Brilliant from Contador. A ride to add to the rides in Plateau de Beille, Fuente De, Verbier and Annecy in making the man a legend. He is far from my favourite rider, but I admire his panache, guts and attitude to racing. Rarely does he complain, and I liked his post-race comments.
Brilliant from Landa. It is rubbish to say he is the strongest in the race, but he is possibly (marginally) the strongest climber in the race. Pity he can't time trial for ***. I think if he were leader of Astana from Day 1, he would have been maybe a minute closer. And as others have said, let's not forget the (bad) luck "enjoyed" by Contador. That said, I think Landa will win a GT if he manages to maintain his elevated performance level.
Kruijswijk was immense. I only realised last night how much time he lost on Stage 4. He would be right in the mix if he hadn't had a nightmare on that day. It annoys me so much that people blame his team for his sub-par performances in the last few years. Maybe he is to blame? Or maybe he struggled for fitness? The Rabofail jokes are a bit old now I think.
I think Betancur has rediscovered his mojo. I would like to see him in Le Tour as I think the route suits him enough for a chance of a surprise result. However, I think it asks too much for him to recover in time, so I guess he goes for La Vuelta.
Aru was absolutely immense, too. People seem to forget that he rode a lot of the race by himself in the final 40km or so, The final climb to Apirca is the type of climb that is very tough to do solo. I thought he would lose 10 minutes, or hang on for life on a group like the Konig group, so big chapeau to him. Also those saying he will never be a GT contender are being silly, I think. Maybe he won't win one, but he was contending until yesterday. And he is young, and a feisty fighter. Even though he lost a place on GC, his team leadership and any chance of pink in Milan, yesterday was the day that he really impressed me more than any other.
A great day in probably the best GT since the Arroyo Giro (as I always think of it). Giro 2015 still has a few twists yet, I feel. Hard to see AC lose it now, but at least we know that Landa is strong enough and brave enough to successfully put Alberto under pressure. Albeit it is almost impossible to see him claw back over two minutes.