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Tim Merlier sprinted to his 2nd consecutive triumph successful this year’s Tour de France, connected shape eight, from Périgueux to Bergerac. But it was sadistic luck for Liam Slock, of nan Lotto Intermarché team, whose 175km effort astatine nan beforehand ended 1,300 metres from nan decorativeness line.
On a cleanable shape for lovers of pale-stoned chateaux and crystalline swimming pools, nan Tour leader, Tadej Pogacar, rode untroubled into Bergerac pondering nan possibilities of adding to his increasing tally of victories. The Slovenian already appears to person transcended a rivalry pinch Jonas Vingegaard and pinch Monday a remainder day, will now beryllium readying nan strategy to guarantee teammate Isaac del Toro leapfrogs nan Dane into 2nd place.
Sunday’s hilly shape to Ussel, into nan Cantal, will not person thing that compares pinch nan brutality of nan Col du Tourmalet, but pinch 2 short and steep climbs successful nan last 50km it whitethorn origin splits successful nan peloton.
Vingegaard’s Visma Lease-a-bike sports director, Marc Reef, said his riders will beryllium alert to Pogacar. “If I propulsion successful nan towel, I would not beryllium a bully DS,” he said. “We will look for each chance each nan measurement to Paris.
“The spread was not that large connected nan Tourmalet and we judge successful our plan. The Tour is still 2 weeks. We person a batch to conflict for and nan lead is only 2:40. Jonas mislaid it successful 1 time and we tin summation it successful 1 day. That’s thing we judge in.
“The Tour is not over. That [fightback] starts pinch a scheme and belief successful ourselves. Our strategy is still location and nan large stages wherever nan large differences are going to beryllium made are still coming.”
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Vingegaard’s teammate, Sepp Kuss, denied that Pogacar’s power was demoralising. “The Tour’s 2nd half will suit Jonas better. You spot really beardown UAE is, pinch Pogacar and Del Toro, and location are not galore guys who tin travel them. It’s much astir being imaginative to usage our strength. You person to deliberation extracurricular nan container a bit.”
The Uno-X Mobility squad person mislaid nan erstwhile title leader, Torstean Traeen erstwhile he abandoned aft his clang connected nan Tourmalet stage, but that did not extremity them from donning Norwegian shot shirts and doing nan Viking statement astatine nan shape start.
However, Remco Evenepoel’s tetchy demeanour has been attributed to Belgium’s quarter-final conclusion by Spain successful nan World Cup. The Belgian, a lifelong Arsenal fan, captained nan nationalist under-16 squad and came adjacent to signing pinch Anderlecht, earlier committing to cycling.
“He’s fed up they lost,” said Netcompany Ineos’s Kévin Vauquelin. Evenepoel’s team, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, had released an awkward clip of nan Olympic champion pinch teammate Florian Lipowitz, apparently making up aft their spat. Already likened to a hostage video, nan riders insisted, pinch their differences aired, that nan hatchet had been buried. “We tin move on,” Evenepoel said.
Tom Pidcock is regrouping aft slipping to almost 10 minutes down Pogacar successful nan Pyrenees. “I’m enjoying these 2 easier days,” he said of nan level stages to Bordeaux and Bergerac. “I’m realistic. I cognize that my style is not 100%, but successful nan Tour you can’t really miss activity successful nan buildup. It shows.”
“We will spot aft nan remainder day. I americium not fixed a batch of state and it’s ace difficult to get successful nan breakaway, particularly if it’s not really hilly. You request to make a title winning effort conscionable to get into nan break.”
