Evenepoel counters Pogacar and attacks Vingegaard's second place, Carapaz finally clinches his stage victory

Wednesday's stage seemed tailor-made for the breakaways. This proved true, with an initial phase where many riders managed to break away and a final phase where explosive climbers, as well as other riders having a good day, could make their mark. The Col Bayard, Col du Noyer, and the final climb to Superdévoluy were supposed to make the difference. And yes... the peloton agreed and took it quite literally.

From the beginning, the tension in the group was palpable, also due to the headwind in the initial phase. There was considerable crosswind, at force four. The general classification riders were alert, but the breakaway riders also seized this moment to escape. The result: a fast, nervous, and selective phase. Since everyone seems in form this Tour, no one could really drop each other. The consequence was that groups did break away, but they were constantly chased down by other, hungry riders.

Among others, Wout van Aert made an attempt, and he was away for about ten minutes with Oier Lazkano among others. As we gradually climbed in altitude, to about 800 meters from sea level in the first half of the race, they were also quickly caught again. Meanwhile, the door at the back was open: several riders fell behind, leading to three withdrawals: Alexey Lutsenko ended his ordeal, while sprinters Fernando Gaviria and Sam Bennett saw continuing the Tour as futile. Especially the withdrawal of the Kazakh was a minor tearjerker.

From the start, the tension within the group was palpable, also due to the headwind in the initial phase. There was considerable crosswind, at force four. The general classification riders were alert, but the breakaway riders also seized this moment to escape. The result: a fast, nervous, and selective phase. Since everyone seems in form this Tour, no one could really drop each other. The consequence was that groups did break away, but they were constantly chased down by other, hungry riders.

Among others, Wout van Aert made an attempt, and he broke away for about ten minutes with Oier Lazkano among others. As we gradually climbed in altitude, to about 800 meters from sea level in the first half of the race, they were also quickly caught again. Meanwhile, the door at the back was open: several riders fell behind, leading to three withdrawals: Alexey Lutsenko ended his ordeal, while sprinters Fernando Gaviria and Sam Bennett saw continuing the Tour as futile. Especially the withdrawal of the Kazakh was a bit of a tearjerker.

Eventually, about 70 kilometers from the finish, a group of four emerged at the front: Romain Grégoire, Tiesj Benoot, Bob Jungels, and Magnus Cort. These four gentlemen rode in rotation during a phase in which the peloton also went loco, and they impressively maintained a lead of about a minute. It seemed like everyone wanted to be part of the action, including Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, who were alert. At one point, half of the peloton had dropped back, but they returned towards the intermediate sprint.

At the intermediate sprint, the peloton was only competing for fifth place, but it was still an important moment for Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen. The former won the uphill sprint, sending a significant signal in the battle for the green jersey. Philipsen settled behind the Eritrean. Meanwhile, the peloton seemed done with attacking, and at 44 kilometers from the finish. So it happened; a group finally managed to break away.

This group contained no fewer than 47 (!) riders. At the foot of the Bayard, they were together and had a three-minute lead over the peloton. Immediately, about fifteen riders had to drop off, the stage had already been that brutal. Key men in this group? Geraint Thomas, Wout van Aert, Richard Carapaz, Laurens De Plus, Simon Yates, and Guillaume Martin. However, there was little cooperation, so Martin and his compatriot Valentin Madouas decided to break away. The peloton had totally slackened and was riding at 7 minutes.

The Bayard brought little more than exhaustion and further thinning, but on the Noyer, after the valley phase, it was different. Martin and Madouas joined the four at the front, while Yates closed the gap with one attack. Carapaz also wanted to join, and Stephen Williams wisely chose his wheel. However, the four men were completely outmaneuvered by Yates. The rider of Jayco-AlUla burst ahead of the leaders and went solo. He was followed by Carapaz.

Yates seemed to be pulling away from the rest for a while, but the resilient Carapaz managed to catch up later. Williams had overreached and had to drop back. Soon, both men had forty seconds on the pursuers. For a few kilometers, the men seemed evenly matched, until Carapaz made his move. The Ecuadorian from EF Education-EasyPost accelerated sharply and put Yates about eight meters behind. Gradually, he showed more and more grit, forcing Yates to eventually ease up.

The descent towards the final climb at Superdévoluy, a short four kilometers at just under six percent, was tricky, so Carapaz had to be cautious. Yates kept pace and was eighteen seconds behind. In the peloton, Giulio Ciccone accelerated, bringing Derek Gee and Felix Gall along. The difficulty of the early phase left its mark here as well. Matteo Jorgenson had to drop back, but there were no other significant casualties.

Carapaz started the final climb in a leading position. He had slightly extended his lead on the descent. The peloton was quickly thinned out by the accelerations from the second half of the top ten. On the last climb, the race leader was full of adrenaline and managed to break Yates. The Brit saw his deficit quickly increase and at one point was forty seconds behind. He achieved his first stage win in the Tour at Superdévoluy, completing the famed trilogy of stage wins in every Grand Tour, and gave his team EF a fantastic gift.

In the final kilometers of the Noyer, it was Pogacar who decided to accelerate. He was joined by Vingegaard and Evenepoel, but they soon had to drop back. The Slovenian yellow jersey shook off his two rivals, but they caught up in the descent. Vingegaard had assistance from Christophe Laporte, who was in the early breakaway. The three arrived at the bottom of the final climb together, where Evenepoel boldly broke away. Vingegaard had no response, and Pogacar stayed in the Dane's wheel.

Visma | Lease a Bike also put Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot at the front to catch Evenepoel. However, it was to no avail: the white jersey gained time on Vingegaard! That was indeed the story of the day. Pogacar also dropped Vingegaard from his wheel at the end with a strong sprint. Evenepoel gained ten seconds on the yellow jersey, while the leader of Visma | Lease a Bike lost twelve seconds to the Belgian.