[ritchiebaby]

At home in the mountains, former ski-jumper Primoz Roglic did what I expected Romain Bardet to do to his GC rivals and rode away from the rest before the summit of the Galibier. Despite being chased on the long downhill sections by 5 committed riders all with their own agenda, he comfortably held them off by 1m 13s. A battling sprint in the last few metres resulted in Uran holding off Froome, Bardet and that man Barguil (how could I have doubted him) with Landa a further 3 seconds adrift.

There's a slight reshuffle in the GC rankings with Uran and Bardet 27 seconds behind Froome and Aru falling further behind at 53 seconds. Landa is still hanging on at 1m 24 s, with everyone else surely out of it now.

Once again Michael Matthews was a revelation, even winning the first KOTM points of the day, and kept up the pressure on the faltering Marcel Kittel's lead in the Green Jersey, which was reduced to 9 points. It turned out to be irrelevant as Kittel withdrew at the halfway stage to hand the prize to Matthews. The other notable abandonment was Thibault Pinot and also Briton Dan McLay.

Thanks to his consistent performances, Warren Barguil tightened his Grip on the Polka Dot Jersey despite Roglic scoring 30 points on the day. There are just enough mountain points available for Roglic to topple Barguil, but that totally depends on Barguil not scoring points over the next 2 days. Another productive day for him meant him forcing his way into the Top Ten GC rankings.

In the White Jersey competition, Simon Yates holds a healthy lead of 2m 28s over Louis Meintjes with 3rd placed Emanuel Buchmann a further 20 minutes behind.

Team Sky always seem to have a fantastic group of riders who work their socks off for both Froome and Landa and they deservedly lead the Team competition by 10m 35s from AG2R Mondial, with the other teams over 90 minutes behind.

Tomorrow sees the last day in the mountains, with the stage heading south from Briancon before turning back north to the finish at the Izoard, almost back where they started. There's an fairly gentle first half with a Cat 3 climb and an intermediate sprint before the Cat 1 Col de Vars and the 14.1km long HC climb of the Col d' Izoard.

If Chris Froome is to be challenged for the Yellow Jersey, he must be attacked on the final few kilometres of the Izoard, although he does seem to be back at his imperious best after his wobble on the Peyragudes. With the outstanding protection he receives from his team, Froome is normally as fresh as a daisy for the latter part of each stage and I wouldn't be surprised to see him win tomorrow. As far as Froome is concerned, there will be no need to keep tabs on anyone other than Uran, Bardet, Aru, Landa (who should be riding for Froome) and Martin. All other riders will be allowed a great deal of latitude, even the stage win. For a real outside chance, keep Alberto Contador in mind.