Potentially the toughest stage this Tour. 2 HC rated climbs already on the first half. And then it looks easier but almost no relax zones in the final. Two Cat.2 climbs followed by a late Cat.1 and the descent towards the finish. Lots of climbing today and you definitely need an combination of good legs today as also decent recovery and descender skills to avoid a itme loss here or even attack your rivals.
It`s only the Col de La Croix Fer to begin with and a crazily strong trio attacked already! Bold move there by: Henao Montoya (15th) Sicard (7th) Abal (18th)
To be fair, they are between 12 and 28min behind Andy Schleck but the top 10 or in case of Sicard the top5 is close. So brave attack there and lots of team under pressure behind.
The top teams seem to be fine with that move and Andy is sitting in 2nd position here with some Vesuvio riders in between.
But the 2nd tier GC teams need to work as their spots are in huge danger. Hence Puma with both Nerz and Arndt and Aegon with Keizer work themselves as the pace is too high for their team mates it seems (even though surely 1-2 of them could have worked here instead).
In the background you see many riders struggling and this will be a long fight against the time limit if the pace stays like this. Most popular rider beind dropped early is König, 22nd in the GC.
And the crazyness goes on. Schleck absolutely surprised his rivals. While sitting behind the Puma/Aegon train only, he suddenly entered the front and caused a huge split there as no team expected this.
Keizer, Nerz, Arndt are the lucky riders behind him while Suaza must have known about his leaders plans seeing he moved forward just seconds earlier.
Spilak though reacted quickly and is coming next with a small gap and might get support of George Bennett, who was Aegon`s second rider in the front rows.
Bouygues forced to work now and Delaplace and Solis immediately do so in the "only" 50 rider peloton!
The early around Sicard is now caught by the other GC riders in the latest move and also Spilak moved up to them with Bennett still a bit behind.
The group around Phinney and Dombrowski 2min behind! This will become some popular stage surely.
Or maybe not as popular as it could have been. The pace dropped a bit and from behind we see Phinney, Dombrowski, Kritskiy all joining the group.
Bennett 18s behind them and then another 35s for Taaramae as best placed rider behind together with Kolesnikov, Lecuisinier, Bakelants and Grmay +9 more riders.
Two riders though consider another attack and it`s Keizer followed by Sicard.
Abal and Henao Montoya also joined them a bit later with Nerz trying to do so as well. Those 5 over the KoM line as first.
Then a group of 7 including Schleck, Spilak, Dombrowski, Phinney, Kritskiy, Arndt, Suaza and Bennett next already 1'45 behind.
A group of 21 is really having problems to close the gap. They soon catch Bennett but it`s 2 min and a bit more to Schleck/Spilak.
As Taaramae is the big name here, his team is working.
Not sure though if Lecuisinier and Goos do smart here to support them. Yes, their GC spots might be in danger but priority should be with Schleck/Spilak really!
Also Grmay, Faiers in the first rows of that group. And good for Bouygues that it`s Barguil working here and Bakelants would be a fresh option a bit later.
One rider was hit worse even. Wellens leading a 14 rider group another group behind even. 70s to Taaramae but they might close this gap soon.
Boring! Group Taaramae was able to move up to Group Schleck in the descent.
Group Wellens though still 2'30 behind but lots of Bpost jerseys in there to help him.
And while being a shit descender, Keizer is solo in front now as Sicard realized he wouldn`t be allowed to get a real gap. So it`s the Dutch climber 2min ahead of the main group of 33 riders.
And as Sicard dropped back, the pace dropped as well a bit and Wellens is able to join them just before the 2nd HC climb. 46 riders together now and let`s see if this climb is ridden just as crazy as the first.
At least it starts similar. Yet again Abal and Sicard attack and both join Keizer on the way up.
They have 90s on the favourites.
The acceleration led to another split there and yet again Wellens finds himself in the later group...With him Ponzi, Suaza, Bennett, Grmay, Koch and some helpers such as Novak, Vasyliv, Kruijswijk.
Bakelants even further back and might lose his GC position today.
Keizer takes the max points on the climb with Abal/Sicard following 20s later.
Kolesnikov, Arndt, Anacona and Faiers all attack for the remaining points or is it a real attack?
At least Arndt/Kolesnikov made it up to the leading trio. But the gap melts and just 50s to the GC riders, where Wellens yet again found contact in the descent.
