Crosswinds and Time Gaps — Stage 7 Recap — Tour de France 2020
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Wout Van Aert picked up his second win of the 2020 Tour de France on Friday as aggressive tactics and crosswinds combined to produce an exciting race that claimed several victims. British rider Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey while Peter Sagan took the green points jersey after his Bora team led a carefully plotted and brilliantly executed attack to drop his sprint rivals.
From 150km out, Bora launched an unexpected assault, cranking up the pace with attacks which succeeded in exploiting the crosswinds, splitting the pack and shedding Sagan’s rivals in the points classification, Irishman Sam Bennett who started the day in green, and Australian Caleb Ewan.
Among the other victims was young Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who started the day in third overall and was left behind late on due to a puncture with the peloton hitting speeds of 70 km/h in a crosswind.
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Jumbo’s Belgian all-rounder Van Aert also won stage five and on Friday outsprinted a small leading group.
“All the sprinters were dropped already and afterwards it was totally hectic,” said the Jumbo rider at the finish line.
“It was a good day for the team as some favourites from the GC lost time too,” said Van Aert, whose team leader Primoz Roglic is the favorite to win the Tour.
“I got a slipstream, found a gap and timed my sprint perfectly,” said Van Aert. “But this is more of a surprise than the last win.”
The stage embarked within sight of the 336m-high Millau viaduct that reaches across the Tarn Gorge, where winds also hit the Tour in 2019.
“The next two days should be quite difficult,” admitted Yates.
“Everyone expected a quiet day before the mountain but Bora had their ideas. It was very hard from start to finish. It means that the the next two days will be harder.”
Saturday’s run from Cazeres-Sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle features two category one mountains and one beyond-category climb, but both the weekend races end with dangerous descents.
“They’ll be going for it,” Yates predicted when asked if he feared attacks.
“I need to get on my computer and do a bit of recon, but I don’t mind racing downhill, especially on those big Pyrenean roads.”
Sunday’s stage nine has five climbs on its 153km run from Pau to Laruns, ending in a 20km descent.
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2020 TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE RESULT
| Rnk | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN AERT Wout | Jumbo-Visma Team | 3:32:03 |
| 2 | BOASSON HAGEN Edvald | NTT Pro Cycling | ,, |
| 3 | COQUARD Bryan | B&B Hotels – Vital Concept p / b KTM | ,, |
| 4 | LAPORTE Christophe | Cofidis, Credit Solutions | ,, |
| 5 | STUYVEN Jasper | Trek – Segafredo | ,, |
| 6 | VENTURINI Clement | AG2R La Mondiale | ,, |
| 7 | HOFSTETTER Hugo | Israel Start-Up Nation | ,, |
| 8 | BERNAL Egan | INEOS Grenadiers | ,, |
| 9 | YATES Adam | Mitchelton-Scott | ,, |
| 10 | VALVERDE Alejandro | Movistar Team | ,, |
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2020 TOUR DE FRANCE OVERALL STANDINGS
| 1 | YATES Adam | Mitchelton-Scott | 30:36:00 |
| 2 | ROGLIČ Primož | Jumbo-Visma Team | 0:03 |
| 3 | MARTIN Guillaume | Cofidis, Credit Solutions | 0:09 |
| 4 | BERNAL Egan | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:13 |
| 5 | DUMOULIN Tom | Jumbo-Visma Team | ,, |
| 6 | QUINTANA Nairo | Team Arkéa Samsic | ,, |
| 7 | BARDET Romain | AG2R La Mondiale | ,, |
| 8 | LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel | Astana Pro Team | ,, |
| 9 | PINOT Thibaut | Groupama – FDJ | ,, |
| 10 | URÁN Rigoberto | EF Pro Cycling | ,, |
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RBA/AFP Photos: Bettini
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