Welcome! Thank you for joining us wherever you are in the world, watching the 13th stage of Le Tour de France, as we travel from Albertville, a common haunt for Alpine stages and host of the 1992 Winter Olympics, to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles.
This is the third summit finish at the ski station, and as always it's joined by the double act of Croix de Fer and Mollard preceding it. It made its debut in 2006 when Michael Rasmussen won and Floyd Landis cracked and conceded yellow. That stage is more remembered as the one before his historic solo romp - but the less said about that, the better. The first climb that day was the Col du Galibier from its less-used southern side. La Toussuire made its return eleven years later, last year as many of you will recall, with the opening climb being the Col du Chaussy. Rein Taaramäe won that day for his third stage win of the race, whilst Simon Spilak held on to yellow after finishing at a stalemate with Taylor Phinney. The former duo will likely be our protagonists again today (with the famed Col de Madeleine (26.1km @ 6.1%) as our opening climb, and first HC summit of the race), and whilst Spilak no doubt has defending yellow in mind, you have to think the stage win is secondary for Rein Taaramäe.
Yesterday's stage into Morzine was more dramatic than anyone expected as Spilak won after a powerful display, and turned over his 13 second deficit to take yellow - and then some, extending his gap to nearly two minutes over Taaramäe. Many riders who had disappointing starts to Le Tour found a chance at redemption, but aside from the shock result of Keinath finishing with Spilak and moving into the top 10, the members of the top 10 remained largely the same, albeit in a slightly different order. Taaramäe lost time to all of the other top 5 riders as Gesink showed a clear spark of form after off days in the Vosges and the Swiss time trial, attacking and dropping the Estonian.
Today will be a massive stage, no doubt about it. From the GC fight, to the (possibly connected) fight for a prestigious stage win, to the KoM fight with 66 points on offer, and to those battling the time cut, which on such a short but brutal stage is always an issue. But enough theorising - at least until we get bored on the valley roads. It's time to race!
Look I have to say, these men are mental. The polka dot jersey of Dominik Nerz, out all day in the breakaway yesterday and not even resting once caught, is again the first attacker today, followed by an aggressive presence on the Col de la Ramaz yesterday, Fredrik Strand Galta!
They're joined by six others, including the first yellow jersey of the race! Boom (10th Points, 40pts) Galta (21st GC, 18'02) Jones (22nd KoM, 8pts) Stoltz Danacik van Zyl Nerz (1st KoM, 90pts) Mamykin. A strong breakaway and if the peloton take it a bit easy and they work together well, the stage winner could be in this group. No apparent challenger for the KoM points outside of Nerz, but Galta certainly could put up a fight if he wants!
As we've seen before, Pavlic and Roman acts as Spilak's enforcers in the early going, and just a third of the way up the Col de la Madeleine, their presence is certainly felt at the rear of the peloton as over 60 riders are already dropped. The grim reaper that is the time cut will be on the prowl today.
Meanwhile already the GC contenders sit behind Spilak, with all of the top 5 close behind him and many more not too far behind that. Nobody wants to fall behind before the climb to La Toussuire.
As Nerz and Galta wage war at the head of the race, in the peloton Rui Vinhas (4th KoM, 46pts) attacks in the last 2km, and it looks like the party he’s pooping may be in his pa- no that’s the wrong line.
Omar Fraile hears of this, finds his way to the front and goes himself!
An arduous battle in the last 3km of the Col de la Madeleine, but it's Galta who takes the 20 points at the top!
Meanwhile the breakaway is decimated, with Stoltz dropped early in the climb and now out the back of the peloton, van Zyl two minutes behind and caught by Vinhas, whilst Danacik, Mamykin, Jones and Boom are all within a minute and presumably will rejoin on the descent. 101km to go, and a 3'28 gap to the peloton for the leaders.
Early on the descent van Zyl and Fraile are caught by the pack, whilst Nerz sits uop and Boom goes off as they switch places in the groups.
A very tough and eventful descent, but the hardest worker is Vinhas who is now just 20 seconds in arrears at the bottom. The new leading group is four riders: Galta, Nerz, Boom and Mamykin. The Col de la Croix de Fer beckons!
Vinhas briefly joins the group, but he's clearly suffering from the effort as he, like the others, can't hold even the steadiest of paces from Nerz and Galta! Now maybe he is pooping the party in his pants. 16km still to go on this climb, these two obviously want the stage win but are they eliminating some key help for the descents and giving them respite on the climbs too early here?
