Greig Leach

If any of the contenders wanted to take the Yellow Jersey away from Chris Froome (Sky) they were going to have to attack on the penultimate climb up the Col du Noyer. Etixx-Quickstep had been laying the ground work across the valley before turning onto the mountain road, but it was Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) who was the first to strike out in hopes of reclaiming his leader's jersey that he put on after the Prologue. The first to try to go with the Spaniard was Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), but he just doesn't have Contador's explosive climbing abilities. Etixx-Quickstep didn't panic, they just kept on keeping on. Froome didn't react immediately either, but then that is the metronome style of Team Sky.