TOUR DE FRANCE rookie Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) of Poland made up for the disappointment of finishing second yesterday to pick up a first ever stage victory, 24 seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who stretched his lead at the top of the general classification once more.
The tone of the day was set from the gun when Joaquim Rodriguez attacked immediately, causing a split with about 40 riders – including Nibali and his nearest rival Alejandro Valverde – stretching away from the rest of the peloton.
At 16km the pair had been dropped as a group of 17 riders, including Ireland’s Nicolas Roche, raced ahead and held a five minute lead over the pack at 79km.
With AG2R-La Mondiale pushing hard from behind to reduce the gap to one minute at, Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) rode away from the front group at the beginning of the final climb.
However, he was eventually overtaken by Majka who went out on his own for the final 9km to claim the win.
Race leader Nibali – as he did yesterday – accelerated away from his rivals near the finish and though he couldn’t catch Majka, he did enough to add another minute and 24 seconds to his lead over Valverde.
Roche eventually finished 70th, over 15 minutes behind team-mate Majka.
