Greig Leach

The hard attacks and the hard climb up the Port de Bales, but quite a few riders into jeopardy. With Alejandro Valverde pulling the Yellow Jersey along with the FDJ duo of Thibaut Pinot and Arnold Jeannesson up and over the final climb many found their placings on the GC slipping away. Pinot and Romain Bardet (AG2R) have been battling for the White Jersey of best young rider, starting the day separated by just 16 seconds. With Pinot already a minute ahead on the road, Bardet fought with the mountain and his bike in hopes of being able to pull back the time on the way down the other side. Pinot is not the descender that Bardet is. Bardet had used the final descent on stage 15 to put time into his young countryman, and clung to the thought that he could do it again. All of the struggling riders were enthusiastically encouraged by the flag waving, screaming photo taking fans that lined the top of the Haute Catagorie, all the more for the young Frenchman.