Greig Leach

The Tour de France has numerous races within the competition for the overall lead and its Maillot Jaune. One of the hotly contested interior races is the combination competition between Romain Bardet (AG2R) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ). The pair are fighting it out for the best young rider's White Jersey and for the honor of being the highest place Frenchman in the Tour. It speaks well for the future of the French in their own Tour, that these are some of the youngest men in the race sitting in the top 5 in the General Classification. Bardet knows that Pinot is not the most daring of descenders, so he used the top off of the Col d'Izoard, with the help of his teammate, Jean-Christophe Peraud, to try and distance himself from his countryman. The move surprised everyone. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) help bring his team leader, Vincenzo Nibali, up to the charging Bardet, but the rest of GC men where being distanced on the descent. It is impressive that it was Fuglsang who put in the very high speed chase down the mountain, it was he who had the spectacular crash on a descent the day before. It may have removed some layers of skin, but it did nothing to damage his nerve.