MVP sits up…we will officially have a new maglia rosa today (not that it was ever in doubt).
The break is looking good to take the day.
yes he packed it in and will wait for another day. this climb looks pretty brutal but definitely would like to do it IRL
Dumoulin out the back as well…not surprised, except maybe for the fact that it happened so early in the race. He never gave any indication of having the form to challenge for the GC.
Oooof…Lopez made a mess of that finish. Was in a good position to grab the stage win and the maglia rosa, but locked up his rear brake in the final turn and let a gap open.
He still gets the jersey, though…not a bad consolation prize. 
Tobias Foss as well. Except for 1 rider in the break, a pretty disastrous day for TJV.
Interesting that Sivakov got dropped as well. Unnecessarily?
Yeah, Ineos is clearly all in on Carapaz now…was surprised Sivakov got dropped (or sacrificed?) especially as Carapaz seemed to dangle a couple of times today.
He might be have the biggest gap between actual results vs perception, media attention, name.
Yes but after a pretty good time trial, you might think they try to keep him in the GC discussion as long as possible? Now they have Porte and Carapaz.
Oh wow, I missed this. He lost 2 minutes today. You would have thought he was a lock for a top 10.
He could still be…lot of time left before the race ends. Lots can happen for guys in slots 5-15. Some guys have a bad day, other guys get into the right break, etc.
I wow had Sivakov pulling unnecessarily, which is why he got dropped. Same with having Porte pull for no benefit
Cav dropped about halfway up the climb….he has 5 teammates around him to pace him over the top and chase on the descent. Alpecin seems to be pushing the pace to make sure he stays gone.
Ewan also dropped, but only has one teammate with him.
I think there’s always a benefit to riding mountains at the pace your leader wants to go at, not anybody else’s leader. If your leader’s strong that might mean your pace is putting other GC contenders in trouble, if not dropping them then at least tiring them. If your leader’s having an off day that might mean setting the highest pace he can manage and hoping it’s enough to discourage anybody from attacking.
Keeping the pace high maximised time gaps for Dumoulin and Nibali who are now pretty much out of GC contention - don’t think they were ever really serious contenders but still good to thin the field early in the race and give yourself fewer teams/riders to have to mark. I don’t think Sivakov losing time matters - showed some promise early in his career but not much sign in the last few years that he’s capable of stepping up to be a GT contender. Porte seems happiest riding for others and taking the pressure off himself anyway. If Ineos didn’t have a clear leader it might make more sense to try and preserve their options for longer, but with Carapaz being the bookie’s favourite it’s pretty obvious what their plan is.
Cav and Ewan not making it back and they called off the chase. Girmay, MVP and Demare will battle it out, it looks like.
Great sprint from Demare and fantastic leadout from FDJ….that left-handed inside the final KM jammed things up and they kept Demare in perfect position.
Girmay got pinned up against the barriers,even before he got squeezed you could see that he was not in a position to launch his sprint.
Cavendish and Ewan might call that karma for MVdP.
Caught only the last 12k but definitely some technical corners in the final 5k.
I would agree generally, but look at last year’s Tour when Ineos pulled the peloton along for no reason. It just feels like when Ineos doesn’t know what to do, they go to the front and pull. But they no longer have a rider like Froome when he was winning who can attack off of the train and make it worthwhile
Seems Girmay is chomping to uncork one. He’s been blocked in the last two sprint chances and would be interesting to see what that kid could do if he had some daylight. Gaviria is also looking good. Nice to see him recovering after his collar bone break. He’s had some difficult years at UAE due to some health issues. I’d love to see him come up with a win at this year’s Giro.
He’s had covid 3 times I think