Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, Let them eat Cakite, it's Bastille Day at Le Tour and the Alps are here! Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, welcome to live coverage of the Tour de France, as the riders take on a 233km trek from Lyon, France's third largest city, over five climbs into Morzine, in the heart of the Alps and a common fixture in Tours of years past. In fact this stage is nearly a metre-for-metre remake of Stage 7 in 2003, where French darling Richard Virenque took a glorious solo stage win, dropping his companions one by one, and rode into yellow and the mountains lead - the latter of which he'd keep into Paris. Could we see a Frenchman accomplish any of these feats on their national day? I sure hope so.
Today could easily go to the breakaway given the three HC climbs tomorrow and the lack fo a summit finish here, but given we only have two days in the Alps we could see some GC hostilities. Spilak came out of the Vosges bruising and came back superbly in the ITT, taking a stage win and moving just 13 seconds behind the yellow jersey of Taaramäe. The punchy final climb of the Col des Gets should suit the Slovenian if he chooses to attack. Same goes for Gesink, who needs time after two awful GC days in a row - he hasn't looked himself since the Czech Republic.
Five categorised climbs on offer, with two Cat.2 climbs in the first half of the Stage, a long Cat.3 and then some rolling terrain before the centrepiece of this stage, the Col de la Ramaz (15.2km @ 6.5%). It will be the decisive ascent of the stage, with just the Cat.3 Col des Gets to come before a short descent into the ski town of Morzine. Will we see a French winner on Bastille Day? Will we see the GC men out to play? And if so, can Simon Spilak finally get his hands on yellow?
No surprise to see Nerz in the polka-dot jersey with the first attack of the day, with up to 48 points on offer. However holding on to the top of the Col de la Ramaz could prove tricky if the break don't have much of a gap at the bottom. He's followed closely by Shapira in the white and blue of the Israeli national champion.
The GC teams have no problem with this breakaway and so it's a 11 man escape group this morning: Vangstad Antunes Jones Kneisky Sergis Shapira Fabbro (36th KoM, 2pts) De Gendt Cink Bonnin Nerz (1st KoM, 56pts). Some very good climbers in this group, none with too much skin in the KoM fight, but 56 points isn't a huge gap so maybe we will still see fights for the points!
A reminder of the GC rankings whilst we wait for the first climb of the Col de Portes. Nobody in the top 30 is truly out of the top 10 fight seeing the gaps that usuaally appear, but they'll have to be very good in the mountains!
The gap just ticking over 3 minutes with 13km to go until we begin the ascent of the Col des Portes. 14km at almost 6%, it's not an easy one (especially as it's skewed by the 3km of flat near the start), but just Cat.2, and will be taken lightly by both groups I'm sure.
Nerz is pushed by Bonnin, but he takes a maximum 10 points on the top of the Col de Portes, with Sergis in third.
Meanwhile the peloton has been reduced to 109 men, the only top 30 GC casualty being Froome, but that's no shock.
Sergis leads out on the next Cat.2, the Côte du Mont des Princes, but it's the same top 3 again, just with 2nd and 3rd swapped, as Nerz extends his lead to 27!
No prizes for guessing the winner here, but thanks to efforts from Cink, then Vangstad, and being pushed hard by Bonnin, it's the closest one yet!
Meanwhile De Gendt and Fabbro have been dropped and have faded back to the peloton. 3'15 the gap and so not looking good for a break win - if Nerz goes early and isn't too tired he could beat a peloton going for attrition not attacking, but you have to doubt anything else. Good for French fans, as their hopes go from Kneisky and Bonnin to Lecuisinier, Barguil and Sicard!
Isostar, courtesy of Brataschuk, Pavlic and Roman, are heating up the pace and with 10km to the Col de la Ramaz, the gap is down to 1'45!
Vangstad realises this and attacks before the climb even begins! Nobody with any trouble following though.
There's no real "foot" of the Col de la Ramaz. It just ramps up for a kilometre or two and about where the commisaire is here, the organisers decided that was steep enough and the climb starts there. So, at the foot of the Col de la Ramaz, Buchmann takes over the pace. Spilak lurks ominously in third wheel, but Taaramae, naturally, is not far behind.
And just as we said, Nerz must go early just to get KoM points, nevermind the stage, and he knows this and attacks with 14km still remaining of this climb! Bonnin looking to respond but nevertheless an instant gap for the German!
Nerz forges on and just two pairs remain in no man's land as everybody else is swept up by Geniez: Bonnin leads Jones, and further behind Sergis leads Vangstad. 1'31 for Nerz over the peloton, and 12km till the summit!
The rest of the breakaway are passed by Geniez, and so it's Dominik Nerz vs the world as he looks for 16 more KoM points - and after that, who knows? 8km to the summit.