And now Galta is solo as Nerz cracks under his pace! This is reckless tactics and ruthless racing from the Norwegian with 70km remaining! Mamykin now caught by the peloton, who are nearly five minutes behind now! 12.3km to the summit!
Over two and a half minutes is the gap from first to second now as Galta forges on, unfazed by his lack of company. An epic adventure awaits and the crowd roar him on here on the Col de la Croix de Fer! 6'08 the gap to the pack, now with more Jaramillo and less Roman working, but about the same amount of Pavlic one would estimate. 4.4km until the summit and 60km until the finish at La Toussuire!
Past the iron cross for which this pass is named goes Freddy Galta, and barely another rider in sight as we look back down the mountain. 3'47 the last recorded gap to Dominik Nerz, who is a minute figure down the road, and over 8 minutes to the peloton. This is a truly impressive ride no matter what comes. Just a motorbike rider, his team car and the commissaire are with him now, and he'd like to keep it that way. Although perhaps I'm forgetting one thing - the fans. They were giving him everything on this climb and it's even more packed on the road to La Toussuire as they eagerly await the riders. Who doesn’t love some panache - the French do, as much as anyone!
A 14km descent until the brief, but still tough, in its own right Col du Mollard begins.
Nerz passes the summit at 4'06
Vinhas at 6'08
Boom at 7'34
Peloton (55 riders) at 8'48.
A fast but safe descent from Galta sees him take a gap of 4 minutes and 17 seconds over Nerz into the Col du Mollard, where the fans encourage the lone attacker onwards as I know we arehere at La Toussuire and you are at home as well. Allez!
A solo is never easy for anyone and he's losing ground to everybody else already, perhaps over-extending himself. Not by much, but a strong Dominik Nerz here has clawed back 30 seconds on this climb after suffering on the Croix de Fer, and the pack is now at 7'58 as Isostar up the pace a little!
However Galta seems to regain himself a little in the last two kilometres here and the gap steadies at 3'50 to Nerz, 5'40 to Vinhas, and 8'25 to the pack, with Lars Boom not on our GPS system but he looks to be pretty close to caught by the peloton, now lead by Pernsteiner with Jaramillo.
If Galta looks to his left across the valley, he can see the ultimate goal: the winding road up to La Toussuire, lined with fans and awaiting their victor. Can it be him on those high slopes?
The same 55 riders who passed the Iron Cross together remain together over the Col du Mollard, and so there's no longer-range moves from any of the GC favourites. Pernsteiner will lead the descent, and then... who knows? The gap has risen back to over 9 minutes, so I give the spread out breakaway trio - excluding Boom who is just 40 seconds ahead now - a real shot at the stage win, in fact if Galta holds steady as he has he's surely got very good odds!
Galta took the Croix de Fer's descent cautiously but there's no such thing here - he knows, as all of us do, the tragic sight of a rider caught in the last kilometre of a mountain top finish, and he's opened his gap on Nerz to a massive 4'40. Every second counts, and I already made my one allotted Lance Armstrong joke for this year, so let's move on.
Let's take a look at the overall rankings at the start of the day, 5th to 21st - Galta's position. His gap to the peloton is 8'50 right now, which puts him at 9'12, which is just 4 seconds behind Dekker in 7th - so if Keinath et al have an off day, who knows how high he could jump here?
Here it is, the road up to La Toussuire! 18.2km to go for Freddy Galta and the latest gap is 4'43 to Dominik Nerz and 8'43 to the peloton, now including Lars Boom. It's certainly enough of a gap if he can hold this pace you would think - but it's needless to say that's much easier said than done at this point. 52km now solo at the front.
We can see Nerz in the background here, now recorded over 5 minutes behind Galta with 16km left for the Norwegian.
Meanwhile Vinhas keeps going steady and is just over a minute down on Nerz now, he's been gaining since the foot of the Mollard! He's got 2 minutes to the peloton so it's not looking good for either of our chasers unfortunately - but we know they won't go down without a massive fight!
