With Sicard moving up to 3rd in the GC, this stage became even more interesting because the Orange rider is also the best puncher of the GC contenders. The likes of Gastauer, McCarthy, Bystrom and Siskevicius will be hoping to make an impact in the last stage where they could be successful.
It is a very hot day with no wind as we get started.
The first group away on the break consists of seven riders.
The peloton chases the break, mainly because of the abilities of Gastauer. However, they soon give up, as the Vesuvio rider isn't a threat to the GC.
Furdi wins the first KOM sprint. He is followed by Gougeard and Egger.
Some riders have already been dropped from the peloton, including former GC leaders Dakteris and Howson.
The two groups minus Smith have come together as we start the second climb. Smith is 1'7" back and the peloton is 2'45".
Furdi wins the second KOM sprint as well. Zakarin and Gastauer take the other points available. Hughes has been dropped.
All ten riders are back together as we start the third climb.
The riders dropped from the peloton on the first climb have made it back as well.
Gastauer wins the third KOM climb ahead of Furdi, Zakarin, Egger and Hughes. Smith is dropped again.
Gastauer wins the fourth KOM sprint also. Kastrantas is second and Zakarin is third. The peloton is 8'2" back.
The first intermediate sprint is won by Cuasquer. Gougeard and Furdi are next but no one really challenges for it.
70 km to go as Aegon leads the pack protecting Dekker's lead. Pendleton's, Orange and Ayubowan! helping them out intermittently. The gap has reduced dramatically to 3'31".
A lot of riders have been dropped now. 114 riders left in the peloton. We're on the category 1 climb.
The Green Jersey of Ciolek has been dropped now.
Gastauer goes first past the top of the cat. 1 climb. He now has 56 points and is tied second in the KOM standings. Hughes, Egger, Furdi, Kastrantas, Zakarin and Cink is the order for the other points positions.
Cuasquer and Gougeard have been dropped from the break.
Egger, Cink, Furdi is the order through the second intermediate sprint point.
Cuasquer and Gougeard are caught by the peloton.
With 20 km left, the 64 rider peloton trails the break by 1'28".
15 km. An eleven rider attack from the peloton sees no counter. The riders involved are:
Slagter attacks at the front! Siskevicius tries to get on his wheel. He is followed by Aru and Vanendert. Only 3.5 km left. Could this be the move for the win?
Cink, Egger and Didier are dropped by the front group and picked up by the peloton.
After the momentary excitement, it goes rather quiet at the front once the attackers are reeled back in. This allows what's left of the peloton to catch up.
We now have a 40 odd rider group approaching the finish with Dekker leading them onward.
Nibali is at 2'16".
5 riders go clear. They are Dekker, Sicard, Monsalve, Siskevicius and Slagter.
Abal is at the back of the peloton, clearly struggling. He will lose more ground to Dekker for sure. Monsalve looks to be moving up in the GC following Haig's troubles.
It has got crowded again as the pack closes in. Slagter is fading but Nerz is on his way to replace him in the front five.
Reis (Porto - Prio), Hosek, Hirt, Cattaneo, Galta, Keinath and Kangert form the clutch of riders just behind Slagter.
Abal is now a minute down on the leaders in the peloton.
The leaders start their sprint to the line with 300 meters left. Dekker is the most decisive. Nerz is holding back for the moment.
And Dekker takes the win to put a stamp of authority at the top of the standings!
Sicard and Siskevicius complete the podium places.
Monsalve is 4th. Nerz started his sprint too late to challenge the others.
There is a gap to the next group where Reis (Porto - Prio) finishes ahead of Hosek for 6th.
Hirt is 8th followed by Keinath and Cattaneo.
Slagter, Galta and Kangert are the others in this group.
Dzhus wins the sprint in the peloton. This group, consisting of riders like Gastauer, Nairo Quintana, Pinot and a recovering Nibali, finishes over a minute back.
The big news comes in after this. Abal has completely fallen off the cliff in the final climb. He comes in losing over two minutes to the Dekker group. He will fall in the GC for sure. Haig also a big loser, finishing over six minutes behind Dekker!
