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Grand-Bornand (dpa) – Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet stole the show from Tour de France at the first heavy mountain stage and confidently defended his overall superiority.
The Belgian, known as a clbadic, but not an excellent climber, carried the best riders around Christopher Froome on the 10th stage in a breakaway and increased his lead at the top. The 158.5-kilometer section of Annecy at Grand-Bornand was won by Julian Alaphilippe and secured the first victory of the day of the Frenchman at the 105th edition of the tour.
Van Avermaet, however, can wear his yellow jersey conquered on the third day of the circuit on the second leg of the Alps the day after Albertville at the La Rosière ski resort. He now has 2:22 minutes ahead of Briton Geraint Thomas. That he will repeat such a shot, is unlikely – the realistic chances of overall victory in the tour, the captain of the BMC team no.
Behind Van Avermaet, the favorites made their first trip to the high mountains. The powerful Froomes team controlled events in the peloton of the best drivers, so the attacks on the four heavy mountains were hopeless.
The captain of Quickstep Alaphilippe, however, secured the victory by an attack on the last climb, which he defended safely during the final descent to Grand-Bornand. In second place, the Spaniard Jon Izaguirre is ahead of Rein Taaramäe of Estonia.
German starters played no role in the day's victory race – on the contrary: especially the sprint specialists around Marcel Kittel and André Greipel fought only to get in the time limit to # 39 on arrival.
After the first day of rest, the bikers did not waste time visiting the picturesque Lake Annecy at the beginning of the special. Shortly after the first short climb, a larger group of 21 riders managed to escape the peloton. The fugitives included well-known names like Peter Sagan – who, as a favorite on the green jersey, earned points in the intermediate sprint – but especially Van Avermaet. The wearer of the yellow jersey shot the field controlled by the Froomes Sky team.
On the mountain scene, the 33-year-old Belgian Olympic champion was impressive and was also one of the first to cross the Gliéres Plateau Climb, the first climb of the highest category in the world. this circuit. During a short run on the gravel road, Froome recorded a record in the main draw, but he was not far behind and was able to quickly catch the small gap.
Itinerary Tour de France 2018
Etappenwertung and appreciation
starting field
List of early failures
Tour de France welcome page with news
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