Slovenian race chief Primoz Roglic once more regarded in fabulous kind as he survived a check of nerves in Lyon on Saturday because the Tour de France heads right into a mouthwatering collection of mountain phases over the following week. Denmark’s Soren Kragh Andersen of the Sunweb staff soloed to victory on a stage 14 that noticed him produce a last-gasp break into France’s second metropolis and arrange one other thrilling finale.
“We pulled it off, it is the form of factor you dream of,” Andersen stated on the line, the place no followers had been allowed over the ultimate 100m as a result of coronavirus well being and security protocols.
The 158-strong peloton left a carnival ambiance in rugby-loving Clermont-Ferrand for a tough run on a sizzling day, with Peter Sagan’s Bora staff taking cost because the Slovak focused invaluable dash factors in Lyon by shaking off his personal rivals over the stage’s 5 hills.
With a deadly inner-city end it was outsider Andersen, nonetheless, who sprung a lightning assault within the last kilometre to clinch a second win for his staff this week after Marc Hirschi’s solo win on Thursday.
Sagan got here in fourth because the bunch sprinted wildly to the road.
However Eire’s Sam Bennett stays barely forward of the seven-time Tour de France factors winner within the race for the inexperienced jersey.
With a contact of irony, Lyon’s Inexperienced mayor Gregory Doucet, who this week described the Tour as “macho and polluting”, handed Bennett his inexperienced jersey.
– Sprinters left behind –
Andersen summed up the nervy stage the place German outfit Bora modified the character of proceedings on a day the place a bunch dash had been a extra probably situation as an alternative of the elite clique of the robust one-day specialists and yellow jersey rivals that finally contested a frantic finale.
“Bora had a big effect on the race, as a result of they nearly made the peloton half its traditional dimension. That made it a lot tougher on the hills, nevertheless it modified every little thing as a result of the sprinters had been all left behind,” stated Andersen.
Race chief Roglic additionally mirrored on the sooner, extra aggressive than anticipated racing with Sunday’s stage looming massive within the minds of the favourites.
“That was high-level racing,” stated the previous ski jumper. “I although it could be simpler immediately however as you see it wasn’t.”
The race will climb out of Lyon and into the mountains on Sunday’s stage 15: a 174km experience that includes 35km of climbing in what might be a decisive summit end on one of many Tour’s iconic finishes, at 1,501m of altitude atop Grand Colombier after a last, gruelling 17.4km ascent at a mean 7.1% gradient.
Promoted
“We’ll see the way it goes tomorrow, as traditional we’ll simply attempt to survive,” stated Roglic, who leads fellow Slovene Tadej Pogacar by 44sec.
Defending champion Egan Bernal stands third, at 59sec, the 23-year-old Colombian operating out of phases to ramp up the defence of his title.
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