Today's winner - Thomas Dekker.
As expected, Sicard moves up to 2nd in the GC with Abal falling to 3rd. Monsalve is now 4th. Haig has a disaster, falling to 16th in the GC and 5th in the U25s. Galta is the new leader in the latter. The top of the KOM is extremely close with 2 points separating the top three spots. Dekker is the new Points leader.
Stage Result
1
Thomas Dekker
Aegon - Lavazza
4h27'19
2
Romain Sicard
Orange Pro Cycling
s.t.
3
Evaldas Siskevicius
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
4
Yonathan Monsalve
Ayubowan!
s.t.
5
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
6
Rafael Reis
Porto - Prio
+ 26
7
Josef Hosek
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
8
Jan Hirt
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
9
Nico Keinath
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
10
Mattia Cattaneo
Wiesenhof-Andritz
s.t.
11
Tom Jelte Slagter
Hugo Boss
s.t.
12
Fredrik Strand Galta
Aker - MOT
s.t.
13
Tanel Kangert
Gazelle
s.t.
14
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 1'11
15
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
16
Nairo Quintana
Orange Pro Cycling
s.t.
17
Thibaut Pinot
Haute Route - Mavic
s.t.
18
Mike Aaron Egger
Wiesenhof-Andritz
s.t.
19
Zachary Hughes
RBC Pro Cycling
s.t.
20
Paolo Scarponi
Nemiroff - ABBYY
s.t.
21
Blaz Furdi
Gazelle
s.t.
22
Sergey Chernetskiy
Tinkoff Sport Academy
s.t.
23
Adrian Nitu
Nemiroff - ABBYY
s.t.
24
Antoine Duchesne
RBC Pro Cycling
s.t.
25
Artem Topchanyuk
Nemiroff - ABBYY
s.t.
26
Christian Mager
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
27
David Rosch
Pendleton's
s.t.
28
Davide Formolo
Gazelle
s.t.
29
Evgeny Shalunov
Tinkoff Sport Academy
s.t.
30
Fabio Aru
eBuddy
s.t.
31
Hermann Pernsteiner
Wiesenhof-Andritz
s.t.
32
Ilnur Zakarin
Tinkoff Sport Academy
s.t.
33
Jelle Vanendert
Strava
s.t.
34
Lorents Ola Aasvold
Aker - MOT
s.t.
35
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Spotify - Haglöfs
s.t.
36
Michael Kolar
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
37
Richard Antonio Carapaz
Hugo Boss
s.t.
38
Vincenzo Nibali
Pendleton's
s.t.
39
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina - Dexia
s.t.
40
Ondrej Cink
Moser - Sygic
+ 2'19"
41
David Abal
Spotify - Haglöfs
s.t.
42
Clement Chevrier
Team Puma - SAP
+ 2'30"
43
Aleksej Kunshin
Tinkoff Sport Academy
s.t.
44
Andris Smirnovs
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
45
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina - Dexia
s.t.
46
Laurent Didier
Strava
s.t.
47
Miguel Minguez Ayala
Hugo Boss
s.t.
48
Murilo Affonso
Festina - Dexia
s.t.
49
Sven Erik Bystrom
Spotify - Haglöfs
s.t.
GC
1
Thomas Dekker
Aegon - Lavazza
27h17'56
2
Romain Sicard
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 2'27
3
David Abal
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 2'54
4
Yonathan Monsalve
Ayubowan!
