of the uninterested breakaway across. Because intermediate sprints offered points up to the 15th rider to cross, and there had only been 13 so far from the breakaway, some of the sprinters in the peloton decided to duke it out for the last minor points, with Sam Bennett and Bryan Coquard taking them. With around 80 kilometers left, Italian and European road race champion Giacomo Nizzolo was forced to abandon the race, having struggled with a knee injury. At the first category 1 climb, the Col de Menté, Cosnefroy took the maximum ten points on offer to extend his lead in the mountain classification. On the lower slopes of the Port de Balès, a Hors catégorie climb, Cousin broke away. Later on up the climb, shortly after the breakaway caught Cousin, Peters accelerated, with only Zakarin and Pacher able to follow. Pacher did not manage to keep pace for long, and Peters led Zakarin over the summit. Behind them, Pacher continued on, followed shortly after by the quartet of Kragh Andersen, Powless, Skujiņš, and Verona. It was on the descent where the lead duo would be separated, as Peters clearly was more skilled at descending, managing to gain a lead of 30 seconds on Zakarin by the end of the descent. Although Zakarin slowly closed the gap to Peters on the last climb, the Col de Peyresourde, Peters still managed to summit it alone before extending his lead again on that descent. Behind the remnants of the breakaway, the GC contenders began to test each other on the Peyresourde, as set a fast pace. Julian Alaphilippe made an initial attack, but after just one acceleration, the Frenchman bonked and was quickly passed by other riders. Eventually, Tadej Pogačar went clear, pulling with him compatriot Primož Roglič, while Yates struggled to keep up with the group. After a regrouping, Pogačar attacked again and was able to break away on his own. With Yates slowly bridging his way back up to the group, Roglič and Nairo Quintana attacked over the top of the summit. Peters managed to hang on to his lead and win his first Grand Tour stage win. Zakarin had also been passed by Skujiņš and Verona on the run-in to the finish, with Skujiņš beating Verona in the sprint for second place. In ones and twos, the surviving breakaway riders managed to finish ahead of Pogačar, who had built