Desperately trying to hold onto the green jersey, Michael Storer looked like a man on a mission for most of the final part of Thursday's Tour of the Alps stage. With the threatening Thymen Arensman a long way up the road and in the virtual lead, Storer took things into his own hands, launching a solo assault to try to cling onto the jersey, and he looked completely determined.
At the finish, however, the Australian was more like a man destroyed. On the road, he'd managed to cut the four-minute gap to Arensman to under a minute – the margin he needed to keep his race lead – but on the final climb up to Obertilliach, the cost of Storer's efforts showed, and Arensman pulled back the few seconds he needed.
