Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) saved what had been a disastrous Tour de France in the best possible way when he claimed the most prestigious stage win in the race, coming out on top in Alpe d’Huez. The Frenchman benefited from a slowdown on the descent from the Col de la Croix de Fer to attack the favourites who failed to catch him on the final climb after he had left Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) behind. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) attacked several times and finally dropped a suffering Chris Froome (Sky) but didn’t gain enough time to dethrone the Brit who will win the race overall.

 

Going into the Tour de France, Thibaut Pinot had lofty ambitions about another top result in the general classification. It all came to nothing after a disastrous first week and after he lost lots of time in the Pyrenees.

 

However, Pinot is known as a fighter and instead of abandoning the race he set his sights on a stage win. Unfortunately, the series of frustrations continued as he had to settle for second in Mende and crashed on the descent in the Pra Loup stage.

 

He missed out again yesterday and that left just one opportunity for him to go for the win. However, it was always going to be a difficult task as the penultimate stage to Alpe d’Huez was the most prestigious of the entire race and was expected to be dominated by the overall contenders.

 

Nonetheless, Pinot refused to give up and after initially having missed out on the break, he made his move after Nairo Quintana had blown the race to pieces already on the Col de la Croix de Fer. As he was unable to drop Chris Froome, things calmed down and while a regrouping took place on the descent, Pinot saw an opportunity.

 

Joining forces with Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin), Ruben Plaza, Jose Serpa (Lampre-Merida), Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Winner Anacona (Movistar), he attacked and those six riders quickly bridged the gap to Ramunas Navarduaskas (Cannondale), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) who had been in the early break. With Navardauskas and Serpa as the driving forces, they used the flat section to gain time on the peloton and get closer to lone leader Alexandre Geniez (FDJ).

 

At the bottom of the final 13.8km ascent, they were 1.50 behind Geniez and had an advantage of 2 minutes over the peloton which was led by Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar). Navardauskas swung off immediately and left it to Serpa to set the pace on the lower slopes.

 

Meanwhile, disaster struck for Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who suffered a puncture just metres from the bottom of the final climb. Tanel Kangert, Michele Scarponi and Jakob Fuglsang waited for him but he would spend the entire climb in chase mode.

 

Castroeviejo set a brutal pace right from the bottom of the climb which made several riders lose contact as the peloton exploded to pieces. That set the scene for a very early attack from Quintana who made his move after just one kilometre of climbing.

 

Richie Porte (Sky) had bounced back from illness and was on a great day as he quickly brough the Colombian back which Mathias Frank (IAM) was the next main contender to suffer a puncture. Porte continued to ride on the front while the battle for the stage win raged further up the road as Hesjedal attacked, with only Pinot, Rolland and Anacona able to stay with him.

 

Wout Poels (Sky) hit the front before Quintana tried again and now it was evident that Froome was suffering. While his teammate managed to stay with the Colombian, Porte had to pace his team leader, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) back to the Colombian.

 

While Hesjedal and Pinot left Rolland, Serpa and Anacona behind, Poels set the tempo in the main group which allowed Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) to rejoin them. Further back, Alexis Vuillermoz, Romain Bardet, Robert Gesink and Joaquim Rodriguez had joined forces while Nibali was constantly passing riders further back.

 

The aggressive racing continued as Hesjedal briefly dropped Pinot while Valverde attacked from the main group. Sky didn’t respond and just let Poels ride on the front.

 

This set the scene for Quintana to attack again but Poels controlled his two next attacks firmly. However, the faster pace was too much for Yates, Majka and Contador who were all dropped.

 

When Quintana tried again 9km from the finish, he made the difference as Poels and Porte clearly had to slow down to wait for Froome. He quickly caught Valverde and those two riders combined forces to keep a stable 10-second advantage.

 

Further up the road, Pinot dropped Hesjedal and made it up to his teammate Geniez who took a brief turn for his leader. However, the fighting Hesjedal managed to get back with 8km to go.

