photo credits @ Le Tour
The sprinters saw their last clear chance to seize a stage victory in this year’s Tour de France today, with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) not letting the opportunity slip away.
Dropped early in the stage, the Italian powerhouse survived the climbs as well as a rough finale to take his second win in his debut Tour and tighten his grip on the green jersey, with only four days remaining before Paris.
Meanwhile, Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL) complete the podium, while the likes of Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) were affected by a crash as they entered the final kilometer.
However, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) safely navigated the stage to claim his 50th Maillot Jaune on the eve of a major battle en route to the Col de la Loze.
Race Highlights
A 164-man peloton set off from Bollène, with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) immediately springing into action, subsequently opening up an advantage of 30 seconds alongside Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies), with many others joining in.
From there, Abrahamsen led the way through the intermediate sprint at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne, while group maintained a 2’00” gap.
However, the script change when the peloton-led Ineos Grenadiers reduced the group’s margin to just 35″ on Col du Pertuis, while Milan and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), as well as Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) were dropped from the main field. But, they later managed to rejoin the peloton, while the breakaway’s lead has been reduced to 30 seconds.
However, the leaders managed to stretch their lead back out 1’10’’ during the last 50 kilometers, while Wout Van Aert attacked from within the peloton towards the summit of the Col de Tartaiguille, coming within 25 seconds of the lead group after a 12 kilometer pursuit.
In the meantime, tensions increased in the bunch as the rain started to fall, while the gap up front had been receded to just 20 seconds, prompting Abrahamsen to go solo with 12 kilometers to go. However, he was eventually caught by the peloton with 4 kilometers to go.
The sprinters later began gearing up from there, but a crash during the last kilometer limited the contenders to just eight, with Milan emerging victorious ahead of Meeus and Andresen in a hard fought battle for the line.
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