Everyone surrounds themselves with their last domestiques, their loyal lieutenants, as Kratochvila leads the peloton onto the final climb! Taaramäe lurks ominously, just behind the yellow jersey of Simon Spilak. Last year on this climb, Taaramäe was out of the fight for yellow and so, although he won, it wasn't quite a duel with the top guns. This year it's different, and if there's one thing I know about these riders, it's that they wouldn't have it any other way.
We can pretty much make this Fredrik Strand Galta vs the Peloton now as his gap rises to over 5'40 over Nerz, and holds steady at 9 minutes to the peloton - however he knows full well that bond will break at any second. Right now with a little over 13km remaining he has 90 seconds per kilometre to lose to the favourites - it rises with every pedal stroke that nobody in the peloton attacks - and I know his team staff, and his fans at home in Norway breathe a sigh of relief every time!
And it's holding steady no longer - it's increasing! As the caginess in the peloton continues, everybody ahead of them seems to have gained a full minute on the GC men! With just 11km to go, it looks very very good for Galta! Surely if nothing else I'd expect the teammates of those at the fringes of the top 10 to do something here!
The 10km banner now for Freddy Galta, and with that a nice view of the chair lift, and perhaps the roofs of some of the accomodation around the finish. But for now, he has to focus. The favourites will be coming, and Nerz has gained 30 seconds in the last two kilometres, putting the gap back down around 5 minutes!
And it keeps coming down - now 4'40 with 9km to go! Dominik Nerz has really found a second wind here and even if it's still very very unlikely, he's coming for the win. He is the King of the Mountains - but he wants to be the King of this one in particular!
Still nothing in the peloton. Unlike yesterday no minor favourites looking to get away, and the big guns look content with nothing happening right now. Although they are (erroneously for some of the top 10) not concerned with the stage win, and I should say that there is still over 12km to go!
Ricco has come to join the Isostar train to further intimidate anyone who might attack, for good measure. 10 minutes is the gap up to Galta, 8km to go for the Norwegian.
Here we go! Barguil (10th GC, 12'19) is looking for an exit visa which is ridiculous because he's a French citizen and even then most cyclists are European and you have freedom of movement but then again the UCI is from Switzerland which isn't in the EU! Whatever, he's attacking and with Galta entering his GC turf it's a good move! He was ambitious yesterday and it's good to see the young Breton on the offensive from over 10km out today!
A very well-placed and powerful move and the Moser rider gets a gap! However it does see a certain rise in pace as the Isostar train get out of the saddle and pump those legs, and this should shake up the tempo!
Galta has stopped the time loss and the gap is sitting around 4'30 comfortably with 6.5km to go. It's by no means a sure thing but Galta is riding steady and smartly up to La Toussuire, and as you can see here it's still a long physical distance back to Nerz, and although it's better than not seeing him, you can't help but feel that massive distance will be a bit demoralising for the German!
Meanwhile it's already 50 seconds for Barguil, what an attack!
Oh my word this man has some courage - Simon Spilak in the yellow jersey decides to get the drop on his rivals and slip away in front of his teammates with over 10km to go! Taaramäe is quickly onto the front chasing, but the next GC rider is sixth wheel in the form of Robert Gesink!
A lime wall blocking the GC men, and some fantastic teamwork here! Isostar look to put their mark of Le Tour and it's astonishing to think that they formed just two short years ago, and now they're working to win the biggest race of all at first opportunity!
As said no other GC men were near the front and so as Rein Taaramäe looks to bridge across it's Spilak's teammate Ricardo Ricco, the veteran climber, who follows him! Could this be the moment where Spilak and Taaramäe definitively make this Tour de France a two-horse race? It would seem so, unless someone else attacks - and quick!
Sicard takes the lead here with Antunes, Gesink, Intxausti, Lecuisinier and Wellens right behind. Up ahead Spilak isn't slowing down and seems to be saying to Rein Taaramäe: "Catch me if you can!"
The gap has came down to 4'18 but it looks good for Galta as he passes under the 5km to go banner and looks up to La Toussuire, the flamme rouge is in sight!
And, of course, Taaramäe does put in the effort to catch Spilak, and as they ride away from the pack it's one of those sights that just tells the tale too well: The only two real candidates for the GC now, side by side, riding away from the rest for a duel on the mountain.
Ricco sits up, his job done as he was unable to follow Taaramäe, as Sicard starts to stretch the peloton! There's 40 seconds each way from these two: up to Barguil, and back to the peloton.
