TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 16 | GRUISSAN > NÎMES

NÎMES, France (July 16, 2024) — Stage 16 of the 2024 Tour de France was won brilliantly by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in Nîmes, outpacing his rivals to the line with a powerful acceleration, perfectly set up by his World Champion teammate Mathieu van der Poel. A crash for the man in the green jersey, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), with 1.5km to go unfortunately meant he was not there to contest the final sprint. An exciting bunch sprint resulted in Philipsen crossing the line ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) for his third win of this year’s Tour. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) celebrated his 100th day of Tour de France racing by securing the Yellow Jersey for the 35th time in his career, with no changes at the top of the GC on the first day back on the road after Monday’s rest day. Behind Pogačar in the overall standings, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) remain respectively 3’09” and 5’19” adrift of the Slovenian star.

Back in action

Following the news yesterday that Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and then this morning Chris Harper (Team Jayco AlUla) had withdrawn from the Tour due to Covid-19 symptoms, there were 150 riders at the start line for Stage 16. Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) then Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) left the peloton in the first kilometre but sat up when they realised that there were no further volunteers to accompany them in the breakaway. The race therefore progressed at a moderate pace during the first hour with 37.9 kilometres covered, before the average speed significantly increased in the second hour of racing (with 44.8 km covered). At the Matelettes intermediate sprint (km 96.1) Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) got to the line first, while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was second, with Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) fourth.

Gachignard goes solo

After the intermediate sprint Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) went solo, leaving the peloton and building a 2’20” advantage by the time he reached the top of the only categorised climb of the stage at Côte de Fambetou (Cat 4, km 112.6). The peloton did not look overly concerned about Gachignard’s breakaway efforts at any point with Jayco-AlUla collaborating with Alpecin-Deceuninck at the front of the bunch to offset any potential threat from the relatively light crosswinds. 25 kilometres from the finish line a peloton led by Groupama-FDJ calmly caught the solo attacker, who was named at the most combative rider of the stage for his efforts.

Another bunch sprint in Nîmes

Nîmes has hosted several bunch sprint finishes in the past and that was the case again as the peloton flew through the elegant city streets towards the final straight. An unfortunate crash for green jersey Girmay at a roundabout inside the final 2km sadly denied him of the chance to participate in the final sprint which was ultimately won with aplomb by Philipsen ahead of Bauhaus and Kristoff.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “Every Stage Win Is Really Hard to Get”

 “I’m really happy, definitely, after such a team effort. It’s always nice when you can win together with your teammates as we did today. I haven’t seen Bini’s crash. I was with my teammates, focusing on our own lead-out. I hope everybody is ok. I was feeling good. I had a good rest day and I feel my shape has been improving over this Tour de France. I was confident that we could win today if we lined everything up ahead of the sprint. Every stage win is really hard to get at this level. Taking three is a very good job. We can be proud. Green jersey? Everything is possible, but it’s really hard as Bini is climbing really well. I hope he is fine after the crash, because he doesn’t deserve to lose the Points classification like this, because of a crash. I will try whatever I can, knowing that there are very hard stages yet to come. We will go day by day, while also enjoying every victory.”

Thomas Gachignard (Totalenergies): “The Goal Is Not to Miss Any Breakaways Before Nice”

“It’s nice to be a bit of a protagonist up front. I was sick at the start of the Tour, and I had difficulty recovering. The objective today was to protect Anthony for a sprint, and also to be present after the intermediate sprint. I attacked and created a gap in front of the peloton. No one followed me and I quickly dug in. I knew it was complicated, as the race was going so fast. I didn’t believe in victory. We already knew before the start that it was 95% likely for a sprint. Still, I had to try and show the jersey and to gain a little confidence in myself. There will be two stages suitable for the breakaway tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and we will do everything possible to show that we have our place at this Tour de France. The goal is not to miss any breakaways between here and Nice. Our Tour is already successful with Anthony’s victory in the first week. Everything that happens from here is a bonus.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “I Just Found Myself on The Ground”

“Unfortunately, today was not an easy finish. We know this is the last sprint stage and everybody gets more excited and tries to do as much as they can in the front. I also try to be there. There were also a lot of roundabouts in the last 10km. It’s narrow at every roundabout and then suddenly, I don’t know who it was from EF, we touched handlebars, he went inside me and then I didn’t have nothing to do, I just found myself on the ground. But luckily I’m able to ride, so that’s the good thing. I hurt my knee and and I have two stiches in my elbow but it’s not a problem. To be honest mentally I’m ok so we will see tomorrow and hopefully I’m going to be ok. When I crashed and I got up I saw that I could ride my bike and I was happy. For me I don’t care if I lose this jersey or I keep it, I’d just like to like to arrive in Nice without any trouble. Still now, it’s not finished yet so I’ll try to fight.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “This Was the Job To Do Today”

“Today the wind was strong at the start of the stage, then it weakened over the kilometres and at the end it almost became a day of rest. I stayed with Yves Lampaert, who fulfilled his mission perfectly by positioning me at the front of the peloton and keeping me safe from any problems. This was the job to do today. I think that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be days for breakaways, so it will be calmer for us. Then I will have to prioritise looking at those behind me in the general classification to keep my place on the podium, but I have a good margin on them. So I think I’ll ride more defensively, and we’ll see if it’s possible to do something else. If the Tour could stop today, I would say ok.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “The Final Three Stages Will Be the Real Showdown”

“I’m happy today’s stage wasn’t as windy as expected. There were some crucial moments on which we had to hit the front, but otherwise it was an easy stage and I’m happy it’s already done. The Tour de France sprint stages are quite unique, in the sense that there is always a little bit of danger to avoid, as well as tricky sections on which you have to be very focused in order to stay out of trouble. I’m happy that the sprint stages are over, even though there are some tough stages to come. Tomorrow’s, for example, will be windy at the beginning and has some mountains at the finish. Anyway, I think the next two stages are due to be breakaway days. The final three stages will be the real showdown between the GC guys.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 16 | GRUISSAN > NÎMES | DAILY STATS

69.0: ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK LEAD PHILIPSEN TO VICTORY

The speedy finale in Nîmes displayed Alpecin-Deceuninck’s mastery when it comes to leading out their sprinter. Robbe Ghys battled for positions and drove the train into the last 400 metres, with a speed of 63.3km/h when he dropped his leaders. Mathieu van der Poel took over, speeding up to 65.2km/h… And then it was time for Jasper Philipsen to deliver, with a top speed of 69.0km/h!         

3X3: PHILIPSEN MATCHES GIRMAY AND POGAČAR

With Jasper Philipsen sprinting to victory in Nîmes, 3 riders have now won 3 stages in the Tour 2024: – Biniam Girmay, in Turin (stage 3), Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (stage 8) and Villeneuve-sur-Lot (stage 12) – Tadej Pogačar, at Valloire (stage 4), Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet (stage 14) and Plateau de Beille (stage 15) – Jasper Philipsen, in Saint-Amand-Montrond (stage 10), Pau (stage 13) and Nîmes (stage 16). The last Tour with at least 3 riders claiming at least 3 stage wins each was the 2021 edition, marked by Mark Cavendish (4 wins), Tadej Pogačar (3) and Wout van Aert (3).

90/100: THE OMNIPRESENT TADEJ POGAČAR

From Gruissan to Nîmes, Tadej Pogačar rode his 100th stage in the Tour de France. And he finished the day with his 90th podium ceremony in the race. Since he stormed the Tour in his first participation, in 2020, the Slovenian cannibal has claimed: – 2 overall victories (the 2nd at 22 years, 9 months and 27 days, making him the youngest 2-time winner); – 14 stage wins (the 13th best score); – 35 Maillot Jaune (the 10th highest score ever, tied with André Leducq); – 123 distinctive jerseys (35 Maillot Jaune, 13 polka-dot jerseys, 75 white jerseys); – 1 combativity award.  

