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Geraint Thomas won the second alpine stage of the Tour de France in La Rosière. The Brit of Sky walked in the last five kilometers of the last climb, doubled the last Mikel Nieve fighter in extremis and came solo in the last meters until the finish. He is also the new wearer of the yellow jersey. Tom Dumoulin also attacked in the finals and finished in second place in twenty seconds. Chris Froome was third
Peter Sagan was one of five riders who chose the hares in the early stages of this mountain stage. The Slovakian offensive was easy to explain because after 11.5 kilometers Villard-sur-Doron was the intermediate sprint. He wins a third overall point victory and twenty points that he could use again. Then he was immediately ready for Sagan in the leading group, then he fell back into the pack.
French duel for mountain points
Warren Barguil, Damiano Caruso, Daniel Navarro and Romain Sicard remained at the front. At the foot of the first climb, they saw Julian Alaphilippe and Tejay van Garderen pass from a large group of hunters separated from the pack. Anthony Perez and Pavel Poljanski also joined. The composition of the leading group then grew quickly and Belgian Serge Pauwels and Thomas De Gendt were also present.
Barguil focuses on the points of the first climb, the Bisanne Ascent. The French, last year's winner of the polka dot jersey, was outclassed by compatriot Alaphilippe, who, after an impressive sprint, was ranked first and got 20 points. The pilot of the Quick-Step Floors arrived solo at Grand-Bornand yesterday and showed himself again very active in the leading group, which took up to six minutes.
Valverde moves away to the Col du Pré
Alaphilippe sees Barguil and De Gendt join the descent of Bisanne, after which the next hurdle awaits with the Col du Pré. In the initial phase of this second race, a large group of pursuers took over the top three, creating a leading group of about thirty riders. Alaphilippe had to land just before the summit because of the tight pace that Elie Gesbert and Amaël Moinard had in the leading group for their leader Barguil. Where the Frenchman was put in the suit by Alaphilippus earlier in the day, he had nothing to fear from him.
Meanwhile, the battle for the standings also began, when Alejandro Valverde had in the meantime accelerated the peloton. Among them were Bauke Mollema, the porter Greg Van Avermaet and the injured Rigoberto Uran. The Spaniard briefly later joined the wheel of his teammate Marc Soler, who had been waiting for the leading group. Valverde and Soler took a big minute on the group with the other favorites.
Attack of Dumoulin at Cormet de Roselend
After a brief descent he was reassembled, this time at Cormet Roselend second category. In the front was still a leading group of thirteen riders, in which Barguil still caught the most mountainous points. The efforts of the French would not (yet) be rewarded by the polka dot jersey because it would remain on the shoulders of Alaphilippus.
After the Roselend, a descent of eighteen kilometers and the final ascent to La Rosière followed. In the quick sinking, Tom Dumoulin, along with his teammate Søren Kragh Andersen, dug a gap with the group of favorites. Valverde and Soler have again "swum" between the Sunweb leader and the leading group, reduced to five riders: Barguil, Damiano Caruso, Moinard, Mikel Nieve and Michael Valgren.
Valverde does not want to help Dumoulin
Dumoulin and Kragh Andersen joined Valverde and Soler at the bottom of the last climb and they drove a minute to the favorite group in which Sky was leading. The aides had to let their leaders go early, so that Dumoulin and Valverde were each on the other. The collaboration did not seem to work for Valverde, because when Dumoulin signaled him to take over, the Spaniard shook his head.
Dumoulin lost Valverde in the last nine kilometers and the Spanish did not have to give up much later. He also had to land with the other favorites, where also Ilnur Zakarin, Adam Yates and Jakob Fuglsang had already disappeared. In his distinctive style, the Dutchman summed up the last kilometers of the horns and received help from Barguil, with whom he was his teammate at Sunweb last year.
Dumoulin persists through
Dumoulin continued his route with stiffness and only had to drive five kilometers to Mikel Nieve – who was now leading the way solo, Caruso and Jesús Herrada. In the background, Geraint Thomas, who had the virtual yellow jersey around his shoulders, attacked. The Brit joins Dumoulin, who had already caressed Caruso. Froome also sped up and he was helped by Daniel Martin. Nairo Quintana did not react and had to look in the presence of Steven Kruijswijk, Primoz Roglic, Vincenzo Nibali and Romain Bardet.
Thomas dragged lone leader Mikel Nieve into harbor view in the final phase and demanded stage victory. Froome had crossed over to Dumoulin, who pushed his wheel on the finish line a little earlier. Thomas is also the new leader of the Tour. In the standings, he is 1 "25" ahead of Froome, who is second, with Dumoulin third on 1 "44".
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