Tour de France: Jarlinson Pantano wins stage, Chris Froome keeps lead

Trek-Segafredo’s Fabian Cancellara, the 35-year-old Berne native in his final Tour de France, had to settle for sixth place.

But after the Tour left Provence and then headed north into the Jura mountains on Sunday, Froome’s hope of a third Tour title appeared all but his barring disaster before Sunday’s finish in Paris.

Each day, follow the race on Eurosport.com with our video round-ups. “I’m surprised he didn’t attack in the last climb and go away solo, but he still managed to win the stage”. “I’m thankful to the team and a lot of times I lose the race but now I won and I think destiny is turning back now”.

In one of the most exciting finishes to a stage in some time, all the main protagonists attempted to hit the front, but it was Sagan who ruled the roads once more with a perfectly timed move.

” I was just hanging on there”, Cavendish said. “I dedicate this victory to my wife and my team captain Mathias Frank who had to pull out because he was sick”.

Sagan briefly gatecrashed Froome’s press conference, and the Team Sky man was full of praise for a rider known as The Terminator. On the final climb of the Lacets du Grand Colombier, the Italian Fabio Aru made a move – but one that had been flagged up with the subtlety of a steamroller as the Astana team rode hard up the preceding ascent in an unsuccessful attempt to burn off Froome’s team-mates. “It’s another day we can tick off and everyone is pretty grateful we’ve got a rest day tomorrow”.

This year, it took him until stage eight to become the man in yellow and, bar the drama of Ventoux when race organisers saw sense on timings amid the farce, it is not a yellow that has been in peril.

The rolling 209-kilometre (130-mile) stage from Moirans-en-Montagne to the Swiss capital of Bern resembled the route of a single-day classic, with a section on cobblestones before a slight uphill finish. Guys who would be leaders in other teams.

“It was a bit insane and careless, but sometimes it’s good to try something that’s not in the text book”, said Martin.

Martin took the mountain point, but his lead was wiped out shortly afterwards before he got spat back out the back, the same direction Alaphilippe had gone – the two both paying for their efforts too much to help team-mate Marcel Kittel chase back on.

I think [Monday] will be more emotional because there’s kind of my own expectation but there’s also for sure somehow some expectation from others, but I think that’s normal.

“Majka had won several Tour stages (three) and I was wary of him in the finale but I had good sensations”.

With only five stages to go, Froome has already shown enough to say only bad luck can prevent from claiming his third victory in the Tour.