In Grand-Bornand
To discover
The general classification of the Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar cleaned up this Saturday, in the rain of Grand-Bornand, washing out his rare opponents one by one for the final victory in the Tour de France from the first alpine climbs.
If the Belgian Dylan Teuns, already stage winner at the Planche des Belles-Filles two years ago, won alone this 8th stage of 150.8 km part of Oyonnax, the title holder, his coup de force accomplished, didn't even bother to go get it.
"I haven't killed the Tour yet, sorry"
Tadej Pogacar
Tired of his best youngster's white jersey, the Slovenian only sought this yellow jersey that he had only worn one day on the road to Paris last September, now relegating his closest rival, Wout Van Aert, to 1 '48 ”and Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko, third, already 4'38”. “
It is often said that attack is the best defense, this was confirmed today. Today, I made a gap, tomorrow it may be another. I haven't killed the Tour yet, sorry,
”he said on arrival. He is the only one to think so. “
The Tour ends in Paris, and everyone will fight to the goal, but Pogacar has already taken a big step towards victory,
” summed up Dylan Teuns.
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If, in mountain stages, skimming is always done from behind, it began long before reaching the capital of Reblochon, and even before the first reliefs of the day.
Both victims of the Breton falls, Geraint Thomas, the winner of the 2018 Tour, and Primoz Roglic, the big favorite of this edition, had been able to make an illusion on the flat.
Saturday, while the fight was raging in all directions, both for the green jersey - Sonny Colbrelli won the sprint of Frangy - as for the polka dot jersey - Matej Mohoric, the winner of the day before, isolated himself at the start of the first bumps - the two men were drifting behind.
For them, the Tour is definitely lost.
Van der Poel and Van Aert in pain
The sprinters, in the first title of which the double stage winner Mark Cavendish, quietly formed a group in which we found all the beaten of this edition, and there are many of them.
The arrival of the first first category passes accentuated the ripening.
In the Col de Romme, Mathieu van der Poel and his inseparable rival Wout van Aert, who had led the skirmishes as a duo on the route du Creusot, again played the Dupont and Dupond, but this time in pain.
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The yellow jersey was unhooked at the foot of the ascent, while, at the front, Michael Woods and Dylan Teuns had extricated themselves from the group of beefy people who came out at halfway to try to go first to snuggle under a umbrella in Grand-Bornand.
Van Aert, the Belgian champion, soaked in his tinsel as the new flagship of Primoz Roglic's training, gave way a little further while the young Dane Jonas Vingegaard, another possible substitute for the Slovenian, fell.
The Jumbo-Visma Tour was taking water.
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In this feverish atmosphere, only one man kept a cool head: Tadej Pogacar.
If at the front, the battle for the stage was settled in favor of Teuns, the defending champion took advantage of the showers to do the laundry.
Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz had the nerve to cling to him, but the illusion did not last long.
Under the banner of the last 30 kilometers, the Slovenian passed this top speed that he is the only one to possess and began a long solo intended not to take over the Belgian breakaway, but quite simply to win the Tour.
Behind, on the side of Richard Carapaz, Alexey Lutsenko, David Gaudu, Rigoberto Uran, Enric Mas, we were already thinking only of folding seats.
Arrival at the summit on Sunday
On the line, Teuns offered his Bahrain-Victorious team their second stage victory in a row and raised their finger to the sky in tribute to his grandfather, who died two days before leaving Brest. Forty seconds later, Pogacar let Michael Woods and Ion Izagirre, escaped by the day, glean the places of honor that their effort deserved. Sunday, on one of the rare arrivals at the top of this edition, at the foot of the Tignes glacier, we hardly see who could prevent the 2020 winner from casting a new chill on the race.
