Stage 8: mountain, 166.7 km, Saint-Alban-Leysse - Morzine
A Morzine stage as a closeout. You couldn't really have been hit harder on a last day of an already hard tour. It's about who has got the best of legs left in the tank to ride up three major climbs and several minor ones. To call out the big ones:
First the Col de Plainpapais, which is pretty moderate. But that early in the stage you will suffer if you haven't prepared your legs properly.
Then Col de la Colombière. Not too steep, but long and steady. Resistance is a major factor you need up there.
And then right before the finish the steepest of all awaits: Col de Joux-Plane. On this legendary climb the complete race should be blown apart. Legs are very tired and it's long. And steep. And horrible. And that's not all.
Cause on the steep descent down to Morzine we might see the decicive battles for the extra seconds in the GC takes place. Also a prestigious stage price is awarded there, and we'll still see a battle for the mountains classification, where the leader Ruijgh most likely shouldn't be involved in due to his GC position.
Wo couldn't be hyped with this in sight?
Well, as you see from the start of the race - I am completely wrong with my assumption:
Polka-dot jersey Ruijgh has indeed made it into the group being 14th overall. With him there are 10 men:
Kiserlovski surely the other standout guy in there being #20 overall 24 minutes down.
They have 5 minutes on the peloton over the Plainpalais, where the croatian wins the first KOM fight.
Cat.1
Kiserlovski
16
Ruijgh
12
Reguigui
10
Kolar
8
Serry
6
Seibeb
4
Hivert
2
On this rate though it's an easy job for the dutchman. So much action already, being only 15 kilometers into the race! In behind only RBC chases in the meantime. Pichon and Jensen to win the "Most kilometers at the front of the peloton award" this tour surely.
Over the Leschaux Kiserlovski steps down on the points battle, it's all about Ruijgh there.
Cat.3
Ruijgh
6
Kolar
4
Serry
2
The peloton has seen some attacks over that hill though,
Vichot, Moazemi and Medvedev have made their moves here and are in between the groups.
80 kilometers left and we hit the Colombière. 9'30 between the group and the pack. They need a lot of time in advance if they want to survive the Joux-Plane lateron.
The first of the group to get dropped are...
... Vosekalns and Kastrantas. They are dead and away on the light slopes already, which gives you an impression of how hard the stronger riders are pushing up there.
73 km - 10'30
More dropped riders in...
... Gillett and Squire.
67 km - 11'30
Farewell to the next 4 riders, Kiserlovski is dropping 'em all:
Reguigui Hivert Seibeb Medvedev
They are all together a minute behind the remaining 4:
Serry Kolar Ruijgh Kiserlovski
And soon, 1 kilometer before the peak, it's...
... Kiserlovski all on his own. He's got 12'30 for 64 kilometers now. The last man standing on his side was Kolar, but he got sorted out as well. Maybe him or the duo of Serry and Ruijgh can make a comeback though.
Cat.1
Kiserlovski
16
Kolar
12
Ruijgh
10
Serry
8
Reguigui
6
Medvedev
4
Seibeb
2
Reguigui on his own made his way back to the couple of Serry and Ruijgh, which should increase their chances on the flat.
Kiserlovski has 15 minutes on the pack now with 55 to go. It's getting interesting.
40 km - 16'00
Châtillon-Sur-Clusses
Cat.3
Kiserlovski
6
Kolar
4
Ruijgh
2
Ruijgh is only 3 minutes down on the leader in the provisional classement right now.
Current race situation at the foot of the Joux-Plane with 22 kilometers to go:
Over 10 kilometers of steep climbing waiting now on the stage favourite Kiserlovski. The gradiant will almost never be lower than 8%! But he has a decent advantage over every rider and the pack:
RBC had to push the whole race alone, but now, as the peloton also reached the foot of the climbs, we'll surely see some attacks!?
Kiserlovski by the way now over 3 minutes ahead of Kolar, this is his day.
