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What a day we had at the 2018 Tour de France! He had novelty, he had drama, he had action, he had accidents, he had moments of racing turning; In short, there was everything that a sports fan could ask for. And at the end of a short but full of action, we have a revamped podium and the last three exciting stages in front of us
Colombian Nairo Quintana celebrates his victory by crossing the finish line to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France. AFP
The scene was special from the beginning, literally. Not content to design the shortest mountain stage in the history of the Tour – just 65 km from start to finish – the organizers have added a fresh start to the day. For the first time, the drivers lined up in a Formula 1 grid system. The top ten riders were organized into two arrowhead formations, while the next ten were in a linear grid of five each. The remaining riders were positioned in groups of 20 to make the start manageable.
If the grid was organized as an F1 race (they even had green lights to indicate the start), the pace was not as explosive as the starting line was at the foot of a climb , the road climbed with the first pedal stroke. And so on until the finish line. For a short leg of just 65km, the stage had a total climb of 37km, which did not give the riders tired time to rest and regroup. So anyone who was behind was likely to waste a lot of time. Not for the shy, Wednesday's arrival was held at the summit of Col du Portet, which at 2215 meters altitude, was the highlight of this year's race.
The grid start was only the beginning of the excitement. Interesting and innovative, he had no tactical involvement on the run as a whole (more of an organizational requirement or a gadget movement to attract fans – make your choice). But the 65 km have been full of action, making it the most exciting stage of the year. Considering that there was so much to catch up with, we simplified the day's action for you by analyzing the winners and losers of the day (though it's a bit brutal of qualify a Tour of loser, but to forgive the semantics). Winner: Nairo Quintana
Let's start with the big winner of the day. Quintana has had a disappointing Tour up here, suffering from mechanical accidents and troubles, wasting time in most stages and scarcely hanging on the top ten in the standings. But it seemed that Movistar and he had highlighted this step in their logbook because they ran a perfect tactical race for textbooks on Wednesday. Movistar had a strong presence at the front of the pack all day and three of its riders finished in force. But it was Quintana who ran a brave solo attack during the last climb, to earn a well – deserved stage victory. This climb being the highest of the year, the Colombian also deserved the Souvenir Henri Desgrange for his efforts. More importantly, his attack took him to 5th place in the overall standings, just one minute behind third place. With a final mountain stage to come, this place on the podium would be the target of diminutive Quintana in the race to Paris.
Loser: Chris Froome
Chris Froome will also be remembered today. To be fair, Froome has not been his imposing in this race, probably because of heavy legs having participated in four consecutive Grand Rounds. But his ambition to win his fourth consecutive Grand Tour is not a secret. While Froome ran this race in the shadow of teammate Geraint Thomas, many were expecting it to be a tactical move, with Froome waiting his time to attack a day like Wednesday. Instead, he was ambushed by Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic in the last kilometers of the Col du Portet. The captain of the Sky team finished at 1 "35" of the stage winner and lost more than 40 seconds to Thomas, Dumoulin and Roglic. He is now at 32 "behind Dumoulin in the race, but more aptly only 16 "ahead of Roglic.In view of its current form, the next three days are not a good omen for the defending champion, and it will take all his experience and his energy reserves to to maintain his third place until Paris on Sunday.
Winner: Geraint Thomas, Tom Dumoulin, Primoz Roglic
The loss of Froome was the gain of its immediate competitors. Well-repeated media, no one has taken into account the tension in Team Sky with Geraint Thomas at the head of Chris Froome.It was an embarrassing situation, but that seems solved for good with the Emergence of Thomas as sole leader at the end of Wednesday. we only consolidated his position in his team but also won 19 "on Dumoulin. The time saved probably does not have so much importance at this stage, but the expression of the intention surely does. [196] Dumoulin, for his part, would not see any inconvenience in wasting time with Thomas considering what he won on Froome. The attack of Dumoulin in the last few kilometers ended up cracking Froome and made sure that the Dutch driver snatched second place overall from his British rival. Roglic was also not a passenger, as it was his initial attack that laid bare the cracks in Froome's defense. The Slovakian driver seems in shape in the mountains and has already beaten Froome at the world time trial championships of 2017. This will give him great confidence to place the defending champion in third place in the coming days
Loser: Romain Bardet
The Frenchman was probably the big loser of the day (except Froome). He was the only competitor of the GC to lose sight of the leading peloton in the middle of the final climb and seemed completely shot down by the finish. Bardet finished at 2 & # 39; & # 39; & # 39; Quintana, losing fifth overall to the Colombian. In fact, the French slipped to eighth, with the hope of a third consecutive podium. Surely a disappointment for local fans who would have hoped to win the day and once again climb the podium.
Winner: Julian Alaphilippus
All was not bad for the country of origin though. The defeat of Bardet was partially compensated by his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe, who actually won the Polka Dot jersey. Alaphilippe made a memorable Tour, with two stage wins and an unassailable lead in the King of the Mountains standings. Although he was lucky Tuesday, being gifted with the stage victory by Adam Yates' latest crash, no one can blame the Frenchman for his success, as he was one of the few. revelations of this year's race. His attacks are always exciting to watch and his long solo win on stage 10 showed the talent of this young rider
Loser: Peter Sagan
This one is tricky as Sagan did not lose anything, but he came very close. The Slovak has an unbeatable lead in the classification of the green jersey and all he needs to do is an accident until the end of the race in Paris. Wednesday was always going to be a tough day for sprinters, and Sagan tweeted about it on Tuesday. His difficult day turned into a nightmare, when he suffered a bad fall down the Val Louron-Azet pass. There was a fear that the Slovak finishes the stage in time, but he fought to finish 26 minutes behind the winner, within the allowed time. Sagan crossed the finish line in a state of severe bruising and would surely be painful for the rest of the race. There is no clarity as to the extent of his injuries, although knowing Sagan, it will take nothing less than an operation to stop him from running the past four days. The last update of Sagan and his team (at the time of printing) is mentioned in their tweets below:
Winner: Organizers of Travel and Cyclists
The Last Word goes to Tour organizers, who designed an epic scene to make sure the fans were the big winners of the day. This short step seemed a gamble, but paid fantastic dividends. Going through the action of the day, it is sure to be a classic and will likely be repeated in future races. So congratulations to Mr. Prudhomme and his team who innovated the format and brought an exciting addition to the race. As with any sport, there were winners and losers, but as a fan, I can happily say hat and Long Live the Tour!
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