FDJ sports director Martial Gayant was right. On Saturday night after the time trial, he made it clear that Sunday's stage would be crucial for the GC in the Giro d'Italia. His team leader Alexandre Géniez was ninth in the stage to Madonna di Campiglio and is now 10th overall.

Since the start in Sanremo, FDJ have supported Alexandre Geniez fullt and their confidence in the leader paid off yesterday on the Passo Daone and on the final climb.

First there was a founding act for this beautiful performance. After being ideally positioned by his teammates at the foot of the penultimate climb, the leader of the FDJ team suffered a puncture. Anthony Roux immediately gave him his wheel and Geniez could easily rejoin the leading bunch, an indication of his good legs.

"Yes, I keep saying: the FDJ team is united and believes in its leader," Gayant said. "Moreover since the small mistake in Imola where he had to close a one-minute gap to the peloton, Alexandre has worked well and I think that he is even getting stronger unlike other rivals that have cracked a little today."

Richie Porte cracked on the Passo Daone and lost 27 minutes. Uran, Kreuziger and Cunego were let go on the same climb and the former two lost 8 minutes, the latter nearly six.

On the winding descent that followed, Van den Broeck crash and ended up losing 4 minutes. On the same descent, Alexandre Géniez was a little delayed, but he quickly got back.

"I made ​​a mistake but I quickly corrected it," he said.

"Alex was the last to make it in the leading group and I have been telling him that this group would lead him to his goal of the top 10," Gayant said. "He was there. Alex was strong, so brave. When he suffered in a passage at 7%, I told him to hang on because there was a passage of  3%. He managed his effort  very well."

He managed to drop a few riders on the final climb, including Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal) and Damiano Caruso (BMC). Then in turn, less than five kilometers, he had to let the group go but without losing his focus. He crossed the finish line 1'49 '' behind the winner Landa. Among the riders vying for the top 10, only König (Team Sky), Kruijswijk (LottoNL Jumbo), Amador (Movistar) and Trofimov (Katusha) did better than him.

Already one dat earlier, Geniez had showed his form by doing a good time trial. The downpour fell on the riders and the wind changed which had a big impact on the result and was unfavourable for the GC riders. Contador took the opportunity to take the pink jersey with a significant lead while Geniez retaned his 16th place.

"At first I got a little scared. I had the times Anthony Roux who had been followed by sports director Frédéric Guesdon and the delay of Alexandre on his teammate after seven kilometers was 30 seconds. However, our leader was working well in a good rhythm. Then I heard about Porte's time and I realized that the wind had changed. It was unfavorable," Gayant said.

For all riders who rode at the same time of Geniez, there was no question of a good result. Instead they had to focus on the best time possible. Only Contador could consider both. Third in the stage, he beat his great rival Aru by nearly three minutes. Alexandre, for his part, finished 4 minutes behind the winner.

"Alexandre was a victim of a puncture of the front wheel after twenty kilometers and it cost him 30 seconds. After taking into account small errors related to his focus - it is not easy to keep it for more than an hour - he still lost about thirty seconds. His proper place was three minutes behind Kiryenka who benefited from favorable conditions."

"I'm happy with my time," said the leader of the FDJ team who did not seem marked by the effort. "The end was curvy, quite technical but I stayed consistent until the end. Anyway, the last riders could not set the best times."