photo credits @ Le Tour
Already a stage winner at Hautacam, Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) doubled up with a second stage win, this time at La Plagne. The Dutchman attacked with 13 kilometers to go on the final HC climb of this year’s Tour de France.
At the summit, he narrowly resisted Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who crossed the line only 2 seconds behind the winner. Right behind them, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) defended his white jersey and his spot on the GC podium against Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL).
With just two stages to go, Tadej Pogacar takes his 52nd Maillot Jaune. He matches Jacques Anquetil’s record and enters the top-5 for most days leading the overall standings of the Tour.
Race Highlights
Due to the change of course, the peloton headed to Beaufort, where they rejoined the original route, heading to La Plagne, reducing the total distance of 93.1 km instead of the originally planned 129.9 km.
A sequence exactly similar to the previous day began with Lidl-Trek riders taking control of the peloton en route to the intermediate sprint at Villard-sur-Doron, with Jonathan Milan clad in the green jersey was first on the line.
Next, was the Col du Pré, with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step) the first riders to crest the summit before launching their assault on the Cormet de Roselend.
Once again, Martinez was the first over summit, while Roglic later distanced the two French climbers on the downhill before they were reeled in by a Tim Wellens led peloton 32 km to go. From there, the Belgian rider bridged the gap to Roglic 2 km from the start of the climb to La Plagne.
Roglic was dropped early on the ascent, which incites Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to up the ante as Felix Gall moved into 5th place in the overall standings.
With 14 km to go, Pogacar launched an attack that scattered the group, with only Vingegaard managing to stay on his wheel. But, the duo is joined by Arensman, who dropped them with 13 km to go.
With 3 km to go, Arensman was still clinging to a 20 second gap, while the chase had him sight.
However, the Ineos Grenadiers rider managed to hold on to seize the victory ahead of Vingegaard and Pogacar.
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