Phil Bauhaus is there for his last chance. The Bocholt native sprinted to second place in the Tour de France, but was a long way from the top.
Marked by the heat, a sweaty Phil Bauhaus rolled to the team bus, but quickly regained his smile after his best performance in the Tour de France so far. “I’m happy,” said the Bocholt native after his second place in Nîmes. In temperatures of 35 degrees, the 30-year-old was only beaten by the Belgian Jasper Philipsen, who celebrated his third daily victory. “There was simply nothing we could do against Philipsen. He was much, much faster,” said Bauhaus.
Pascal Ackermann, who had already finished third three times, raced to sixth place in the hectic finale when three-time stage winner Biniam Girmay fell. The German sprinters can be happy with that despite not winning, as they won’t get another chance until the end of the Tour in Nice. “Pascal did a great job, overall he was a bit better,” said Bauhaus. “For me it was solid. It was good that I had a breakaway with second place.”
Ackermann disappointed
Ackermann had actually chosen the stage to ride to the front. The disappointment of the Palatinate rider, who had a cold, was correspondingly great. “I was actually quite well positioned. At some point I missed the opportunity to ride to the front,” said the 30-year-old in a hoarse voice. “I didn’t think I would start today. I had coughing fits. But it’s not Corona. In the next few days I’ll be fighting for survival.”
As expected, there were no changes among the top riders in the overall ranking. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar effortlessly defended his yellow jersey and is 3:09 minutes ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark. Time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel from Belgium is third, 5:19 minutes behind.
Politt once won in Nîmes
The German riders had fond memories of Nîmes at the start. Three years ago, Nils Politt triumphed in the southern French city. However, the route was completely different back then. This year there were no topographical challenges, and from the start it was expected to be a mass sprint.
The enormous heat and the expected result prevented breakaway riders from trying their luck. The peloton also did not let itself get stressed and stayed below the slowest expected average for a long time. It was only when the Frenchman Thomas Gachignard attacked around 92 kilometers from the finish that the race accelerated somewhat. Ultimately, the 23-year-old’s attempt was doomed to failure, and 25 kilometers from Nîmes the sprinter teams took over command.
Fifth Corona case
Star sprinter Mark Cavendish had to go into the final without his lead-out rider Michael Mørkøv. The Dane was the first professional to leave the Tour last week because of a positive corona test. On Tuesday there was officially the fifth case, with Belgian Maxim Van Gils giving up.
Before him, the Tour had already ended for the Spaniard Juan Ayuso and the Briton Thomas Pidcock. Pidcock’s teammate and former winner Geraint Thomas also tested positive, but decided to stay because his symptoms were barely noticeable. Corona tests are no longer required by the Tour organization. Cavendish had claimed in an interview that he knew of several riders who were still in the race despite being infected with Corona.
Source: Stern
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