It was another punishing day in the Pyrenees – the last of the three-day stint in the high mountains. A large breakaway dominated the early action and produced the stage winner. Having missed out on the action up the road, Cannondale-Garmin protected Andrew Talansky in the build-up to the Plateau de Beille summit finish.

“The plan was to go with the breakaway with Andrew or Ryder [Hesjedal],” said sport director Charley Wegelius. “The break went, and we hesitated a little, and it was gone.”

“When they missed the break, they had to re-set,” Wegelius said. “They had to focus on getting Andrew to the bottom of the climb with as much energy saved as possible. They did that very well.”

Talansky was surrounded by teammates until the penultimate climb at which point a lift in the pace and the rising roads saw the peloton split.

“The bulk of the team stayed with Andrew to the penultimate climb,” noted Wegelius. “From there, there was a sort of pre-selection made and only Andrew, Ryder and Dan [Martin] remained.”

“Dan saved himself quite well over the climb to take some bidons,” Wegelius continued. “He was able to bring those back. Considering what he did yesterday, that was a good effort.”

“Dan and Ryder took Andrew to the bottom of the climb,” Wegelius added. “Andrew took over from there.”

Up the summit finish, Talansky found himself in the first small group of chasers behind the elite yellow jersey group. Talansky was the first of his group to reach the summit finish. With the Pyrenees now complete, Talansky sits in 18th on the general classification.

“We’ll look for more opportunities in the upcoming days, especially in these four transition days, which hopefully the general classification riders won’t be interested in,” said Wegelius. “The uphill finish to Mende suits Dan.”

Tomorrow returns to flatter roads with a few small climbs on the run-in to the finish. Look for a breakaway to stay away or the teams with sprinters that excel over the lumpy terrain to control the stage.