25-07-2019, 00:21
Excellent ride from Matteo Trentin for a convincing win. As themaclad says, there's no change in the top GC rankings, with only 8 riders within 5 minutes of Alaphillippe and 12 within 11 minutes. Included in the large breakaway group of 33 riders, Van Avermaet finished 4th with De Gendt in 27th. Calmejane and Sagan were conspicuous by their absence, by doing virtually nothing all day, even finishing behind a lethargic peleton. About the most exciting thing to happen to them was a bit of a mid-race naughty schoolboy spat between Luke Rowe and Tony Martin which resulted in both riders being disqualified.
I can only assume that the GC contenders have kept their powder dry for the next 3 days, because this race definitely needs a bit of a kick up the backside. Xandro Meurisse made the biggest gain today of over 17 minutes, but is still 11m8s behind in 13th place.
Tomorrow's route takes in 2 HC climbs of Izoard and Colibier, the latter being 23km long, with a long 18km downhill dash before an uphill finish inside the last km. This could break the chances of some of the hopefuls, most probably Nairo Quintana who's never been on his best form in this race. It's a long day tomorrow and surely someone will make a decisive move to shake up the GC top ten.
I can only assume that the GC contenders have kept their powder dry for the next 3 days, because this race definitely needs a bit of a kick up the backside. Xandro Meurisse made the biggest gain today of over 17 minutes, but is still 11m8s behind in 13th place.
Tomorrow's route takes in 2 HC climbs of Izoard and Colibier, the latter being 23km long, with a long 18km downhill dash before an uphill finish inside the last km. This could break the chances of some of the hopefuls, most probably Nairo Quintana who's never been on his best form in this race. It's a long day tomorrow and surely someone will make a decisive move to shake up the GC top ten.
Cabbage is still good for you