 On stage 5, a stage featuring nine sectors of pavé, he gained over 2 minutes over a majority of the GC contenders.He continued to lead the race from stage two through eight, losing it to Frenchman Tony Gallopin in the ninth stage.But he regained it in the tenth stage from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles after one of his biggest general classification competitors Alberto Contador crashed and abandoned the race, and after catching Joaquim Rodríguez and Michał Kwiatkowski up the final climb to Planche des Belles Filles.