The duel begins. The first uphill finish was enough, a taste of the mountains to come, 1.700 meters with a gradient of up to 10%,7, for Nibali and Contador, two born forwards, to make the void behind them, challenging each other with pedal strokes, one the Spanish en danseuse, the other the Italian, never once getting up from the saddle, imperturbable in the face of his rival's agitation. The Tour will always be like this every day, with Contador who will try every moment to cancel the disadvantage accumulated on the cobblestones, with the yellow jersey which, if it is prepared to defend itself, is equally ready to counter-attack if the right opportunity arises.
The first stage in the Vosges, from Tomblaine to Gérardmer, 161 km in the company of rain and fog, ended practically evenly even if Contador managed to gnaw three seconds in the last meters of the race, taking advantage of an unsuccessful change by Nibali. Before the two big names in the Tour, Blel Kadri had crossed the finish line more than two minutes ago, giving France its first victory in this Grande Boucle. Kadri was part of a long five-man breakaway which melted into the two whetstones placed near the final climb. Siylvain Chavanel was the first to leave the company in the lurch, but it was a flash in the pan that burned out soon after.
It was then Kadri, already winner of this year's Roma Maxima, who flew towards the finish line while behind the Saxo-Tinkoff train, piloted by Michael Rogers, the winner of the Zoncolan, accelerated, suggesting a possible attack by Contador. In the group of the best, put to the whip by the Pistolero's men, the first to give up was the Polish Kwiatkoswki, a crisis that will make him lose the white jersey and more than a minute and a half from Nibali and Contador.
Even at team level, Contador's gave the impression of being more on the ball than Astana which at a certain point left only Nibali sending Kangert to lend a hand to Fuglsang who had let himself be slipped away from the group of the best. The Dane, less brilliant than in recent days, will keep second place in the general classification but his gap from captain Nibali has increased from 2 seconds to 1'44”.
Nibali, however, kept an eye on Contador, glued to his wheel. The climate helped the Shark, who as an atypical Sicilian loves the cold more than the heat. It is enough to recall his feat in the snow of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo at the 2013 Giro. And even Contador soon understood what a tough nut he had behind him. Rather, it was the others who broke away one by one on the short but tough rise of the Mauselaine: gaps that were not abysmal but which nonetheless reshaped the classification, eliminating sprinters and finisseurs like Sagan from the first places.
Richie Porte, Thibaut Pinot, Jean Peraud, Teejay Van Garderen were best placed behind the Contador-NIbali duo with limited damage within the half minute. Another unlucky day for the American Andrew Talanky who crashed again while skidding in a bend on the descent of the second whetstone. He arrived at the finish line 4'37” behind Kadri. In the general classification, which always sees Nibali in the yellow jersey, Porte third at 1'58” and Contador jumped to sixth at 2'34”, Talansky dropped to 16th place at 4'22”.
