Jonathan MILAN. 10 out of 10. It's easy to say "sprint", but there are situations and stages that require extraordinary work, made of effort and determination. Today Jonny was perfect, just like his teammates. I wanted, I always wanted, I absolutely won. This could be the motto of the 24-year-old Friulian sprinter, who takes the 11 points of the intermediate sprint (there's a four-rider breakaway, including Vincenzo Albanese), then has to spit out his soul to get back after the first mountain point of the day, and finally, under torrential rain, he's like a cat avoiding the crash in the last kilometer. His teammates were all giants, Simmons and Stuyven in the finale a bit more so. He completes an exceptional, applause-worthy performance. If he reaches Paris in green, he has something to celebrate, given that he also has to deal with Pogacar for this classification, no small feat.

Jordi MEEUS. 9. The 27-year-old Belgian from Red Bull Hansgrohe stays upright and stays attached to the Lidl-Trek giant. He knows this is his chance and plays it as best he could. He loses by half a wheel, but doesn't lose to half a rider...

Tobias ANDRESEN. 8. Another 22-year-old from the merry Picnic brigade. He sprints and brings home a third place that shows this guy has talent and his team knows how to choose it.

Arnaud DE LIE. 5. The 22-year-old Lotto sprinter hasn't collected much so far: two fourth places including today's, a 5th and a 3rd. He has the opportunity to make his mark, but in this Tour his sprints are intangible.

Davide BALLERINI. 7. He's not a pure sprinter, but a fast rider, which is quite different. The finale is like a northern classic: you need to be clever and alert besides being in shape. The Lombard is the synthesis of all these things put together.

Alberto DAINESE. 6.5. The Tudor rider immediately shows serious intentions and doesn't lose the front positions and stays in the front positions until the end. Another good placement.

Jasper STUYVEN. 10. In the finale he takes Jonny by the hand and brings him forward: it seems like a normal and obvious maneuver, but he does it with great technical and tactical skills.

Tim MERLIER. 5.5. Gets stuck in the "traffic" of the crash. Cut off before he can even think about launching his sprint. The fault? He was perhaps a bit too far back.

Tadej POGACAR. 50. In the finale he understands it's better to be in the very first positions with a Tim Wellens who is once again superb. He does everything naturally, because he is naturally a champion. Today he wears the yellow jersey for the 50th time in his career: ahead of him are only Eddy Merckx (111), Bernard Hinault (79), Miguel Indurain (60), Chris Froome (59), and Jacques Anquetil (52), who is in his sights.

Jonas ABRAHAMSEN. 8.5. The powerful Uno-X rider is the last to surrender. He would deserve the combativity award, which instead goes to the French Quentin Pacher: strange.

Vincenzo ALBANESE. 8. The EF Education Easypost rider goes with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). For them, an action of the highest level, far from publicity breaks: here there are no breaks, let alone "advertisements". Full throttle until the end.