In the end it was Chris Froome who silenced the critics by launching a trademark, terrible looking, counterattack on the final climb that left the optimistically attacking Vincenzo Nibali floundering on the hillside as Katusha's Simon Spilak was the only one with the legs to chase down he Sky captain. After an impressive comeback to slowly reduce the gap to the charging Froome, Spilak seemed comfortable at the front as the Sky-man was perhaps content to keep company and open up the gap to the rest of the pack. As competent as Spilak is, Froome is likely fairly comfortable with his chances to distance the Slovene in the final day timetrial to repeat his win from 2013. The fight for the overall will now be between the two over the weekend.
Top 10 Stage 3
- Simon Spilak
- Chris Froome s.t
- Rui Costa + 57 sec
- Jakob Fuglsang s.t.
- Beñat Intxausti s.t
- Matthias Frank s.t.
- Vincenzo Nibali s.t.
- Jesus Herrada +1.41
- Thibault Pinot s.t.
- Andrew Talansky s.t.
Top 5 GC
- Simon Spilak
- Chris Froome +1 sec
- Rui Costa +1.02
- Vincenzo Nibali +1.06
- Mathias Frank +1.10
All photos by Michael Steele - Velo/Getty Images