 

Quintana and Valverde caught Serpa who took a huge turn for his compatriot before they made it back up to Anacona. The Colombian took a huge turn for his leaders and actually left Valverde behind, with the Spaniard dropping back to the three Sky riders.

 

With 7km to go, Anacona and Quintana were 1.10 behind the two leaders while Froome was losing a bit of ground and was trailing by 25 seconds. Meanwhile, Nibali and Mollema had caught Contador, Yates and Majka Gesink Krusijwijk, Rodriguez, Bardet and Simon Yates were next.

 

Hesjedal managed to drop Pinot but the Frenchman slowly fought his way back. Moments later it was the Frenchman to make a move and this time he dropped the Canadian for good.

 

For a long time, Anacona and Poels were involved in a big duel, keeping the gap stable at 30 seconds while Pinot’s advantage had stabilized at a minute. Rolland had managed to latch onto the three Sky riders and Valverde.

 

With 5km to go, Poels finished his work and it was now left to Porte to set the pace. Just as this happened, Quintana made his next big attack and now he quickly gained time on Froome and on Pinot.

 

With 3km to go, he was just 30 seconds behind the French leader but from there the gap stabilized. However, he continued to increase his advantage over Froome which was now more than a minute.

 

Quintana passed the fighting Hesjedal with 2km to go but it was evident that it was too late for the stage win. With 1km to go, he was still 25 seconds behind and this gave Pinot lots of time to celebrate his win. Quintana took second while Hesjedal managed to hold onto third

 

Further back, Froome went full gas by using his final bit of energy, dropping Porte and Rolland. He was passed by Valverde in the finale but it was enough for him to finish the stage in 5th and secure the overall victory. He even won the mountains jersey for good measure. Later an embattled Nibali finished in a big group with the likes of Contador, Gesink, Bardet and Mollema to end the race in fourth overall.

 

Froome now just has to get safely through tomorrow’s largely ceremonial stage to Pairs. At just 109.5km, it is a very short one with an early category 4 climb. Otherwise the terrain is flat and it ends with 10 laps of the well-known finishing circuit in the capital where the sprinters are expected to battle it out.

 

The queen stage

After yesterday’s big drama, more action was expected in the penultimate stage which brought the riders over just 110.5km from Modane to a summit finish in Alpe d’Huez. After 25km of gradual descending, the riders went up the mighty Col de la Croix de Fer for the second day in a row before they descended to a short valley section that led to the bottom of the final 13.8km ascent to the finish.

 

It was a cloudy day as the riders rolled out for their short neutral ride and there were lots of nervous faces. All riders who finished yesterday’s stage were present.

 

Geniez attacks

Geniez was in a determined mood and he attacked as soon as the flag was dropped. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) tried to join him but it was Navarduaskas who bridged the gap. Later Edet and Bak also made it across to make it a four-rider group.

 

The peloton briefly slowed down which allowed the gap to grow to 40 seconds before the attacking started again. Pierre Luc Perichon, Jan Barta, Filippo Pozzato, Simon Geschke, Adriano Malori, Georg Preifler, Mark Cavendish, Ruben Plaza, Albert Timmer, Florian Senechal allried to attack but no one managed to get clear.

 

The peloton slows down

After 13km of racing, the peloton slowed down completely and as many riders stopped for a natural break, the gap grew rapidly. After 22km of racing, it was already 5 minutes and no one had taken any initiative in the peloton.

 

Sky finally took control with Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe but they only set a slow pace. Hence, the gap had gone out to 7.10 when they hit the Col de la Croix de Fer but as they didn’t up the pace it was 8 minutes after just a few kilometres of climbing.

 

Majka attacks

The attacking started with 77km to go when Plaza took off. He was joined by Andriy Grivko (Astana) while Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) and Brice Feillu (Bretagne) took off in pursuit. The latter was left behind and instead Anacona, Majka and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18) joined Barguil.

