The penultimate Alpine stage of this year’s Tour de France led from Saint Jean de Maurienne to La Toussuire. While the stage over 138 kilometer was relatively short, it included only very few flat sections between the four categorized climbs.

Shortly after the start, a group formed with the BORA – ARGON 18 riders Emanuel Buchmann and Bartosz Huzarski. However, there were constantly attacks among the favorites in the field, and given the fast speed of the chasers the lead group had no prospect of success.

Further into the course, a favorite group was established at the head of the race, and Bartosz Huzarski was able to keep up with it. While the attacks on the yellow jersey continued until the final climb, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) secured the victory as a soloist. Chris Froome (Sky) lost only little time and he’ll start in yellow also at the final weekend. Jan Barta finished the stage as the best rider of BORA – ARGON 18 and he moved up to 25th place overall.

"It was a very difficult stage with an incredibly tough start. Bartosz and Emanuel have still managed to get into the breakaway. Unfortunately, the favorites raced immediately and caught the break already on the first climb. On the descent we were very present and went along with each group. But ultimately breakaways had no chance today as it was a race of the GC favorites. We know that we aren’t able yet to ride in front at this level. But the team rode a very good race and has tried it. Tomorrow will be another tough day and we’ll again try everything to present ourselves", Sport Director Enrico Poitschke said after the stage.