Stage 7

The road

At the start

Contador is already thirty-six seconds down

Jaca cost Alberto Contador more than half a minute: Rodríguez leads him by thirty-six seconds now, with Froome at ten and Rigoberto Urán suddenly fourth. Today should give the sprinters their second chance in three days — a hundred and sixty rolling kilometres across Aragón, finishing on the wide, smooth tarmac of the Motorland race circuit.

How it was won

1. 112 km to go

   A crash in the middle of the field

   Twelve kilometres out the bunch comes down in the middle of the road and splits. Everybody involved gets up, but the run-in to the Motorland Aragón circuit is ridden by a peloton that has just been reminded what it is riding for.

2. 2At the line

   Degenkolb's third

   Sky lead onto the motor-racing circuit so fast they briefly open a gap of their own, and Degenkolb finds himself boxed in and having to fight for room. He gets it, and wins anyway. Viviani, second, thumps his handlebars.

The result