Tadej POGACAR. 10 with honors. Yet another masterpiece and it won't be the last. Yet another "coup de théâtre" from our prodigy, who takes center stage and not just the stage and the yellow jersey (there were those who hypothesized that the Norwegian could hold the jersey until the final week: yes, sure). Martian or cannibal? Simply Pogacar, the strongest. The Tourmalet stage is his: a giant among giants. The Pyrenean stage is his, always in the face of those who think he suffers from the "canicule". He sweats too much, they say. And what should he do? I ask. He wins the stage—with his team, clearly superior; he wins it with talent, superior to everyone. He wins it because this is what he does and he's been doing it for years, always better and with monstrous consistency. Everyone knows what he's going to do, everyone knows they'll hardly be able to contain him and indeed he can do nothing more than warn them.

Jonas VINGEGAARD. 8. He has the merit of always being and only being his rival. He has the merit of never giving up, even though he knows perfectly well that the guy over there is more of a winner. He has the merit of not falling into the trap of his Slovenian rival's accelerations, even though keeping his pace is quite something, but too little to counter the rainbow fury.

Isaac DEL TORO. 8. He launches his captain, then tries to control the situation in the small group of survivors, with Evenepoel and Seixas. He responds to the attack of the former Belgian champion to take third place, which gives him third place in the general classification. There are those who appeal to the "unwritten code of cycling" (what a pain... if you want, you could even arrange the finishes at the start: it would be very interesting). Isn't it ugly that Del Toro sprints in the finale when he was passive in the group? True, it's not pretty, but in cycling words mean nothing: if he really wants to, Evenepoel should try to drop the Mexican. It's not the unwritten code of cycling, but it's the code of the road.

Remco EVENEPOEL. 4. Like the kilos he's lost, like the time he's lost not by losing it, but today on the road. He thinks he's at the level of Pogacar and Vingegaard, when at the moment he should prove he's better than Del Toro, Seixas, Ayuso and even his own teammate Lipowitz.

Paul SEIXAS. 8. He loses, but let's never forget that this kid is on his first Tour and he's still only 19 years old. Meanwhile, he's there, with the cream of the crop, with those who say they're ready for... He's more than ready to drop them.

Florian LIPOWITZ. 6.5. He's the second spearhead of Red Bull who goes as fast as the first. For now, Remco, accept it.

Juan AYUSO. 5.5. If we think he left Pogacar because he didn't feel inferior to the Slovenian, his rating would be a 3, if we think he's here to race his own race, with a team that believes in him as much as he does, you can't rejoice but you can't put him on trial either: to be reviewed.

Mattias SKIJELMOSE. 6.5. After so much suffering, today he suffers but still brings home an excellent performance.

Lenny MARTINEZ. 7. The 22-year-old Frenchman from Bahrain keeps the team's morale high. An absolutely top-level performance. Important signals for the future.

Egan BERNAL. 6.5. You can't ask him for the moon, but against the Martian there's little to be done. He re-establishes himself as a reference point for Netcompany: not bad. For the record, today's "kangaroo award" is his: a jump of 15 positions in the general classification.

Richard CARAPAZ. 4. Nothing doing, he drops immediately and arrives over 8 minutes back.

Torstein TRAEEN. 17. He crashes on the descent of the Tourmalet when he was already over 8 minutes down. He ends up in the dirt due to a serious mistake of his own, but he has the merit of finishing his ordeal anyway: 51st at 29'55". He has the merit of crossing the finish line with an aching head and sore shoulders, but a smile on his lips. He says: "In any case, I'm a lucky man". And here the rating can only be a 10.