And there we go: Under the 20 kilometer to go banner...
... Madrazo makes his move! And this time the only man to react immediately is...
... Cattaneo, the others wait for Bonnin to chase! This is an opportunity for the spaniard, as he has a gap!
We'll focus on the GC race from now on of course, I hope you spectators can understand that right here.
While picking up the riders they couldn't catch the early attacker, so now Tenorio makes his move.
Again no reaction of Phinney, who only has Taaramäe and Kritskiy with him. Bonnin still on the ride of his life now.
This way the next spaniard is streaming away from the yellow jersey!
Meanwhile the pack is lead by Giogieri for Velits, who was caught behind when the action happened.
Looking back at the front it's Kiserlovski heading towards a stunning solo victory on the last descent.
He has 4'30 on Kolar and another 2 on group 3, where...
... Medvedev caught the trio. Still 15 minutes on Madrazo!
Back to the race for yellow it's not looking that well for the one who wears it currently.
Many riders are able to jump back to him and his main rival. Wellens...
...has left them alone though and rapidly gained 1'30 on them! And he is still half a minute down on Tenorio and another 2 on Madrazo, who absolutely is on fire.
This is a historical ride from the spaniard, who crosses the mountains classification 11 minutes behind Kiserlovski. And he has already put 4!!! minutes on Phinney. What a ride!
We'll have to focus on the race lead now, because Robert Kiserlovski just finishes an incredible ride with a solo victory. Just look at that celebration!
Further back in the race...
Kritskiy and Phinney left a poor Taaramäe behind to chase.
Col de Joux-Plane
Cat.HC
Kiserlovski
20
Kolar
14
Ruijgh
12
Medvedev
10
Serry
8
Reguigui
6
Seibeb
5
Madrazo
4
Hivert
3
Tenorio
2
Cattaneo
1
The current race situation at the finish of Kiserlovski:
... Mr. Polka-Dot, Ruijgh, and another group of riders 2 minutes later. Out of these Serry is faster than Medvedev and Reguigui.
The scenes get another dramatical change now further back. Madrazo is having a horrible descent and lost another minute on the downhill, so he might loose his almost secured overall here. Phinney...
...dropped his Russian companion on the descent and flew up to Tenorio, Cattaneo and Wellens!
Behind these 4 Kritskiy and then a group of 4 containing:
Denifl Taaramäe Velits Berhane
Back to the front the next men over the line is indeed...
... Madrazo, 10 minutes down on Kiserlovski and with Seibeb as baggage. But is it enough?
No! What a ride by Phinney on the downhill! He brought Tenorio, Wellens and Cattaneo to his yellow jersey party!
Then Hivert and...
... Kritskiy next up.
Under a minute later...
...the next quartet:
Denifl Taaramäe Velits Berhane
Over 15 minutes behind the winner Kudus leads in...
...the group of most of the secondary favourites, that only misses some minor Top 20s like Bennett, Nesset and Novak, who come in shortly behind.
Let's close out that stellar day full of masterpieces and surprising changes with the winal winners ceremony of this tour:
Robert Kiserlovski takes the stage and with it also the team classification for the wildcard team Shimano! What a superb style to recieve further invitations. Taylor Phinney rescuing yellow and green with that huge effort on the final descent of the Joux-Plane. Tim Wellens earned white with a dominant ride, while the story of this tour might be the polka-dot one, in which Rob Ruijgh rode the race of his life achieving a stage win, a third , the mountains classification and a 9th GC here.
To the beaten ones you can count all of P2-5 in the GC, cause they all must have hoped for more which was achievable. Also the teams that settled the race for their pure sprinters and didn't come from Africa. Then a disappointing Denifl, who lost the 7th by less than a second - but he won't be too mad after Kiserlovski's success. Cattaneo, Keizer and Berhane surel hoped for a GC Top 10.
But to let you draw your own picture: Here are the final results of this years Criterium du Dauphine Libere:
France 
