Defending champion Tadej Pogacar confidently maintained his lead on the first tough Alpine stage of the Tour de France yesterday with the help of his UAE team. Victory on the ninth leg from Aigle to Chatel/Les Portes du Soleil went to Bob Jungels. The Luxembourger from the French AG2R team came through as a soloist after a 64-kilometer solo. He had previously been part of a breakaway group that also included Patrick Konrad (Bora) and once again strong Saturday stage winner Wout Van Aert (Jumbo).
Pogacar still leads 39 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) ahead of the second rest day today. They are followed by the British Ineos duo Geraint Thomas (+1:17 minutes) and Adam Yates (+1:25). The Slovenian currently has to fear a corona infection more than his opponents. Pogacar’s teammate Vegard Stake Laengen was hit on Saturday, and the infected Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) retired on Sunday. However, the leader of the tour does not see Corona as an invisible rival. “Covid is not a rival. It’s just a virus that can affect things and ruin a tour,” said the Slovenian. Basically, he likes the fan support and that “people yell at you”, but “it increases the likelihood of contracting viruses”.
Meanwhile, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) from the Netherlands clinched the overall victory at the women’s Giro d’Italia for the third time yesterday after 2018 and 2019.
Anti-doping fighter sues
The anti-doping fighter and former professional Christophe Bassons still sees the intake of medication such as painkillers in cycling as a big problem. The Frenchman emphasized that anti-doping work had become much more effective, but in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” he called for more transparency in order to make the sport more credible. “Everyone is still living in a big lie. Nowadays the medical support is much more extensive, so you can drive almost at the same level as doped people. But this medical support scares me almost more than doping,” said the 48-year-old.
If you have the choice “between a small therapeutic dose of Epo or 20 to 30 tablets a day to ride a tour, think for a moment which of these is more dangerous. Cycling would gain enormous credibility if the riders say what exactly they put into their bodies at what time each day.”
Source: Nachrichten
