Greig Leach

With the summit of the last climb in the Alps in site, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) jumped out of the French led peloton, trying to catch the wheel of the already fleeing Vincenzo Niblai (Astana). After his move, Tejay van Garderen (BMC) counter the attacks of the Spaniard and the Italian. The American, van Garderen, wasn't going to let the two highest place men on the GC put anymore time into him if he could help it. As van Garderen came up beside Valverde, the Movistar leader looked over to see who had caught him. The American kept up the pressure and try as he might, Valverde couldn't hold onto the wheel of van Garderen. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (AG2R), now glued together, quickly saw that Valverde was cracking, and went after his second place in the GC with a vengeance.