Image: BERNARD PAPON (POOL)
With the mountain finish on the Grand Colombier, which the Polish breakaway Michal Kwiatkowski won, the Tour de France has arrived in the Alps and at the same time in the decisive phase. Tadej Pogacar rushed to the finish 50 seconds behind the victorious Ineos professional, who had attacked in the last 400 meters from the chasing group around the overall leader Jonas Vingegaard and thus reduced the gap to the man in yellow by eight seconds to nine.
“I had the best legs of my life,” said Kwiatkowski that he never thought he would win this mountain stage. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the fans,” added the 2014 world champion. Thousands of cycling enthusiasts turned the final climb into one big party zone on the French national holiday.
Gall made up three places
With Vingegaard’s group, which was “pulled up” the Grand Colombier by Felix Großschartner (31st), Felix Gall also finished, who finished 14th in the stage. made up three places in the overall classification and is now also in 14th place there. In the battle for the mountain jersey, which Neilson Powless defended, the 25-year-old dropped back to fifth place. With the AG2R pro, who is one of the discoveries of this tour, the focus is increasingly shifting to the overall classification. “The team needs someone who drives for the general classification. For me personally, if I have to put in a lot of energy to finish 18th, I don’t know if it’s worth it. But for the top 10, it makes sense.” said Gall to “cycling news”.
The coming days will show whether he succeeds. On Saturday, the 151.8-kilometer route to Morzine is the next really difficult stage in the Alps. Three mountains of the first category have to be climbed before there are even bonus seconds on the Col de Joux Plane, which is assigned to the highest category. In the twelve-kilometer descent to the finish line, there is hardly any time to catch up. The peloton can expect something similar on Sunday, when three mountains of the first category await from Les Gets to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.
After Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen, Australian Caleb Ewan, another promising sprinter left the tour yesterday.
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I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