376-344: CAN PHILIPSEN TURN THE TIDE?

While Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his 3rd stage win, Biniam Girmay hit the deck at a speed of 59.8km/h, with 1.7km to go, and didn’t participate in the final sprint. The difference in the points standings is down to 32 points: 376 for the Eritrean sprinter, 344 for his Belgian rival. The last time we saw a change of leader of the points standings in the later stages of the Tour dates back to 2017, when Michael Matthews won stage 16 to move only 29 points behind Marcel Kittel, who didn’t participate in the sprint on that day. Matthews went on to take the green jersey on stage 17 and keep it until the end of the Tour. Last year, Philipsen took the jersey after stage 4 and never lost it. Girmay has been leading the standings since day 5.

9: PHILIPSEN IS VAN AERT’S EQUAL

With a 9th stage win in the Tour de France, Jasper Philipsen matches Wout van Aert’s record as the active Belgian riders with most victories. 4 more Belgian riders won 9 Tour stages: Tom Steels, Lucien Van Impe, Sylvère Maes and Eloi Meulenberg. And only 5 Belgian riders remain ahead in the history of the Tour: Eddy Merckx (34 wins), Freddy Maertens (15), Philippe Thys (13), Jean Aerts (12) and Walter Godefroot (10). 55: POGAČAR, ALREADY UP TO ROGLIC’S RECORD With 35 Maillot Jaune and 20 Maglia Rosa to go along, Tadej Pogačar has now claimed as many Grand Tour leader’s jerseys as Primoz Roglic (11 in the Tour, 37 in La Vuelta, 7 in the Giro). They have the 13th biggest tally ever in a standing led by Eddy Merckx with 200 Grand Tour leader’s jersey. The next references for Pogačar are Alfredo Binda and Vincenzo Nibali, with 59 jerseys. Pogačar has claimed 34 of his jerseys this year, matching Chris Froome’s record from 2017 (15 in the Tour, 19 in La Vuelta). Only Eddy Merckx remains ahead of him, with 37 jerseys in 1970 (23 in the Tour, 14 in the Giro).

11: ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK MOVE UP THE RANKS

With an 11th stage win (all of them since 2021), Alpecin-Deceuninck match Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Team TotalEnergies, one step ahead of EF Education-EasyPost and Jayco-AlUla. Next step: Cofidis, with 12 stage wins in the Tour.

4: BAUHAUS CAN’T GET PAST PHILIPSEN

Phil Bauhaus has finished in the top-3 of a Tour stage for the 4th time of his career… And every time, Jasper Philipsen took the win. Bauhaus was 2nd to Philipsen last year in Bayonne (stage 3) and this year in Nîmes (stage 16). And he came 3rd last year in Nogaro (stage 4) and Moulins (stage 11).

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 15 | LOUDENVIELLE > PLATEAU DE BEILLE

The 15th stage of the 2024 Tour de France – held on Bastille Day in the Pyrenees – was won by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) who conquered the Plateau de Beille in style, finishing 1’08” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). It is Yellow Jersey Pogačar’s third win at this year’s Tour and is a significant victory, giving him a 3’09” GC advantage over his great rival Vingegaard going into Monday’s final rest day and with six stages remaining. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) finished the stage in third place at 2’51”, meaning he now trails in the GC by 5’19”.

More points for Girmay

154 riders started Stage 15 of the 2024 Tour de France, which would cover 197.7 km between Loudenvielle and Plateau de Beille. The immediate ascent of the Col de Peyresourde (Cat. 1, km 7) generated a continuous series of attacks that did not form into an established breakaway, with David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) taking first position on the Peyresourde summit. Gaudu, Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Romain Bardet (dsm-Firmenich) descended together, only to soon be caught by the bunch. It was at km 21 that Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) began a round of attacks that went on all the way to the very top of the Col de Menté (Cat. 1, km 50), with Javier Romo (Movistar Team) the first over the summit accompanied by 16 other riders. They had a 1’35” advantage over a peloton which Visma-Lease a Bike was leading. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) was in the leading group when they arrived at the intermediate sprint at Marignac (IS, km 37). Girmay won that sprint but was relegated to third after deviating from his line, with Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) being awarded first place. Nonetheless, the Eritrean now already has enough points to guarantee him ownership of the green jersey on Stages 16 and 17.

17 riders in the breakaway

Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Jai Hindley, Bob Jungels, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy (EF Education- EasyPost), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu, Javier Romo (Movistar Team), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty), Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Magnus Cort and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) collectively took on the Col de Portet-d’Aspet (Cat. 1, km 65.4), which was conquered in first position by Johannessen, with the peloton 1’05” behind at this point. Meintjes dropped back from the breakaway due to a mechanical problem which returned him to the main group, where Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma teammates continued to set the pace. On the way from the Col de Portet-d’Aspet to the Col d’Agnes (Cat. 1, km 138.6) there was some respite from the intense climbing for the riders, with the break building up an advantage of 3’30” by km 123.

Intensity on the Col d’Agnes climb

With 73 km to go, before the Col d’Agnes climb, the breakaway was divided into two: De Plus, Hindley, Jungels, Sobrero, Healy, Mas and Romo leaving the rest behind. It was at the foot of the climb that these frontrunners would register the maximum advantage over the main group, of 3’45”. Jungels, Sobrero, Healy and Romo lost ground on the climb, whilst Carapaz managed to return to the front of the race 2 km from the summit, which was reached in first place by De Plus. The Yellow Jersey group was reduced to 15 riders, with all the GC favourites in position and guided by Visma-Lease a Bike, reaching the top of the climb 3’05” after the breakaway.

All decided on a tough final climb

It was a five-man breakaway of De Plus, Hindley, Mas, Carapaz and Johannessen who reached the foot of the final climb of Plateau de Beille (HC, km 197.7) together and 2’25” ahead of the GC group. The lead group gradually disintegrated on that final climb with Mas and Carapaz resisting for as long as they could before Vingegaard attacked from the main group with 11km to go. The Dane accelerated, with Pogačar on his wheel and the two GC favourites soon took the lead. With 5.4 kilometers to go, the Slovenian overtook Vingegaard and powered to a dominant victory by more than a minute, with Evenepoel struggling to limit the damage and eventually following the winner over the line almost three minutes later.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Was Aware I Might Crack As Well”

“It has been an incredible day. I would have never imagined this kind of outcome seeing how the second week began. I’m super happy with my shape. It was a super hard and super hot day, and I normally struggle a bit with warm weather. My team did a super job with all the cooling down strategies. Visma decided to control the race today and set a hard pace on the climbs. It was fair racing, and it sat well with us as we had already created some meaningful gaps yesterday. I was never worried – all I cared about was keeping myself cool, hydrating and eating enough. The Visma team knew that the final climb was so steep that using somebody’s slipstream was not so influential, and they were probably hoping that I wouldn’t survive Jonas’ strong pace all the way to the finish. I was a bit on the limit when he first attacked, but afterwards I could feel he was suffering a bit. He tried to drop me one more time and I saw he didn’t have the legs to do it, so I gave it a go myself even though I was aware I might crack as well. Luckily, it went well. The Tour GC is looking really good right now. We have a comfortable lead and just need to keep focused on these final six days of racing. I have won a lot of stages in the Pyrenees. Somehow I like these mountains, and it is reciprocal! As for Plateau de Beille in particular, Adam Yates had told me this was the hardest climb he had ever done and I’m very glad I could win here.”

