We have just entered the second half of the year, and today we’ll see the first mountain finish of the race; La Planche des Belles Filles. The stage is rated as a hilly one, but finishing on the top of this climb might prevent Sagan or Lutsenko from fighting for the stage win, which would put Spilak as the main favourite for the stage win, a win that the Slovenian needs to put himself closer to the race leader, Taylor Phinney
There are five riders who have managed to escape from the bunch to form the BotD. Not surprising to see Lutsenko on the breakaway, as he has been so far in the BotD in half of the stages! (6/12). Great to see Justo Tenorio joining the breakaway, after been struggling a lot in the last days after his second crash of the race. The other 3 riders are Pibernik, Dunne and Dyrnes
Another non-surprise, as Borges again misses out on the first breakaway and attacks after some kms have passed, this time joining him Koch. Once they reached the leading group, the 7 riders had 2’30 on a bunch which wasn’t going to let them gain too much time
Crash in the bunch! Not a lot of riders affected, with Cort Nielsen and Novak as the most important riders involved. But this time one rider had to abandon, and it’s a domestique of Taylor Phinney, Charles Matte.
Intermediate Sprint - Sainte-Helene
Dunne 6
Dyrnes 4
Pibernik 2
In the first climb of the day, Dyrnes surprised Lutsenko to cross the summit in the first place
Col de Grosse Pierre - Cat.3
Dyrnes 6
Borges 4
Lutsenko 2
With 85 km to go their advantage was still around 3 minutes
Although in the second climb Lutsenko took his revenge, and even better, as there were 10 points on offer in this climb
Col du Mont de Fourche - Cat.2
Lutsenko 10
Borges 8
Dyrnes 6
Koch 4
Dunne 2
With the bunch led by UBS dangerously approaching to the escapees with still more than 20 km left to start La Planche, some riders in the breakaway decided to attack and drop some riders
So a 4-rider group was now leading, with Lutsenko, Borges, Dyrnes and Koch, while the other 3, Tenorio, Dunne and Pibernik would already wait for the bunch to catch them
But Lutsenko thought that going alone would be better for his stage win hopes, and with 25 km to go attacked his breakaway-mates, quickly building a 30-second gap to them, and 1 minute further to the bunch, where Wiesenhof was setting a really high rhythm that was making lots of riders to be already dropped in the flattish roads that they are in now, although no one important.
Oh no... another crash in the bunch, but this time with more than 10 riders involved. And the moment is awful, being just a couple of kms away from starting the final climb of the day. The first rider we notice in the ground is Kulhavy, but there are at least 2 more Moser riders in the ground. Is that...? Yes, it’s Peter Sagan in the ground! And with him it’s U25 jersey contender Jack Haig! And also Amador’s lieutenant, Schelling, who is 14th in GC, is on the ground
The other riders are Feng, Pichon, Aru, Reimer, Faiers, Alaphilippe, Zordan and Blikra.
6 km to go and everyone is now starting La Planche des Belles Filles. Lutsenko still hold a 50-second gap to the bunch, but the speed there is insane, which means that the Kazakh won’t be in the front for too much time. All the fallens have been able to get up and ride their bicycles again, although they are set to lose a lot of time today
And Taaramäe goes for the stage win with 4 km to the top! The Estonian has enough margin in the GC to be allowed to attack by Phinney, Spilak and Gesink, so he wants to use this “advantage” to go for the stage win. Guldhammer has tried to follow him, but Taaramae seems to be very strong today, and the Dane struggles in the front of a 16-rider group who has broke clear from the big bunch
In the group Hirt is pulling of it, trying to bridge the gap, as Sagan is making an spectacular comeback and is already between the 20 first places of the bunch
Amador is attacking, with Gesink being the one closest to follow him, but the big news are that Phinney is struggling, and is in a third group, with Nibali, Lutsenko or Keinath.
Meanwhile, Hirt’s rhythm has made that a few riders separated themselves from the bunch, and with Sagan being blocked by a struggling Van Stayen, the Slovak couldn’t follow Hirt, Arndt, Brambilla and Nesset. No news of Haig or Schelling though
3 km left, and while Taaramae still has a 20-second gap to Amador, Gesink and Spilak - Phinney is 30 seconds further back and is set to lose his Yellow Jersey - the one who looks the strongest is the Slovenian
Although Spilak looked like he could catch Taaramae on his own, it’s Gesink who is attacking now. And Spilak can’t respond to that. And Phinney’s group is quickly approaching to Spilak’s
Wait, it seems that Spilak is arguing with Amador, as the Costa Rican might have involuntary blocked Spilak, when the Slovenian tried to follow Gesink. This has allowed Yates, Guldhammer, Nibali, and most important, Phinney to catch Spilak and Amador. With 2 km to go Spilak finally attacks, but he has lost around 20 seconds to Gesink, and the stage win is almost impossible to get now
Only one km left for Taaramae! But the Estonian is losing all his advantage to Gesink very quickly, and the Dutch rider is only 7 seconds behind him under the Flamme Rouge. Spilak is 17 seconds further behind, but if the rhythm slows down in the front waiting for the sprint, the Slovenian might reach them. Amador and Guldhammer are ahead of Phinney’s group, where the Yellow Jersey is doing no work, with Nibali acting as Phinney’s “domestique”.
500 metres left and Taaramae opens his sprint. Gesink wasn’t yet close to Taaramae’s wheel, and the only hope that he has now to win the stage is that Taaramae explodes
But he doesn’t, and Rein Taaramae wins today’s stage in La Planche des Belles Filles. Second stage win in the race for Taaramae, and funnily in both stages that have finished so far in a climb and both are hilly rated. A nice consolation price for the Estonian, which will also help his run for the 5th place in GC
Spilak takes third place, losing 17 seconds to Taaramae and Gesink. He’ll keep for sure his second place in GC, but the question is if Phinney will finish within 45 second to keep his Yellow Jersey, or Spilak will be the new race leader
Amador finishes fourth today, losing around 20 seconds to Spilak and 35 to Gesink, something that won’t help his podium ambitions
When Guldhammer crosses the line in fifth place, 38 seconds have passed since Spilak crossed the line. And Phinney’s group will cross the line in any moment
Here they come! Nibali is the first of the group to finish, and given that his time will be the same as Phinney’s, it looks like the American will keep his lead by just a few seconds, although we have to wait for the official result to confirm who is the race leader.
Keinath and Wellens rounds up the top10 of the stage, with Pinot in the background having been dropped in the last km
Sagan ends up losing over 2 minutes after his crash, something that makes people wonder if he could have been fighting for the stage win if he hadn’t crashed. We’ll never know. In his group, a very disappointed Dekker, after winning yesterday, arrives
We said that Phinney needed to finish within 45 seconds of Spilak to keep his lead, right? Well, he has finished 46 seconds after Spilak, so this means that Simon Spilak is the new race leader!
Spilak and Phinney are tied for the GC lead now!, with Gesink 41 seconds behind. Amador is clearly in fourth, 2 minutes behind Spilak and 2 minutes ahead of Wellens, while Taaramae is already 7th, only a few seconds behind Yates. Guldhammer is almost one minute ahead of Sagan in the battle for 8th, and Nibali keeps his top10 place and increase the gap to Dekker
