The resounding first and second place finishes by Chris Froome and Richie Porte does not allow Sky Procycling to lead the team standings because it lacked a third man in the stage rankings at Ax-3 Domaines. Peter Kennaugh was phenomenal leading to the final climb but he then switched off and finished 53rd over 11 minutes behind after a great job at the foot of the last climb. So the good work by the British team was for the individual rankings – which Sky dominates. But in the battle of the teams, it's Movistar in command with Alejandro Valverde (3rd), Nairo Quintana (9th) and Rui Costa (12th) in stage eight. That's a combined time that's 43 seconds better than Team Saxo-Tinkoff, which places three riders in the top 20 – Roman Kreuziger seventh, Alberto Contador in eighth and Michael Rogers 18th... while AG2R-La Mondiale is good French surprise of the day, in third at 3'49” (with Jean-Christophe Péraud 13th, Romain Bardet 14th and John Gadret 24th).
Overall, it's a similar order: Movistar ahead of Team Saxo-Tinkoff and AG2R La Mondiale. The Pyrenees have already begun to establish a new hierarchy. The yellow race numbers have been ripped off Orica-GreenEdge which sank down the rankings from first to 19th place!
