An early break of 12 riders eventually turned into a massive break of 23 after a motivated chase group, aided by a hefty tailwind, joined the leaders. Their advantage grew steadily, reaching 12'20″ as they hit Col de Cabre, a cat 2 climb of 9km, averaging about 5%, with 70km to go.
Twenty kilometers later, Australian Adam Hansen attacked his fellow escapees, opening up a gap. He was shortly after joined by Austrian Marco Haller. With less than 40km remaining, they hovered around 30″ ahead of the chase and over 15' in front of the peloton.
Geschke, Plaza, Riblon, Sagan, and Teklehaimanot joined the lead pair with about 20km to go. Feeling strong, Plaza left his companions, never to be seen again by them. He climbed most of Col de Manse (9km, average gradient 5%, maximum 11%) alone, he navigated the tricky descent alone, and he rode into Gap alone, claiming his first Tour de France stage.
Thirty seconds later, fans welcomed the chase. The break had been blown apart and riders pedaled up the mountain for the next half an hour.
Thomas De Gendt, Peter Sagan, Bob Jungels, (below) Luis Angel Mate, and (bottom) Simon Geschke.
The next group was a trio: Dani Navarro, Perrick Fedrigo, and Michal Golas.
Adam Hansen, accompanied by Imanol Erviti, looked over his shoulder upon hearing his name cheered.
Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Markel Irizar rode past a line of Flemish fans.
The gap was around 17 minutes to the peloton.
Rounding the bend after a false flat, Romain Bardet attacked the GC group.
The chase was on: Valverde, Contador (gritting his teeth and wrenching his face into a painful grimace), Nibali, Froome, (below) Quintana, Scarponi, Thomas, Van Garderen, and Poels.
Gesink, Mollema, and Barguil in the same group.
While Bardet's attack was ultimately fruitless, there was a slight GC change. Geraint Thomas lost 38″ after tangling with Warren Barguil on the descent. Nibali remained in 8th but gained around 30″. Tony Gallopin lost time and slipped back from 9th to 11th.
Thibaut Pinot.
Matthias Frank pulled a group of 9 up the road.
Matthias Frank, Andrew Talansky, Gorka Izagirre, a Tinkoff rider, Sami Sanchez, Alexis Vuillermkz, Jan Bakelants, Pierre Rolland, and Damiano Caruso.
Tony Gallopin, Lieuwe Westra, Jakob Fuglsang, and Jens Debusschere.
The next bunch to approach the summit.
Michael Valgren kept his eyes on the horizon.
Ryder Hesjedal.
Haimar Zubeldia, Frederic Brun, and Richie Porte.
Dylan Van Baarle, ahead of the grupetto but behind the group.
Manuel Quinziato and Bryan Coquard.
The grupetto finished the day 30'36″ behind the winner. In the front row: Daniel Oss, Pippo Pozzato, Jose Serpa, Giampaolo Caruso, and Joaquim Rodriguez.
Rigoberto Uran and Ramunas Navardauskas.
There is good news for the 169 surviving riders: not only is tomorrow a rest day, the riders and staff won't have to pack up and move hotels for the next 3 nights.
As for me, I've got a rest day post in the works. We can't have a cycling-free day, now can we?