After the first rest day of the Tour, the professional cyclists initially took it easy on stage ten. The Belgian Philipsen then won the mass sprint – much to the chagrin of Pascal Ackermann.
Professional cyclist Pascal Ackermann missed out on his greatest career success in the shadow of the Saint-Amand-Montrond pyramid. On the tenth stage of the 111th Tour de France, the German sprinter was unable to get past sprint star Jasper Philipsen, who achieved his first daily victory in this year’s tour after a long dry spell. In his first Tour participation, the 30-year-old from the Palatinate missed out on the day’s victory, finishing third behind Belgian Philipsen and Eritrean Biniam Girmay. Veteran John Degenkolb came in seventh, Phil Bauhaus was eighth.
After the 187.3 kilometers from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond, Ackermann would have liked to have won the first German Tour since Nils Politt won three years ago in Nîmes, but in the end he had no chance. “I don’t think I can blame myself for anything today. Jasper’s start was so strong that I couldn’t have kept up,” he said afterwards. “Girmay hit my bike, I had to brake at the end so that I didn’t hit the barrier.”
The Tour debutant did not play a role in the first three sprint finishes, coming in 15th, 6th and 9th. But on Tour day eight he narrowly missed the day’s podium in fourth place. Since moving to the Israel-Premier Tech team, Ackermann is still waiting for a day’s victory this year.
In the past, he won three stages at the Giro d’Italia and two at the Vuelta in Spain. He still has to wait for success in the world’s most famous race. His chances of that in this Tour are dwindling due to the many mountain stages towards the end. There will probably be three sprint decisions. “We still have three chances, we will do everything we can to win a stage,” said Ackermann.
There was no change at the top of the overall standings. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is 33 seconds ahead of Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel and 1:15 minutes ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark.
Main field starts leisurely after rest day
Eleven years ago, the small town of Saint-Amand-Montrond, with its striking pyramid, used as an event hall and conference room, hosted a fast-paced sprint finale with unpleasant wind edges – but there were none this time. Back then, the field of riders was thrown into disarray before Mark Cavendish’s victory.
After the first rest day on Monday, the main field moved leisurely over the tarmac roads in central France after the start. In the first few hours of the race, the pros reached an average speed of just over 40 kilometers per hour. The lack of mountain classifications on the route meant that there was no additional incentive.
French television has fun with favorites
French television did not miss the opportunity to have some fun at the expense of the two main favorites, Pogacar and Vingegaard. The public broadcaster France 3 showed two swans on the water near the track – and provided both with arrows pointing to the top stars. Everything just happened a little slower.
After their disagreement on the previous gravel stage, the two exceptional riders, each of whom has won the Tour twice, met again. Pogacar had accused Vingegaard of not actively participating in the leadership work. The Dane did not accept this.
A more difficult stage in the Massif Central awaits on Wednesday. On the 211 kilometers to the Le Lioran ski resort, the final 50 kilometers with four mountain classifications are particularly tough. The stage is made for breakaways. But there could also be attacks from the contenders for the overall victory.
Source: Stern
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