Champagnole (France) (AFP)
At 24 hours before the meeting of La Planche des Belles Filles, the Dane Soeren Kragh Andersen removed the 19th stage of the Tour de France, Friday, in Champagnole (Jura), without consequence for the general classification led by Primoz Roglic.
The gap between Roglic and his runner-up Tadej Pogacar remained the same (57 seconds).
In this duel announced between Slovenes, he hardly leaves a touch of uncertainty on a hypothetical reversal of the situation before the arrival on Sunday in Paris.
Before switching to yellow, the Tour took care of green on Friday in the transition stage after leaving the Alps.
With the mach for the points classification jersey which weighed on the outcome.
Peter Sagan, its holder since 2012 with the exception of 2017 (exclusion), failed to take his property back from Irishman Sam Bennett.
The Slovak, closely watched by his rival, had to resign himself to 9th place on the stage, in the wake of the Irish champion.
For the victory, Kragh Andersen preceded the Slovenian Luka Mezgec by almost a minute who settled the Belgian Jasper Stuyven in a first group of pursuers.
Long before the arrival of the peloton, some seven and a half minutes from the winner of the day.
- The stopwatch of Cavagna -
Kragh Andersen (26), winner of Paris-Tours in 2018, scored his second success in a week after winning the 14th stage in Lyon last Saturday, also solo.
And also the third for the German Sunweb team, who came to the Tour with the sole objective of hunting down stages.
"Three wins, it's incredible! It will make us a memory for the whole life", rejoiced the Dane.
The 166.5-kilometer stage linking Bresse to the foothills of the Jura massif gave substance, in the heat, to a long solitary breakaway by Frenchman Rémi Cavagna, a teammate of Sam Bennett, one week precisely from the "stopwatch" of the Worlds .
Starting from the first minutes, as if he wanted to justify his nickname "TGV de Clermont-Ferrand", the Auvergnat delivered a time trial, with favorable wind, on the often straight roads of the first part of the race. 'step.
But he was controlled remotely by Sagan's team, which gave him a maximum advantage of 3 minutes, and was joined 115 kilometers further by the first counter-attackers.
At 40 kilometers from the finish, the race was unbridled despite a general regrouping operated by the formation of Sagan.
One group (Naesen, Rowe, Bauer, Mezgec, Van Avermaet, Trentin, Sagan, Bennett, Devenyns, Kragh Andersen, Arndt, Stuyven) formed in two stages as they approached the last 30 kilometers.
- Enthusiasm in Denmark -
The peloton did not insist as many teams were represented at the front by their sprinters.
After a first try by the Italian Matteo Trentin, Kragh Andersen attacked 16 kilometers from the line and widened the gap on his former companions, tangled in their tactical calculations.
"My role was to attack, we kept Nikias Arndt for the end", explained the winner.
His result was hailed immediately in Denmark where cycling and the Tour remained very popular despite doping cases which overshadowed the "performances" of Bjarne Riis and Michael Rasmussen.
“Superb Danish triumph,” enthused the leading daily Politiken.
"Impressive achievement," captioned rival Jyllands-Posten.
"Completely exceptional", savored the commentator of the TV2 channel, which broadcasts the race in Denmark.
Saturday, the only time trial of the Tour is contested over 36.2 kilometers between Lure and La Planche des Belles Filles.
The route, flat or on an uphill slope, ends with an ascent classified in the first category to reach the Haute-Saône station, on the eve of the Champs-Elysées.
© 2020 AFP