Stage three starts in front of the UCI headquarters in Aigle, weird to start in the den of the rival cycling organization but whatever. We quickly head out of there for a hilly stage, but expect the climbers to battle on the Troistorrents-Champéry combo at the end of the stage. The uphill finish will see the first major gaps being created.
Nibali, Stimulak and Jaramillo are the first three attackers of the day, when the road is still flat.
Hardy and Dall'Oste join and that's all folks. The five lead by two minutes after fifteen kilometer.
The first climb of the day is to Chamoson. Hardy six points, Dall'Oste four and Jaramillo two. The lead has gone up to four minutes, and that would be the max as well.
Dall'Oste beats Hardy towards Ollon, with Jaramillo again picking up two points. The Italian and Frenchman both have ten points now, four behind co-leaders Thill and Neuman.
Another different order at the Montée de Ves: Jaramillo- Dall'Oste- Hardy. Since it was a climb of second category, awarding ten, eight and six points, Dall'Oste has the lead with 18 points, followed by Hardy at 16 and Jaramillo, Thill and Neuman at 14. There is a category three climb later and the finish is first category, leaving at least 22 points still on the table.
Nibali takes fourth place and four points at quite some distance. Where is Stimulak though?
Stimulak imploded and is caught by the peloton, crossing the top 1'30 later with Jung taking the two points. 96 riders remain with no unexpected name dropped, mainly sprinters and time trialists. The entire GC top five of Duolingo still present.
The intermediate sprint in Martigny is won by Dall'Oste ahead of Hardy and Nibali, who got back on the descent. It is to be determined if they make it to the top of the next climb, the peloton is less than a minute away with 40 kilometer to the line, the climb in twelve.
And the breakaway is caught right at the foot of the Côte de la Rosse. Polka dot Thill in third position behind Stork and Novardianto, perhaps he can reclaim his lead. The six points at the top would do so.
Thill led until 300 meters but then his legs let him down. Bester, Bazhkou and Jung take the points. The sixteen on the finish line will likely go to a GC contender, so Dall'Oste is the presumptive leader of the mountains classification after today.
There is one more intermediate sprint, which Centovalli seems to have targeted. Lienhard brought Reinhardt forward, took a huge lead as he was the only one sprinting, slowed down as not to waste more energy, but ends up only taking third after Thill and Habtemichael overtook him. Comical failure from the Swiss team.
The Côte de la Rosse reduced the peloton to 64 riders. Notable victims were Atapuma, Battaglin, white jersey Oliveira and Parra Bustamente. Yellow jersey Barbio still in the group though at the back, together with Razumov as only remaining teammate.
The riders have started the Montée de Troistorrents, and more riders drop out of the group. All former breakaway riders and Thill are already gone, as are Saggiorato, Manfredi, Schleck, Bonnin, Bazhkou, Stancu, Duarte and Suaza. However, Barbio continuously moves forward to avoid being dropped.
Slagter can't wait anymore and attacks with 12 kilometer to go, two from the first peak. An immediate response from Preidler, Guldhammer and Bennett, also from Latour and Henao Montoya. Barbio still part of the chasing group of 25 but obviously cannot follow this attack.
Slagter and Preidler are the first to enter the short descent. They have a small lead over Guldhammer and Bennett who are caught by Latour and Monsalve, and more or less the entire former group right behind them.
The two leaders start the final climb to Champéry with a lead of twenty seconds. The chasing group consists of: Guldhammer Bennett Latour Monsalve Grmay Pomoshnikov Henao Montoya Poljanski Barbio Faiers Raileanu Lemus Davila Diaz Eastman Pernsteiner Uwizeyimana Hacecky
Barbio still there, but normally he shouldn't be able to survive this climb.
Slagter and Preidler couldn't agree on who should take the lead and got caught, but the Austrian tries again. The Dutchman immediately jumps to his wheel but has Guldhammer on his own. Bennett, Latour, Pomoshnikov, Monsalve and Eastman also respond.
And this is the moment Barbio gives up. Fair play to the Portuguese, who will likely remain in the top twenty after this stage. All other dropped riders, including Henao Montoya, follow his pace, and see the eight ride away. Still six kilometer to go.
Eastman is the first to crack with five kilometer to go! Latour has taken over the lead from Preidler but did not increase the pace by much, probably a weak moment from the American.
Everything stays the same for the next kilometers. Pomoshnikov drops with little over two kilometer to go under Guldhammer's lead. Eastman follows at fifty seconds with Lemus Davila and... Barbio! Henao Montoya and the rest of the group another thirty seconds back.
The six will sprint it out in the final kilometer. Guldhammer leads them out, Monsalve in P2, then Latour, Slagter, Preidler and Bennett. The gaps behind only grow bigger, Pomoshnikov at 45 seconds, Barbio/ Eastman at 1'20, group Henao Montoya at two minutes.
Guldhammer is passed by Monsalve at 400 meters to go. Latour, Slagter and Preidler don't look to be faster than the Venezolan, Bennett might even lose time here.
Slagter with a late dash but Yonathan Monsalve wins on the Montée de Champéry! As he picks up twenty bonus seconds for winning the stage, he will also move into the yellow jersey! The Dutchman can also be happy with a few bonus seconds to make up for dropping time on the opening stage.
Preidler third with the final eight bonus seconds, Guldhammer fourth and Latour fifth, all in the same time as the winner...
...but Bennett really hit his limit and couldn't push out a final sprint. He loses 22 seconds.
Pomoshnikov ends up losing 1'19 and finishes seventh on the stage.
A moment of applause for Barbio, who finishes eighth on the stage at exactly two minutes. Yes he loses the yellow jersey, but he's still seventh in the GC after today. Lemus Davila finishes ninth while Eastman should be mad at himself, only finishing tenth and losing valuable time.
Grmay leads home the next group at 2'38. Behind him are Pernsteiner, Faiers, the disappointing Henao Montoya, and Diaz. They, and everyone who finished behind them, is pretty much out of GC contention. Everyone did make the time limit.
Yonathan Monsalve is the new race leader, with Latour second at twelve seconds. Preidler third at 20 seconds, Guldhammer fourth at 25 seconds, Bennett fifth at 39 seconds and Slagter sixth at exactly one minute. Barbio down to seventh at 1'49, two seconds ahead of Pomoshnikov with Eastman at 2'06. A mountain stage and mountain time trial still to come in the next stages, the GC definitely isn't set in stone.
The Venezolan also leads the points classification but as he can't wear two jerseys, it will be worn by Mezgec. He also moves up to joint-second in the mountains classification, two points behind leader Daniele Dall'Oste. The best young rider on the stage is Schleck but the jersey goes to Egan Bernal, five seconds ahead of Habtemichael. Bakkafrost also takes control of the teams classification.