Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) leads Chris Froome into the finish line (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
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Joaquim Rodríguez rides through the rain during stage 12.
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The GC contenders line up on the final climb of stage 12.
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Joaquim Rodríguez rides through the rain during stage 12.
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Joaquim Rodríguez rides through the rain during stage 12.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12.
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Michal Kwiatkowski rides solo during stage 12.
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Avery wet finish for stage 12.
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Michal Kwiatkowski drops Sep Vanmarcke.
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Geraint Thomas played a big part in the stage.
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Michal Kwiatkowski with the award for most combative rider on stage 12.
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BMC shadow Chris Froome and Team Sky.
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Michael Rogers after stage 12.
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Joaquim Rodríguez rides through the rain during stage 12.
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Alberto Contador rides in the rain during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Chris Froome keeps things in check during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Vincenzo Nibali gets some room on the final climb. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Alberto Contador checks his gap after attacking on the final climb. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Nairo Quintana near the finish of stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Team Sky on the front of the GC group during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Michal Kwiatkowski rides solo during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Jakob Fuglsang in the late breakaway. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Robert Gesink in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Michal Kwiatkowski rides solo during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Chris Froome rides in the rain during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Alberto Contador attacks on the final climb. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Joaquim Rodriguez drops Jakob Fuglsang on his way to the stage win. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Jakob Fuglsang with Joachim Rodriguez. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Chris Froome follows Alejandro Valverde. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Alejandro Valverde attacks on the final climb. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Warren Barguil at the stage 12 finish. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Joaquim Rodríguez on the stage 12 podium. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Alejandro valverde puts in a late attack. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Chris Froome leads Nairo Quintana, Tejay van Garderen and Vincenzo Nibali. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Spectators line the road as the peloton climbs. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Alejandro Valverde rides in the bunch during stage 12. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Robert Gesink on the final climb. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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The peloton rides through the mountains during stage 12. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Bauke Mollema on the final climb. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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One of the day's climbs. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Samuel Sanchez in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Richie Porte on the front of the GC group during stage 12. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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The peloton make their way up a climb during stage 12. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Riders seek relief from the rain after finishing stage 12.
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A spectator runs alongside Chris Froome during stage 12.
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Riders seek relief from the rain after finishing stage 12.
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The peloton spreads across the road during stage 12.
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The peloton passes an equine spectator during stage 12.
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Jose Serpa (Lampre - Merida) has a mechanical. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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The peloton in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Sep Vanmarcke on the front of the breakaway. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Ian Stannard presses the pace for Team Sky. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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The peloton climbs during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Sylvain Chavanel leads the bunch during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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A rider descends during stage 12. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Wout Poels rides the front for Team Sky. (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
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Andre Greipel, John Degenkolb, Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish roll along following an intermediate sprint. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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An Astana rider attacks. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton rides through the mountains during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The bunch rides together during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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British flags fly along the route during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton rides through the mountains during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton rides through the mountains during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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A lone rider in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Team Sky control the race during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Christophe Riblon in actin during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Riders climb to Plateau de Beille during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodriguez in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Sep Vanmarcke on his own during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodriguez in the group before attacking during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Michal Kwiatkowski rides alone during stage 12 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Michal Kwiatkowski made a solo attempt during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Romain Bardet climbs the final kilometres during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Jakob Fuglsang on the attack during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Louis Meintjes rides to the finish of stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome follows Geraint Thomas during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton in action during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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A wet switchback on the final climb. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton passes an apparently popular place to camp along the stage 12 route. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Romain Sicard climbs during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Robert Gesink climbs during stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Specatators visit a memorial to Fabio Casartelli along Thursday's route. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez on the stage 12 podium. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The peloton rolls through the French countryside.
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Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas lead Chris Froome.
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Tinkoff-Saxo's Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador at the stage 12 start.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Louis Meintjes finishes stage 12 with a torn jersey from an earlier crash. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Tejay van Garderen finishes stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema finish stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome takes a corner during stage 12.
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Alberto Contador finishes stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Alejandro Valverde attacks the GC group before the finish of stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez dig deep to win stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome on the stage 12 podium. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez enjoys his time on the stage 12 podium. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez on the stage 12 podium. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez makes his move to win stage 12. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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Joaquim Rodríguez wins stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France.
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The peloton rolls through better weather near the start of stage 12.
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Mairo Quintana in action during stage 12.
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Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana finish stage 12.
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Alejandro Valverde finishes stage 12.
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Spectators take cover from the wet weather during stage 12.
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Manuel Quinziato of Italy and BMC Racing Team
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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)
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Chris Froome (Team Sky) in the yellow jersey
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Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)
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Anthony Delaplace leads a breakaway
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Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
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Romain Bardet (AG2R)
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Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) made up for two terrible days in the Pyrenees by soloing to his second stage victory of the Tour de France. The Spaniard surged to the head of the race on the final climb after making the day's breakaway, and then outpaced Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) to claim the win.
