On yesterday’s stage, yellow jersey holder Chris Froome was isolated and without teammates for most of the stage.

Many would have wished for other teams to take advantage of that and try to shake the Team Sky rider, but most of the GC favourites were happy to ride up the final climb and down to the finish together.

Michael Rogers (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) has a lot experience to draw from as his team’s road captain and said that he and his team decided not to risk too much, with the two weeks still remaining in mind: “We had to calm ourselves down. We put ourselves a little bit in the red in those first couple of climbs, and it’s so easy to get excited. But you really do have to remember that there are lots of big mountains to go,” he told Australian TV channel SBS.

Rogers continued that he felt his team’s leader Alberto Contador needed some holding back for his own good in the final, implying Contador might have wanted to join Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in his attacks: “I was trying to calm him down, really. I think he felt good, and I think he wanted to attack, but there was no need. Especially with the last 30 km all downhill and into a block headwind. It wasn’t the day to move up in GC by attacking, not the day to make a big difference.”