Sicard and Gesink pull away now and it's time for Lecuisinier to chase as he's missed the boat - his two podium rivals riding away! Wellens, Intxausti and Keinath all near the front here. 8km to go for the peloton.
And Romain Sicard attacks! He wants to secure a lead in the podium race - but also, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier was drawing closer! Those behind him can follow but the peloton is being stretched!
Up ahead the gap is now down to under 4 minutes, but with 3.3km remaining it looks like it's too little too late for Nerz.
Now Lecuisinier counters as the podium race developing behind the favourites turns into a good old slugging match!
And this one has some traction, as the others can't respond immediately - Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier is taking his Tour de France into his own hands, and the home fans are loving it! This boy wonder is turning into a man here on La Toussuire!
The fans are becoming three rows deep here inside the last two kilometres, and with still nearly four minutes' gap on Nerz, it's maybe time just to soak it in a little for Freddy Galta. This is a glorious solo victory he will be taking, with real GC impact, and a memory for any fans watching today that will last a long long while!
A gap opening up at the head of the peloton as Sicard, Gesink, Wellens and Intxausti distance the rest a little! However the gap that concerns the former two will be the 36-second one between them and Lecuisinier!
Still 7 minutes for Galta to most fringe top 10 riders and so he'll be looking at breaking into that 9-14th spot and building on his GC ambitions in future!
Taaramäe can't or won't attack Spilak and so the yellow jersey is happy enough to lead into the last 4km, picking up Barguil now too. The Frenchman will be happy with a free ride up the GC rankings and closer to Galta! Unfortunately the valiant Vinhas will be next, no stage podium for him. Nerz has two minutes, so he should be ok unless Spilak or Taaramäe go soon!
Flamme rouge for Galta and the victory is secure now. With this being not just a stage win attempt but a GC raid he'll be scrapping for seconds for another few hundred metres, but he'll be able to celebrate soon. And boy has he earned it!
And here he goes! Rein Taaramäe has picked his moment and gone for it, as Vinhas and Barguil don't even try to respond - those two minutes of Nerz's doesn't look so secure now! Spilak seems able to counter the initial acceleration easily - can Taaramäe apply enough pressure to drop the Slovenian?
Two more simultaneous attacks - Gesink with a powerful move in the "podium chasers" group, and Bongiorno in the peloton, followed by Dekker and Schelling, with Keinath, Nibali, Brambilla and a tiring Formolo nearby. No sign of Kangert unfortunately!
Galta does indeed sprint home for seconds before posting up, but what a celebration still. Seventy kilometres over tough terrain rode solo today after riding in the breakaway for the rest of it, and one of the modern epic victories that few watching today will forget. A simply stunning stage win, and exactly what the doctor (and team manager) ordered for his race, and that of his team. This is cycling, and this is the emotion of the Tour de France, a roar from Fredrik Strand Galta, and a huge emotional release. Take a bow, son.
Gesink here powering clear of his companions and making a big move for that third place on GC, as well as defending his spot to Lecuisinier, who has caught Barguil and Vinhas and is 40 seconds ahead still!
Behind, Bongiorno, Dekker, Keinath and Schelling have rode away from the rest of the peloton.
Taaramäe just can't crack Spilak, who is playing this absolutely right now by hanging on and not coming through into the wind! 2km left for them an they're 55 seconds behind Nerz! I hope he can hang on but I fear the worst here.
A look at the gaps here as the peloton breaks up. Tanel Kangert the big sufferer here as he'll lose time to his top 10 rivals, whilst Jack Haig has been dropped from the "peloton" also.
Brambilla now attacks looking to catch up to the quartet ahead. Nibali and Formolo follow!
Back to the race for yellow, and Rein Taaramäe leads Spilak in the final kilometre and unless one of them eeks out a few seconds in a sprint it's a stalemate here on La Toussuire. What we can say for sure is that Simon Spilak will exit the Alps looking the better, and in the best position.
Up ahead is Nerz, who should surely hold on for a fantastic second place!
Wellens is on the attack in the Sicard group now, looking to up the pace to further distance those behind and not lose so much time to Galta I presume! Vinhas will likely be knocked out of the top 10 here unfortunately, a very good performance by him but just not enough. Maybe he can hand a bottle to Intxausti, but in this heat I doubt anybody has much left!