Richard Carapaz (EF Education – Easypost): “I Feel That My Legs Are Getting Better”

“It was a good breakaway, but the peloton did not give us enough of a gap to win on the final climb. We fought with everything we had, but we knew that it was very difficult for our breakaway to be successful. When Tadej and Jonas reached us, I tried to follow them for as long as I could… but they had a different pace. Before the Tour I was sick and that made me a little worse than I expected. Even so, I managed to wear the Yellow Jersey one day. Now I’m doing another race. There are many opportunities left in the mountains, and I am very happy because I feel that my legs are getting better.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “Tadej Is On Another Planet”

“Today Tadej and Jonas showed that they are the two best riders here. Tadej is even better, he is on another planet. I think Visma understood that he is unbeatable, but they still wanted to try. It wasn’t a bad choice, but I don’t think it could have worked. For my part, I felt that I didn’t have enough explosiveness in my legs to stay with them. I tried to follow Jonas a little, but he kept a very high pace. So then I chose to concentrate on the gaps with the riders behind me, Carlos Rodriguez then the others. I saw that my teammate Mikel Landa had a very good stage too, so we can be happy with this week. Tadej is having a perfect year and he has reached his peak level. As far as I’m concerned, it’s my first Tour de France and I’m still here to learn, I still have time to progress.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 15 | LOUDENVIELLE > PLATEAU DE BEILLE | DAILY STATS

1972: POGAČAR RULES LIKE MERCKX

As a stage winner in the Giro with the Maglia Rosa on his shoulders and in the Tour with the Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar already achieved a feat not seen in the 21st century. And now that he’s won multiple stages as the race leader both in the Giro (5 times) and in the Tour (2 times), Tadej Pogačar emulates Eddy Merckx, when he won 4 times as the leader of the Giro and 3 times as the leader of the Tour.

14: POGAČAR SPRINTS TO THE SUMMITS

With a 14th stage win in the Tour, on a 14th of July, Tadej Pogačar joins Marcel Kittel as the 13th best scorer in the history of the race. The German giant was a pure sprinter… The Slovenian rules over the high summits, with 11 mountain stage wins (+ a victory in the uphill ITT at La Planche-des-Belles-Filles in 2020).

8-2: POGAČAR HAS THE EDGE ON VINGEGAARD

For the 10th time in a Tour de France stage, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard finished 1st and 2nd. And the Slovenian has now claimed 8 of these duels, opening on the way to Plateau de Beille the biggest margin he ever gained on Vingegaard on a summit finish (1’08’’, surpassing the 39’’ on stage 14). When it comes to the 1-2s in the overall standings, Vingegaard still has the edge, winning the 2022 and 2023 editions ahead of Pogačar, while the Slovenian won in 2021 ahead of Vingegaard (who wasn’t there in 2020).

53’22”: A MASSIVE BATTLE FOR THE TIME-CUT

As Tadej Pogačar claimed a triumphant victory, the last riders on the road still had 14.4km to go. They needed to average 16.2km/h to survive a time-cut of 53’22’’ while Pogačar did 24.6km/h over that segment.

In the end, Mark Cavendish and his Astana Qazaqstan teammates made the cut with a small margin of 1’47’’, ahead of Fernando Gaviria (1’20’’) and Arnaud Démare (45’’). But Bram Welten finished 4 minutes too late.

17: POGAČAR CAN’T STOP WINNING

Tadej Pogačar is now up to 17 wins in 2024, matching his best record in a single season, with 17 wins last year. He has now 80 victories as a professional, claiming 50 of them in the last 3 seasons.

1-2-3X2: FOLLOW THE LEADERS

The two Pyrenean summit finishes saw the same 3 riders take the first 3 places, in the same order: Tadej Pogačar ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, with Remco Evenepoel in 3rd.

The same situation happened on the 14th and 15th of July 2021, already in the Pyrenees, when Tadej Pogačar won in Saint-Lary-Soulan and Luz Ardiden ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 14 | PAU > SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET, France (July 13, 2024) — An amazing performance on the final climb of Stage 14 from the man in the Yellow Jersey, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), saw him extend his lead in the general classification. Brilliantly assisted by his UAE teammates, in particular by Adam Yates who shook up the race on the ascent to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet), Pogačar finished in style, crossing the line 39” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 1’10” ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) who was third. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) at +1’19” and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at +1’23” completed the top five. Pogačar therefore increased his overall lead to 1’57” over Vingegaard, who has moved up to second in the GC, with Evenepoel now third at 2’22”.

Goodbye to Pau

Following the withdrawals of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) due to illness, 157 riders started stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France, which would cover 151.9 km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet). The start was frantic yet again and after a hard crash in the last kilometre of yesterday’s finish in Pau, Amaury Capiot (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was forced to abandon early on the stage. Passing through Lourdes (km 37.6), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Cédric Beullens and Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-dstny) managed to break away from the peloton.

Counter attackers

Later, at km 51, Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), Kevin Vauquelin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X) joined them to form an eight-man breakaway, after which followed a 15-man counterattacking group including Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Louis Meintjes, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Fabian Grellier (TotalEnergies).

Fierce fight for the green jersey

Both groups had permission to go clear from the peloton, which was controlled by UAE Team Emirates. Only 30” separated the two front groups as they passed through Esquieze-Sere (IS, km 70.2), which the peloton reached 4’10” behind the leaders. Coquard beat De Lie in the intermediate sprint, before Girmay outpaced Philipsen in the second group in the fight for ninth. The four of them then sat up as the climb to the Col du Tourmalet – Souvenir Jacques Goddet (HC, km 89.6) began. That left 17 breakaway riders to attack the climb to the Tourmalet, with Vauquelin and Costa among the climbers who fell out of the group as the steep ramps and the pace took their toll. Then, with the summit in their sights Gaudu and Lazkano accelerated away from the group and it was the impressive Spanish Tour de France debutant Lazkano who was first to the top, 12” ahead of Gaudu and 25” in front of Armirail.

The peloton accelerates

2’55” was the gap between the leaders of the race and an accelerating peloton at the foot of the Hourquette d’Ancizan (Cat. 2, km 123.4), with the breakaway reduced to five men on the climb: Kwiatkowski, Gaudu, Healy, Lazkano and Meintjes. This time it was Gaudu who got the better Lazkano at the top, with the peloton arriving 1’15” after them, having shaved off more than a minute and a half on the ascent.

Exciting finish in Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet)

The five remaining breakaway riders began the punishing 10.6 km climb of Saint-Lary-Soulan – Pla d’Adet (HC, km 151.9, 7.9% average gradient) together, with Healy going solo early on the final ascent. Yates attacked 7km from the finish to chase down Healy, before Pogačar himself attacked with 5km remaining, joining Yates as they accelerated past the Irishman. Pogačar went on to finish the job powerfully, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel chasing him hard to the line, limiting the damage as much as they could.

Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost): “Not A Disappointment – It’s Just Bike Racing”

“I think the crowd was something special. It was not a disappointment – it’s just bike racing. I gave everything to be in the break and was grateful I could do my best. Then Adam Yates and Tadej Pogačar caught me from behind, and there’s not much you can do from there. With the gap we had over them coming from behind it was always going to be ambitious. I just knew I had to go full gas from the bottom, which is what I did. I held in there for a bit, but then there was nothing more I could do. Maybe this isn’t the type of medal we want, but it is something.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “Today Was Not That Difficult”

“The intermediate sprint wasn’t part of my plan today to be honest, but suddenly Jasper tried to be there so I needed to follow him. It was not the plan for me but I saw that he went so I just opened my eyes and tried to follow him. Then finally we were not in the front but it was a nice finish from me and that’s why I can feel a bit more confident. Today then we went just for a few small points. Honestly though today was not that difficult because we had some benefits at the front, three minutes ahead of the bunch. So after the intermediate sprint I just continued, because I didn’t want to wait immediately. We were already in front of the other guys so I just found a good gruppetto and stayed with them.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “They Have More Experience And Power Than Me”

“I did what I could. When Tadej attacked, I was a bit stuck behind Jorgenson and also my own teammate Mikel Landa, I couldn’t react quite quickly enough. But in any case it was really the rider who deserved the stage victory who won today. I tried to follow Jonas, I stayed with him a little but he rode faster and faster and I was dropped, the pace was very high. But ultimately at the finish I only lost around thirty seconds behind Jonas. I can consider myself lucky, because I am 3rd in the stage and I gained time over those behind me. The 4th rider is 4 minutes behind me, that’s a great lead. About Tadej and Jonas, they have more experience and more power than me. I will continue to fight for the podium. With Jonas, you never know, he is not that far away and must have also felt that Tadej was too strong, so he will perhaps go on the defensive and there will be some moves for us to make.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Love Racing On Instinct”

“The plan was to win the stage in the final sprint and try to get a few bonus seconds, but winning like this is way better! We found ourselves in an ideal scenario. Adam’s attack put me in a situation in which I could attack, following my instinct. It’s because of the excellent work of my teammates that I’ve done this, and I’m thankful to all of them. I’m super happy I’ve won. I’ve got one more Tour stage win now. Let’s keep this positive energy so we can win more. This Tour de France must be great to watch on TV. I was feeling really good today. Things were not going according to plan on the final climb, as we were missing one man – Juan [Ayuso] had to pull out from the race yesterday and so Joao [Almeida] was working very hard already with 8 km to go. I saw an opportunity that Adam Yates could attack and go for the stage win himself, relieving us from pulling in the Yellow Jersey group. Then, as I was feeling super good and nobody was trying anything GC-wise, I saw an opportunity to attack myself, bridge across and get a good gap for the GC as well as the stage win. I want to stress my thanks to Adam for his work today. The situation in the GC is definitely better now than it was before the stage, but you never know how things will end up. There is a long way to go until Nice. The real mountain stages just started today! The key is we have a strong team to support my options. In every interview they tell me that I have to save energy, but I love racing on instinct. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… but I love it that way.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 14 | PAU > SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET | DAILY STATS

39”: POGAČAR DISTANCES VINGEGAARD LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Today’s challenge up Pla d’Adet was the 15th Tour summit finish with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard both in the race and it was the 13th time the Slovenian finished ahead of the Dane. The result is unprecedented for Pogačar though, as he never managed to open such a gap – 39” – to his rival on a summit finish. His previous record was 32” in Tignes (Tour 2021) and 24” in Cauterets-Cambasque (2023). On every other occasion, Vingegaard finished less than 8” behind Pogačar.

On the other hand, the two summit finishes where Vingegaard got the better of Pogačar led to massive gaps: 2’51” at Col du Granon (2022) and 1’04” at Hautacam (2022).

5X2: POGAČAR IS A SERIAL WINNER

For the 5th year in a row, Tadej Pogačar wins at least 2 stages in the Tour de France, bringing his tally up to 13 wins. He is the 4th rider to achieve such a series. And if we consider, these are his first 5 Tour participations, only 2 riders before him managed to do it.

The longest series with multiple stage wins:

• • Nicolas Frantz, 6 years in a row, from 1924 until 1929 (from his 1st until his 6th participation)
  • Mark Cavendish, 6, 2008-2013 (2-7)
  • Bernard Hinault, 5, 1978-1982 (1-5)
  • Tadej Pogačar, 5, 2020-2024 (1-5)
  • Eddy Merckx won multiple stages in his first 4 Tours, from 1969 until 1972, then skipped the 1973 edition, and returned in winning fashion in 1974 and 1975.

3/3: POGAČAR LOVES THE TOURMALET

For the 3rd time in his career, Tadej Pogačar climbed the Tourmalet in a Tour de France stage. And for the 3rd time, he won the stage, with Jonas Vingegaard always coming 2nd.

• • Pau – Luz-Ardiden 2021
  • Tarbes – Cauterets-Cambasque 2023
  • Pau – Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet 2024

16: POGAČAR IS BY FAR THE BEST SCORER

With a 16th win this season, Tadej Pogačar puts more distance between him and the 2nd most successful rider of the year, Tim Merlier (12). He is only 1 victory shy of his best season to date, with 17 wins last year. And since he already won 16 times in 2022, he is now up 49 wins in the last 3 seasons. When will the 50th come?

107.9: ARMIRAIL SPEEDS UP ON HOME ROADS

Hailing from Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Bruno Armirail has climbed and descended the Tourmalet dozens of times since he was a kid. On stage 14, he made the most of his knowledge at the front of the race, averaging 20.6km/h on the ascent… and hitting 107.9km/h on the downhill, the highest speed recorded by the NTT Data trackers.

13: LAZKANO, A NEW SPANISH CONQUEROR OF THE TOURMALET

With an average speed of 20.6km/h over the 19km of ascent, Oier Lazkano became the 71st different rider to go first atop the Tourmalet in a stage of the Tour (out of 87 ascents) and the 13th Spaniard to do so. The first was Vicente Trueba, in 1933, and the last David de la Fuente, in 2006. Federico Bahamontes (1954, 1962, 1963) and Julio Jimenez (1964, 1965, 1967) both dominated the ascent on 3 occasions.

33: POGAČAR CLOSES IN ON BOTTECCHIA

With a 33rd Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar is only one step behind Ottavio Bottecchia, who claimed 34 from 1923 until 1925. Exactly 100 years ago, he became the first Italian winner of the Tour, leading the race from day 1 until the finish, and he was especially impressive in the Pyrenees, gaining almost 20 minutes on his first chaser as he went over the Tourmalet en route to Luchon (stage 6).

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 13 | AGEN > PAU

PAU, France (July 12, 2024) — A superb acceleration on the final straight in Pau from Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) secured his second win of the 2024 Tour de France on Stage 13. Philipsen outsprinted his rivals, beating Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious) to the line at the end of a hectic stage. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the yellow jersey again before the race heads into the Pyrenees this weekend. Pogačar continues to lead by 1’06” from second placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), whilst Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is third at +1’14”.

Adam Yates in the breakaway… an immediate response

After the pre-stage withdrawals of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), there were 160 riders left in the peloton at the start from Agen. Breakaway attempts were launched as soon as kilometre zero was reached, and the initial protagonists were quickly joined by more attackers to form a very strong group of 23 riders in the front. Those escapees were Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), Yates (UAE Emirates), Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) , Bernard, Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious), Geniets, Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel, Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Costa, Powless, Van den Berg (EF Education Easypost), De Lie, Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Lazkano (Movistar), Van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich), Ballerini (Astana), Cort, Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).