70km left and basically a new start!
All riders got caught on the descent and some more joined from behind. So it`s 34 riders back together and 3 climbs yet to come. Bakelants being the best placed rider to miss at the moment.
Some riders either feel super strong today or really go for the KoM jersey as the 3rd week has to decide that one.
Not sure what category Keizer goes in as he had only 21 points before this stage but he collected well already on the first 2 HC rated climbs. And yet again he attacks together with KoM leader Grmay.
Behind them Nesset and Pantano Gomez with Formolo taking the last 2 points here.
Except of Grmay and Formolo the other 3 are leading the race at the moment. 1'50 for them ahead of the favourites.
Bakelants, LLS, Panayotov all take profit from the lower pace behind and are just 45s behind almost making it back.
On top of the 2nd Cat.2 again Keizer with the max points followed by Pantano and Nesset.
Anacona and Formolo attacked out of the peloton for the remaining points.
22km left and the start of the final Cat.2 of the day. Keizer and Pantano Gomez as last remaining attackers have only 50s to the 37 rider group behind. This might not be enough for the stage as Aru, Goos, Suaza do a steady pace.
And even more as the GC riders now attack each other. The big moment we waited for. Spilak with the opening move followed by Taaramae, Wellens!, Dombrowski, Phinney, Arndt and surprisingly Kolesnikov. Also Kritskiy a bit behind them reacts with Faiers while Schleck has the luxus of riding behind Goos into this group.
Keizer as last rider is passed by this move. Spilak with yet another acceleration and this time Andy has to follow himself and yet again only Taaramae and Dombrowski can follow. Definitely the top4 riders in this Tour with Phinney being the 5th strongest a bit behind solo.
But it`s not done yet for Spilak. He needed a third attack and this time he has opened a gap. 40s to Andy and Taaramae!
Dombrowski even falling back into the GC group with Phinney, Kritskiy, Lecuisinier, Sicard, Keizer, Arndt, Wellens and several more.
Though at the top both Phinney and Dombrowski have attacked them and now are a bit behind Schleck/Taaramae only with Spilak still having 35s to them.
Sicard, Kritskiy, Arndt, Henao Montoya, Lecuisinier, Abal, Faiers, Goos next with 1min down while Keizer finally has to pay the prize for his efforts and is dropped together with Wellens, Nerz, Kolesnikov, Barguil and a strong Novak today, who gives it all for the team classification and right now is the 3rd I-Gen rider and ahead and ahead of the 3rd Vesuvio or Bouygues rider.
Flamme Rouge and Spilak might have it in the bag. Schleck a bit behind comes around the corner and all three (Taaramae, Dombrowski, Phinney) with him.
Nice win! Well done! For once the strongest today and a better tactic then relaying on Lecuisinier to close the gaps.
Phinney takes 2nd ahead of Schleck but stupid race officials claim it a no-gap here...so bad luck for Spilak, who might have gained ~25s or something today.
Sicard next being 2min down. Arndt, Lecuisinier, Faiers, Abal, Kritskiy, Goos, Henao Montoya with him. So the fight for the team classification sees it 2/3 for both I-Gen and Vesuvio in.
And here comes no.2 for Bouygues but already 4'08 behind in Barguil. Also here Wellens, Keizer, Nerz, Kolesnikov and NOVAK. So it`s 3/3 for I-Gen and they at least take the daily team classification.
Kruijswijk and Bennett lead in the next group at 5'45 and here we still don`t have another Vesuvio or Bouygues rider. Therefore Vasyliv as 4th for I-Gen.
Ponzi lost quite a bit today being 8'30 down ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez Gil. Both prefer the shorter climbs and not the up and down mountain stages. Still very nice effort. And btw. Aru just came in seconds before as 3rd Vesuvio rider and hence the team classification sees a close fight still. They might have lost 4min on I-Gen, but they still lead by 21s with 3 stages to go.
König 14'22, Bakelants 14'46 some of todays losers and Bouygues also lost a lot today as Solis was at 13min and they drop into 3rd 2min down. Still not lost yet.
And last but not least a long list of OTL which had to be expected by looking on the profile and even more by seeing how the race was ridden today.
Worst for Becherovka as Bewley is losing his full sprint train before Paris.