Taarmae and Spilak sprint for the bonuses and I don't think a reflective Dominik Nerz realises, this could be awful...
But it's not so, as Dominik Nerz holds on for a simply wonderful 2nd place. Not what he would have wanted and so he may not agree with me now, but boy is this a super ride from the polka dot jersey who had one of the worst openings to a Tour de France possible. Ninth yesterday, second today, he's not only collecting KoM points but fighting for results. Surely a Pyreneean stage win would be no less than the German deserves.
Simon Spilak will gain another eight seconds and end a pleasing day over two minutes ahead of Rein Taaramäe, who is fourth here and will be disappointed by his failure to regain any time.
It's all going on behind as Lecuisnier leaves behind Barguil, Sicard can't hold onto Intxausti's wheel and Dekker attacks the next group down!
However the Breton recovers well and so it's a young French duo coming in fifth and sixth, just 40 seconds behind the yellow jersey and hopefully as far ahead of their rivals as they can. Whilst this isn't the big time gaps Lecuisinier will need to move up the GC ladder, it's a mental win for him. Barguil should be 7th or 8th, depending on the time losses of those immediately behind, as well as Kangert further down the mountain.
Gesink manages to distance Sicard in the end, but our third on GC managed to hold the wheel of Wellens to finish just 8 seconds behind the Dutchman. Gesink loses 20 seconds to Lecuisinier, 28 for Wellens and Intxausti to Barguil in the fight for the top 10.
Dekker can't shake his companions but will be absolutely thrilled to learn he'll comfortably move into sixth on GC with Kangert's losses. Sixth after the Alps is a truly amazing spot for him, let's hope he can keep it. Schelling and Keinath won't mind this, the latter especially consolidating the top 10 spot he earned yesterday. A great day out for Bongiorno as he chases a top 15, the time gained on Haig and Brambilla is especially pleasing. Vinhas our third finisher from the original breakaway, no points out of it but 15th is a nice result. In the end not actually huge gaps between 2nd and 15th, in fact under two minutes.
Haig the big top 10 loser of the day as his chances for that slip away as he comes in over 7 minutes down, ceding three minutes to most of his rivals and he'll slip to about 14th on GC by my calculations.
A rough day for Tanel Kangert but he battles admirably to finish within five minutes of his top 10 rivals, and will fall only to seventh. However it will be a battle to hold onto that as a real underdog in the high mountains, and a battle to recover in time for Ventoux on Stage 15.
Riders are still streaming in, but Fredrik Strand Galta won't care. He deserves all of this adulation and more from the crowd for this epic solo victory. His manager implored him publicly last night to follow Nerz's lead and chase mountain breakaways, and he's hit his first one out of the park. All day in the breakaway, the last 70km of it solo in the saddle for an awesome win here at La Toussuire!
It's been up and down, but Simon Spilak has taken a two minute lead over Rein Taaramäe now after a little over half the race gone as we leave the Alps to head down to Provence and Occitanie for the rest of the race. Further behind, some will be surprised that it is Romain Sicard and not Robert Gesink who sits third, but the French Basque has certainly earned it. Can he hold on against the former Vuelta winner? Lecuisinier was the best of the rest today but still has four minutes to regain to reach the podium.
Dekker and Kangert have uphill battles ahead to stay sixth and seventh but they've surprised us all and earned those spots after the Alps. Barguil and Keinath have been active and slipped into the top 10 over the last two days, whilst Nibali has gone backwards since the first week but is still there.
Dominik Nerz certainly isn't the only contender for the KoM jersey as Galta enters the fray, but he is the huge frontrunner with a seventy point lead. The question now is can he keep holding on for points at summit finishes to stave off Spilak and Taaramäe, as he did today.
And one jersey that is all but wrapped up is the white jersey of Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, an 8 minute lead isn't completely secure but unless Jack Haig has a big turnaround, the disparity in climbing skills is apparent after the gaps today.
Sadly we must report over twenty casualties of the time cut today - surprising given the 60 riders dropped on the Col de Madeleine! You can find them below, but the major names are the sprinters Cavendish, Mohs, Kupfernagel, and Bertilsson -two big losses for Ahlstrand ahead of tomorrow's flat stage 14 to Nîmes, which provides welcome reprieve for all those who did survive today - I'm sure they, and we, can raise a glass to their mettle and survival to live another day. Bon soir everybody, that's all from us.
