Another good racing day, even so it was much more stereotyped than yesterday.

A large breakaway (about 15 riders, which means only about 60 riders were left in the ‘peloton’…) left soon after the start, which included Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon) among others. As there was no rider better placed than him in GC, the peloton let go ; Ineos took its reins, but only to make a false pace.

Therefore, at the foot of the Bamberg at 40 km from the line, the breakaway benefited from a gap over 5 minutes. Seixas🇫🇷 (who was bearing the marks of a fall on his left leg) would pull the group in the climb, while his teammate Prodhomme🇫🇷 remained hidden.

In the bunch, Storer🇦🇺’s Tudors vigorously accelerated from the start of the climb, making all leaders and Ineos riders but the Tour leader Arensman🇳🇱 burst. After 1 km, only remained Storer🇦🇺 behind one of his teammates and before Arensman🇳🇱 who was crackling without cracking. 500 m farther, Storer🇦🇺 attacked and Arensman🇳🇱 tried to follow him but failed. Each was now isolated.

Except that Storer🇦🇺 wasn’t truly isolated : he had cleverly placed a teammate inside the breakaway, Eriksson🇸🇪, who would wait for him and allow him to ride in a wheel most of the downhill and the 10 miles of flat valley that came after; unlike Arensman🇳🇱, normally better in this exercise but who hadn’t put anyone ahead in the breakaway and thus was alone against the wind.

In the horrible climb to Stonach, within the breakaway, Seixas🇫🇷 attacked without any reaction from the others. Then, it was Prodhomme🇫🇷’s turn to leave the group, and he caught up with Seixas🇫🇷 with an astonishing ease. They would ride the downhill together, as well as the 5 km of valley until the finish ligne, maintaining a good pace because behind them Herzog (🇩🇪 Bora) was only 15 seconds behind at the summit – Seixas🇫🇷 probably had crumbled a bit on the top section of the climb. Seixas🇫🇷 and Prodhomme🇫🇷 agreed that the stage victory would go to the oldest one who had never won as a professional.

Behind, Storer🇦🇺 alone again in the climb, was gently keeping on increasing his advance on leaders, ensuring his GC victory.

Finlay Pickering (🇬🇧 Bahrein) wins Mountain classification. He perfectly optimised his Tour so that he went to fetch points everyday, except yesterday when it was a good idea not to kill oneself trying to get them from the breakaway as the points were all in the final part of that crazy stage.

Seixas🇫🇷 finishes only 12^th in GC and without a stage victory, but his regularity (twice 2^nd, once 3^rd, once 6^th) and his winning of today’s last intermediary sprint allow him to win the Points classification.

The caps on the GC podium are without appeal: Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) relegated Arensman (🇳🇱 Ineos) at 1’30’’ and Gee (🇨🇦 IPT) at 4’. Then Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-trek) – Gall (🇦🇹 D4) – Caruso (🇮🇹 Bahreïn) are between 5’10’’ and 5’30’’ away.

On the French side, Bardet (🇫🇷 Picnic) finishes only 10^th, having been dropped somewhere in the final part (last climb, downhill, flat section? we didn’t see it) and finishing in a group 40 seconds behind the main group of leaders, which included his teammate Poole (🇬🇧 Picnic) who finally ranked 7^th in GC. Not wonderful. Luckily there was the great performance of the two Decathlon in the breakaway today, and for that to happen, it was also lucky that no one in the peloton had any interest in reeling in the breakaway at all, for Storer🇦🇺 rode 4 minutes faster than them once he left the peloton in the last 40 km!

Cepeda (🇨🇴 EF) seems to have popped even more than Bardet🇫🇷, finishing another 1’30’’ farther, which throws him back to the tail end of those who could still pretend to a small placing in GC.

The first (non-pro) Conti rider in GC is Stüssi (🇨🇭 Vorarlberg) at the 25^th place, I reckon.

There certainly was no wait-and-see today!

Bad weather in the beginning of the race, as well as on the last few miles.

Early (in the first half of the race anyway) breakaway, which included several men rather well placed in GC. From it, Arensman (🇳🇱 Ineos) got away alone, perhaps after 80 km (mid-race). His gap on the peloton (just 10-20 riders) reached 4 minutes. The breakaway was split in several parts: at the front Gee (🇨🇦 IPT) and another rider, and the other part would be caught by the peloton.

Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon) worked a bit in the leaders group, for Gall🇦🇹 then disappeared. In the 2^nd category climb, more than 30 km away from the line, Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) attacked from that group/peloton. Gall tried to counter, but didn’t manage to catch Storer, he kept on going with a rider from the breakaway, but these two were ultimately caught up by the group from which Gall had gotten away.

Storer kept on reducing his delay on Arensman, for the latter was only 1’18’’ behind him in general classification. Gee would also come closer to Arensman. The steeper the slope, the more Storer would gain over Gee, and Gee over Arensman.

