photo credits @ Le Tour
After three grueling days in the Pyrenees, it was the baroudeurs’ turn to shine at the end of the second week of the Tour de France. Usually tasked with protecting Tadej Pogacar, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) made the most of this opportunity to participate in a festival of attacks, while his leader safely navigated the bunch.
More than 30 riders managed to break away en route to Carcassonne. Wellens left them all in his wake with 43.5 km to go, claiming his first victory in the Tour de France. Already a winner at La Vuelta and the Giro, he becomes the 113th rider with stage wins in all three Grand Tours, just a couple of months after Wout van Aert was the 112th. Wellens also succeeds Van Aert as a Belgian national champion claiming victory in the Tour (Van Aert had done so in 2021). Behind him, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) complete the top 3 of the stage, ahead of Van Aert. The peloton crossed the line with a gap of 6 minutes.
Race Highlights
After three days in the Pyrenees, the peloton headed out to Carcassonne with a hilly course that could favored attackers, with Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) attacking as soon as the flag dropped, hoping to repeat their stunning assault in stage 11 in Toulouse. But, there were dozens of contenders also gunning for the breakaway, which led to a furious battle marked by a crash at km 17, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) among the many riders affected.
From there, the duo fought back furiously, eventually getting back to the bunch at km 38.
In the meantime, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacked at km 27, a move that was followed by Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matteo Vercher (Total Energies), Alexey Lutsenko (Israel Premier Tech) and Jarrad Drizners (Lotto).
Wellens, Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step), Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL), Jake Stewart (Israel Premier Tech) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) eventually bridged their way to the leaders at km 34.
The breakaway was later joined by Japser Stuyven, Quinn Simmons and Michael Storer on the Côte de Saint-Ferréol. However, a breakaway within the breakaway later emerged, with Campenaerts, Wellens, Mohoric, Lutsenko, Powless, Simmons and Storer riding clear.
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) later managed to join the front group at km 86, followed by Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), Alexandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL) at km 113.
However, Storer destroyed the group by attacking on the first slopes of the Pas du Sant, with Simmons, Wellens and Campenaerts quick to mark his move.
The four attackers reached the summit together, while Vlasov, Lutsenko, Barguil and Rodriguez later joined them with 44 kilometers to go. But, right after the merger, Wellens attacked, quickly distancing his rivals and opening up a gap of more than a minute that would endure all the way to Carcassonne.
In the meantime, the chase groups got back together, with Campenaerts attacking inside the last 2 kilometers to take 2nd place ahead of Alaphilippe.
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