Juan Ayuso stops

The presence in the front group of Yates, 8th overall and 6’59” behind the Yellow Jersey, prompted Visma-Lease a Bike to pull hard to try to prevent the breakaway from succeeding. Around kilometre 25, the Dutch team doubled their efforts by launching an attack in the crosswinds with five of their riders accelerating. Only Joao Almeida, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) withstood the burst of energy from Jonas Vingegaard’s teammates, who themselves were soon reinforced by Tratnik dropping back from the breakaway. However, Visma’s offensive was canceled at km 33 by Ineos Grenadiers. Having completed the first hour of racing at an average speed of 48.2 km/h, the 21 remaining escapees had only built a 1’00” advantage. In the peloton Soudal-Quick Step, Jayco-AlUla, Ineos Grenadiers, Arkea-B&B Hotels and Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale (without a presence in the breakaway) were all pulling hard, with collaboration from Visma-Lease a Bike. The high pace of the stage soon claimed a victim with the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who is unwell due to Covid-19. The Spaniard was 9th in the general classification at the start of the day.

Four men stay clear

At km 69 Cort attacked and took Kwiatkowski, Bernard and Gregoire with him to form ‘a breakaway from the breakaway’. Passing through Nogaro (IS, km 88.5), the quartet led by Gregoire had a 55” advantage over their former breakaway companions and 1’10” over the main group, which would end up hunting down the 16 pursuers at km 96. The calm would only last until km 104, when Visma-Lease a Bike tried another attack that broke up the peloton. Amongst the men in the top 10 overall, only Adam Yates was relegated to a second group, who nevertheless ended up returning to the safety of the Yellow Jersey group, which would themselves catch the leading quartet at km 115.

Philipsen does it again

There were several waves of attacks towards the end of the stage with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) getting away from the bunch on the Côte de Blachon (Cat. 4, km 127), which Johannessen was the first to arrive at the summit of, before repeating that success on the Côte de Simacourbe (Cat. 4, km 136.3). Carapaz and Johannessen were caught 21 km from the finish and whilst there more attempts to break free from the peloton it was another bunch finish in Pau. The final sprint was somewhat marred by a crash which saw half a dozen riders go down, but Philipsen was not caught up in the trouble and could not be stopped as he flew to the line for another memorable victory.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “My Best Feelings Since the Start of The Tour”

“We pushed hard from the start and we never slowed down. The crosswinds livened up the entire stage. We had two riders in front, Mathieu van der Poel and Axel Laurance. But the peloton continued to chase behind them and I continued to believe in my chances of victory in the sprint. Christophe Laporte took the sprint perfectly to Wout van Aert, but I was on his wheel and I was able to pass him as I wanted. Today I had my best feelings since the start of the Tour. We didn’t start in the best way but we’ve turned things around in our favour. But we always want more. We will see day-by-day how far this will take us. In any case, I’m super happy today.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “I Was a Little Bit Boxed In”

“Today we already knew that the wind would affect things and there would be a high pace because the GC guys would hit the front and make the race hard for their rivals. I expected that. When the breakaway went, I thought they might let it go but they rode at a crazy chasing pace instead. The peloton split and luckily I was in a good position. Today was a very hard stage. As for the sprint, I was a little bit boxed in with 450 meters to go. To be honest, I didn’t have good legs. It wasn’t my day. Anyway, it is good I didn’t crash when the sprint got messy.”

Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility): “I Understand Yates’ Teams Tactics”

“We quickly got into a bigger breakaway than I had hoped for and the only bad thing was that Adam Yates from UAE was there and unfortunately he had strong team orders to stay in that group. I tried to talk with him along with everybody else in that group but I also respect him for sitting there. I understand his team’s tactics. I wanted to split that group because I felt he was the one keeping the bunch behind chasing us. Unfortunately, we only got away as a group of four guys and that was not enough to make it to the finish. It must have been insanely hectic behind us and even in the breakaway, when the bunch caught us it was still very hard. Probably one of the hardest days I’ve had this Tour, just in three and a half hours! A short day but a hard one. We try our best and our ultimate goal on the team is to win a stage and today was a good opportunity for us in many ways. We could both be aggressive and in the sprint and we tried everything with what we have.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “We Had to Take Risks, But It Went Well”

“It was a bit of a madness today, a stage ridden at an average speed of 49 km/h and a chaotic finish. But in the end I finished in front. We had to take risks, but it went well. With the last two stages that we experienced, there was no real transition before approaching the Pyrenees. We will go into it with fatigue in our legs. I’m not worried but I know that tomorrow will be a long route, with a pretty tough finish. So I will try to recover well to be as fresh as possible, then we will see. The race is in the hands of the Visma and UAE teams. For my part, if the legs are there, we’ll see if I can make up time. But the plan is to follow. For the rest we just have to stay focused and patient.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “We Are Growing Stronger and Stronger Every Day”

 “I was expecting the stage to heat up after 100 kilometers, but it turned out to be chaotic from the start. We were lucky to have Adam [Yates] at the front, as it enabled us to take a bit of a rest day as a team. Coming into the last few kilometres, my teammates put me in a good position and kept me safe into the finish. I was not planning to contest the sprint, and when I saw how dangerous it was becoming I just took it easy to the line. I like the upcoming stages in the Pyrenees. Ahead of the Tour I didn’t know which specific climbs we were tackling, but now I’ve checked them and it’s all climbs I already know and like. The way we have raced in the last three days is going to affect how these two stages unfold, as we are racing hard every day. Anyway, the most important thing is that our shape is pretty good. It was sad to see Juan Ayuso having to withdraw from the race. He was not feeling well, but luckily everybody in the team is fine – it’s just him who is sick. It is a bit of a blow for us, as we were expecting him to be one of the key guys for the mountains. As a team, I believe we can be strong even with one guy less. Joao [Almeida] and Adam [Yates] are flying in the mountains, Pavel [Sivakov] and Marc [Soler] are performing great on all terrains, and Nils [Politt] and Tim [Wellens] are also very strong. I feel we are growing stronger and stronger every day.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 13 | AGEN > PAU | DAILY STATS

8/10: PHILIPSEN IS ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK’S LEADER

Alpecin-Deceuninck lost two precious helpers yesterday as Søren Kragh Andersen and Jonas Rickaert finished outside of the time limit, they played different cards today, sending their world champions Mathieu van der Poel (Elite) and Axel Laurance (U23) up the road… But it came down to Jasper Philipsen to deliver their 10th stage win in the Tour de France, with no support in the final kilometre. The Belgian sprinter has now claimed 8 stage wins in the Tour (2 in 2022, 4 in 2023 and 2 in 2024). Their other victories were brought by Mathieu van der Poel and Tim Merlier in 2021.

48.821: THE 8TH FASTEST STAGE IN TOUR HISTORY

A huge battle for the break, echelons through the wind and a speedy finale – the pace never dropped today, so much that it becomes the 8th fastest stage ever in Tour history with an average of 48.821km/h! The early attackers were essential to drive the race at such a high speed, as they averaged 50.2km/h over 116 kilometres ahead of the bunch. ‎ The 6th and 7th fastest stages were also headed to Pau: 48.932km/h when Patrice Halgand won there in 2002 and 48.927 for Adrie van der Poel in 1988.    

1-2: A BELGIAN HABIT

For the 4th year in a row, Belgian riders come 1st and 2nd in a stage of the Tour de France, with Jasper Philipsen getting the better of Wout van Aert in Pau. The pairing also took the spotlight in 2022, with Van Aert winning ahead of Philipsen in Calais, and the two stars finishing the other way around in Carcassonne. And the Tour had started with Yves Lampaert’s victory ahead of Van Aert in the Copenhagen ITT. Last year, it was Jordi Meeus who won ahead of Philipsen in Paris. In 2021, Tim Merlier (in Pontivy) and Van Aert (Paris) won ahead of Philipsen. The first Belgian 1-2 this century was achieved at home, in 2007, when Gert Steegmans outsprinted his leader Tom Boonen in Gent.