Geniez continues his steady pace, as we see many GC men with a teammate or two to protect them. Except for Spilak, Lecuisinier, Wellens, and Gesink (of those I can see). Will any of them dare to attack?
It's none of those names, but Nico Keinath (16th GC, 11'47) of EA Vesuvio who senses an opportunity with the favourites at a seeming impasse! And interestingly, it's Barguil (13th GC, 10'22) who follows, much to the delight of the fans at the roadside and here in Morzine - "WAWA!" they cry! Come on people, I took this month-long gig on the other side of the world to get away from my stupid children, so don't you all start!
The Tour of America winner hasn't had a great start to his debut Grand Tour at the highest level as a leader, but he could be finding his feet here, on Bastille Day of all days!
Now the response comes as Reis attacks with his teammate Intxausti behind him, followed closely by Wellens, as well as Slagter and Galta furhter back. But more importantly, Simon Spilak on the other side of the pink train!
A clever move here as Intxausti, pre-meditated or improvised, sits up and allows his teammate Reis (43rd GC, 23'14) to go off with no stowaways! The former, Spilak, Wellens and Slagter hold a small lead to the peloton, who are letting Galta close it!
Oh and Simon Spilak counter-atttacks! The Slovenian champion goes for it! He realised he has a 100m head start on Taaramae, and he took the opportunity, followed by Wellens, Slagter, Galta and now also Schelling, Karnulin and Dyball! The rest of big guns aren’t buying it yet, but have no doubt: the GC fight is being electrified right here, right now, on the slopes of the Col de la Ramaz!
And the yellow jersey is finally tempted out of his lair in the wheel of Dyball, as his teammates box in Gesink and Sicard! On the open side of the peloton, Brambilla counter-attacks!
The 5km marker looms over the race, as Wellens (14th GC, 10'45) does tremendously well to follow a flying Simon Spilak, as the other 7 can't! Reis is just metres away, and then triple that up to Keinath and Barguil, who have fallen into great rhythm. And further ahead, with 54 seconds to the nearest rider, remains Dominik Nerz!
Galta (28th GC, 16'05) now tries to launch a bridge move, closely followed by Schelling (20th GC, 12'41) and Karnulin (24th GC, 13'43). Today looks like a redemption day for those GC men who had a crappy first half of the race - from Nerz up at the front of the race to the likes of Barguil, Wellens and Galta here! Meanwhile Taaramae can't quite latch on to this move, and Brambilla leads Lecuisinier, Gesink and Sicard back in the peloton!
15 riders have bridged across to the yellow jersey group, lead now by Gesink, with most of the remaining GC contenders present, as Intxausti suprisingly takes up the chase of Galta et al, perhaps for his GC spot? Spilak and Wellens have caught Reis, meanwhile we await news of the dropped riders!
Two of the top 10 are here and it's Dekker having a bad day as well as Roche! Of the other top 20 names it's Kolesnikov, who looked so good on La Planche des Belles Filles, the climbing name as well as Flugel and Vakoc, two puncheurs who surely saw this coming.
Intxausti with a brilliant technical move here, attacking through the slipstream of Galta just as the catch was being made, leaving his lead chaser as someone who just failed an attack! As we predicted two days ago, he seems to have regained some form and joins the names on today's redemption list, which is growing longer every metre!
Unmentioned in all of this, of course, is Dominik Nerz, who with under 4km to the summit continues to lead with a solid ride here! 43 seconds the latest gap, but his chasers are about to get some reinforcements in the shape of Reis, Spilak and Wellens!
Intxausti gets a clear gap, two become five in the second group on the road, this is all so much to process, so to quote the great cyclocross commentator Ian Butler, let's hit chrono!
Spilak comes straight through to the front of this group and looks to increase his advantage over Taaramae (who is chasing behind now), which those of you doing the maths at home will know is now over 40 seconds, more than enough to see him take yellow!
Meanwhile the gap is 50 seconds and growing for Group Dekker up to the Yellow Jersey Group, as Koch launches an attack, looking to provide some reinforcement for his leader Sicard!
Taaramae not panicking which is good to see, he leads the group with some huge wattage now though, and Galta looks like he's paying for his early aggressiveness! 48 seconds the gap, so no real movement yet with now 3km to go until the summit for Nerz!
We should mention the German's GC standing now - 62nd, 30 minutes behind and so no real threat, but in this form he could get up there. However seeing this performance today, mountain breakaways will be his thing this Tour de France, surely making up for his GC failings somewhat!
We can see here Koch's attack causing splits in the Dekker group, with Nesset, Vinhas, Kirsch (dropped from the Taaramae group), Zardini, Dekker, Kunshin and Vasyliv in the front positions behind the German.
