Nibali Dominates, Contador Leaves

Once again the race yesterday was a tale of two ends as the stage and the race were fought out at one end, while there were big changed at the other end of the race.

You’ll know by now that yet another favourite retired from the Tour as Contador crashed for reasons that were unclear by yesterday evening, with theories ranging from a bike falling off a team car to a broken bike. Pictures have emerged that suggests that his bike did break:

New photo just dropped in from AFP of broken bike which is definitely Alberto Contador's - see mounted race No 31. pic.twitter.com/1xyy1ww0Ay

— John MacLeary (@JohnMacLeary) July 14, 2014

Either way it appears he broke a tibia but rode on for 18km before retiring from the competition. He’s not my favourite rider by a long way but you have to respect those guts and commitment to get back on with that kind of injury.

So it really looks like Nibali’s race to lose now and he underlined that by riding hard to retake the yellow jersey and a stage win on a day which hit the first big climbs. Tony Martin went out in front again to work for his team mate Kwiatkowski in the young rider’s jersey, to try and get time on the Italian on the penultimate climb before fading to nothing. Rodriguez attacked and went for the stage and the king of the mountains points as he caught the OPQS Pole and dropped him to head out ahead. Taking the points he was one of a few riders holding out in front of the elite group which was in turn firmly dropping Gallopin and taking the lead from him, as well as putting Talansky out of contention. The elite group included Thomas and Porte, until the Welshman put himself out of it briefly with a crash, and Van Garderen and Valverde as things got serious.

Nibali dug in with 3km to go and was chased by Valverde and Porte, but rode away solidly in pursuit of Rodriguez while the best chasers were Porte, Riblon and Van Garderen. Nibali’s attack hunted down the Spaniard and overhauled him to take the win putting a solid mark on the road that he’s there to win the whole thing.

As we go into today’s rest day it is clear it’s this group who are going to fight it out, with Porte up to second overall and the big names duking out the climbing with British interest maintained by a seriously solid ride from Geraint Thomas in 14th.

If nothing else, the biggest names in the game will be back for the Vuelta which will make it an exciting prospect.

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