Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook
Featured corrupción Crímenes Feijóo Rusia Petróleo

Vingegaard sentences the Tour in Hautacam before the wear of Pogacar

BARCELONA, 21 Jul.

- 14 reads.

Vingegaard sentences the Tour in Hautacam before the wear of Pogacar

BARCELONA, 21 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) has won this Thursday the eighteenth stage of the Tour de France disputed between Lourdes and Hautacam, of 143.5 kilometers, to sentence the yellow jersey and hit the table against his tough opponent Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who paid for the wear and tear of his attacks to run out of options for the general classification by giving up more than a minute.

The Dane dealt with the ambition of Pogacar and on the Hautacam road he made history to leave a Tour that he leads with 3 minutes and 26 seconds ready for sentencing compared to the two-time champion of the French round with three days to go, including the time trial 40 km on Saturday.

The Pyrenees experienced the dethrone of the current king in a frantic stage that showed the class and sportsmanship of the two combatants in the yellow jersey. The defender of the general knew how to suffer and Pogacar paid the price for his successive attacks by falling to the ground on the descent to Col de Spandelles.

Vingegaard slowed down, instead of taking advantage of the slip, and waited for his opponent to show the absolute 'fair play' between them. Once online, the Slovenian thanked the gesture and held out his hand to shake it, a historic photo before the final duel with an unbeatable outcome for Jumbo-Visma.

The Dutch team lived a full afternoon by winning the stage and securing three jerseys. Vingegaard's second partial victory in the Tour was subject to the inescapable help of his teammates. The pace of Sepp Kuss took the two contenders for the title to the head of the race, but the job was finished off by a tireless Wout van Aert, who emptied himself for his teammate to drop the Slovenian 4.5 kilometers away.

In this way, the Dane sealed his victory in the general classification and also in the mountain classification, by reaching the top of the final climb and unseating the German Simon Geschke (Cofidis). Also, Van Aert strengthened his green jersey in the points classification by entering third at the finish.

Precisely, the Belgian was the author of the first attack of the day, which set the tone for a very demanding start. The ascent to the Col d'Aubisque, the first special category port, formed the escape with thirty cyclists.

The Spanish rider Enric Mas (Movistar Team) was part of the head of the race, but on the descent he gave way again, as happened to him this Wednesday in Val Louron. For this reason, the leader of the telephone team left 7 minutes and 23 seconds, which takes him away from the 'Top 10'.

The podium in the general classification is closed by the British Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), the only one capable of enduring the superiority of the two rivals to beat in the eighteenth stage, for which he beat David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) in the fight for third place at 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

To date, fifteen riders have dropped out of the Tour after testing positive for coronavirus. This Thursday the victims were the Spanish of the Movistar Team Imanol Erviti, the British Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) and the Italian Damiano Caruso (Bahrain).

In this way, Erviti could not help his leader to improve his position in the 'top ten'. For his part, quadruple Tour winner Chris Froome also got off the bike in 26th overall. Last week he achieved his best result since his serious crash in 2019, by being third on the Alpe d'Huez climb stage.

Once the mountainous stage of the Tour is over, this Friday the nineteenth and antepenultimate stage will be held between Castelnau-Magnoac and Cahors, 188.5 kilometers long, a flat day so that the sprinters and the 'chasers' of victories have a chance, and so that the men of the general classification recover energy for the 40 kilometer time trial on Saturday between Lacapelle Marival and the beautiful Rocamadour.

--CLASSIFICATIONS.- Stage.

.1. Jonas Vingegaard (Din/Jumbo-Visma) 3h 59:50.

.2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) at 1:04

.3. Wout van Aert (BEL/Jumbo-Visma) 2:10.

.4. Geraint Thomas (GBR / Groupama-FDJ) 2:54.

.5. David Gaudu(FRA/Astana) 2:58.

.../...12. CARLOS VERONA (ESP/Movistar Team) 4:18.

19. ENRIC MAS (ESP / Movistar Team) 7:23.

- General.

.1. Jonas Vingegaard (Din/Jumbo-Visma) 71h 53:34.

.2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) at 3:26.

.3. Geraint Thomas (GBR/INEOS Grenadiers) 8:00.

.4. David Gaudu (Fra / Groupama FDJ) 11:05.

.5. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea Samsic) 13:35.

... / ... 11. ENRIC MAS (ESP / Movistar Team) 24:08.

16. LUIS LEÓN SÁNCHEZ (ESP/Bahrain Victorious) 47:07.