them all down. König Scarponi Nerz Panayotov Claerebout Medvedev
try next, but they are not likely to get away either.
Nope, absolutely no luck for them. It’s Mai Talansky Pinot Atapuma Elissonde
doing great work at the front for team captain Phinney
As the peloton catches an exhausted Geslin
the attacks are coming! It’s Hacecký
initiating this move, followed by Nerz Gesink Siutsou Krasnoperov Medvedev Moschella
Only Gesink
can get away, and he looks to motor the rest of the climb now, leading the peloton by 36 seconds with 8.8 kilometers left to climb and 13 kilometers to the finishing line.
Up front Rosch
has dropped the three others, looking for a sensational solo victory with 10 kilometers left to race!
Sicard
means business and puts in a strong attack with 7.1 kilometers left to climb! Behind him it looks like Phinney
is starting to run empty for team mates, this could be a very good move!
Indeed, his team mates are just about to get empty, as Gesink
has pulled out a gap of 1’40 4.5 kilometers from the top!
Alarcon
tries to take advantage of that, and he has to as well, as Sicard
is 40 seconds ahead of him on the road! This is a nice fight for the white jersey.
And with 2.5 kilometers left to climb Contador
attacks! Phinney
is immediately on his wheel while second overall Spilak
seems unable to follow as he tried an unsuccessful attack seconds ago!
This is critical for Phinney
He was boxed in, and thus never able to get onto Contador’s
wheel for real, and he now finds himself in a chase group with Valverde Lloret
Eastman Heineen Van Den Broeck Siutsou Brambilla Spilak Keinath Valls Pinot Martin Medvedev
and a couple of others who struggle to follow.
Back to the favourites and Gesink
is first over the summit, and he holds a good lead to the riders behind!
Contador Alarcon Sicard
follow 45 seconds behind the Dutchman, but they’ve got a solid gap to what’s left of the peloton!
Contador
is clearly hoping to gain time on Spilak
and jump to second place overall.
Then follow a group of 14 riders, with Van Den Broeck
leading the way with an attack over the top. The 13 others are Phinney Valverde Lloret Keinath Valls Eastman Spilak Martin Brambilla Siutsou Pinot Krasnoperov Medvedev
Santamorita
finds it too dangerous to celebrate his stage win, but it’s definitely his stage! He proved by far that he was the strongest in the breakaway, winning most mountain sprints and finishing it in style with a solo win to the line in Valloire.
Margaliot
claims second place half a minute behind. The Simply Red Bull-rider never looked in contention for the stage win, but he made the best of it, ending the day with a pleasing second place.
As the sprint starts 1600 meters from the linet he chasing group catches Sicard Alarcon Contador
Gesink
is still 50 seconds ahead of them!
Gesink
comes home after a great mountain ride 3’40 behind the stage winner. It will definitely see him advance in the general classification. Before today’s stage Alarcon
in sixth was only 26 seconds ahead of him.
Phinney
wins the sprint for sixth place, ahead of Van Den Broeck Martin Valverde Spilak Contador Alarcon
The unofficial clock shows they’re 4’15 behind the stage winner.
Stage results
1
Ivan Santaromita
UBS - BMC
5h48'27
2
Ran Margaliot
Simply Red Bull
+ 29
3
David Rosch
Pendleton's
+ 51
4
Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan
Project 1t4i
+ 1'16
5
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
+ 3'30
6
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
+ 4'08
7
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
8
Daniel Martin
Pendleton's
s.t.
9
Alejandro Valverde
Koenigsegg
s.t.
10
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
11
Alberto Contador
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
12
Jose Alarcon
Team Bintang
s.t.
13
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
14
Manuel Lloret
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
15
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
16
Nico Keinath
Team B&O
s.t.
17
Rafael Valls
Santander
s.t.
18
Gianluca Brambilla
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
19
Konstantin Siutsou
Pendleton's
s.t.
20
Thibaut Pinot
Wikipedia
s.t.
21
Mikayil Krasnoperov
Team Bintang
s.t.
22
Dmitri Medvedev
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
23
Artemio Moschella
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 5'34
24
Artem Topchanyuk
Aker - MOT
s.t.
25
Petar Panayotov
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
26
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
s.t.
27
Christophe Riblon
UBS - BMC
s.t.
28
Christoph Mai
Wikipedia
s.t.
29
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 7'04
30
David De la Fuente
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
31
Martin Hacecký
Team B&O
s.t.
32
David Claerebout
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
33
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
34
Moises Dueñas
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
35
Jude Libert
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
36
Hubert Schwab
Team Puma - SAP
+ 7'41
37
Arnold Jeannesson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
38
Philip Deignan
Pendleton's
s.t.
39
Sergio Ghisalberti
Team Bintang
s.t.
40
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
s.t.
41
Mattia Pozzo
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
42
Johann Tschopp
UBS - BMC
+ 8'07
43
Oliver Zaugg
UBS - BMC
+ 9'12
44
Kevin Seeldraeyers
Team Bintang
s.t.
45
Aitor Hernández Gutierrez
Santander
s.t.
46
Ioannis Tamouridis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
47
Johannes Heider
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
48
Pierre Rolland
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
49
Darwin Atapuma
Wikipedia
s.t.
50
Alexandre Shushemoin
Aker - MOT
s.t.
51
Andrew Talansky
Wikipedia
s.t.
52
Kenny Elissonde
Wikipedia
s.t.
53
Didac Ortega
Santander
s.t.
54
Alex Howes
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
