Tadej Pogacar on Sunday in the Marie-Blanque pass, on the Tour de France stage between Pau and Laruns, which he won in the sprint.

-

Alex Whitehead / SWpix.com / Sipa

  • The riders of the Tour de France will observe a day of rest this Monday, the day before the stage between the islands of Oléron and Ré.

  • The passage in the Pyrenees, Saturday and Sunday, delighted the (TV) spectators.

  • Three favorites seem to stand out, while the French who shone were not necessarily those who were expected.

From our special correspondent in Laruns,

It was short, but it was good.

The passage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees has definitely reassured the “cyclosphere”, worried about this Grande Boucle in September after the boring first days, and barely reassured by the unexpected spectacle of the stage between Millau and Lavaur on Friday.

Saturday was grandiose between Cazères-sur-Garonne and Loudenvielle, mixing tragic (Pinot) and epic (Peters, Pogacar…).

Sunday, from Pau to Laruns, was a step below.

But the abortive epic of the young Swiss Hirschi and the explanation of the greats in the Marie-Blanque pass still gave a good conscience to all the sportsmen on the sofa, happy not to have wasted their afternoon.

While this Monday is a day of rest for the peloton, we take stock, calmly.

Three for a yellow jersey

This Sunday, Primoz Roglic finally settled at the top of the Tour, which seemed to be promised for a long time, in place of Adam Yates.

Sixteenth in Loudenvielle, second in Laruns, the 30-year-old Slovenian is the logical favorite of a Tour that his Team Jumbo-Visma is struggling to control.

But he is anything but certain to win his first coronation in Paris.

👏 An epic and very promising ride by 🇨🇭 @MarcHirschi.



🏆💛 Victory and Yellow Jersey for the Slovenians @TamauPogi and @rogla.



🔊 Pump up the sound and enjoy the stage 9 highlights!

# TDF2020 #TDFunited pic.twitter.com/AXpdRctQRz

- Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) September 6, 2020

Yet far from his best level, Egan Bernal (fourth this Sunday) is only 21 seconds.

And the return to form of the 23-year-old Colombian suggests a scenario similar to that of 2019, with a rise in speed and then fireworks in the Alps, in the third week.

"I know that I still lost time on Roglic and Pogacar [in the bonus game] but I must be patient," said the leader of Ineos-Grenadiers, who won his first Tour last year.

The race lasts two more weeks and some difficult stages are ahead of us.

"

Bernal does not quote Pogacar by chance.

Trapped in a curb on Friday, the Slovenian neophyte (22 years old on September 21) was the strong man of the weekend: ninth at Loudenvielle after a crazy ascent from Peyresourde, stage winner at Laruns.

"It is perhaps the strongest now," concedes Roglic about the seventh overall, just 44 seconds behind his compatriot.

Podium goal for the French

We were expecting Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe.

We had Guillaume Martin, Romain Bardet and Nans Peters, splendid winner at Loudenvielle for his debut in the Tour at 26 years old.

No need to come back to the ordeal experienced on Saturday by the leader of Groupama-FDJ, cursed hero of French cycling.

Pinot clashed between Pau and Laruns, to finish 9 '28 ”from Pogacar.

If he recovers from his back pain, he will be able to aim for a stage victory, the avowed objective of Alaphilippe, winner in Nice and then a yellow jersey time definitively returned to the ranks, despite a few “strikers” in the Pyrenees.

Again in the game on @LeTour.

7th in the stage and still 3rd overall before a day of rest that we will savor!



Still in the mix in that last stage in the Pyrenees.

End of a successfull first week.

Now recovery and then focus on what's next!

@TeamCOFIDIS pic.twitter.com/iAXAwqSBvg

- Guillaume Martin (@GuilmMartin) September 6, 2020

On the French side, it is Guillaume Martin and Romain Bardet who squat the heights of the general.

Not far from the best, but not quite at their level, the leaders of Cofidis and that of AG2R-La Mondiale are respectively in third and fourth place, 28 and 30 seconds behind Roglic.

"The results are very positive, especially since I do not pretend to fight to win the Tour de France," admits the first.

A podium would already be magnificent.

For Bardet, it would be third, after second place in 2016 and third in 2017. Oh yes, we wouldn't want to forget another AG2R-La Mondiale, Benoît Cosnefroy, still polka-dot jersey in front of his teammate Nans Peters.

A party, despite the Covid-19

It was the weekend, and it showed.

The number of spectators on the roads of this special coronavirus Tour in the Pyrenees had little to do with that of the week, even if it was not the crowd of normal years either.

That said, despite the closed spaces, the barriers, the lack of contact with the runners, an air of ball (masked) floated in Loudenvielle on Saturday then in Laruns on Sunday.

#Replay 🎥 / # TDF2020: 🇫🇷 @DavidGaudu (GFC) caught a spectator ... ouch 😥 pic.twitter.com/9UFKSVl6IP

- Renaud Breban (@ RenaudB31) September 6, 2020

Retirees in motorhomes, cyclists in uniform, families… The regulars in July came in September, simply less numerous.

In Béarn, we met a family of Colombians and a couple of Venezuelans who had come from Madrid for barely 24 hours, in order to applaud their heroes "and especially Nairo [Quintana]".

The magic of the Tour, we tell you ...

The riders a little irritated by the behavior of the Tour spectators via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/b377zBDIY9

- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) September 6, 2020

And all while respecting the barrier measures, a little less applied it is true in some passes (Peyresourde on Saturday in particular), which made the riders and teams react, worried to see the Tour end well before the Champs on September 20. , in the event of massive contamination in the peloton.

In this regard, the results of the PCR tests passed by the runners and their supervision between Sunday and Monday will be known on Tuesday morning.

It would be silly for it to stop already.

Sport

Tour de France: In yellow but on the defensive, what is Primoz Roglic playing?

Sport

Tour de France: Pogacar takes the stage, Roglic the yellow ... Slovenia at the party ... Relive the stage between Pau and Laruns with us

  • Pyrenees

  • Sport

  • Cycling

  • Tour de France

  • Cycling