I wouldn't be surprised if his team car or a race official made him pull over to pin a towel around his waist or something. At that point, he had no motivation to save time and the nature of that climb requiring you to stand was likely going to rip the remaining threads that were holding his bibs together.

Wait what? Is Horner an age joke to refer to Piti?

@McNulty is the nickname master, but I'm going for Mas "Macho" as the nickname for Mas.

Mas Macho is perfect as is Chris Horner, Spain's most popular rider. He'll be sprinting tomorrow, no problem.

Awesome for Woods. All kinds of good guys bagging stages.

What about Mas Nacho?

I'll root for mas nachos all day, everyday.

What a stage today. Peloton looks dead tired. I almost thought that Chris Horner would end up sprinting for the stage.

Break wins again....si bueno.

Chris Horner looked strong and will be well rested and very popular going into the finale.

Peloton does look gassed. Break should have a good chance the next two days, especially as more guys get jettison (looking at you, Fabio) from GC.

Speaking of, since Rigo is out of it, I'm pulling for Mas Nacho to pull off a stunner.

I expect the break to get a huge margin tomorrow as MTS will want to keep all of their troops fresh for the final climb. Unless Uran or Pinot tries to get into the break, MTS shouldn't have a problem having all their men at the base of the climb and Haig and Adam still there near the end. I don't see any other GC team coming to the front in the first 130 km to make the race hard...just doesn't seem worth it with such little climbing.

The climb is long, but not nearly as steep as the recent summit finishes so drafting and having teammates will play a factor. I don't see anyone going solo from a significant distance and if all the time bonuses are eaten up, we may only see someone on a bad day lose time among the GC contenders. How the stage is won out of the break should be entertaining.

Saturday should be wide open.

I want to see Quintana go full loco early to soften up Simon (if that's really him and not his brother every other day) for Old Man Valverde to bring the dolor. But they probably won't, and will slug it out in last couple kilometers.

hope your first scenario is right as finish profile begins at 13.5%, levels/downhill then 10% for ? 3.5k
maybe an early launch (Lotto ?)

He's Spanish, not Mexican. But I'll allow it.

Yea, Woods has been close all year, and this stage was a killer steep finish is gonna be a famous win for him under difficult circumstance.

“surprised to see Aru come in 14:14 down after getting shredded and his whole backside/ass exposed
wonder what the mechanical was with the bike “
His chain locked up on the 11th cog, and reached down to try and unblock it while going 70kph and lost it; he was caught on camera saying “F**kin Bike!
He had to issue an apology today

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res, non verba

I know, but Mas Nacho sounds better than Mas Arroz con Pollo.

Mucho aggression from the GC tomorrow. The climb isn’t scary from a pitch standpoint and if not now, when? Time to push the chips forward.
Pulling for Mas Nachos, the Kuss ( who may be just saying at this point, please baby Jesus help me finish so I can go hang in Durango and brag about the Euro tour and vibe with the chicas) Uran to grind back some time, and the Great Gazoo to not pop and for the break to make it again. Maybe BK gets #3.
Chris Horner should factor as well. He’s ageless.

That was some ride by Yates, he looks in full control so long as he didn’t burn one match too many. Certainly helped that chase group spent a lot of time looking at each other instead of riding, kind of a head scratcher as if half of them are just racing for podium.

Glad to see Pinot get another.

reminded me of stage 14 of the Giro

Good ride by Kruijswijk riding himself back into a podium position.
A bit surprised that Mas didn't seem very interested in chasing him.

Interesting move by Movistar to not let the break go and keeping the hammer down in the peloton. They accomplished their mission of keeping all the time bonuses in play and burning up most of the MTS team but it looks like they also burned up Valverde in the process on a day where Yates was clearly the strongest rider. He's clearly got the best legs right now.

Big battle for 2nd-5th tomorrow. Valverde looks vulnerable and I'm wondering if Mas and Lopez are going to wait till the last climb. If the race is hard enough early on, there are opportunities for long range attacks as there may not be many teammates left with 50 km to go and the climbs are steep enough to negate most of the draft benefit.

Yates has a comfortable lead that I don't see him losing, but I don't think he'll be sleeping easy tonight.

When Movistar split the Peloton, then Quintana went early, I thought it was on. Instead when the sh*t went down everyone looks dog tired other than Yates. Gotta give them credit for trying.

Agree that Old Man Valverde looks vulnerable. Might work in Yates’ favor if Mas, Lopez and Kruiseship concede win and go for 2nd.

Mas to attack. Only Lopez to follow him. When Lopez refuses to work, Mas sits up and it all comes back together. Standings remain the same.

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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

I recall Yates looking too good to be true in the Giro and then....doink.
I'd hate to see him implode tomorrow. Hope he closes.
Another pro ride by Uran and kind of soothing to see Chris Horner look human.
Riding the trainers for sure before the start tomorrow. 97k of cray cray. Mas Nachos needs to go after it. Maybe the Kuss gets loose?
If Chris Horner recovers, this one suits him.

I think Mas would be willing to concede to protect his young rider's classification and maybe an overall podium if Valverde struggles. I don't know if Lopez or Kruijswijk will pass up the opportunity to go suicidal. The course profile gives them an opportunity, and I don't know if Kruijswijk will get another opportunity in his career as good as this one. Lopez has already made a GT podium and two young rider classifications so why not go for broke?

I just don't think either of them will have enough to get a significant margin on Yates. And even if Yates does chase for an extended period, I think the climbs are steep enough that whoever sits on his wheel won't be getting a good enough draft to take advantage of him later. Pinot and Kruijswijk were barely hanging onto Yates' tempo today and that was on the 4-5% section while in the big ring.

But you never know...Yates may have a bad day and this whole thing may be a free for all. The stage looks really hard. Mental strength might be just as important as what little these guys have left in their legs.

Here’s Astana’s move...

Nibali working for Lopez now!!! Adam needs to hang on because Simon is about to be isolated with a big train behind him.

Yates brothers not letting them get far, though.

Edit: But very fortunate for Lopez to bring Nibali...for the descent.

Kudos to Adam...looks like Simon should be safe as long as he avoids bad luck.