Mauritanian League

Gate and Askey have been dropped as Vinokurov, Abrahamsen and Le Berre ride on. They have four riders in pursuit: Sean Quinn (EF), Anders Johannessen (Uno-X) and Lotto Intermarche duo Liam Slock and Lennert Van Eetvelt. But the gaps are small and the front of the pack will very soon swallow them all up.

The American has already been dropped and is riding with some of the sprinters off the back. We knew he was ill but it’s clearly a big issue for UAE. Adam Yates and Tim Wellens also look in a bit of trouble. Pogacar is going to have to do it by himself today, relatively speaking.

Will someone try to exploit this chink in the UAE armour?

The break start the first climb of the day with 43 seconds to play with. It’s the Cat.1 Cote d’Engins (11.4km at 5.4%). Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson has come straight to the front to up the tempo in the peloton.

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.