Giacomo 1 

Today's stage was another good one!

There was a big breakaway of 18 riders out there pretty early, and they were never to be caught. The peloton seemed unable or unwilling to put out much effort to catch them. The highest placed rider in the breakaway was Garmin's Talansky who started the day in 17th place, but gained over 6 minutes coming in third place. Hopefully he didn't burn himself out to much today. He is having a great first Tour. TJ was in the break to, but faded at the end.

I found myself rooting for the lone runaway rider at the end, Frenchman Julien Simon, who rode away on his own over the last hill. The French haven't won a stage yet. He was caught with about 1k to go though and Matteo Trentin took the win at the line, the first stage victory for the Italians here.

The crowds were huge today!

A lazy peloton couldn't dampen the excitement of the strong breakaway. Another thoroughly enjoyable stage today IMO!

Caretaker

Don't blame the peloton for not chasing down the breakaway given that they are facing 220km tomorrow even before they reach Mont Ventoux.

Only 2sec separating the two Garmin Sharp riders Martin & Talansky in 11th & 12th position on GC.

There should be a big shake up in the GC tomorrow. Everyone will be watching Froome but it will be interesting also to see how others have survived or improved in the last two weeks.

Zinger

Talansky is just having a great 1st Tour and he's also third in the race for white. Consider that Armstrong abandoned his 1st before this far and his 2nd too. I'm so stoked I ordered a Garmin Sharp T shirt, lol. Highly unusual for me since I own no team kit wear at all. TJ sure did a lot of work without help in that from the late time that I walked in on it. Talansky sure seemed to let him do it, lol.

I did too. Walked in on the end visiting a friend in the hospital and thought for a minute that the French were going to win a stage on Bastille day until I heard 14 kliks and 29 seconds. Then I started rooting for my homeboys because I knew that wouldn't quite last. Simon sure gave them a good chase for it though and made it pretty close enough to be a thriller.

Glad I got to see the end of Talansky making a stage podium finish.

ultraman6970

Thought another team that had basically no chance in the gc was going to do something weird to finish killing sky a day before, well good stage anyways.

Hope the garmin kid can put his hands in the white Jersey or at least shine tomorrow. Perfect day for him.

Ken Brown

It was great to see the breakaway succeed. Good for Talansky and Teejay.

Caretaker

Don't think Van Garderen will be terribly happy. He finished +1'32" and is still over +32' on GC and over +27' for the Young Rider. Also his BMC team mate Burghardt finished at +10" in 14th on today's stage. Not a good tour for BMC.

Zinger

I just hope Talansky has enough in the tank for Ventoux tomorrow. He rode a smart race today but I'm sure he spent some for that showing. Tomorrow is the last chance for a challenge to Froome, imo.

Athens80

Yeah, it was a stage win for BMC or nothing today. He's way back to think of GC or white jersey placings. He did try a lot of escapes in the closing kilometers, but didn't have either the gas or the timing to clear the other riders.

Giacomo 1 

Didn't mean to sound like I was blaming them.

Your absolutely right, tomorrow will be a tough and long day, and yesterday was no picnic either. All the riders spent a lot of energy in those crosswinds. It was one of the best flat stages I have ever seen. Today, I'm pretty sure the peloton wasn't worried about Talansky picking up some time...

Athens80

Interview with Matteo Trentin on today's ITV Tour de France podcast (iTunes link):

"Tour Talk" with Frankie Andreu and James Startt, and the premium shows from the Velocast are good stuff too.