The problem with putting all the, in effect, decisive stages in a cluster in the second half of the race is that you may well get something of a phony war if the pacing isn't optimal, and the geography of the route means that today was always liable to be somewhat conservative among the big favourites. A little surprised we didn't get more secondary figures battling over the stage win and that they let Squiban go so readily, but I guess most of the riders far enough down on the GC to have that freedom also had teammates in the GC mix to look after (Bauernfeind, Vallières) or have already won a stage (García). I mean, Squiban also had a teammate well placed on the GC, but with Longo Borghini having withdrawn already, Włodarczyk is expected to be a bit more tangential to the final GC battle than, say, Niewiadoma...