+ 4'48
5
Mattia Cattaneo
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 5'44
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Pendleton's
+ 6'14
7
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
+ 6'22
8
Fredrik Strand Galta
Aker - MOT
+ 6'28
9
Rafael Reis
Porto - Prio
+ 6'30
10
Jan Hirt
Moser - Sygic
+ 7'15
11
Nico Keinath
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 7'30
12
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 8'26
13
Nairo Quintana
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 8'27
14
Christian Mager
Team Puma - SAP
+ 9'39
15
Tanel Kangert
Gazelle
+ 9'59
16
Jack Haig
Jayco - Cobra9
+ 10'10
17
Thibaut Pinot
Haute Route - Mavic
+ 10'43
18
Paolo Scarponi
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 10'52
19
Tom Jelte Slagter
Hugo Boss
+ 11'11
20
Aleksej Kunshin
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 11'20
21
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina - Dexia
+ 11'55
22
Davide Formolo
Gazelle
+ 12'15
23
Jan Tratnik
Gazelle
+ 12'48
24
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 12'58
25
Artem Topchanyuk
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 13'47
26
David Rosch
Pendleton's
+ 15'04
27
Michael Kolar
Moser - Sygic
+ 15'08
28
Jelle Vanendert
Strava
+ 15'11
29
Andris Smirnovs
Evonik - ELKO
+ 15'21
30
Murilo Affonso
Festina - Dexia
+ 15'36
31
Mike Aaron Egger
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 15'37
32
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Gazelle
+ 15'48
33
Richard Antonio Carapaz
Hugo Boss
+ 15'49
34
Laurent Didier
Strava
+ 17'04
35
Lorents Ola Aasvold
Aker - MOT
+ 17'05
36
Fabio Aru
eBuddy
+ 17'21
37
Nicolas Edet
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 18'23
38
Evaldas Siskevicius
Evonik - ELKO
+ 18'57
39
Clement Chevrier
Team Puma - SAP
+ 19'05
40
Charles Anguilet
Haute Route - Mavic
+ 19'25
41
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 19'41
42
Ondrej Cink
Moser - Sygic
+ 19'59
43
Zachary Hughes
RBC Pro Cycling
+ 20'05
44
Blaz Furdi
Gazelle
+ 20'06
45
Hugh Carthy
Ayubowan!
+ 20'45
46
Sergey Chernetskiy
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 21'03
47
Hermann Pernsteiner
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 21'05
48
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina - Dexia
+ 21'28
49
Ilnur Zakarin
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 21'28
50
Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay
Haute Route - Mavic
+ 21'37
Points
1
Thomas Dekker
Aegon - Lavazza
61
2
Romain Sicard
Orange Pro Cycling
46
3
Gerald Ciolek
Team Puma - SAP
41
4
Andris Smirnovs
Evonik - ELKO
38
5
Peter Kennaugh
Orange Pro Cycling
36
6
Christian Mager
Team Puma - SAP
34
7
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
33
8
Nick Van der Lijke
Vesuvio - Accumalux
33
9
David Abal
Spotify - Haglöfs
31
10
Charles Anguilet
Haute Route - Mavic
27
KOM
1
Andris Smirnovs
Evonik - ELKO
58
2
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
56
3
Nicolas Edet
Orange Pro Cycling
56
4
Tom David
Festina - Dexia
46
5
Christian Mager
Team Puma - SAP
36
6
Blaz Furdi
Gazelle
35
7
Jan Tratnik
Gazelle
32
8
Charles Anguilet
Haute Route - Mavic
32
9
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
24
10
Murilo Affonso
Festina - Dexia
20
U25
1
Fredrik Strand Galta
Aker - MOT
27h24'24
2
Rafael Reis
Porto - Prio
+ 00'02
3
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 01'58
4
Christian Mager
Team Puma - SAP
+ 03'11
5
Jack Haig
Jayco - Cobra9
+ 03'42
6
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina - Dexia
+ 05'27
7
Davide Formolo
Gazelle
+ 05'47
8
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 06'30
9
Michael Kolar
Moser - Sygic
+ 08'40
10
Mike Aaron Egger
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 09'09
Team
1
Orange Pro Cycling
82h22'05
2
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 04'48
3
Team Puma - SAP
+ 05'49
4
Gazelle
+ 06'45
5
Moser - Sygic
+ 14'05
6
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 14'09
7
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 15'34
8
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 16'41
9
Pendleton's
+ 20'35
10
Festina - Dexia
+ 20'42
Disclaimer: The finish positions in the peloton (+ 1'11 group) might not be correct, but the riders are. The GC times for some riders might be off by some seconds here and there.
Sorry about this but I forgot to export the file for this stage and had to manually reconstruct it. All point scoring positions are correct I believe. Stage 8 results will have the exact stats.
