That was Porte and Thomas. Porte has been known to swing between good and bad days, and he did ride part of the Giro, after winning everything in sight earlier in the year, so maybe he's not that fresh?. I'm not sure if Thomas has a record of consistency. The other Sky domestiques were all dropped, of course they were saving themselves so hard to say if they could have come back for a second effort.

Anyway, Q and AC are going to be looking for a way to win this. AC doesnt care about second place, and I imagine Q is far from giving up on yellow. TvG might want to settle for top five, but if he thinks about the implications of sharing GC status with Porte next year, he'll realise the importance of getting the best possible result this year. I don't think he's necessarily going to get two more tries at leading BMC in the Tour, if he doesn't get on the podium and finish far ahead of Porte this year.