With every spinetingler, there must be an equal and opposite heartbreaker. This new category is for the riders who gave everything and got pipped at the post. Who made one small mistake and lost the big prize. Who ended the race with that stricken look on their face. Their time has come …
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Yesterday’s time trial result gave us all the hope that it would be a battle royale for the top spot on the podium today. The Froome/Quintana battle was more like a tiny, late skirmish so in that sense it didn’t live up to expectations. But it was a most amazing stage nonetheless. And the excitement came in pairs. Lots of pairs.
We’ve had newbies take their first GT stage this week – today we had a veteran. Katusha’s Sergey Lagutin climbed the wall of Alto de la Camperona and slo-mo sprinted away from his companions Axel Domont (Ag2r) and Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie) to take his first Grand Tour victory at the age of 35. The GC was shook up with an attack by Nairo Quintana (yes, really!) that put the Colombian in the red jersey.