Søren Kragh Andersen booked his second stage victory in this Tour de France on Friday. The 26-year-old rider of Team Sunweb crowned a solo with the victory in the nineteenth stage.
Søren Kragh Andersen booked his second stage victory in this Tour de France on Friday. The 26-year-old rider of Team Sunweb crowned a solo with the victory in the nineteenth stage.
Kragh Andersen rode away from a leading group of twelve riders with several sprinters at 15 kilometers from the finish and was no longer traced.
Within a minute, Luka Mezgec won the sprint for second place, ahead of Jasper Stuyven. Green jersey wearers Sam Bennett and Peter Sagan finished eighth and ninth shortly afterwards and the peloton crossed the line in almost eight minutes.
Last Saturday, Kragh Andersen also won the fourteenth stage. Then the Dane surprised the peloton with a late withdrawal. For Sunweb it is the third stage victory in this Tour, after Marc Hirschi had already triumphed.
There were no shifts at the top of the general classification. Yellow jersey carrier Primoz Roglic will start the climb time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles on Saturday with a lead of less than a minute over Tadej Pogacar. Tom Dumoulin remains the best Dutchman in ninth place.
Cavagna solo in attack for a long time
After a few tough mountain stages, a transition stage followed on Friday. The peloton covered 166.5 rolling kilometers from Bourg-en Bresse to Champagnole.
After 6 kilometers, Rémi Cavagna attacked alone. Behind the Frenchman rode a group of five riders, including Dylan van Baarle and Guillaume Martin, but they were unable to close the gap with the front runner and dropped back into the peloton.
Cavagna did stay ahead and built up a lead of almost three minutes. With 75 kilometers to go, Sunweb and BORA-hansgrohe increased the pace in the peloton a bit and the difference with the lonely breakaway slowly decreased.
Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett had to settle for eighth and ninth places. (Photo: Getty Images)
Leading group with Bennett and Sagan breaks out
With just under a minute ahead Cavagna was joined by Pierre Rolland, Benoît Cosnefroy and Luke Rowe. A group of ten men also made the crossing, but all escapees were caught at 35 kilometers from the finish.
While Caleb Ewan was struggling at the back of the peloton, a group of twelve men, including the sprinters Bennett, Sagan, Matteo Trentin and Greg Van Avermaet, broke away. In no time they had a lead of more than two minutes.
After a breakaway by Trentin came to nothing, Kragh Andersen managed to create a gap at 15 kilometers from the finish. He soon had a half-minute lead and was easily out of the grip of the chasing group.