In the queen stage the pace was, like almost every day, very high from the start. After Carapaz, the last rider of the original breakaway, was caught, Sepp Kuss increased the pace. Only Roglic, Lopez and Pogacar were able to follow. In the last three kilometres it was a man-to-man fight. Roglic and Kuss put the pressure on Pogacar, after which he had to let Roglic go. On the line, Roglic had a 15-second lead over his younger compatriot. In addition, he grabbed two bonus seconds. Kuss crossed the line in fourth place, Tom Dumoulin in tenth place.

“It was a very good day for us”, Roglic said. “I am very happy with what we have shown today and also with the time gained. Of course I would have liked to win the stage, but Lopez was a bit too strong. It was a very tough stage with a very steep final climb. When I see an opportunity, I attack, and so I did. Most importantly, apart from Lopez, I have gained time on my competitors. However, the Tour is not over yet and there are still three tough days to come. We have to stay focused and be ready for the attacks that we expect to come. The team was very strong. I cannot thank my teammates enough. Sepp in particular was impressive today. ”

Kuss rode a very strong stage in support of Roglic. “We reckoned this stage several times. But in a race it is different. I felt really good. The plan was that I would attack and force the competition to chase. Lopez and I had a little gap, but he was going so fast that I couldn’t follow him. I also didn’t want to blow myself up. I waited for Primoz and luckily he was good enough to gain time on Tadej. On a col like the Loze, with the many tempo changes, it is difficult to close a gap once it is there. This was a great day for us.”

Dumoulin concurred with his two teammates. “This is an excellent result. We took time on Pogacar. We did not expect that, actually. We had the stage under control. Because of Bahrain’s work we didn’t have to chase. For us it was a great situation with that breakaway, because then the time bonuses were gone. We were represented well with six riders until the final climb. That was good. The final climb is a fair one and then you can see that Primoz is one of the best riders in this Tour.”