It was not until the 18th stage that the Ineos Grenadiers team saved the honor in this Tour de France 2020. A prestigious victory during the last alpine stage for the Polish Michal Kwiatkowski in La Roche-sur-Foron (Haute- Savoy). 

Kwiatkowski arrived arm in arm with another British rider, Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the last Giro, the day after the outgoing winner and leader of the British team, Colombian Egan Bernal, retired.

Carapaz, at the forefront in the three Alpine stages, consoles himself by seizing the polka dot jersey.

The wearer of the yellow jersey, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo), kept intact his advantage of 57 seconds over his runner-up and compatriot Tadej Pogacar, three days before the finish in Paris.

World champion in 2014, Kwiatkowski (30) captured his first stage success in the Tour, which he is competing for the 7th time.

But the Pole, one of the great runners of the peloton, has played a major role in the last three successes (Froome, then Thomas, Bernal finally) of the British formation, formerly Sky.

Van Aert transformed into a climber

Two races took place at a distance during this last alpine stage, 175 km long, one for the gain of the stage, the other for the general classification.

At the front, a quartet ended up emerging after the first pass, the Cormet de Roselend.

The fall of the Swiss Marc Hirschi in the descent of the Col des Saisies then left the Spaniard Pello Bilbao caught between Carapaz and Kwiatkowski.

On the very steep slopes of the climb to the Glières plateau, 6 kilometers at an average of 11.2%, Bilbao finally let go some 37 km from the finish.

His two companions then widened the gap to reach the finish together, with 1 min 51 sec ahead of the Belgian Wout Van Aert, the fastest of the pursuers.

In the group of podium candidates, Spaniard Mikel Landa took the lead.

The pace dictated by Van Aert, transformed into a climber, pushed several top 10 riders (A. Yates, Uran, Valverde) to a break and caused Landa's attempt to fail.

Roglic, titillated by Pogacar, wanted to get out of the stony sector following the climb, in which Richie Porte was delayed due to a puncture.

The Australian, 4th in the standings, managed to get into the final.

Friday, the 19th stage is aimed at sprinters and backpackers, concluding the 166.5 kilometers leading from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole.

On the eve of the only time trial of the event.

With AFP

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