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Chatting on the Way Up
First it was Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) that sprung off of the front of the lead group on the Tourmalet, but he was quickly joined by Blel Kadri (AG2R). Kadri is part of the French team that has the overall team lead, which in determined by the combined times of the three highest placed riders on each team. He was also the first Frenchman to win a stage in this Tour and has worn the Polka Dot Jersey in the first half of the race. Nieve is racing on his home roads and was on the now defunct Basque team of Euskatdel-Euskadi, with these incentives and the desire to redeem Team Sky's Tour with a stage victory, he was riding hard up the fabled climb of the Col du Tourmalet to deliver the victory on the final climb up the Hautacam.