Krists Neilands

The queen stage was very difficult for many riders. While Simon Geschke (Cofidis) suffered from the first kilometers of the Col des Saisies, Victor Lafay was part of the first group of breakaways. He is joined by Guillaume Martin in the same pass. Neilands (Israel Premier-Tech) and Champoussin (Arkéa-Samsic) also take the wheel of the first breakaways. After the descent, Alaphilippe, Ciccone and Neilands make up the trio of fugitives. The latter garnered the 17 points of the intermediate sprint. Going up to the Cormet de Roselend, 35 runners are at the front. Among them, Houle, Schultz and Neilands (Israel Premier-Tech), Champoussin and Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic). Approaching the summit, Neilands unfortunately did not manage to hold the leading group. In the terrible ascent of the Col de la Loze, Guillaume (Cofidis) held on for a long time before continuing at his own pace. He achieved a good stage by finishing 14th, a handful of seconds behind the French champion Valentin Madouas. In the general classification, he is in eleventh place. Note the presence of Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) in the top 20 of the day and the 23rd place of Nick Schultz, a few seconds ahead of Pogacar!

Several breakaway attempts take place during the first 30 kilometres. None manage to form.1 km from the top of the first difficulty (Col des Fleuris), Woods, Neilands, Houle and Barguil connect with the breakaway of 26 riders.Lutsenko and Alaphilippe break away.At 130 kms from the finish, the duo have a 45" lead.33 riders make up the chasing group. Among them: Martin, and Izaguirre for Cofidis, Woods, Teuns, Houle, Neilands for Israel Premier Tech, Barguil and Guglielmi for Arkéa-Samsic.km 105. 35 runners escaped.6'45" ahead of the peloton.In the ascent of the Col de la Croix de Fry, Teuns and Woods (IPT) stall...Van Aert attacks 400m from the summit of the Aravis. Krists Neilands takes his wheel and holds on!Less than 37 km, boom! Neilands falls on the descent.He bumps into a wall. Stunned, he let the fight for the win slip away, but very fortunately he set off again and finished the stage.A few minutes later, Martin goes straight. Without gravity.There are twelve kms left, Hugo Houle inserts himself between the pursuers and the leading trio. It will be taken back.Guillaume Martin takes a good seventh place, the two riders of the Arkéa-Samsic formation, Guglielmi and Barguil, finish ninth and tenth. Teuns and Houle are eleventh and thirteenth.In the general classification, Guillaume is now tenth, a handful of seconds behind Gaudu. Step by step...

The day after the rest day and two days after Mr. Woods' prestigious victory at the top of the Puy de Dôme, the 10th stage promised to be epic: a hilly profile with a succession of difficulties and high temperatures. All promises kept... From the start of the stage, the offensives follow one another and a group of about fifteen cyclists manages to widen a thin gap. We find among others Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Pérez (Cofidis), Neilands and Schulz (Israel-Premier Tech). Less than 30 km from the finish, Neilands launched a cold attack in a stifling atmosphere. The Latvian, unleashed, seems to be able to hold on... Unfortunately his lead (40 seconds) melts as much as his five pursuers get along wonderfully. At 3.2 kms from the finish, Krits is finally caught. He offers a nice 4th place to his definitely very prominent team. He logically pockets the fighting price ... Note the 9th place of Warren Barguil

Bryan Coquard (COFIDIS) slipped into the first breakaway of the day with one objective in mind: to win the intermediate sprint. Mission accomplished at kilometer 48, he was the fastest and collected 20 points. With 84 points, he is now a solid runner-up to Philipsen.  Belgian Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) broke away with Van Aert and Mads Pedersen. They were caught less than 3 kilometers from the top of the Col de Soudet.  Israel Premier-Tech rider Krists Neilands briefly went it alone on the Col d'Ichère.