Tour de France: Girmay with third stage win – Ackermann complains

Pascal Ackermann hit his handlebars in anger. Trapped in a hectic finale on the twelfth stage, the Palatinate rider missed his first coup in the Tour de France, finishing fourth. “We were perfectly positioned. It was all really great. When we wanted to set off, Kristoff went over to the right (…) luckily we didn’t fall,” Ackermann complained on ARD about the Norwegian veteran Alexander Kristoff and called for his disqualification: “That was criminal.”

Instead, after 203.6 kilometers in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Biniam Girmay from Eritrea took the win again. The man in the green jersey won ahead of Belgian Wout van Aert and Frenchman Arnaud Demare.

The big loser of the day was fellow favorite Primoz Roglic from the German Red Bull team. The Slovenian lost more than two minutes after falling ten kilometers from the finish and is now well behind in the battle against his big rivals, including overall leader Tadej Pogacar and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. Roglic slipped to sixth place, now 4:42 minutes behind Pogacar. The Tour victory that the team had hoped for is becoming increasingly distant.

Pogacar is still 1:06 minutes ahead of Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel in the overall rankings. Third place is defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, 1:14 minutes behind.

The mass crash happened just ten kilometers from the finish, just as the sprinter teams were forming up. First, an Astana rider fell. Roglic was unlucky that he was positioned directly behind him. His teammates tried to catch up with him – without success.

First known corona case

One day after the strenuous climb in the Massif Central, the riders were also struggling with the high temperatures. Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen had to give up. The reason for this was initially unclear. The 27-year-old one-time Tour stage winner, who had to say goodbye after stage twelve last year, fell back on Thursday and said goodbye just 180 kilometers from the end of the stage.

65 kilometers later, Spaniard Pello Bilbao got off his bike with a heavy heart. The teammate of sprinter Phil Bauhaus and Nikias Arndt had won his first Tour stage last year. His team announced on “X” that he had not been feeling well the day before.

Before the stage, a well-known rider had already dropped out of the Tour. The Dane Michael Morkov from the racing team around sprint idol Mark Cavendish was the first rider to give up in this year’s national tour due to a corona infection. According to his Astana team, the 39-year-old top rider tested positive for Cavendish, but he did not have any serious symptoms. For the experienced racing driver, his last Tour de France ended prematurely.

Cavendish: Driver with Corona at Tour

“It protects all the other riders,” Cavendish praised his team’s measure on Eurosport. “I know that there are riders who ride in the Tour with Corona,” said the Briton, who set a Tour record this year with his 35th stage win. Corona has played a rather minor role so far. There are no longer any protective measures against the virus in the Tour itself. However, some teams continue to wear masks.

Before the start of the Tour in Florence, Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel presented himself with a mask. Superstar Tadej Pogacar had contracted Corona during preparation. However, the two-time Tour de France winner said that the infection was mild. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard will have to do without his helper Sepp Kuss, who was unable to take part due to Corona.

Before the demanding weekend in the Pyrenees, the pros can expect a largely flat 165.3 kilometers between Agen and Pau on Friday. This will probably be the sprinters’ penultimate chance in this year’s national tour.