In Risoul, Rafal Majka wins the Izoard stage. Nibali also relieves the embarrassment who otherwise would have made the en plein in the two Alpine stages of the Tour, given the ease with which he detaches his opponents as soon as he decides to do so. The yellow jersey is satisfied with finishing second at 24" from the Pole, preceding Peraud by two seconds but inflicting another flat minute on Valverde, who tonight is further and further away in the general standings even if he keeps second place for a handful of seconds, increasingly threatened however by the French Bardet and Thibaut Pinot and by the American Teejay Van Garderen who has the advantage of the time trial on his side in the penultimate stage. But there is time to decide who will climb on both sides of the Parisian podium together with Nibali, the master of the Tour.
This morning a Tour started from Grenoble which, facing the Izoard, with its 2.360 meters the highest peak to climb this year, offered an assist to the memory of legendary feats that link this hill to the history of the yellow jersey. The first time of the Grande Boucle that challenged the solemn and terrible Izoard in the lunar scenario of the Casse Deserte was in 1923 and the Belgian Philippe Thijs passed it first. Bartali dominated it in his two Tours won in 1938 and 1948. To commemorate the exploits of Coppi and Bobet there are today two plaques fixed in the rock in front of the monument erected in memory of General Baron-Berge to whom we owe the opening of the road on the pass in 1893. Today Joaquim Rodriguez was the first to pass the top of the Izoard in the hunt for points for the polka-dot jersey of best climber. But Purito runs this Tour to find his leg in view of the Vuelta after the spring falls and the Giro d'Italia. As has happened on other days, his action faded and on the final climb of Risoul he was sucked in and overtaken by the group of Nibali, while the initial breakaway of about twenty riders, born even before the attack on the interminable ascent of With du Lautaret preceding the Izoard, only two remained in command of the race: Alessandro De Marchi and Majka. The Italian, a born fighter who achieved his best success in the 2013 Dauphiné in Risoul, gave way. Not so the Pole who under the eyes of his patron, the Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkoff who followed him on the flagship of the team led by Bjarne Rijs, scored the most beautiful feat of his young career. A success that saves the Tinkoff-Saxo expedition in this Tour marked by bad luck due to Contador's abandonment. Just yesterday after the Chamrousse race Tinkoff underlined how with Contador in the race everything would have been more difficult for Nibali. No one denies it or can prove it, certainly Nibali who still started four km from the finish today, leaving Valverde and his companions dry on the spot, was yet another show of strength that has been repeated since the day in Sheffield, when Squalo preceded everyone by 2” including Froome and Contador. It was the first act of a perfect Tour so far.
