20h22 – Tour de France: Roglic wins and wins Froome from the podium

A Slovenian in the Pyrenees! In the land of the bears, Primoz Roglic won the 19th stage of the Tour de France, Friday in Laruns, and came out of the podium the British Chris Froome at the end of the mountain.

Second of the stage, the Gallois Geraint Thomas kept the yellow jersey two days before arriving in Paris. With a consequent advantage on his dolphin, the Dutch Tom Dumoulin, who has a liability of 2 min 05 sec before the time trial of 31 kilometers in the Basque Country.

48 hours from the Champs-Elysees, the fight for the podium remains very open behind Thomas. Dumoulin, second, tackles the appointment with the status of world champion of the discipline and a 19 second advantage over Roglic.

Froome, saved by his Colombian Saint Bernard Egan Bernal when he found himself in trouble in the Aubisque, fell from 3rd to 4th place in the overall standings. It points 13 seconds from Roglic, the gap to be filled on the rugged course that leads from Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Espelette.

Third in the event at the last Worlds and also at the Olympic Games, the outgoing winner of the Tour can hope to get back on the podium. But the Slovenian, this year's winner of the Tour de Pays Basque's "chrono", is also a specialist.

– The last descent –

Aged 28, the former ski jumper, who has integrated a High-level team only in 2016 (Lotto NL), took away his second success in the Tour. He had won the stage of Serre-Chevalier last year after having crossed the Galibier in the lead.

Roglic, who appeared the sharpest in the climb of the Aubisque, made the decision in the long descent of 20 kilometers to Laruns. Meter after meter, he widened the gap to win finally 19 seconds on the group of pursuers, set by Thomas.

"I did not think of the podium when I attacked, I thought of the victory of 'stage', said the winner of the day. "I knew that the slightest gap would be difficult to close in the descent."

Thomas, himself, said he was "happy" with the result: "Dumoulin was our biggest threat, but we realized that Roglic was the strongest I told Bernal to let Dumoulin plug the holes and it worked. "

On this last mountain day, a 200.5-kilometer course through three historic pbades (Aspin, Tourmalet, Aubisque), Mikel Landa, imitated later by Romain Bardet, went on the attack from the Tourmalet more than 100 kilometers from the finish. The Spaniard and the French have integrated in the descent the breakaway launched by far to count more than three minutes in advance at the foot of the Col des Bordères.

– Quintana and Sagan in pain –

The help of a teammate from Roglic (Gesink) helped the yellow jersey team to get closer to the breakaways. In the Aubisque, the last pbad of the Tour, the attacks rocketed. Dumoulin accelerated twice, Roglic started in his turn. Without being able to distance Thomas and Dumoulin.

Froome, on the other hand, was the victim of these starts. Already struggling on the Col du Portet 48 hours earlier, the quadruple winner of the Tour owed his safety only to Bernal, the great promise of Colombian cycling (21 years). But, no more than Bardet, who probably paid for his fatigue, he could not follow Roglic in the descent.

The stage condemned the Colombian Nairo Quintana, the day after his fall that left him bruised . The winner of the Col du Portet stage finished more than seven minutes ago

"I ached everywhere, especially at the hip, I could not stand on the pedals. beat me, "said the Colombian.

For his part, the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe badured the polka dot jersey of the best climber, provided to finish the race. As for the wearer of the green jersey, the Slovak Peter Sagan, he suffered a thousand evils two days after his fall in the descent of the Col d'Azet

"If I had been on a clbadic, I would have given up. I think it would have been different if I had not had the green jersey on the shoulders, "reacted the world champion. "The whole stage was difficult for me, my worst day in a bike for ten years!"