Greig Leach

These three, Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) and Alberto Losada (Katusha) flew down the last of the smaller climbs on the front side of the stage. As they reached the bottom, there was a hard left that was filled with the "road furniture" that litters the roads of Europe. To try and keep the riders safe, the signs and barriers in the middle of the road have hay bales place in front of them and then they are wrapped in plastic that has red and white stripes to make them stand out on the crowded corners. Oddly, in France, the coverings are always on the diagonal, here in Switzerland, the are on the horizontal (or vertical). Fortunately, everyone got around them safely. No one seemed to want to test the padding around the signs.