Horrible stage for all weak climbers. 1x Cat.1 & 2x Cat.HC. It might have been more interesting if the stage had finished on the Tourmalet but it`s going down for 3,5 kilometers towards the finish.
I mentioned the Tourmalet as last mountain, earlier we pass the Col du Marie Blanque and the Col d'Aubisque.
Only 3 breakaway riders today and as no rider has any KoM points so far it`s probably a safe day for Lopez Garcia.
56 points are rewarded today which would mean the shared 3rd place. But even if the GC riders take the points on the Tourmalet, they would not come close to the Santander rider. Hivert Rolland Medvedev
Rolland as 30th is best placed but already 37'13 behind race leader Phinney.
Can Phinney defend his lead once more? He slowly lost his comfortable lead after the ITT and is only 1'06 to Pluchkin.
His teammates will do everything to keep the maillot jaune in their team.
We jump to the top qucikly as nothing of note happened on this first and eventually steepest climb. Hivert taking the points ahead of Medvedev and Rolland with the Wikipedia train taking the remaining points.
Surprisingly Lopez Garcia and Wallays were both just behind Phinney but did not go for these points.
Cat.1
Hivert
16
Medvedev
12
Rolland
10
Janse van Rensburg
8
Talansky
6
Phinney
4
Pinot
2
Also mentionable that Rowe crashed on the climb and did not make it back. So being solo as last rider it will be a long ride for him against the time limit. It would be a big blow for Guarnieri`s sprint preperations in the upcoming stages.
Only 111 riders are left at the half of the first HC mountain in this years race. Most or all sprinters are dropped and need to fight.
Still 4 Wikipedia riders around Phinney with the gap being at 6min.
Sprint
Hivert
6
Rolland
4
Medvedev
2
It`s all about the stage win as they don`t spend any effort for the points. Medvedev takes this one.
Cat.HC
Medvedev
20
Rolland
14
Hivert
12
Bookwalter
10
Talansky
8
Janse van Rensburg
6
Phinney
5
Lecuisinier
4
Hacecký
3
Spilak
2
Keinath
1
After the first part on the descent it`s having a short ascent again. Time for some attacking by co-leaders, who might be used as support for their leader on the long Tourmalet. Solis Anacona Siutsou Kolesnikov
But actually only first two made it successful while the others are caught again.
So Taaramae and Monsalve eventually get some support later.
The descent is behind us and from now on it`s going slightly uphill on small percentages before the real climb starts. Only 2'30 are left to the duo and another 1'20 to the 81 rider peloton including all GC riders.
23km left. So almost at the Tourmalet when Scarponi '(23./+24'13) attacks. As one of the best descenders he was acutally expected to try it earlier together with Solis and Anacona. Again Siutsou and Kolesnikov try to follow but the pace is too high again.
It had a reason for the high pace. Already with 20km to go at the start of the climb some riders attack. It`s initiated by Spilak, who wants to improve from his 4th at the moment.
Scarponi is caught but others are following immediately: Phinney Pluchkin Dekker
And a bit later also Taaramäe Schleck Madrazo Sicard
with Amador Intxausti Kritskiy Monsalve Keizer Kohl Fothen
all in the first positions of the peloton.
Others like Úran Tenorio Henao Montoya
were a bit behind and need to pass several riders first.
In the corner the Spilak and Phinney group is just behind the former breakaway having caught Solis and Anacona.
Pluchkin comes solo a bit behind still in front of this 18 rider favourite group around most GC riders.
Those weaker placed though are in the next 33 rider group, which is led by Santander now for Tenorio, who does not have the best race.
Next to all those GC riders also some co-leaders and helpers made it into the favourite group as we see Keinath, Valls or Pinot
The breakaway is caught by Phinney and Spilak. Also Pluchkin in this group now.
Behind Taaramae, Madrazo, Schleck and Sicard the strongest a bit behind the other GC riders.
Pluchkin now with the next attack. Still 12km climbing left and the gaps are already there. This will be a crucial stage for many if this continues.
Spilak and Phinney follow him while they were almost caught by the rest.
Henao Montoya still injured it seems. He can`t follow the riders ahead and is only in ~45th position here again losing a lot of time. Top20 is maximum for him it seems if not less. This went really bad for Project 1t4i.
We haven`t seen a lot of Schleck so far but he just attacked to join Spilak and Pluchkin in front as Phinney was dropped at the same time.
The GC leader is in the next group really being in danger to lose the jersey today. Taaramäe Madrazo Sicard Amador Úran with him.
Last is a huge surprise as he was behind with Tenorio earlier but somehow managed to pass the other riders with ease and very quick. Tenorio actually is still behind the Dekker group (15 riders).
47s now for the trio but there are so many US fans here at the road side. This should really push Phinney. Also surprising that Madrazo has huge problems to follow those three on almost every mountain stage.
Tenorio still fighting to make it back to the other group at least. Also König and Scarponi in this group.
Normally there are 4 other Santander riders in there but none of them looking fit enough to support him. They did earlier today but are struggling to go any faster and the only one being able to go faster with Valls is one group ahead.
1km left to the top and unfortunate for this trio to get dropped by Fothen/Dekker/Kritskiy who do the higher pace ahead.
Monsalve, Keizer and Kohl can`t follow, while also Marquez has problems with Intxausti and Pinot still hanging behind them.
The trio in front will take huge time today and eventually make a big step for the podium. Phinney most likely will lose the GC lead today but is riding well to keep his chances for the podium. Madrazo really a disappointment here while Dekker, Kritskiy and Intxausti might not have their best day.
And no need to talk about Tenorio. What a waste of race days almost for him.
1'25 for the trio now with 3km to go and all downhill. Surely the stage win goes to one of them.
Cat.HC
Pluchkin
20
Schleck
14
Spilak
12
Madrazo
10
Amador
8
Taaramäe
6
Sicard
5
Úran
4
Phinney
3
Dekker
2
Fothen
1
Pluchkin and Phinney with a great fight for every second for the yellow jersey. So he is leading out to keep the pace high instead of going all-in for the stage.
This is good news obviously for Schleck and Spilak behind him.
Schleck goes around him while Spilak can`t sprint faster it seems.
And it`s another win for Andy Schleck. It was close but one wheel ahead.
Pluchkin comes in 2nd taking some more bonus seconds as well with Spilak as 3rd. All 3 should be happy to have created a gap to Phinney, Amador and Madrazo in especially and at the moment the next are not even around the corner.
It was not seen how, but apparently Madrazo has created a gap in the sprint or descent to take 4th with a nice gap. Bad for him that officials call him the same time as the next riders: Phinney, Amador, Sicard, Taaramae and Uran.
Due to Madrazo though the gap is only at 1'03, which means it was only the bonus seconds that move Pluchkin into the GC lead with 9s ahead of Phinney. Spilak follows with 54s while Amador and Schleck are around 2min with Taaramae, Madrazo and Sicard all are above 4min.
Same "shit" happened here. All those gaps weren`t rewarded unfortunately and so the dropped group around Kohl and even Tenorio far behind is getting the same time: +2'25. Very unlucky.
The next group around Keinath, König lost 5'08 though as they had quite a gap, while Henao Montoya comes in 42nd with 8'28 dropping him to 21st in the GC.
And also we have a long list of abandons as the double HC climb was just too tough. And some big names/sprinters are forced to leave the race. While most sprinters actually made it in time by just a tiny bit it`s stage winner Boonen being one of the OTL riders including his full sprint train as also the full Good Energy sprint train. Here the full OTL list:
