Ion Izaguirre wins in Morzine, Chris Froome on cusp of 3rd TDF victory

A brave ride by Ion Izaguirre in horribly wet conditions won him his first Tour de France stage win. The day's exciting racing came from the breakaway as the GC contenders rode conservatively in the very wet, slippery conditions keen to conserve their positions rather than taking any risks.

There was an exciting duel on the Col de Joux Plane involving Izaguirre, Jarlinson Pantano, Vincenzo Nibali and Julian Alaphilippe. When Izaguirre, Nibali and Pantano crested the summit together I thought Nibali would be the fastest on the descent but he was cautious, perhaps affected by his crash on the descent yesterday. Instead Izaguirre descended brilliantly and finished a comfortable 19 seconds ahead of Pantano with Nibali a distant third.

Earlier in the stage Romain Kreuziger, who had managed to get into the big breakaway group, became for a while the virtual second on the road. He was assisted by a long, herculean pull by his team mate Peter Sagan until Sagan inevitably blew up on the third mountain climb of the day. Nevertheless it was another impressive show of strength by Sagan. We will have to see whether he will pay for this in today's likely sprint finish in Paris. Kreuziger moved himself up to 10th pushing Mollema out of the top 10. 

     

Chris Froome finished safely in Morzine after a careful descent shepherded by his team down the last dangerous slopes. He faced no serious attacks and providing he finishes today's short stage into Paris will have won his third Tour de France. He joins the select band of three time winners – Louison Bobet, Greg LeMond and Philippe Thys, while Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Induráin and Eddy Merckx won the Tour five times. 

Apart from Kreuziger moving into the top 10, the only other change saw Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver move into 7th place with a successful late attack on the Col de Joux Plane. He replaced Fabio Aru, who blew up horribly on the lower slopes of the Col, finishing 17'38 behind Izaguirre and more than 13 minutes Froome and the other GC riders. Ironically his Astana team had been setting a fierce pace to control Kreuziger and perhaps set up Aru for an attack.  

Stage 21: Chantilly to Paris Champs-Élysées 113 kms       

Much of this stage will be a celebratory procession until the centre of Paris is reached when the racing will start with eight circuits of the Champs-Élysées to finish in a likely bunch sprint. I am going for a win by Marcel Kittel with André Griepel second.   

#TDF2015: Vincenzo Nibali saves his Tour – Quintana's last chance today

The Tour in the Alps finally sprang into full life yesterday with Sky and Chris Froome finally put under pressure, while Vincenzo Nibali saved his Tour with a fine solo win. With a late attack Nairo Quintana finally managed to take some time out of Chris Froome and is now 2.38 behind. This sets up an potentially exciting final mountain stage but unless Chris Froome has a bad day it will require an epic ride for Quintana to take 2.39 minutes out of Froome today in the stage that finishes atop l'Alpe d'Huez. Although Nibali took 1.14 back from Froome yesterday he is still 6.44 behind, while Chris gained time (1.12) on both Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde. 

Sky will be concerned that their riders appear to be running out of gas at this vital moment. Geraint Thomas had a bad day and came in over 20 minutes down on Nibali and has fallen from 4th place to 15th. Almost the entire Sky Team were dropped on the first climb yesterday and although a number got back on the descent, Froome only had Wouter Poels for support in the final part of the stage. 

The French will have been pleased yesterday with Romain Bardet, Thibaut Pinot and Pierre Rolland all performing well and finishing with the leaders. Rolland made a long bid for a stage victory but couldn't hold onto Nibali on the final climb. Romaine Bardet has strengthened his place as the leading French rider: in 9th place at 14.08, while Rolland is in 10th at 17.27. 

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Stage 20: Modane Valfréjus to l'Alpe d'Huez 110.5 kms

Col de la Croix de Fer

L'Alpe d'Huez

The final showdown is a short 110 kilometre stage with two HC climbs finishing with the famous l'Alpe d'Huez with its hundreds and thousands of spectators lining the hairpin climb to the finishing line. Only Quintana can snatch the Yellow Jersey from Chris Froome. Yesterday he managed to take 32 seconds out of Froome. Will this prove to be too little – too late? Or can Quintana produce an amazing ride today and still win the Tour. It's a very tough ask if Froome doesn't have a bad day. Furthermore Froome as the Yellow Jersey would love to win on L'Alpe d'Huez.

Will Nibali manage to knock Valverde off the podium and take third place? A result that looked highly unlikely until yesterday! Will Bardet stay as the leading Frenchman? We will soon know!  

 

#TDF2015: crunch time – first of four Alpine stages

 

Today is the first of four Alpine stages, which will either confirm Chris Froome as the winner of this 2015 edition or someone else – most likely Nairo Quintana – will take over the Yellow Jersey. Today's 17th stage is the same as the one run in June for the Dauphine where Romain Bardet gained time on the difficulat descent off the Col d'Allos. Can he, Valverde, or Nibali do the same day or will Sky make the climb up the Allos difficult enough to shake off their rivals?

In Paris I think we will see Froome, Quintana and Valverde taking the top three places? In that order? Probably but Quintana still has a chance to win this Tour over the next four days. I think that the rather robotic Tejay Van Garderen will slipout of third place. He seems to have been content to follow the leaders and not make any attack himself. Will that change in the Alps?    

#TDF2015: Sky smother attacks on Plâteau de Beille + lumpy finish in Rodez

 Top 21 from yesterday's stage won in fine style by Joachim Rodriguez

Overall after Stage 12 

Mirroring the weather yesterday's stage turned out to be a damp squib failing to live up to expectations as far as the anticipated shake up of the GC contenders was concerned.  

Joachim 'Purito' Rodriguez produced a fine ride to win the stage from Jakob Fuglsang and Romain Bardet. In the Yellow Jersey peloton there were attacks on the final climb from Valverde, Quintana, Contador and Contador. All appeared to be half-hearted. None of these riders appeared to have an real zip in their legs. Down to the conditions – very hot initially and the cooler later in the rain – or are they just disheartened by the dominance of Sky? The effectiveness of Sky was highlighted by the presence of Richie Porte, almost all the way up the climb, and Geraint Thomas right to the finish protecting Chris Froome. All are now hoping that Froome asa bad time in the Alps.

Several riders, however, will have taken some encouragement from their performance yesterday. For once Nibali wasn't dropped and neither was Thibault Pinot. Romain Bardet had a good day coming in third. Others went backwards – Bauke Mollema, Tony Gallopin and Warren Barguil. Nibali's preformance has moved him up to 9th overtaking Bauke Mollema and Warren Barguil.

In the very early intermediate sprint André Griepel took the maximum points and closed to with two on current leader Peter Sagan. 

Chris Froome's electrifying performance on Stage 10 continues to attract controversy. Some of the French press and people on social media appear to have forgotten how dominant some the performances of France's last Tour winner – Bernard Hinault – were. I well remember being on the Alpe d'Huez in 1986 when Hinault and Greg Lemond came up together well ahead of the rest of the field. Equally consider Eddy Merckx's career.

••

Stage 13: Muret to Rodez 198.5 kms 

  

This stage takes the Tour into the southern part of France's Massif Central. The first part of the stage is relatively flat, particularly after three days in the Pyrénées. The Intermediate Sprint comes at 92.5 kms by which time a break will surely have gone, so there may be limited points available for the leading Green Jersey contenders unless someone like Sagan manages to get into the break.

There are three categorised climbs in the second part of the stage and for the finish there is a sharp 570 metre long climb at 9.6%, so surely not a day for the sprinters. Will it be one for John Degenkolb or Peter Sagan? I suspect it will be difficult for Sagan as he is unlikely to get much team support. The victory may again go to someone in the breakaway. 

Sometimes these transitional stages that are supposed to be relatively easy for the GC contenders can be deceptive. Sky will need to be attentive. Also some GC riders could lose a little time on the final climb.      

#TDF2015: yesterday's GC truce to end on Plâteau de Beille

Little change to GC: only Nibali slipping from 10th to 11th

Rafa Majka, the Polish climber and last year's winner of The Mountains' Jersey, won yesterday's stage over the Col d'Aspin and the Tourmalet with a long solo ride. This win takes his stage wins to three – the same number as the UK's greatest climber Robert Millar and may be the start of a campaign to take the Polka Dot Jersey again. 

Apart from the breakway and a number of abandons including Rui Costa, this mounatinous stage was fairly uneventful as far as overall standings are concerned. Vincenzo Nibali ordered his team to ride hard on the middle section of the climb up the Tourmalet but placed no attack himself and was again dropped on the final climb of the day losing another 50 seconds on Froome. Perhaps the only consolation for Nibali was that Jakob Fuglsand, who was reported to be Astana's new team leader to replace Nibali, lost even more time and is now 7.47 behind Chris Froome and in 11th place. 

In the intermediate sprint Peter Sagan regained the Green Jersey and now leads André Griepel by 7 points. 

 ••

Stage 12: Lammezan to Plateau de Beille 195 kms

Today's last brutal stage in the Pyrénées could well see a change to the General Classification. It ends with the HC climb to Plâteau de Beille. The intermediate sprint comes at only 20 kilometres. Will this be a chance for André Griepel to grab back some points from Peter Sagan. 

This stage is a chance for Nairo Quintana, Tejay Van Garderen, Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde to put pressure on Sky and Chris Froome and take some time back. 

It is going to be very hot today – 34-38˚C making the stage even more difficult.  

#TDF2015: Chris Froome dominates his rivals

 Top 21 finshers on Stage 10 – from Froome to Nibali – 4.25 down.

Overall after Stage 10: comfort zone Froome for the moment

With his attack 6.3 kilometres from the finish, Chris Froome crushed his remaining rivals on the first mountain stage of this year's Tour. As suspected the climb to La Pierre-Saint-Martin found out a huge number of the riders who had difficulty adjusting from riding on the relative flat for nine days to riding up a steep climb. 

After Moviestar team failed to break Chris Froome and Sky on the lower slopes, Sky – Geraint Thomas, Richie Porte and Chris Froome – took over forcing the pace, which dropped all of their opponents apart from Nairo Quintana. When Froome attacked Quintana had no response and finished 1.04 down overtaken close to the line by Richie Porte. 

Froome's other leading rivals lost even more time –  Alejandro Valverde (2.01), Tejay Van Garderen (2.30), Alberto Contador (2.51), Bauke Mollema (4.09) and Vincenzo Nibali, who was dropped early on, came in 4.25 down. 

As well as Sky's Richie Porte (59") and Geraint Thomas (2.01), there were good rides from Robert Gesink (1.33) Adam Yates (2.04), Pierre Rolland (2.04), Tony Gallopin (2.22) and Warren Barguil (3.19) despite a nasty crash earlier on in the stage. It was another horrible day for Thibaut Pinot, who was dropped very early and came in 10.03 down. It was wasn't a lot better for another young French hope – Romain Bardet who lost 8.50. 

All of Froome's leading rivals appeared to have heavy legs – even the normally impressive Quintana lacked zip.

Although the Tour is far from over Chris Froome has a very comfortable lead. He has 2.52 on Van Garderen (2nd), Quintana (3.09 – 3rd), Valverde (4.01 - 4th), Contador (4.01 - 6th) and Vincenzo Nibali (6.57 – 10th). Chris' fellow Sky rider Geraint Thomas is 5th at 4.03 down.  

••

Stage 11: Pau to Cauterets: 188 kms

 

 

If yesterday's stage was tough today's is even tougher with six categorised climbs including the Col d'Aspin (1st) and the Tourmalet (HC). Will Froome again take time on his rivals or can they surprise him and Sky – perhaps with an attack on the long descent from the Tourmalet ? Will Sky allow a breakway to make it all the way? Will Nibali lose yet more time?

The intermediate sprint is at 56.5 kms so all the sprinters should still be in and they may try to prevent a breakaway succeeding before this sprint. In yesterday's sprint André Griepel took back the Green Jersey from Peter Sagan.  

#TDF2015: start of the mountain showdown

Profile of the last climb: La Pierre-Saint-Martin

The first part of the 2015 Tour is over. During the first nine stages you could lose the Tour but not win it. The remaining days will decide who the winner will be.  Of the remaining 12 stages seven are in the mountains and all the rest, part from Stage 21 into Paris, are lumpy. It's going to be a very gruelling time for the riders from now to the end of the penultimate stage on 25th July. 

Today is the first of three days in the Pyrennées. On paper only the climb up La Pierre-Saint-Martin is tough but a sudden steep climb of 15.3 kilometres will surely find one or two of the favourites and outsiders out. The first mountain stage has often been a crucial pointer to the overall winner.  This is the first time
La Pierre-Saint-Martin has been used as a Tour mountain top finish.

I suspect that Sky will ride hard before and up the climb seeking to distance some of Chris Froome's rivals. Today will be important for Vincenzo Nibali, even though there are plenty of mountain stages to come, he surely cannot afford to lose more time, especially if it is a significant gap. Will Chris Froome again prove to be strongest or will Nairo Quintana start to pull back the nearly two minutes he has lost? What of Tejay Van Garderen, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Rigoberto Uran? Or could there be a French surprise as today is the 14th July – Bastille Day....

The intermediate sprint comes after the first of two Category 4 climbs, so all the contestants for the Green Jersey should still be there. Can André Griepel snatch back the Green, which Peter Sagan now leads by just three points? Also given the succession of tough mountain stages, how many sprinters will be able to make it to Paris to compete in this year's final sprint on the Champs Elysée?   

Sad news that Ivan Basso had to withdraw yesterday from this year's race diagnosed with testicular cancer.  

Serious crashes mar Stage 3 – won by Joaquin Rodriguez with Chris Froome grabbing Yellow

 Joaquin Rodriguez triumphs on Le Mur

Chris Froome snatches Yellow by one second from Tony Martin

Unfortunately two crashes marred yesterday's Stage 3 that finished on top of Le Mur de Huy. The second was poarticularly serious and led to the race being neutralised due to the number of medics and ambulances tending to injoured riders. It also led to the abandonment, after finishing, of the Yellow Jersey – Fabian Cancellara – with two fractured vertebrae a very sad way for Cancellara to finish what may have been his last Tour de France.  William Bonnet, who was the first to crash, Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, Australia's Simon Gerrans, South African Daryl Impey and Dmitry Kozontchuk (Russia) also abandoned. 

Joaquin 'Purito' Rodriguez won the steep climb to the top of Le Mur de Huy with Chris Froome just behind on the same time and gaining a six second time bonus. Alexis Vuillermoz was third with Dan Martin in 4th. Although Le Mur is only 1.3 kilometres long its steepest gradient – given as anything between 20% and 26%, there were some significant time gaps. Amongst the overall favourites Tejay Van Garderen, Bauke Mollema, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde lost 11 seconds to Froome (before adding the six second bonus), Contador (18), Rigoberto Uran (34), Romain Bardet (36) and Thibaut Pinot (1' 33"). 

Overall Froome now leads his rivals by: Van Garderen (13"), Uran (34"), Contador (36"), Mollema (1' 32), Nibali (1' 38"), Valverde (1' 51"), Rodriguez (2'), Bardet (2' 54") and Pinot (2' 58").     

  

•••

 

Stage 4: Seraing to Cambrai

Today's stage at 223.5 kms is the longest of the 2015 edition and includes seven sections of cobbles totalling 13 kilometres. Although in contrast to last year's awful wet conditions, the forecast is for the dry weather to continue during the day with the possibility of rain in the evening after the stage has finished.

Even so today's stage will surely shake up overall standings again. Will Froome come through unscathed in marked contrast to last year when a wrist injury forced him to abandon before the race hit the cobbles. Nibali, who rode so well last year, will be looking to repeat his performance and grab back some time.

Cancellara would have been amongst the favourites to win today.  

Update: The possibility of rain at the end of the stage appears to have increased.

2014 Tour de France: Kittel wins Parisian King Sprint – Nibali crowned

Marcel Kittel won his second successive stage on the Champs Elysée having won last year. This time he beat Alexander Kristoff into second place. Kristoff was in the lead as the line approached by Kittel had his characteristic strength to put in a last spurt in the fianl 50 metres or so that moved him clear and won the stage. This takes Marcel Kittel's overall stage total to 8 – 4 wins in 2013 and 4 this year, so he is beginning to move into exalted company!

 

Vincenzo Nibali was duly crowned as the 2014 Tour de France winner. There was no change overall, although the time gaps have changed as little as Nibali made sure he rode over the finishing line with his team, so Jean-Christophe Peraud, for instance, gained a few seconds. When you are leading by well over seven minutes a few seconds lost on the final stage changes nothing.

Nibali has now won all three Grand Tours – France, Italy and Spain. He joins only five other riders who have managed this feat: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault and Alberto Contador.  

Nibali is a very worthy winner – he has clearly been the best rider in this year's Tour. You can speculate what would have happened if Chris Froome and Alberto Contador hadn't crashed out of this year's Tour but what is important is that Nibali finished and they didn't. I fancy that if Froome hadn't crashed and injured himself on Stage 4 from Le Touquet to Lille, it is very likely that he would have lost considerable time to Nibali on the cobbles the next day.

Le Tour 2014 has been great for France with two French riders on the podium – Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot along with Romain Bardet in sixth. Of course, Pinot also has the White Jersey as the best young rider. 

The Tour de France continues to become increasingly global with Ramunas Navardauskas as the first Lithuanian stage winner and Rafa Majka as Poland's first winner of the Climbers' Jersey. Ji Cheng, clear winner of La Lanterne Rouge at 6.02:24 down on Nibali, is the first Chinese rider to compete in the Tour and the first to finish. 

•••

Earlier in the day Marianne Vos deservedly won the first La Course - the race on the Champs Elysée for women. See details here. Unfortunately, Lizzie Armistead crashed out.

2014 Tour de France: Tony Martin's crushing win + 2 French riders on podium

As expected Tony Martin dominated today's time trial winning by 1:39 from Tom Demoulin and with only two other riders within two minutes of him. One of these being Vincenzo Nibali, who rode conservatively at the beginning speeding up in the second part of the course. As I rather suspected Jean-Christophe Peraud took the second place from Thibaut Pinot despite a puncture, although Pinot did a good ride. AGR2R Le Mondial had bad luck having two punctures. The second cost young Romain Bardet his fifth place as Tejay Van Garderen moved ahead of him by just two seconds. Even so it has been a great Tour de France for the French. The big disappointment today was Alejandro Valverde who lost a lot of time to both Peraud and Pinot, although he does keep his 4th place.  

This afternoon's victory takes Tony Martin's Tour stage wins to four. See updated list of stage winners from 1903 to 2014 here.
 

Vincenzo Nibali extended his lead to 7:58 – it is a long time since a Tour winner has had such a margin. It is also 30 years since there have been two French riders – Peraud and Pinot – on the podium in Paris, barring accidents during the last stage. The last time was in 1984 when Laurent Fignon won the Tour with Bernard Hinault in second and Greg Lemond in third. Of course Pinot has the white jersey as the Best Young Rider.  

2014 Tour de France: Nibali stamps his authority on race

In a demonstration of great strength on the final big climb of this year's Tour Vincenzo Nibali rode away from his rivals winning the stage by 1:10 from Thibaut Pinot. This is Nibali's fourth stage victory this year and it is the first time since Eddy Merckx that the winner of the Tour has won four stages.  

 

Nibali has extended his overall lead to 7:10 with Pinot taking second place from Alejandro Valverde, who was the big loser today and dropped to fourth. With his third place on the stage Rafal Majka secured his win in the King of the Mountains competition. However, there is only 15 seconds separating Pinot, Peraud and Valverde in the fight for the two remaining podium places. The Bergerac time trial on Saturday will be exciting.     

2014 Tour de France: Stage 18 – last mountain battle

Stage 18: Pau to Hautacam 145.5km 

Today's relatively short but tough stage with the climbs of the famous Tourmalet and to the finish atop Hautacam is the last mountain stage in this year's Tour. It would not be a surprise to see Nibali further cement his position as Tour leader by winning this stage. The real battle will be for the podium places with Valverde and Pinot keen to strengthen their positions before the time trial on Saturday and the threat from Jean-Christophe Peraud. Pinot's FDR probably made a mistake yesterday by going hard on the penultimate climb, leaving Pinot without enough teammates for the final climb. 

The Hautacam was the springboard for Lance Armstrong's doped up Tour victory in 2000. 

Should be another exciting stage to watch. 

2014 Tour de France: short killer day in Pyrénées

Stage  17: Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d'Adet 124.5km

Although, with the exception of the sole time trial, this is the shortest stage (124.5km) it will also be one of the toughest. There are four categorised climbs crammed into the second half with little if any respite between them. The first three climbs are 1st Cat, while the Pla d'Adet is an HC. Being a short stage with a mountain top finish the racing is likely to be fast. I expect further shifts in the overall classification.

The impressive Thibaut Pinot (now wearing the White Jesey for best young rider) will be looking to put more time into those who can time trial better than he, in particular Jean-Christophe Peraud who is just over a minute behind. Pinot would also love to move into second above Alejandro Valverde, who is only 49 seconds ahead and who has looked uncomfortably at the top of the climbs. He was briefly dropped by Pinot yesterday but recovered on the final descent.  Today there is no final descent, so any gaps made on the final climb will stick!

Equally Romain Bardet and Tejay Van Gardenen may well try to get back some of the time they lost yesterday – certainly not to lose anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vincenzo Nibali take another stage win today. Should be as exciting as yesterday!    

2014 Tour de France: Valverde + Pinot gain Bardet + Van Garderen lose

Anyone who had seen Michael Rogers' performance winning stages in the Giro d'Italia will not have been surprised at how he powered away from his breakaway companions on the final descent to notch up a fine solo victory. This was his first Tour stage win.  See list of overall stage wins here.

Although the racing amongst the favourites only really started on the final climb – the Port de Balès – there was a considerable shake up in the overall classification. The fast pace set by first by Moviestar on behalf of Alexandre Valverde and then by FDJ for Thibault Pinot split the peloton into pieces. The big losers on the day were Romain Bardet, who dropped from 3rd place to 5th and Van Garderen who dropped from 5th to 6th. More significantly they lost a lot of time on both Valverde and Pinot, who did a particularly impressive ride today and moved into third place. Vincenzo Nibali is still very comfortably in charge.  

2014 Tour de France: First stage in Pyrénées

Stage 16: 237.5 kms from Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon

Today is the longest stage in this year's Tour – 237.5km. It's a savage introduction to three tough mountain stages in the Pyrénées. Of the five categorised climbs – two are significant: Col de Portet d'Aspet (Cat 2) and the final Port de Balès (HC). It was on the descent from the Portet d'Aspet that Fabio Casartelli had his fatal crash in the 1995 Tour. 

Although this stage isn't a mountain top finish, it is straight down to Bagnères-de-Luchon from the top of the Port de Balès, so virtually no chance of making up any time lost on the climb. The Port de Balès has recently started to be popular in the Tour. It made its first appearance in the 2007 edition, after the road had been resurfaced then in 2010 and 2012. The famous chaingate incident occurred in 2010 when Andy Schleck slipped his chain when attacking Alberto Contador, who was criticised by some for not waiting for Schleck. Had they been riding together it might have been reasonable for Alberto to wait but as Andy had put in an attack I can't see why Contador should have been expected to wait for Schleck to sort out his chain. In the event Andy Schleck won the 2010 Tour because of Contador's drugs offence. 

Fortunately the forecast is good for the next two days with the possibility of showers on Thursday afternoon. 

Will Vincenzo Nibali show any weakness today – I doubt it. Instead it looks to be a battle for 2nd and 3rd places. 

See video preview of Stage 16 here.

 

2014 Tour de France: Kristoff takes 2nd stage win in Nîmes

 

It was so near for the two-man breakaway with Jack Bauer caught within 50 metres of the line after they had been out in front for almost all of the 222 kilometres of the stage. Had they just ridden for the line then they might have just made it but they started fencing and that was just enough for the peloton to swallow them. Fine second stage win for Alexander Kristoff with Peter Sagan taking third place and racking up yet more Green Jersey points but still no stage win this year. Surely there is no stage left in this Tour that will suit Sagan. André Griepel featured in 4th place, while Marcel Kittel was surprisingly only 11th. Perhaps reflects that the sprint teams were rather disorganised at the run-in or Kittel may just be tired after mountains.

See updated list of Tour de France stage winners – 1903 to 2014 as Norway finds a rider to follow on from the great Thor Hushovd.  

 

No change in the overall classification with Vincenzo Nibali leading by 4:37. In the Green Jersey competition Peter Sagan now leads Bryan Coquard by 402 points to 226 points. Short of crashing Sagan has won the jersey he doesn't need any more points!

Tomorrow is a rest day before three tough days in the Pyrénees where the battle is likely to be for 2nd and 3rd place with Valverde, Bardet, Pinot, Van Garderen and Peraud being the main contenders.      

2014 Tour de France: Polish rider Rafal Majka wins Alpine stage

Young Polish rider, Rafal Majka, won the very tough Alpine stage to Risoul. He managed to hold off another late charge from Vincenzo Nibali, who again took more time out of his rivals. This is Majka's first Tour de France stage win. See updated list of Tour de France stage winners from 1903 - 2014.  
  

Nibali now has a 4:37 advantage over Alejandro Valverde, who lost time on Nibali as well as Romain Bardet, Thibault Pinot and Tejay Van Garderen. Now only two riders are within five minutes of Nibali, who will surely win, barring a very bad day on the Pyrénees or an accident.