[Marco4]

Its nice to proven right - I'm no expert, but I've seen enough cycling to know how people like to play it. There's a lot of interesting stories that will unfold behind Froome and Quintana now (don't write Nairo off, but he won't get everything back immediately).

Richie Porte is (supposed to be) signing for BMC for next year, so his effort yesterday didn't just steal two seconds off Nairo, but also was a bit of a show of strength to Tejay Van Garderen who finished not far from Sky's third man (who will almost certainly step up to second next year) in Geraint Thomas.

Valverde has a decent chance of finishing ahead of the likes of Nibali and Contador if he carries on his form of yesterday; Movistar getting a top two and a third/fourth would be quite the achievement, too.

Today is my second day off. I love the Tourmalet, its my favourite of all the hills; no doubt after today, I'll have scenic shots of (generally Cofidis, their red seems to work best) riders with the land melting away behind them.

As for the stage.... well, Pierre Rolland looked pretty strong yesterday, so he's in with a shout. I think Dan Martin dropped out fairly quickly, but he's meant to be feeling pretty good, so maybe he was saving it for later.

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Oh, and the profile