In the last climb, Gall escaped again from his group; but was again caught up by a duo where Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) was following Caruso (🇮🇹 Bahrein). Storer came very close to catch up Gee but after the summit, there were various false flats which allowed Gee to remain ahead. Likewise, Storer had managed to lower the gap with Arensman enough to keep his jersey in the climb, but lost it again in those false flat sections.

Arensman is now 1^st in GC but Storer is just a few seconds away. Gee comes 3^rd but 2 minutes away from them – since he finished approximately with Storer and was over 2 minutes away from him yesterday already.

Then, another minute behind, we find the trio Ciccone-Gall–Caruso who finished better than the other leaders.

Then between 4 and 5 minutes, are the 2 Picnics Bardet🇫🇷 and Poole🇬🇧 (which finished slightly better than Bardet today) and the rest of the leaders.

Seixas dropped to 10 minutes…

That was really good racing today. 😃 Leaders were forced to show what they could do, for they lacked teammates in the mid-part of the race, and there wasn’t much suitable profile for teamwork in the final parts if there had still be available teammates.

(I couldn’t follow this stage very accurately.)

Frigo (🇮🇹 Israël) won after a long breakaway, as a group then solo. Nobody in the peloton wanted to pull; the leader’s team (Tudor) wouldn’t either, as they had placed Stork🇩🇪 in it, who ranked well in GC. When someone started to pull it was too late.

There was an attack from the peloton that could have mattered in the last climb, performed by Frigo’s teammate Riccitello🇺🇸. However the ‘hilly’ section on top of the climb killed his legs and he was caught up there.

In GC, no real change, but a little game of musical chairs among the 5 riders which follow Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor), according to time bonuses and even placings. A dozen of riders, more or less, were present on all 3 stages finishes.

TV signal was perfect today, thank them for fixing or replacing their system.

There was no race on the major climbs of the day. After those climbs, Ciccone🇮🇹’s team was not interested in riding after the breakaway more than needed for GC, so Picnic pulled the peloton; everyone was waiting for the circuit and its climb.

In the first passage, Décathlon had Prudhomme🇫🇷 pulled the peloton at high speed, breaking into small pieces. But when he stopped pulling, 500 m or bit more from the top, no leader rode or attacked. In the descent that wasn’t lead by anyone, and the flat that lead to the finish line, almost everyone came back together.

In the second passage, it took a little while to speed up again, but there were several attack attempts. The two Decathlon leaders were riding rather awkwardly: when the young Seixas🇫🇷 looked like he was trying to go away, Gall🇦🇹 rode behind him, and vice versa… Then Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) attacked and wasn’t followed. At the top, Storer passed alone, then a group of the 3, all distinctive jerseys (the 2 Decathlon and Ciccone for Lidl-Trek), and, catching up with them, another group of 3 which included Bardet (🇫🇷 Picnic).

In the downhill, the group of now 6 riders kept on not pushing; then Decathlon acted strangely again. Everyone knows that Gall has trouble descending; yet Seixas took the lead, not to ensure a medium pace that his teammate could follow while not losing time over Storer, but to ride down full speed, with only 2 riders following him, including Ciccone but not Gall!

On the flat, no one was really pushing, so the first two groups of 3 and soon a third one including Bardet’s Picnic teammate Poole🇬🇧 regrouped. On a section supposedly against a lone rider, Storer’s advance had grown: 20s, 30s, 40s. When (I don’t remember how it went exactly, in which order, etc.) Poole and Seixas pulled, it was too late.

Storer finished 40 seconds before the group of 9, lead by Poole for Bardet in the end, but whose sprint was won by Seixas despite his earlier efforts, before Bardet.

Storer leads general classification by those same 40 seconds, which isn’t bad on a 5 days race. Of course, given the nature of the stages in this race, he may blow up in any climb and if he has no more teammate with him then, drown completely. Today, Stork🇩🇪 was the only Picnic survivor in the end (he came first first in the next group 20 seconds behind the leaders’ group), but as I said in the beginning, the others teammates had been working earlier.

We could not see much of the race because of bad transmission, despite an apparently OK weather.

There were a few attacks in the second half of the Durone Pass; last one and most significant was Cepeda’s (🇪🇨 EF), but he was caught up near the end of the descent, soon after a group of 3 chasers (Seixas (🇫🇷 Décathlon), Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) and I can’t remember the third one, was it Davide Bais (🇮🇹 Polti) ? there was Paul Double (🇬🇧 Jayco) at some point too…) was also caught up.

In the final climb, Mattia Bais (🇮🇹 Polti) left the group, then reached the flat part, but was caught up in the second uphill part.

Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) easily wins the sprint before the two Decathlon riders Gall🇦🇹 and Seixas🇫🇷. Bardet (🇫🇷 Picnic) comes 4^th. Follow before a tiny split: Stork (🇩🇪 Tudor), the two Australians🇦🇺 Hindley (Bora) and Storer (Tudor), and Poole (🇬🇧 Picnic).

That makes 2 Decathlon, 2 Tudor and 2 Picnic in the same time (before accounting for time bonuses).