The following day, with the roles reversed, it was not easy for Aru and Froome to interpret them in the shortest stage of the Tour, a high-speed race, embittered by three Pyrenean hills with steep slopes, ennobled by Contador's attack right from the first asperity of the Col de Latrape and also from the resurrection of Quintana on the Col d'Agnes. Froome, the dictator deposed for the first time, always has his faithful squires with him, but obviously leaves the task of setting the pace and mending it up to those of Astana, also because Landa is also on the run with Contador. But where is Astana? Aru, in the yellow jersey, soon finds himself alone without any companion, an awkward and unusual position for a leader, but bad luck is raging against the Kazakh team who witness the stoic resistance of Jacob Fulgsang who immediately pedals in the rear until until the pain from micro-fractures in his wrist and elbow forced him to retire. Aru starts shooting alone, but when he refuses he can't find anyone to tag him. In front Contador, until yesterday the other relegated to the margins of the Tour as if he were the old man in Modugno's song, finds the rhythm of the past, his pedaling "en danseuse" this time stings and creates a vacuum.
With him is Landa who, being less than three minutes from Aru in the standings, begins to see the possibility of combining the useful - the team order to act as a possible point of reference for Froome - with the pleasant - grabbing the yellow jersey or at least come very close to it. Aru is increasingly alone against everyone: he controls Froome, has eyes for Bardet, pays attention to Uran, happy because the jury removed his 20” penalty for outlawed refueling. In this game of cops and robbers, Quintana tries to get Condor back and starts chasing Contador. The first in the standings let him do it, also because the Colombian is more than 4 minutes behind in the standings.
Only Barguil in a white jersey with red polka dots, also to strengthen his leadership of the climbers, manages to hook Quintana's wheels. The two will also be joined by Kwiatkowski, another VIP pawn of the Froome clan. The stage does not have a moment of respite: Contador, also due to the brevity of the stage, knows he can give everything without running out of strength as happened to him in the hard stages over 200 km. On the last col, the Mure de Péguère with slopes of over 15% in the final part, Quintana and Barguil catch up with the two fugitives, not Kwiatowski who waited for Froome to lend him a hand. The lead of the four over the yellow jersey is always around two minutes. Aru has the nature of the attacker but being isolated he fears repercussions, so he is at Froome's wheels. Bardet's shot is awaited but the Frenchman doesn't move this time. Froome moves with a half shake of his own, an action that produces nothing because Aru is ready to cancel it: it only serves to reduce the gap from the poker that leads the race, in essence it only hurts Landa who sees every possibility of grabbing the yellow jersey. The Basque, a great grimpeur, is an impenetrable sphinx on the pedals but he must not have taken it well. The long descent towards the finish line in Foix does not change the situation of the race: in the four-man sprint Contador takes the lead but does not hold on to the return of Warren Barguil , who wins the stage, and also of Quintana who, finishing second, collects 6" bonus. It had been 12 years since a Frenchman had won the stage of the "Quatorze Juillet", the French national holiday. The last to do so was David Moncoutié in the Briançon-Digne-les-Bains of the 2005 Tour.
Aru defends the yellow jersey without major damage but the abandonment first of Dario Cataldo and yesterday of Fuglsand deprives Astana of the two strongest squires in the mountains for the yellow jersey. Froome, who does not look like the Martian of other years but who has the Marseille time trial on his side in the penultimate stage, remains second at 6 ”. Bardet is third at 25”, then Uran at 35”. Landa leapt to fifth place at 1'09” . Even Quintana in Foix feels back in the race having halved the gap to 2'07” from Aru. Contador is also back in the top ten and is now tenth at 5'22”. With this increasingly shorter classification, the Tour leaves the Pyrenees to begin the approach to the Alps: but before the last decisive mountains, with the mythical Galibier and the arrival on top of the Izoard, there are stages that invite ambushes like today's from Blagnac to Rodez: 181 km with an eventful route in the final part and the finish at the top of the Cote de Saint-Pierre, just over half a km at 9,6%. Two years ago Greg Van Avermaet prevailed here ahead of Sagan.