 

Romain Sicard (Europcar), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Bob Jungels (Trek) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale) joined the group that managed to bridge the gap to Plaza and Grivko. Meanwhile, the first riders were getting dropped.

 

Peraud does some damage

Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEDGE) both tried to attack but they were quickly brought back when Ag2r kicked into action. Jan Bakelants upped the pace before Jean-Chirstophe Peraud took over, trying to set Bardet up for some mountain points.

 

The veteran made the peloton explode to pieces and he quickly reduced the 30-second deficit to the chase group. When they were nearly caught, Majka, Plaza, Kruijswijk, Anacona and Barguil tried again but quickly only Plaza, Anacona and Majka were left.

 

Majka is caught

Geniez suffered an untimely puncture but managed to rejoin the peloton while Majka continued to attack, with only Anacona staying with him. Meanwhile, Serge Pauwels was the first GC rider to get distanced.

 

Plaza managed to rejoin the Majka group but it was all in vain. With 66km to go, Peraud had brought them back. At this point, the gap was 5.30.

 

Anacona hits the front

Barguil was dropped from the peloton with 60km to go when the gap was 4 minutes. This was the signal for Geniez to attack and he immediately distanced his companion.

 

Anacona took over the pace-setting in the peloton but Sky made a smart move by opening a gap to the Colombian. This forced Scarponi to bring him back before the Movistar rider started again.

 

Valverde attacks

The group was now down to less than 25 riders and it was blowing to pieces as Poels, Thomas, Frank, Samuel Sanchez were among the many riders to lose contact. Meanwhile, Bak was dropped from the chase group and later Edet also lost contact.

 

With 58km to go, Valverde made a long-distance attack that forced Astana to chase with Scarponi. He quickly swung off though and left it to Sky to control the situation with Nicolas Roche. However, he was taking it relatively easy and this allowed lots of riders to rejoin the peloton.

 

Quintana makes his move

Serpa made a surprise attack when Valverde had an advantage of 30 seconds. Moments later Quintana made his first move and he got a huge help from his compatriot Serpa while Porte led the chase in the splintering peloton.

 

Gesink was the next big GC rider to get distanced as Quintana bridged the gap to Valverde and suddenly only Porte, Froome, Nibali, Contador and Pinot were left. They were 10 seconds behind the two Movistar riders while Hesjedal and Rodriguez were next. Then there was a bigger group with most of the GC riders.

 

Nibali accelerates

Pinot was dropped and later Contador also had to surrender. Meanwhile, Quintana had to slow down to wait for Valverde.

 

With 52km to go, Nibali attacked and this forced Froome to respond. Porte was left behind and the pair made it back to the Movistar riders just after Quintana had led Valverde over the top. At this point, Geniez was 40 seconds ahead of Navardauskas.

 

A regrouping takes place

Quintana continued to ride aggressively on the descent but as they hit a tough headwind section, they slowed down. This allowed a big regrouping to take place and Hesjedal, Plaza, Pinot and Anacona were quick to go on the attack.

 

Sky took control with Thomas who started to ride on the front while Rolland and Serpa joined the chase group. Meanwhile, Geniez extended his advantage which was 3.15 with 45km to go.

 

Navardauskas waits for Hesjedal

Navardauskas decided to wait for the chase group and so was passed by Edet and Bak. As he was back in the group, he started to work hard while Thomas had allowed the gap to go out to 4 minutes with 30km to go.

 

More riders rejoined the peloton which was riding pretty slowly and so the Pinot group had an advantage of 1.40 with 20km to go. Here they caught Edet and Bak.

 

Geniez won the intermediate sprint while Navarduaskas and Serpa worked hard in the chase group, leading them across the line 1.50 behind. Meanwhile, Castroeviejo had started to work with Thomas and they had reduced the gap to 3.50, with Thomas De Gendt sprinting ahead to score points in the intermediate sprint. Moments later Geniez hit the final climb and from there the drama unfolded.