Taaramae has split his group with his pace, with Schelling, Galta, Sicard, Gesink and Karnulin the ones who can follow - and so some big names in Kangert, Haig, Lecuisinier, Nibali and more are in trouble here!
Oh dear this is a sad sight - Spilak has cut down the gap to Nerz like a hot machete through margarine, but he's also cracking his companions, with Intxausti, who's just caught up, Barguil and Wellens falling behind and Reis also slipping away - just Keinath steadfast on his wheel, what a performance by the German! 56 seconds to Taaramae now, Spilak is making a huge statement before, some would say, the "Real Alps" have even begun!
As we see the situation on the Col de la Ramaz, Nerz can't hold the searing pace of Simon Spilak, who is riding himself into yellow with ruthless power! I think I can make out the white jersey of Lecuisinier bridging to the Taaramae group, but more importantly, someone's attacking back there!
It's Robert Gesink! Sicard follows his podium rival closely, but nobody else can - except maybe Rein Taaramae! Is the Dutchman back in form? I sure hope so!
Meanwhile that looks like the steady, wide style of Tanel Kangert behind Lecuisinier bridging across, which is certainly good to see - the Estonian isn't favoured in this top 10 fight, but he is giving it just that - some fight! Just like that Kazakh cage fight I was in - but this isn't the time.
But Sicard can't hold on, and Rein Taaramae, nerves of steel, doesn't panic! he keeps his tempo - perhaps he just can't afford to expend more energy - and lets the man he took yellow from get away, and the back wheel of Intxausti isn't too far away for Robert Gesink!
Meanwhile just 1km to the summit for Spilak and Keinath. Nerz will try to hold on for third at the KoM sprint and maybe a stage top 10. A good performance from the Puma rider.
Gesink has joined the third group, but he'll find one less man than there was when he attacked, as Wellens has bolted up towards Nerz! A great turnaround for the Belgian from the subpar first week and a half of his race!
Spilak leads over the summit of the Col de la Ramaz, with Keinath mere centimetres behind him! Neither rider are renowned for their descending, but they should go into the Col des Gets, and hopefully the finish, with a healthy lead! Spilak is changing the course of the race here with a brilliant ride, but more impressive for me is Nico Keinath - riding to the top 10 and a simply superb stage. It's not quite as stylish as his epic solo breakaway last year, but this is a stunning comeback ride!
Surely he'll follow Spilak like glue until the drop into Morzine. Up ahead is the 20km to go sign, but more than half of them are steep and downhill!
40 seconds behind are Wellens and Nerz, good rides from them both. but the job isn't yet done!
1 minute behind Spilak is the new-look third group - Sicard leads Taaramae and Gesink, all in an enemy-of-my-enemy situation, whilst Intxausti, Schelling, Reis, Barguil and maybe even Lecuisinier have to just buckle in for the ride!
Another 50 seconds and Dekker has put in a huge effort to catch Galta, Karnulin and Kangert, whilst Bongiorno and Haig are best of the rest!
A treeless descent means that everyone can see each other out of the first four groups, as Sicard leads the chase in the 8-man yellow jersey group. Meanwhile Bongiorno and Haig have caught the Dekker/Kangert group.
Sicard with a great descent has caught Wellens and Nerz, but there's now 1'14 up to Spilak and Keinath!
Spilak leads onto the Col des Gets with the 10km banner in sight. As one of the best puncheurs in the race, he'll hope to open the gap even wider here, it's currently 1'24!
Another rider great over smaller climbs is Robert Gesink, and it's no coincidence he's attacking now! A powerful move here as he looks to give the chase some more urgency, shed the dead wood, and shake off his rivals!
It's just Sicard, Taaramae, surprisingly Nerz, and Lecuisinier who can follow the Dutchman, but what effect will it have on the gap?
Nerz instantly regrets that move and is falling back, as contrastingly Beñat Intxausti tries to bridge the gap.
Taaramae is out the back! Nobody saw this coming, a horror day for the yellow jersey as he's losing time to all of the rest of the top 5 on GC! However it is an extremely tough pace set by Gesink, as he lowers the gap to under a minute to the leading duo!
The coolest cucumber award has to go to Nico Keinath today, from opening the attacking to casually following the reigning Tour de France champion on an attack, he's not giving an inch and is in with a shot of a Tour de France stage win for a second consecutive year!
Intxausti does very well to bridge before the summit, as Gesink leads the second group over, 49 seconds after Spilak and Keinath. A great ride from Gesink here to half the gap to Spilak on such a short climb, a life-saver for many - but not for Rein Taaramae, who is 40 more seconds behind! 7km to Morzine now!
