photo credits @ ASO
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) claimed stage 19 of the Tour de France today, outsprinting Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) in a photo-finish in Poligny.
The Slovenian rider launched out of Asgreen’s slipstream just moments before the line, and after a long wait, Mohoric was confirmed as the winner via the tightest of margins.
Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen) has the first to open up his sprint in the three-man break, but the Australian rider was unaware of his rivals’ superior speed, relegating him to a disappointing third, while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) won the sprint for fourth.
Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and his flagging GC challengers came home over 13 minutes in arrears. The Danish rider continues to lead Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) by 7’35” ahead of tomorrow’s final competitive stage in the mountains.
Race Highlights
Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-Dstny) went on the attack at the outset of today’s 178.2-kilometer route from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, but the Belgian rider was quickly reined back in. The same fate awaited a move by Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) on the approach to the fourth category climb, with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazakstan) subsequently going clear before the summit, with Lutsenko taking the points.
However, the duo was soon reeled in, with Pedersen making a second dig minutes later, drawing out Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Campanaerts, Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty-Circus), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) and Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) with him.
With 90 kilometers to go, a mechanical problem brought Pollitt back into the fold of the peloton, which was hovering at just under a minute back, while back up front, Pedersen took the intermediate sprint ahead of Campanaerts.
With 70 kilometers remaining, a large group of chasers that included Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Ben O’Connor (Ag2r-Citroën), Mohorič, Matthieu van der Poel, Philipsen (both Alpecin Deceuninck), Simon Clarke (Israel-PremierTech) and Asgreen rode clear of the peloton in pursuit of the leaders, later bridging their way to the front group, prompting Campanaerts to go on the attack, a move that was closely followed by Clarke.
With 35 kilometers still to go, Campanaerts and Clarke were still holding onto a 40-second advantage along the Cat. 3 climb, with Clarke suddenly pulling over with a bout of cramping, leaving Campanaerts out front alone. But, the lone leader was later caught and overhauled by Asgreen, O’Connor and Mohorič 2 kilometers from the summit.
From there, the trio crested the climb with an 18-second gap, while a lack of cohesion amongst the chasers later scuppered their chances of capturing the leaders.
With less than 5 kilometers to go, the escapees had increased their lead to just over half a minute, a margin that would hold until the end, with O’Connor fading during the final 300 meters, leaving the sprint to a two-man battle between Asgreen and Mohorič.
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