There were many unsuccessful attacks on the route up to the first sprint classification at Esquièze-Sère (at 67 km). The peloton drove at a very high speed, at times around 55 km / h. Shortly before the sprint standings, 13 riders broke out of the peloton and they decided to award points among themselves.
After the sprint classification, the ascent to the Col du Tourmalet (summit at 86 km) began from the west. This route is distinguished from the ascent from the east in that it is shorter, has a more constant gradient, but is steeper on average. The steepest point of the west ascent is near the summit with an 11% gradient.
The top group on the climb to the Col du Tourmalet consisted of three riders: Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Arnold Jeannesson (COF) and Rafał Majka (TNK). Arnold Jeannesson dropped out of the leading trio, the remaining duo continued with a one to two minute lead over the peloton. Tony Martin (EQS) joined Jeannesson in the second chasing group, which was 20 seconds behind the top of the race and then even got into the top group. Behind the peloton, some riders had to fall behind, including Mark Cavendish (DDD) in the green jersey and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in the yellow jersey .
The climb to the Hourquette d'Ancizan at 3:00 p.m. was led by the breakaway group Thibaut Pinot, Rafal Majka and Tony Martin, who were 2:40 minutes ahead of the peloton with 177 of 198 riders. In the second mountain classification at 3:30 p.m., the peloton, led by Team Sky and Movistar Team , shortened the distance to the top to around 1:30 minutes. During the ascent to Col de Peyresourde , the peloton caught up with the leading trio, the new top group consisted of over 30 drivers, including many favorites in the overall classification , including Chris Froome (SKY) and Nairo Quintana (MOV).
At the summit the favorites started attacking each other and the leading group shrank to 14 riders. Chris Froome attacked again shortly before the last summit and was the first to go downhill, during which he constantly increased his distance, last to over 20 seconds.
With the stage win, Chris Froome moved up to first place in the overall standings and took over the yellow jersey . Adam Yates (OBE) was able to keep his second place and even reduce the gap significantly. Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT), who also drove the stage at the same time, was on par with him . In the point evaluations, Peter Sagan (TNK) was able to win two points in the intermediate evaluation , he was only five points behind the runner-up Marcel Kittel (EQS). In the mountain classification there was a new top trio with Rafał Majka in first place and Thibaut Pinot only one point behind. Team Sky was able to shorten its gap to BMC Racing Team from 4:16 min to 1:34 min. Thibaut Pinot was voted the most combative driver by the jury.
Scoring
Intermediate sprint in Esquièze-Sère after 67.0 km at 700 m
Michael Mørkøv (KAT): Abandoned during the stage following a fall from an earlier stage