I think this is maybe a little harsh? That was full gas, balls out racing on terrain which doesn't suit him, EVERYONE was on the rivet, he virtually singlehandedly towed the chasers back to Pog/Jonas (to be fair, maybe a little dumb, maybe should have tried to bluff VdP into closing that since Mathieu was in yellow, but I'd rather see it as him having faith he can still take yellow tomorrow if the gap doesn't get bigger...),.
Yes lost a little time at the end but even Mathieu was tying up at the line. If he'd have lost 30 seconds then yes, I'd agree, but he was right there in the mix in a positively thermonuclear finale and after looking so shaky the first few days it's a nice 'W' to see him active at the pointy end imho. Had to close a couple gaps that a better bike handler might not have let open but overall he looked vastly sharper today. He needs to win that TT tomorrow though, and at least reasonably solidly, but it was overall a very good ride I thought. Just my .02 of course.