Arensman could be the lucky dog. He’s 9 min back but the break already has half that in only 30k of racing.

Old Man Nibali in there for my sentimental pick.

I have no idea what AG2R is doing here, but Jumbo has to be thanking them for putting early pressure on the Wolfpack of 2.

Mas Macho in the rare attack! Roglic looks like he doesn't have it today.

And Movistar using clever tactics - crazy!

Yeah, after this stage I'm going on the hunt for a VPN/Eurosport feed. The ads are ridiculous.

Good defense by Mini Maximus.

Yeah, that was some grit.

Good pull.

If you were referring to Jungel's work: Hindley, Meintjes, and Arensman in break were threat to O'Connor's GC placing. I'm pretty sure they had knocked O'Connor out of virtual top ten at one point.

Robbie or Sean explained that on GCN+.

As it turned out Arensman moved ahead of O'Connor, but O'Connor moved up one spot, to 9th.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Yeah, I wrote this after just starting to watch and figured it out. I made the mistake of trusting CVV and Roll who were incredulous that AG2R would chase. My mistake for trusting them.

I had guessed that your guys were little help in understanding the matter. Worse, from their ignorance they created controversy.

I'm about Roll's age and have been watching Grand Tours for over thirty years. It is a hallmark of last week of racing that teams that have been invisible now come to the front to work to protect GC placings, which tends to stifle attacks. You know this, but I'm just saying this because it is remarkable that CVV/Roll didn't think of it.

But you are still better off than me. Hatch/Kirby (I can't tell one for the other and honestly don't know who it is doing GCN with Sean and Robbie) is just insufferable. He starts hyperventilating if someone drops back half a wheel, yelling, e.g., "Roglic looks to be cracking." Then Roglic takes a bottle and gets right back. Further he is always telling us what the riders at thinking at any particular moment, something I find obnoxious but is pretty common today. Thankfully, Sean usually says, "well, he may be thinking that, but you know . . . .[insert some factual observation]"

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

In Charm City, That’s a small group. Certainly no peloton

Breaks to stay away

Eta: cagey bit of riding by Vanmarcke

Definitely. Grizzled old veteran played the youngsters pretty well.

And to the surprise of perhaps no one, EF botches its tactics.

I have no idea why Piccolo was chasing down Powless and vice versa...

Yeah, Piccolo's second attack was particularly bad. He should have shut it down the instant Sep got on his wheel. Instead of giving Sep a free 20m gap up the road from Powless. Piccolo vs. Sep isn't the matchup you want. And despite that, Powless shouldn't have chased it anyway. The "leadout" was equally bad. I don't care how tired Piccolo was - you gotta at least fake a kilo attack from the back. Going medium-hard at the front wasn't doing Powless any good.

Piccolo's young, though. I give him credit for bridging solo and then trying to contribute.

Mas Nachos, Mini and Roglic all brought the grinta today. This one’s not done yet.

Where did O'Conner find those legs today?

You really think it's not done yet? for all the hype Remco only gave up 15 seconds today, and it was billed as the hardest stage of the race.

I thought today went as well as he could hope, short of a 2021 Pogacar leave em for dead attack.

Primoz is so darn tough, but he hadn't had two great days in a row yet. I really liked how they sent Masnada and Vervaeke up the road, with Vervaeke there to pace him up to the finale. And he road calm and collected. This was my beef on the final stage of Tour of Basque where there seemed to be no plan other than let him off the leash to run around on his own.

Still think it’s Remco’s to lose but Roglic appears to be getting stronger. With 4 tough stages this week and Mas & Lopez also looking good, he’ll have attacks from every angle.

I'm not optimistic for much action. Stages not really hard. Most of the climbs are about 10k and 5-6%. Hard to drop Remco on those. Remco up nearly five minutes on 4th place so he won't worry about them. Jumbo and Movistar likely to chase each other if either goes early. Stage 20 does offer opportunities but comes pretty late.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Good day by Israel PT, picking up two wins in one day - trying to stave off relegation.

Meanwhile no one wants to race Worlds! Piddles, Simmons, Mads, Bam Bam, Powless (on fence), Old Man 'verde. That's arguably the top 3 Americans, two of the hottest one-day racers this year, and one (unpopular here) old legend.

At least LFF may be back in, as he's reportedly back on his bike already. And we'll get Round 40 (or whatever it is) of WvA v. MdVP.

Would MvdP have fully recovered from his Giro exertions by then?

Also, I get the feeling that Worlds is just a tad too climbing-heavy for MvdP. WvA, otoh, could fare well.

That was a seriously crazy last 2K today for the GC guys.

How does the 3K rule work now?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

How does the finishing time work?

Roglic was in a group of five and had a crash. Should be accorded same time as the winner's group presumably?

Remco should be accorded +8"?

Regardless, a high speed crash is going to be brutal for the next few days...