Greig Leach

With two riders up the road the points on offer for the remaining positions in the intermediate sprints were greatly reduced. It is theorized that Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre Merida) had come to an arrangement that neither would sprint for the victory at the intermediate sprint leaving it all for the final sprint. It seems that someone started to go for the early sprint, perhaps interpreting that since the breakaway had "won" the sprint, they were free to attack all of the other sprint hopefuls. With the point differential in the race for the Red Jersey so tight, tempers seemed to be on edge. Nizzolo appears to reach out and grab the jersey of Modolo right before Nizzolo and Trek Factory racing attacked for the remaining sprint points. In the ensuing laps, the pair literally butted heads, shoulders and elbows. Fortunately, the feathers seemed to have been back in place by the end of the stage, otherwise a head butt could have sent bikes and bodies flying all over the place.