Chris Froome (Sky) withstood attacks from all of his rivals to maintain his sizeable lead in the overall standings.
Rodriguez saw his general classification ambitions go out of the window on the Col du Tourmalet yesterday, he crashed neutral zone and ended up losing 10 minutes, but he got himself in the today’s breakaway and on the hors-catégorie Plateau de Beille he jumped clear of Fuglsang and Romain Bardet, who finished a distant third. It was the second victory of the race for Rodriguez, whose triumphant win on the Mur de Huy preceded the downfall of his GC hopes.
“To win a stage of the Tour is so important. It’s a long time since my first stage win in 2010. I’m like Atlético Madrid – you never really know what to expect from me,” Rodríguez said.
“I said this morning, I didn’t think there was chance. With the climbs today, we [the breakaway] did quite an impressive job. The Platueau de Beille is a really important race finish. I was definitely feeling that I was in better condition than them [Fuglsang and Bardet] and I know this climb well so I attacked.”
It was a wet afternoon in the Pyrenees, with storms at Plateau de Beille, but the fight for yellow ended up being a damp squib. The peloton thinned on the first-category Col de la Core and Port de Lers, but the attacks would only come on the second half of the final climb.
Many wondered whether the general classification contenders could put a chink in the armour of Chris Froome, but race leader held tight.
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was first to attack, then Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), but neither were given much leash. Nairo Quintana's attack was quickly marked, while his teammate Alejandro Valverde continued trying to soften Sky up. But none could shake Froome; they couldn’t even shake Geraint Thomas, who put in another remarkable high-mountain display to shut down and deter attackers.
As they neared the summit, Quintana tried a few times but to no avail and Froome sprinted to the line ahead of all but Valverde in what will be a depressing sight for those hoping for a more open contest.
How it unfolded
The first item on today’s mountain-filled agenda was actually an intermediate sprint, where André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) continued to work to close the gap to green jersey-holder Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). The German took the maximum points ahead of John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), with Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) obstructed by a Giant lead-out man. Sagan's lead is now down to just two points.
It was at that point that Lieuwe Westra (Astana) launched an attack, and many others fancied getting involved. In the end a 22-rider group was established that also included Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Matthieu Ladagnous, Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quickstep), Romain Bardet, Mickaël Chérel, and Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18), Bryan Coquard and Romain Sicard (Europcar), Kristjian Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel and Jérôme Coppel (IAM), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Frédéric Brun, and Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne-Séché), Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka), Georg Preidler (Giant-Alpecin), and Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo).
They carved out an advantage of over six minutes as Preidler took the KOM points over the second-category Col de Portet-d’Aspet and made their way to the foot of the first category 1 climb, the Col de la Core. Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar), set off in pursuit of the leaders, but despite spending a great deal of time in no man’s land they would never make it across.
On the Col de la Core it was Westra and Fuglsang who forced the issue, causing the lead group to break up, while Sky controlled things in the bunch behind. Riblon, Chavanel, Roy, and Brun lost contact, and while Durasek took the mountain points, Kwiatkowski, Preidler and Vanmarcke managed to pull clear with 75km remaining.
They soon gained 1:25 over the rest of the break and the gap back to the peloton rose above 12 minutes. Preidler was dropped on the Port de Lers, where Kwiatkowski took the points, and the fragmented chase group split in two on the descent to the foot of the final climb.
Sky could be seen on the front of the bunch once again on the Port de Lers, where Jean-Christophe Péraud and Dan Martin ran into trouble but on there was little action among the overall contenders.
A storm raged up at the finish and rain also started to pound down on the riders on the descent and in the valley, where the leading duo hit the final climb with a two minutes on the chasers 10 on the peloton.
When Peter Kennaugh and Richie Porte hit the climb with Froome in tow, Kwiatkowski had just left Vanmarcke behind, making his superior climbing ability count. Meanwhile the chasing group began to become more select and with just over ten kilometres to go Rodríguez attacked, dragging Bardet and Fuglsang with him.
As has been the case on all the crucial climbs so far in the Tour, the yellow jersey group thinned out quickly and considerably on the climb to Plateau de Beille. Tony Gallopin and Warren Barguil, seventh and ninth on GC before the stage, were dropped as the group reduced to 12.
With just over 8km to go Rodríguez made his move and was soon flying past Kwiatkowski and putting daylight between himself and Fuglsang and Bardet further back.
The diminutive Spaniard worked away at it on his own and as it became increasingly apparent that victory would be his, the GC battle failed to truly ignite behind.
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Full Results
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
5:40:14
2
Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
0:01:12
3
Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
0:01:49
4
Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
0:04:34
5
Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka
0:04:38
6
Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18
0:05:47
7
Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar
0:06:03
8
Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
0:06:28
9
Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
0:06:46
10
Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
0:06:47
11
Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
12
Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr
13
Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
14
Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo
15
Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
16
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17
Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
18
Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
0:07:44
19
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
20
Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
0:09:13
21
Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
