I have 3 points I need to express:

1. Absolute masterclass by Pogi today. Nothing anyone can do but just watch in awe. One can only wonder what that race would have looked like if Jonas and Lipo were still around contending for GC.
2. Looks like Lenny Martinez is public enemy #1 amongst cycling fans today. Everyone is blaming him for not helping enough on the breakaway, causing Carapaz to use up all his energy and ultimately letting Pogi catch them. Personally, I don't care much about that and think it was entertaining and dramatic either way. Seeing Carapaz look back and Tadej is just methodically pedaling closer and closer made me think of the Terminator films. Either way, hats off to the EF team for another fantastic stage.
3. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the crowds in this stage. The atmosphere is great and it creates a real sense of drama watching it unfold, but its so dangerous and unnecessary for everyone to be waving flags in the cyclists faces, stepping in the way to get on camera, tripping over themselves to try and slap the riders on the back. These people get swept up in themselves (along with alcohol) and just have no idea how much risk they are putting their favorite riders in. Not to mention that Remco was trying to attack but got caught behind a traffic jam because there was no room for him to move on either side. Then we have Rubio getting a DNF because the UAE car needed to slam on its breaks to avoid running over someone who had stepped into the course in front of it. That was brutal.

And that's not even including all of the little close calls that occurred (I saw one guy try to cross in front between a rider and a motorcycle with maybe a 5 meter gap between them. Motorcycle had to swerve a bit; lots of hand gestures ensued.

Apparently Pog has never won on d'Huez. So I don't see how anyone else wins the stage given he'll be hungry for this. A breakaway with like 10 minutes at the base of the Alpe is probably the only way someone else wins it. UAE being weakened right now, and the potential need to make Del Toro a full domestique, makes this slightly interesting.

Edit: I'll be rooting for Kuss to get in the break. Somebody like him has a real chance if the break is allowed to get a big gap.

A confirmation of previous tendencies:

• Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon) gets a tiny bit weaker every day. Too bad he never pushed his advantage when he was a bit stronger than several of his opponents. That's AG2R's tradition 🙂
• Ayuso (🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek) gets weaker much, much faster. According to stage results, after his breakaway, Q. Simmons🇺🇸 had to babysit him up the final climb, once gain.
• Conversely, Evenepoel (🇧🇪 Bora) and Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) appear slightly better now.
• L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) is a pain in the ass and he fails to understand that riding like he does may be fine when he and the other guy(s) with hum detached from the rest of the riders because they were the strongest in the race; but it is absolutely not fine, when you are a breakaway of weaker climbers than the GC leader(s) coming fast behind you. Even more so when you also play a GC position.
• Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) is damn, strong in this 3^rd^ week. Same as last year's 3^rd^ week when he was on fire. And, again, he isn't afraid of playing with others' nerves once he has already secured a victory. Another confirmation is that he cannot outsprint V. Paret-Peintre (🇫🇷 Soudal-QS) but he lasts longer.

Non-Pogatchar GC leaders only climbed faster than Carapaz🇪🇨/Martinez🇫🇷 by about 1 minute, in a 14 km climb! And it's not like those two climbed in an optimal way...

L. Martinez🇫🇷 takes over both Lidl-Trek riders in GC (not only the declining Ayuso🇪🇸 but also Skjelmose🇩🇰 for a handful of seconds). In a way, it is thanks to the Lidl-Trek riders in the breakaway; however Lidl-Trek pulling the breakaway a bit unnecessarily may have been the result of a deal between Lidl-Trek/Pedersen🇩🇰 and EF/Carapaz🇪🇨. I previously noted that Pedersen🇩🇰 could ride for others in recognition of another team/rider's attitude.

Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) blew up early, and loses a position in GC to Carapaz🇪🇨 and his good finish.

Carapaz🇪🇨 will wear the Polka Dots jersey tomorrow. For real, but only 1 point ahead of Pogatchar🇸🇮. Vingegaard🇩🇰 then V. Paret-Peintre🇫🇷 wore it for many days (since after stage #6 (Tourmalet)), but Pogatchar🇸🇮 was the actual leader of the classification. Carapaz🇪🇨 was losing only 2 points to V. Paret-Peintre🇫🇷 each time the latter was passing a summit just in front of him, and scored points for 1^st^ and 3^rd^ places in the last two climbs.

Only 2 stages are left to avoid the very rare humiliation of a Tour de France without a French victory (only occurrences: 1999 after the Festina case, and 1926 the longest Tour with 1,500 miles more than the current edition and Belgians all over).