7: VAN AERT STILL CHASES VICTORY

Only beaten by Jasper Philipsen in Pau, Wout van Aert finished fo the 25th time in the top-3 of a Tour de France stage (1 less than Pogačar, while Cavendish has 44): 9 wins, 10 places of 2nd and 6 places of 3rd. From Colmar 2019 (2nd behind Sagan) all the way to Rocamadour 2022 (victory in the ITT), he had won 9 stages out of 18 top-3 results. But he’s winless in the last 7 occasions: 4 places of 2nd and 3 places of 3rd.         

2: ROGLIČ AND AYUSO DROP

The Tour de France peloton lost two members of the GC Top 10 on Friday, with the withdrawal of Primož Roglič (6th) and the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (9th). This has not happened since the 9th stage of the 2017 Tour de France between Nantua and Chambéry, when Geraint Thomas (2nd) and Richie Porte (5th) both left the Tour injured after crashing.

9: POGAČAR PUNCHES WITH THE SPRINTERS

After a hard fought stage saw Tadej Pogačar get in the mix in the last kilometres, finishing 9th in between established fast men such as Bryan Coquard and Søren Wærenskjold. The Slovenian star had already finished three times in the top 10 of Tour flat stages: – 5th of Castelnau-Magnoac – Cahors, in 2022, when Christophe Laporte made the most of the final lumps – 7th of Lille – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, in 2022, when he attacked on the cobbles – 10th of Libourne – Limoges, in 2023, when a demanding finale favoured Mads Pedersen.

3: CORT SHOWS HIS STRIPES

As he made the break for the first time in the Tour 2024, Magnus Cort took his 3rd combativity award after the stages leading to Sonderborg and Arenberg in 2022. His teammate Jonas Abrahamsen was distinguished twice this year. Among the riders in this year’s peloton, Wout van Aert is the only rider with more combativity awards than Cort, with 5.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 12 | AURILLAC > VILLENEUVE-SUR-LOT

Another brilliant finish for Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) in the green jersey gave him a third stage victory at the 2024 Tour de France as he outsprinted his rivals to the line in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Girmay accelerated superbly on the final straight of Stage 12, beating second placed Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and third placed Arnaud Démare (Arkea-B&B Hotels) to the finish. Démare was subsequently disqualified, moving Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) up to third. A crash towards the end of the stage for Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) saw him lose time in the GC, whilst Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the yellow jersey. Pogačar continues to lead by 1’06” from second placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), whilst Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is third at +1’14”. Roglič has dropped to sixth overall, now +4’42” off the leader Pogačar.

A picturesque route ahead

Stage 12 commenced with 167 riders on the start line, after Michael Morkov tested positive for Covid-19 and the Astana Qazaqstan team’s medical staff took the decision to withdraw him from the Tour. With an afternoon in the beautiful landscapes of the Cantal and Lot regions ahead on the hilly 203.6 km route from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot, the early running saw several breakaway attempts failing in the first few kilometres.

Four men in the breakaway

Eventually it was Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) who initiated a successful movement at km 19 and he was quickly followed by his teammate Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), as well as Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies). This quartet did not encounter any opposition at first, especially as the peloton’s progress was disrupted by a crash at km 23. The incident was of no consequence, however, the day quickly turned into an ordeal for (Fabio Jakobsen Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and then later Pello Bilbao (Bahrain – Victorious) who both abandoned the race due to illness.

Abrahamsen and Turgis

Still wearing the polka dot jersey despite having lost the lead in the Mountain classification to Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) yesterday, Abrahamsen was the first to reach the summits of both the Côte d’Autoire (Cat. 4, km 62.8) and the Côte de Rocamadour (Cat. 4, km 84.3), where the breakaway foursome maintained a lead of 2’10” over the peloton. Turgis then led the breakaway through the intermediate sprint point at Gourdon (km 110), where they still had a 1’25” lead over their pursuers in the main group. The top of the Côte de Montcléra (Cat. 4, km 135.5) climb was also reached first by Abrahamsen and by that time the peloton had reduced their deficit to 1’10”.

An exciting finale in Villeneuve-sur-Lot

That Côte de Montcléra climb had seen Turgis lose contact with the other three riders in the breakaway and within 30 km the peloton caught up with the remaining trio of escapees (at km 162). With 12.5 kilometres to go a crash for Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) brought several other riders to the ground, including Roglič, costing him crucial time in the GC. After a flat final sector it was another fantastic, frantic bunch sprint in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, with Girmay producing a brutal acceleration to beat his rivals to the finish line for his third win at this year’s Tour.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty): “The Green Jersey Gives Me Wings”

“I want to thank my teammates and my team, because without them I wouldn’t be able to show that I’m the fastest. Since the start of this Tour de France, I knew that I could win. I’ve proved now in three sprints that if I’m well positioned, I’m capable of finishing. Today, for us, a breakaway could have gone to the end, that would have suited us well. But when it turned into a bunch sprint, I told my team over the radio that I felt good and was going to do it. It makes me want to continue to concentrate fully on the sprints. The green jersey gives me wings. I feel super fast. It’s in the head. I’ve had my ups and downs in recent seasons but I changed things this year and it’s working. I also changed my philosophy. When a crash happened in the finale today I was very scared. At the 500m mark I found Mike (Teunissen), he brought me up from 15th to 3rd position and I did the rest. A slightly rising finish like this suited me perfectly.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “It Was a Nervous, Hectic Final”

“I only learned after the stage that Primož [Roglič] has crashed. It was a nervous, hectic final, with lots of road furniture, so the racing was pretty fast coming into the last kilometres. It sounds like a cliche, but us GC guys never have a day off in a stage race. What happened to Primož today unfortunately underlines it. It was a pretty tough stage. There was a big fight for the breakaway in the opening kilometres, and then Alpecin put in a very hard pace on the hilly section mid-race. Luckily, it all ended well for us. I found myself a little alone with Gianni Moscon, which wasn’t the most comfortable, but I still reached the finish without any problem. It’s my teammates’ job to keep me up front as much as possible.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It’s Really Devastating That Primož Crashed”

“It was a stressful final already. I heard the big crash when it happened, with 12 kilometres to go, but it’s only at the finish that somebody told me that Primož [Roglič] had gone down. It is really devastating. He was in very good shape already, and I could feel he was getting better and better with every stage. I’m pretty sure he would have been fighting for the GC in the next few days. It’s very sad that a crash has affected him. I hope that he is well, that he recovers quickly, and that he can fight back into contention. I expected my legs to be more tired today. It was a very fast, up and down stage. Actually, I prefer this pace to Tuesday’s super easy rhythm. At this pace, the legs keep turning and it feels better for me. The final kilometres were pretty hot, though. As for tomorrow, it’s another sprint stage that might get complicated because of the wind. It will probably end up being a stressful day out, like many others in this Tour de France. I get along pretty well with Remco [Evenepoel], and I am really enjoying properly racing with him for the first time. I don’t know if we will help each other in the mountain stages… I don’t even think about that. We just need good legs for those stages. At the beginning of the stage, someone hit me from behind and the chain got stuck between the frame and the wheel, so I had to change bikes. I didn’t crash or get hurt, so it’s fine.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 12 | AURILLAC > VILLENEUVE-SUR-LOT | DAILY STATS              

3: GIRMAY LEADS THE WAY

With a 3rd stage win, Biniam Girmay:

• brings Eritrea’s tally in the Tour one step ahead of South Africa as the African nation with most victories (3 vs 2)
• consolidates Intermarché-Wanty’s position as the best scoring team in this Tour. They hadn’t won a stage before this edition but they are the only ones with multiple victories in the Tour 2024!
• moves one victory shy of Jasper Philipsen’s 4 stage wins in 2023.

