Athens80

Porte, solo, came up one minute short of pulling back the group led first by Garmin-Sharp and then by Movistar. Finally the team concluded that he could not, mostly alone, outride determined GC teams and he soft pedaled the rest of the way, losing serious time. If you're riding in support, and circumstances take you out of contention for a podium or top ten finish, why not save the energy and finish 17 minutes down instead of 7? It's remarkable that he was able to get within a minute or so of the GC group at several points in a chase over many kilometers.