Cycling: The first showdown of the Tour de France in the Alps is history and brought some changes in the standings.
The 197 kilometers from Saint Étienne to Chamrousse cast their shadows with their two difficult climbs towards the end of the stage. So it's no surprise that the overall standings favorites wanted to stay in control.
It took a while for Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Rudy Molard (Cofidis, Solutions Credits), Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp), Brice Feillu (Brittany), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale ), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Kristjan Durasek (Lampre) and Daniel Oss (BMC) found the group of the day. However, this was kept on a short leash, especially by Team Katusha, who saw Joaquim Rodriguez's (Katusha) mountain jersey in jeopardy.
Katusha's work should also show success. Because while the leading group fell apart on the climb to the Col de Palaquit, the favorites kept coming up.
The Italian Alessandro de Marchi (Cannondale) broke away from the front and tackled the last forty kilometers alone. But just a few kilometers after the start of the climb up to Chamrousse, he too was caught as the last escapee.
After that, the favorites got serious. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) was the first to take charge and put Richie Porte (Sky), who was third overall, under pressure. 12 kilometers before the finish, the Czech Leopold König from the German team NetApp-Endura fled. Together with Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) he was able to open a gap of about 20 seconds.
Behind them, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Pinot broke away from the other favorites.
Six kilometers before the finish, Nibali managed to jump to König and Majka, from whom he broke away three kilometers later. As a soloist, the Italian, who was driving in yellow, stormed towards the finish line. Behind him, Majka finished second, 10 seconds behind, having previously been almost exclusively on König's rear wheel. With third place on the day, the Czech celebrated the first tour podium for NetApp-Endura. Valverde and Pinot lost 50 seconds to Nibali. Richie Porte more than eight minutes.
Nibali celebrated his third day's victory in this Tour de France on the first section of the Alps. He increased his lead over the new overall second Alejandro Valverde to 3:37 minutes. Romain Bardet (Ag2R La Mondiale) is third, 4:24 back. Leopold König improved to tenth place overall (+8:36).