74,8: A SUPER FAST SPRINT

Hitting a top speed of 74.8km/h with 260m to go according to the NTT Data trackers, Wout van Aert showed his power in the sprint. But it wasn’t enough to contain Biniam Girmay, who went up to 71.7km/h moments later and managed to sustain a higher speed all the way to the line.

2’27: ROGLIČ LOSES BIG WITH ANOTHER CRASH

As the peloton were travelling at 52km/h with 12.4km to go, Alexey Lutsenko hit the deck and some 50 riders were caught up in the crash, including Primož Roglič. The Slovenian star, who was 4th overall at the start of the stage, struggled to follow his teammates’ pace in the finale. He was 5.6km/h slower than Tadej Pogačar in the final 10km, eventually losing 2’27’’ on the line and dropping to the 6th position in the overall standings.

24: ANOTHER TOP-3 VAN AERT

Participating in his 6th Tour de France, Wout van Aert finished in the top-3 of a stage for the 24th time after the race passed through Rocamadour, where he took his last win to date, in 2022. Since then, Van Aert has finished 3 times 2nd (including today in Villeneuve-sur-Lot) and 3 times 3rd (the last time in Rimini, on day 1 of the Tour 2024). Only two riders participating in this edition have finished more often in the top-3 of Tour stages: Mark Cavendish (44) and Tadej Pogačar (26).

47,3: SEASONED BAROUDEURS TO LEAD THE BREAK

Jonas Abrahamsen, Valentin Madouas and Quentin Pacher were already the three riders who had spent most kilometres at the front of the race in this Tour ahead of stage 12. And they made the break together with Anthony Turgis (the 5th rider in this ranking) to add 143km to their tally, with an average speed of 47.3km/h when they led the way towards Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

Here are the riders with most kilometres in the break in the Tour 2024, based on group compositions reported during the race:

• Jonas Abrahamsen, 764km
• Valentin Madouas, 497km
• Quentin Pacher, 457km
• Anthony Turgis, 375km

Cristian Rodriguez, 271km

71: TURGIS TARGETS THE INTERMEDIATE SPRINTS

As he went first in Gourdon (km 110), Anthony Turgis won the intermediate sprint for the third time, after he did so on days 9 (en route to the stage win in Troyes) and 11. The Frenchman is up to the 3rd position in the points standings. Intermediate sprints account for more than half of his tally: 71 points out of 141. No rider has won more intermediate sprints (Abrahamsen and Pedersen follow with 2) but three riders took more points than Turgis: Jasper Philipsen (96), Biniam Girmay (91) and Jonas Abrahamsen (77).

10+20: POGAČAR MAKES IT TO 30 (AGAIN)

After he was distinguished as the race leader for the 30th of his career yesterday in Le Lioran, Tadej Pogačar joined René Vietto at the 12th spot in the all-time ranking for most Yellow Jersey (31). Pogačar is also up to 30 Grand Tour leader jerseys in 2024: 10 Yellow Jersey and 20 Maglia Rosa. That’s the 5th highest tally in a season. Eddy Merckx leads the way with 37 jerseys in 1970 (23 in the Tour, 14 in the Giro).

3  BELGIANS IN THE WAKE OF GIRMAY

Biniam Girmay has won 3 stages of the Tour de France and 3 different Belgian sprinters have joined him in the top-3 on these occasions:

• Arnaud De Lie, 3rd in Turin
• Jasper Philipsen, 2nd in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
• Wout van Aert, 2nd in Villeneuve-sur-Lot

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 11 | ÉVAUX-LES-BAINS > LE LIORAN

LE LIORAN, France (July 10, 2024) — Stage 11 of the 2024 Tour de France was won by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) after a superb ride in the Massif Central, as he just beat his great rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) to the finish line at Le Lioran. Pogačar took the race to Vingegaard with an attack on the Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol, with the Dane ultimately able to respond to and match the Slovenian, eventually just beating the man in the Yellow Jersey to the finish in a thrilling conclusion to the stage. They were followed over the line 25” later by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) in third place, whilst Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) recovered from a late crash to finish fourth, 55” behind the leading pair. The result means Pogačar remains in control in the GC, now 1’06” in front of Evenepoel, with Vingegaard third (+1’14”) and Roglič fourth (+2’45”).

A high pace from the start

Following the withdrawal before the stage due to illness of Tim Declercq (Lidl – Trek), there were 171 riders on the start line in Evaux-les-Bains, with the peloton ready for a challenging 211 km route across the rugged Massif Central and 4,350 metres of vertical gain ahead of them. Anticipating that a strong breakaway could prosper and potentially win at the finish line, the first two hours of the stage produced a relentless series of attacks and were completed at a remarkable average speed of 47.1 km/h on the hilly parcours. This high pace claimed two victims, namely Ion Izagirre and Alexis Renard. Both Cofidis cyclists were already affected by illness and injury respectively, meaning they were dropped – and ended up abandoning as the peloton powered ahead.

Fierce fight for breakaway

As the battle to establish a breakaway raged on, Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) was first in the intermediate sprint at Bourg-Lastic (IS, km 65). It was not until km 76 that the determined Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) managed to outwit the peloton. By the time they reached the top of the Côte de Mouilloux (Cat. 4, km 79.8) Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) had joined them. Lazkano topped the Mouilloux first and the peloton were still only 12” behind the leading six riders, with UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease to Bike and Ineos Grenadiers controlling things. The main group would relax somewhat on the Côte de Larodde (Cat. 3, km 89.7), where five men set out on a quest to join the riders at the head of the race: those five being Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin and Axel Zingle (Cofidis). Carapaz was first on the Larodde summit, where the five pursuers would arrive 40” later and the peloton were 1’30” adrift of the front men. Although Zingle sat up, the other four counterattackers managed to join up with the six in front, to make it a consolidated breakaway of ten at km 101 of the stage.

UAE control the breakaway

A maximum gap of 2’30” between the leaders and the bunch was recorded at km 111, which was the moment chosen by the UAE Team Emirates to control the the breakaway. The threat became clear on the approach to the climb of the Col de Néronne, with the selection already becoming very severe within the peloton, which left the likes of Romain Bardet and Geraint Thomas behind. At the head of the race, Lazkano was responsible for reducing the competition around him and was only accompanied by Healy when he reached the summit of the Col de Néronne.

The race explodes

Starting the ascent to Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol, a Lazkano-Carapaz-Healy trio came back together, but with hope fading and their lead reduced to 30”. Irish rider Healy was the last to hold out, but he was caught 1 km from the summit by a main group reduced to 10 riders. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) went on the offensive 600 meters from the summit, 32 kilometers from the finish line. He created a gap of 5” on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the top, which he expanded to 30” on the descent, but he was unable to defend the lead on the climb to the Col de Pertus. 100 meters from the top, the Yellow Jersey was joined by his Danish rival, whom he still beat to the summit to grab the 8” bonus point. The Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) duo were 45’’ behind by that point. On the final climb Pogačar and Vingegaard ascended together, with Vingegaard ultimately able to finish the job at the finish at Le Lioran.

