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L'Alpe d'Huez – The Britishman Geraint Thomas was crowned King of the Alps with his second victory in 24 hours at the Tour de France. The Sky Professional also won the King's stage at Alpe d'Huez, slightly extending his lead in the standings and stealing the show from his Sky captain, Chris Froome. Thomas had already triumphed on Wednesday at the eleventh stage of La Rosière.
"I am speechless, I do not know what to say. I never thought that I would have the chance to win today, "said Thomas at Eurosport.In the final sprint of a small group, the Welsh finally had the best legs After a good start, he leaves the other contenders for the final victory and gets the first Briton to win the stage victory at Alpe d'Huez.
Thomas is also the first winner from the legendary yellow jersey ski resort Lance Armstrong had done this feat in 2004, before the Americans were deprived of his successes due to doping.But even after his second stage win over a difficult mountain stage, nothing has changed in the hierarchy of the Sky team, according to the 32-year-old. "I said yesterday," Froomey "remains the captain," said Thomas
Behind him followed by two or three seconds behind Dutchman Tom Dumoulin and Frenchman Romain Bardet. last year Froome finished fourth with Bardet at the same time. Already early in the day, an escape group of 30 people had dropped out, and Steven Kruijswijk was also sixth in the overall standings.
The Dutchman was even the virtual leader in the meantime. At the start of the final climb of 13.8km and 8.1% at Alpe d'Huez, he still had a lead of over four minutes on the group with the favorites. In the end, however, it was 3.5 km before arrival and refurbished. The stage finished Kruijswijk 53 seconds behind Thomas in tenth. The Italian co-favorite Vincenzo Nibali fell about four kilometers from the finish, just before the barriers started, but he still reached the finish with only 13 seconds behind the winner of the step
. One day after missing Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel 's time limits, the two winners Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen as well as Andre Greipel threw the sponge. The second Rigoberto Uran of the previous year, however, was injured and did not happen Thursday.
Friday after three days of high mountains, a new stage of the program. The 13th section leads on 169.5 kilometers from Bourg d'Oisans to Valencia and presents no major difficulties other than a third and fourth category mountain ranking. (APA / SDA / dpa / AFP)
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