22-07-2016, 23:43
I'm glad I didn't discount Romain Bardet because he won today's stage! At one time his lead came down quickly to 28 seconds, but went back up to 42 seconds, before a second splintered attack brought it back down again to 23 seconds - Rodriguez, Valverde and Meintjes all finished together.
As predicted, today was when big moves were made in the top ten of the GC, but despite Froome falling and having to use Geraint Thomas' bike, Froome turned out to be the big winner. The early breakaway group of 20 riders were 4'42" ahead after only 7km, but after numerous attempts to close the gap, Bardet had joined Rui Costa at the front with 7km still to ride and kept the peloton at bay. The big feature of the day was the number of crashes - leading names like Froome, Porte, Mollema and Dumoulin (he had to abandon immediately afterwards) all hit the ground.
The upshot is that Froome has extended his lead to 4'11" from Bardet, 4'27" from Quintana and 4'46" from Yates. The day's big loser was Mollema (2nd this morning, 10th tonight) who finished 3'50" behind Froome.
Rafal Majka secured the Polka Dot Jersey today by picking up 36 points and he just needs to finish in Paris on Sunday to be King of the Mountains.
In the Young Rider category Meintjes gained 33 seconds on Yates, who still has a lead of 2'16" with 2 days to go.
Tomorrow is the final day in the mountains with a 146.5km stage comprising of an intermediate sprint and 4 climbs. There will be a lot of tired legs after today's stage and there's more of the same tomorrow. The big difference will be that tomorrow sees a 12km downhill finish. Who can stand the pace and who will take the risks? Froome must still be favourite, but he's starting to look uncomfortable. If Bardet can attack with the same intent tomorrow, he is good enough to unsettle Froome, but Bardet might be looking over his shoulder at the 2 riders within 35 seconds of him and decide to be defensive. For me, the danger to these 3 riders will be Fabio Aru, who is only 1'14" behind Yates.
As predicted, today was when big moves were made in the top ten of the GC, but despite Froome falling and having to use Geraint Thomas' bike, Froome turned out to be the big winner. The early breakaway group of 20 riders were 4'42" ahead after only 7km, but after numerous attempts to close the gap, Bardet had joined Rui Costa at the front with 7km still to ride and kept the peloton at bay. The big feature of the day was the number of crashes - leading names like Froome, Porte, Mollema and Dumoulin (he had to abandon immediately afterwards) all hit the ground.
The upshot is that Froome has extended his lead to 4'11" from Bardet, 4'27" from Quintana and 4'46" from Yates. The day's big loser was Mollema (2nd this morning, 10th tonight) who finished 3'50" behind Froome.
Rafal Majka secured the Polka Dot Jersey today by picking up 36 points and he just needs to finish in Paris on Sunday to be King of the Mountains.
In the Young Rider category Meintjes gained 33 seconds on Yates, who still has a lead of 2'16" with 2 days to go.
Tomorrow is the final day in the mountains with a 146.5km stage comprising of an intermediate sprint and 4 climbs. There will be a lot of tired legs after today's stage and there's more of the same tomorrow. The big difference will be that tomorrow sees a 12km downhill finish. Who can stand the pace and who will take the risks? Froome must still be favourite, but he's starting to look uncomfortable. If Bardet can attack with the same intent tomorrow, he is good enough to unsettle Froome, but Bardet might be looking over his shoulder at the 2 riders within 35 seconds of him and decide to be defensive. For me, the danger to these 3 riders will be Fabio Aru, who is only 1'14" behind Yates.
Cabbage is still good for you