Greig Leach

The high mountains like the Pyrennes are kyptonite to the pure sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step). Add a hot day to the multiple steep climbs and it makes for a long, hard day for the Maillot Vert. Cav's team left at least two teammates back to help him stay well within the time limit of the day. At this point on the Mont Louis Cav was still hanging onto the peloton, but for how much longer? One of his teammates, Tim Declercq, poured his cold water bottle onto the base of the neck of his team's fast man. Declercq is usually the man on the front of the of the peloton chasing down breaks so Cav can go for the win. Without a chance of a sprint finish, he switch to being the big guy the diminutive Cav could hide from the wind behind.