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PAU, France – Arnaud Demare was rewarded Thursday for carrying his muscular frame on the Alps and the Pyrenees.
Geraint Thomas, meanwhile, is preparing to cement his grip on the yellow jersey during the last mountain test on Friday. Tour de France
After several of his competitors were unable to cross the mountains, Demare took the opportunity by dominating a mbadive sprint at stage 18.
He scored the first victory of the year. a French team, Groupama-FDJ, in this year's race
Sprinters Fernando Gaviria of Colombia and Dylan Groenewegen – who had each won two stages in this Tour – called him at the 12th stage at the Alpe d'Huez. That happened a day after Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel, who had 44 stage wins on the Tour, failed to reduce the time allotted for another stage of the mountain. .
Demare says that he was motivated by a charge on social media. , a top German sprinter, who alleged that Demare held his team car on the way to Col du Portet in the 17th stage.
Demare finished the penultimate step Wednesday but managed to avoid the time cut
Greipel, who also resigned at step 12, later apologized on Twitter, claiming that he had relied on "incorrect" information.
"It hurt me a lot," said Demare. "It's a shame that people are casting doubts on my performance and hard work … I've been thinking a lot about (Greipel) today." This is not in my state of mind or my philosophy of (cheating) .I worked hard in the mountains before the Tour and, therefore, I did it through the mountain stages when most of sprinters did not do it. "
Demare, who failed to climb the Alps last year, He had time to celebrate crossing the line arms wide open in front of his compatriot Christophe Laporte.
Alexander Kristoff of Norway crossed third place at the same time.
After two grueling days in the Pyrenees, Thomas was able to For his seventh day in the yellow jersey during the less difficult milestone of 171 kilometers from Trie-sur-Baise to Pau, which featured only two small climbs and a flat finish.
Thomas stayed 1 minute, 59 Tom Dumoulin with Welshman's teammate Sky and Chris Froome, four times third, at 2:31 behind.
There are only two difficult stages left: a long stage across the Pyrenees on Friday, with three major climbs and a technical team. Saturday time trial – before the Most of the time, the arrival of the ceremonies on the Champs-Elysees in Paris
Step 19 begins in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes and takes the peloton on legendary pbades like the Tourmalet Pbad and Aubisque Pbad
I'm waiting for the worst, hoping for the best. … it's the last mountain stage and I think the guys will try to grab every possible opportunity, "said Thomas." But we drove well throughout the race, so I hope that we will be able to continue for another day. "
After Froome cracked on the Portet Pbad, Sky's entire strategy is to bring Thomas to Paris – which means that Froome might need to be in the dark.
"I hope we will not have to use Froomey. I hope we will have strength in the numbers and that he will be able to follow as well, "said Thomas." But having Froomey at my disposal, so to speak, is simply phenomenal. "
Perhaps a greater concern for Thomas and Froome is about the unruly fans who have consistently affected this Tour by spitting on the runners – or even catching
A fan who broke through the barriers almost took Thomas on Wednesday
"I thought maybe it was an accident, maybe a fan too exuberant," Thomas said. "But when I got back to the hotel and that's where I was Showed the photos it was obviously something else. This is not good. This is not what you want. "
On a hot day in the south of France, the 18th stage led the riders through the vineyards of Madiran to the city of Pau, hometown of King Henri IV of the 16th century It was the 70th time that the Tour pbaded through Pau, which hosted the first race in 1930.
Five Riders – Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Group Gobert), Mathew Hayman (Mitchelton-Scott), Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott), Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) and Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) were involved in an early breakaway, and the sprinters' teams never left them more than two minutes in advance. they were 16.5 kilometers apart
Otherwise, the stage was very calm, with the exception of a minor accident with Nairo Quintana, winner of stage 17 and a British Adam Yates halfway down the road Both runners get back on their bike and continue without apparent problems s.
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Associated authors of the press Ciaran Fahey and Samuel Petrequin contribute
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More coverage of the Tour de France: https: // apnews .com / tag / TourdeFrance [19659002] –
Andrew Dampf on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/asdampf
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