Memorial Marco Pantani

Jose Felix Parra of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA did not take to the start today so the peloton is down to 163 riders. The Spaniard was involved in a crash yesterday and despite finishing the stage it was later discovered that he had fractured a bone in his left wrist.  

Tadej Pogacar still leads the KOM standings despite not targeting this competition – merely by virtue of picking up points when winning summit finish stages.

Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) continues in polka dots despite being 24 points behind the Slovenian, while Richard Carapaz is also in the mix for EF.

1. Tadej Pogacar 70pts
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre 46pts
3. Richard Carapaz 40pts
4. Remco Evenepoel 36pts
5. Paul Seixas 34pts

A maximum 29pts is up for grabs today over the five climbs so it’s unlikely for there to be any significant change in the KOM standings before Alpe d’Huez tomorrow.

The five riders out ahead are slowly building up a decent lead ahead of the climb, but it’s bound to come whittling down as soon as the road heads uphill. It’s worth remembering that the climb continues for around 10km after the summit, too.

It’s the pink jerseys of EF Education-EasyPost who are driving the pace on the front of the peloton, working for their man Richard Carapaz, who might be eyeing up a win and some polka dot jersey points today.

Aaron Gate and Nicolas Vinokurov (both XDS Astana), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling Team) and Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies) have opened up a small gap off the front of the pack.

Uno-X, NSN, Tudor and Lotto Intermarche have all been sniffing around at the start of this stage but the peloton is still riding together as one.