Greig Leach

It may have been more accurate to title this painting, "Catch the Leader." Marc Soler (UAE-Team Emirates) had jumped away from the group of leaders as they went over the top of the Col des Aravis. He got a good advantage but didn't quite have the same level of descending skills as Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). Van Aert made up the deficit going back down the other side of the climb. While both Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) and Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) struggled to stay with Van Aert they did keep the Belgium in sight. With 42 kilometers to go, they looked to be the group that would decide the stage. The only possible variant is the both Soler and Van Aert have the top two guys in the general classification and they could get called to wait to help their leaders on the final climb of the day.