2.6km left as Spilak, who did coax some turns out of Keinath on the way down, leads into the town of Morzine. Will he eschew the stage win to work for seconds? Or does the 8 second difference of bonuses sound better? Will Keinath outdo him anyway, or is today just destined to be the day Spilak took it all, as Taaramae did on La Planche des Belles Filles?
Flamme rouge and the crowd await their Bastilel Day winner - Spilak or Keinath? 1 minute the latest gap to the four chasers, so let's focus on this sprint!
500m left, there's not much in it but I just don't think Keinath has the kick to come around!
And indeed he doesn't, as Simon Spilak reigns supreme in Morzine. The stage, the jersey, the massive time gaps - he wanted it all, and he took it all! A magnificent performance, and a massive statement! If his time trial win was returning the serve of Taaramae, then this is him going on the offensive and playing him off the court. Set 1, Simon Spilak.
It's fitting that the reigning champion of France makes a big statement of his intentions to see his reign continue on Bastille Day - it may not have been Barguil or Sicard, but I think the French like Spilak too, given how he brought home team Festina such glory last year!
Although he didn't get a fairytale stage win, let's not forget Nico Keinath turning in an excellent performance and swinging at the top 10. A dangerous customer if he can keep this form going!
3rd and 4th for the French on their national day, as Sicard just beats out Lecuisnier for the 8 bonus seconds, about a minute down. Neither will be too discouraged by their performance, or their result. They've proven they can match their rival for third, Gesink, when he attacks. Gesink himself turned in a decent performance too and took time out of Taaramae and looked a bit more like the man who dominated the Strazne summit finish a week ago! The Intxaustaissance continues with a solid sixth which should see him looking at the top 15 or more going into tomorrow.
Wellens is seventh and Schelling eighth - a nice performance from both. As with Nerz in ninth, who mightily extends his KoM lead and showed promise for a potential breakaway stage win in the future! Reis in eleventh will be pretty pleased too, a good day for Porto-Prio.
Taaramae in tenth concedes 1'50 plus 20 bonus seconds to Spilak, and now has around a 2 minute deficit. A rough day at the office as he loses time to all of the rest of the top 5 and loses yellow. Tomorrow should see a bruising Taaramae, and as he showed at La Planche, and on the exact same stage as tomorrow last year, that's the best kind.
And with a great descent and flat effort from Kangert, the next group get a s.t. finish from Wellens. A par performance for Barguil and Dekker and a good one from Kangert, after it looked for the latter two like it might be a disaster for them. Nice performances from Bongiorno and Galta as well, and a great ride from Karnulin for himself then in support of Kangert. Barguil showed some great fighting spirit, as did Galta, but today wasn't their day. Perhaps breakaways could be an avenue for them - especially the latter, who should draw inspiration from the fantastic performance of Dominik Nerz today.
Haig at 3 and a half and Brambilla and Formolo at 4 minutes down are decent performances, maybe the eBuddy leader would have liked more.
A surprisingly active Ben Dyball leads in the next group, which has a very dissapointed Nibali, who will surely lose his shot at the top 5, and Slagter, who slips further away from the top 10 after the time trial. 5 minutes for these guys.
He sat in second for a long while as Gesink and then Taaramae held the yellow jersey, now it is the turn of Simon Spilak after a dominant performance in the Alps. He now holds a lead of 1'57, about what Taaramae had before the time trial, over Taaramae and 3'26 to Sicard. Aside from that the top five are unmoved in placing, whilst we get a reshuffle of similar names as Kangert and Dekker leapfrog Nibali, who moves to eighth. Not far behind was the brilliant Nico Keinath, whilst Barguil makes it three Frenchman in the top 10 with a solid Bastille Day performance.
Spilak also wins back green in a nightmare scenario for the sprinters, a stage win on the day more likely to go to the breakaway! Like inmany Grand Tours in recent times, this one looks destined to go to the GC men.
Nerz defended the KoM jersey with pride today and extended his lead to 41 points, as well as his stage placing. A good day for him, but with three Hors Categorie climbs and a Cat.2, surely tomorrow is a big day for him or any challenger to step up.
If these last two mountain stages show the damage that can be done on Cat 1 climbs, imagine the gladiator battles tomorrow's triple HC romp will bring! An Alpine epic over the Cols de Madeleine, Croix de Fer and Mollard before a summit finish at La Toussuire. Three HC climbs and a Cat.2 in just 144km, this is not one to be missed. How will Taaramae recover from this blow? Can Keinath and Spilak keep up their performance levels from today? Will Kangert's astonishing run continue? Will anyone challenge Dominik Nerz in the KOM battle, with 66 points on offer? Can I get some sleep tonight because I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED?! Not that I'd be able to anyway with the crap hotels they've given me! Find out tomorrow! Good night, and Vive la France!
