Luckily there is Purito. He will never win a Tour. He won't even win a Giro even if in 2012 he would have deserved it but Ryder Hesjedal snatched it from him by a handful of seconds in the final time trial in Milan. But Rodriguez, in the days of grace, is a champion who knows how to excite like few others. As happened yesterday on the tough ramps that lead to Plateau de Beille, an arrival for classy brands where Marco Pantani flew high in the Tour he won in 1998. And in a Grande Boucle where Quintana, Contador and even Nibali are paralyzed by Chris' excessive power Froome, Joaquim Rodriguez's exploit is welcome. It doesn't matter if he favored the fact that between the team time trial and the first two Pyrenean stages the Spaniard had fallen backwards enough to accumulate more than 20 minutes behind the yellow jersey. Purito put on a show by leaving his two fellow adventurers in the lurch, first Romain Bardet, then Jacob Fuglsang, to go all alone in search of Mikal Kwiatkoswki, the world champion who was still in the lead halfway through the final climb, dreaming of a feat that would illuminate his rather shadowy rainbow jersey in this Tour. Behind, detached by almost 10 minutes, there were all the big names with the British despot who kept them on a leash, well supported by Porte and Thomas. Up front, in the blink of an eye, like a hawk Rodriguez hooked up and greeted an exhausted Kwiatkoswki. For Purito, already a splendid winner in the Belgian stage of Huy, the last four km were a riot in the pouring rain between two wings of the crowd that paid homage to the old indomitable champion who is almost at home in these parts living in Andorra which is on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, not far from Plateau de Beille. Fuglsang was second after more than a minute, then Bardet further behind. "I'm like Atletico Madrid: I can do my best when others least expect it": Purito on the podium was truly the portrait of happiness.
In the meantime, what had happened behind it? Seven km from the finish, the first to attempt a sprint to annoy Froome was none other than the Pistolero, who has perhaps not yet resigned to seeing the double-win operation fail. "Where his legs fail, Alberto puts his heart into it", Ivan Basso said live on Rai about his teammate-captain, finally reassured, after days of fear, by the successful outcome of the operation. But Contador's cue lasts no more than a few hundred metres, then the winner of the last Giro is reabsorbed by the train of Sky men orchestrated by the yellow jersey. Then it's Nibali's turn, who tries to re-emerge from the dullness of too many stages: the Shark gains a few seconds, he hasn't been seen so refreshed for days. But the illusion of a rebirth died in the bud even if yesterday the Shark got away with no further damage, indeed taking advantage of Mollema's défaillance at the end of the stage he found himself again in the top ten of the standings, climbing up to ninth place . Once Nibali is caught again, it is Alejandro Valverde who gives a jolt to the elected squad twice but it is another flash in the pan even if it serves to put Froome in early warning of a possible exit by Quintana. And here finally also the Andean Condor, a sphinx hitherto inscrutable, decides to move. It's his first attack in this Tour. But more than a challenge outing, it's an unrealistic flash that goes off immediately but which only has the effect of irritating the boss in the yellow jersey, who is tired of being teased so decides to make the his now famous smoothie five km from the summit. Tilting his legs as only he can do (so many pedal strokes per minute only Armstrong was able to do them regardless of the epo), Froome, increasingly thinner, nodding his head like a pendulum, revs his engine and his watts scaring the whole company that fears another fool like the beating suffered on Tuesday at La Pierre-Saint-Martin. A brief test of strength more than enough to advise everyone, Quintana and Contador first, to accept a truce by climbing the finish line together. Only in the last hundred meters did the Tour boss leave the sprint of the big names to Valverde. Standings unchanged with Van Garderen and Quintana completing the podium area.
Today, having left the Pyrenees and waiting for the big stages in the Alps, a fraction without major ascents from Muret to Rodez, but with many ups and downs and a short final stretch but with a gradient of 9,7%. In other words, a stage open to everyone except pure sprinters.
