So the weather was great, but personally I wasn’t. The good news is that team rode well and we are pretty damn happy with the day. Trent and Ryder finished with the front group of about 24 guys. So now they will be fighting it out for the GC.

The whole stage was driven by the final climb - Alt del Garbi (640m). Astana and Saunier Duval set a savage tempo on the lower slopes that strung the group out. At that point, I was fanning it, totally cruising. Then we hit the steep bits that were….STEEP. It ramped up to 15-18%, but was really inconsistent.

I was sitting pretty in the top 20, then hit a wall and just couldn’t breath. So I selected reverse and watched the race disappear into the distance. But at least we had Trent and Ryder in the front group. So now it will be full on for the GC AND we’ll have Julian and CJ going for the sprints.