Greig Leach

Biniam Girmay (Intermache-Wanty) continues to be on fire. He was able to take the best of the rest at the intermediate sprint in Lamargelle. His teammate, Gerben Thijssen provided some heads-up sprinting of his own, just staying ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to let his team leader gain a few extra points over his now main rival in the competition to wear Green all of the way to Nice. Yeah, the Tour doesn't end in Paris this year. Also getting into the mix is Bryan Coquard (Cofidis). Girmay's quest for the Maillot Vert was aided by the departure of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). He has been suffering since his crash in stage 5, and decided it was healing well enough to continue racing. Sad, he is one of my favorites in the peloton. Amazingly, his withdrawn marks only the third man to leave the Tour thus far. I can think of a time we've ever gone this deep into the race with so many still in the peloton.