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease A Bike): “Now I Believe That I Can Win”

“This is of course a very emotional win for me. Coming back from a crash, it means a lot to me after all I went through in the last few months. Winning makes me think of that. I would have never been able to do this without my family. They supported me tremendously. My wife has played a big part in my comeback. It’s only been three months from those two weeks I spent in hospital, because I was just too injured. I’m just happy to be here. I couldn’t follow Tadej Pogačar’s attack. It was a very strong one. I had to fight to come across. I didn’t think I’d be able to make it but I did. I’m a bit surprised that I could beat him in the sprint. Three months ago, I couldn’t think I’d be here fighting for a win. It is incredible that I’m back at this level in order to win a stage of the Tour de France and play for the GC. To be honest, I’m surprised. I never thought I could come back to this level. I knew I was going to be good, but not this good. Coming to the Tour de France, I had a lot of doubts and I would have never dreamt of winning a stage. Now I believe that I can win the Tour de France. Normally, I reach my highest level in the second and third week of racing. I hope this year I’ll do the same.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “It Was A Super Crazy Pace”

“Today the pace was crazy to be honest. Even to stay in the peloton was unbelievably hard, so today to be honest I really feel my legs. I was just trying to hang on and stay as long as possible, it was a super crazy pace. Before the intermediate sprint we were still together and I said ‘Ok, I need to sprint now’ but my legs were already burning. So I’m super happy that the break went. Today I think was the toughest day that we had in the last 10 days. For me to be honest climbing is not a big problem. I always chose the best possible gruppetto. Here today there were already quite a lot of guys dropped and they (the team) said it’s not the best to drop now. I just kept going and I dropped on the start of the first hard climb. Then I just rode my bike so easily and saved the watts.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “I Am Well Placed To Stay On The Podium”

 “It was impossible to follow when Tadej Pogačar attacked. I was at the limit and there was too much distance left to go for me to put myself in the red. At the same time, he took a 40” advantage, it wasn’t two or three minutes. In the end Jonas was the smartest and he was very strong. They both played in another division. I found myself with Primož Roglič and we worked to try to fill in, I think I took more slack than him. Then we went through a very slippery corner and he fell, so I went for 3rd place in the stage. In the end I did well, I rode at my own pace and I think it was the right decision. Now I have widened the gap on everyone behind Primož, so I am well placed to stay on the podium, which is good for my first Tour. I just have to keep the confidence and be there from Saturday. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, we will have longer, less explosive climbs than today. Maybe this will suit me better and I can try something. I’m going to fight, in any case.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Wasn’t Expecting Such A Strong Sprint From Jonas”

“It has been a very good day. My team did a super job. I felt good in the Puy Mary and tried to pull off a long-range attack. I was feeling pretty good on the descent, too, until my bike slipped and went sideways. I lost a bit of confidence there and I feel I spent too much energy on the following kilometres on the way to the Col de Pertus. Jonas did a great effort there to bridge back with me, proving that he is in top shape. I waited a bit as I wanted to sprint and secure the bonus seconds at the summit. Afterwards, I knew the last climb was not hard enough to launch a new attack, so I waited for the final sprint. I made a little mistake there, as I was not expecting this kind of finish and I didn’t know in the last few hundred metres. I wasn’t expecting such a strong sprint from Jonas, either. I don’t think I lost any psychological battle. I beat him on the first climb, and then he came back on the second one. We are pretty even. Now all I need is to keep this solid gap going into the Pyrenees. The climbs there will be quite different and more suited to the kind of efforts I’ve done in training to prepare for the Tour de France. It’s going to be a close battle, and very beautiful to watch. I’m sure nobody has any doubts anymore about how good a shape Jonas is in. We can’t forget Remco [Evenepoel] and Primož [Roglič] – even if they lost some time today, they’ll be up there.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 11 | ÉVAUX-LES-BAINS > LE LIORAN | DAILY STATS

1-2: VINGEGAARD AND POGAČAR REUNITE

For the 16th time in their career and for the 8th time in a Tour de France stage, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar come 1st and 2nd. The last time was in last year’s Tour, when the Dane won the individual time trial in Combloux 1’38’’ ahead of the Slovenian. In 2022, Vingegaard put 1’04’’ to Pogačar at Hautacam. Pogačar had won the other 5 stages where they came 1st and 2nd, with minimal gaps:

• 3’’ in Saint-Lary-Soulan (2021)
• 2’’ in Luz Ardiden (2021)
• same time at La Super Planche des Belles Filles (2022)
• same time at Peyragudes (2022)
• 24’’ at Cauterets-Cambasque (2023)

4: VINGEGAARD, 4 MONTHS LATER

When he lined up in Florence for the Grand Départ of the Tour 2024, Jonas Vingegaard hadn’t pinned a bib number in the last 85 days, since he crashed out of the Itzulia Basque Country with several injuries. The first few days of the Tour gave first indications regarding his current strength and he claims his 8th win of the year, exactly 4 months after the last one, when he sealed the overall victory of Tirreno-Adriatico on 10 March. This is also his 4th victory in the Tour, after Col du Granon (2022), Hautacam (2022) and Combloux (2023).

1-2-3: EVENEPOEL JOINS THE PARTY

Stage 11 of the Tour 2024 was the 21st race day featuring Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel in the same peloton… And for the first time they took the first 3 places at the finish. They already came close in the Gevrey-Chambertin ITT, won by Evenepoel ahead of Pogačar and Roglič, with Vingegaard finishing 4th.

1: POGAČAR’S FIRST

He has won 2 Tours, 12 stages, conquered 30 Maillots Jaunes, 8 polka-dot jerseys… But Tadej Pogačar receives the combativity award for the first time of his career with his attack 32km away from the finish. The green jersey is the only prize missing from his Tour collection. Only one active rider has claimed the yellow, green and polka-dot jerseys: Julian Alaphilippe.

182: WRIGHT’S LONG LOST BATTLE

Struggling with physical issues, Fred Wright found himself alone at the back after only 29km. The British champ still had 182km to go to, alone, and he never gave up but it was too much for him to make it inside the time-cut of 53’13’’. As Jonas Vingegaard crossed the line, Wright was still 31.4 kilometres away. He needed to average 35.4km/h over that stretch to survive but he eventually finished 8 minutes too late.

10: EVENEPOEL, A NEW ICON FOR THE YOUTH

After Tadej Pogačar’s reign over the best young rider standings in the past four Tour de France, the white jersey has found a new owner: Remco Evenepoel, who’s been leading the standings for 10 days now. Apart from Pogačar, who collected 72 white jerseys in a row from 2020 until 2023, the last rider who had led the best young rider standings for so long was Pierre Latour when he won in 2018 after 12 days in white.

Evenepoel also claimed 22 white jerseys in La Vuelta and 4 in the Giro, for a totally of 36 best young rider jerseys in Grand Tours.

8: POGAČAR’S POLKA DANCES

After Jonas Abrahamsen matched Ludo Peeters’ record leading the KOM standings from stage 1 until stage 10, Tadej Pogačar takes the polka-dot jersey for the 8th time of his career. He led the standings 3 times in 2020 and 4 in 2021. He won the final standings in both these editions. As Pogačar will wear the Maillot Jaune on day 12, Abrahamsen will still shine with the polka dots.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 10 | ORLÉANS > SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND

SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND, France (July 9, 2024) — A sublime finish from Jasper Philipsen gave the Alpecin – Deceuninck rider and 2023 winner of the green jersey a stylish win in a bunch sprint in Saint-Amand-Montrond on Stage 10. Philipsen was superbly led out by his World Champion teammate Mathieu van der Poel to put him in a great position to beat Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to the line, for his first victory at this year’s Tour. On a relatively relaxed stage for the GC riders the threats of crosswinds strong enough to disrupt the peloton did not materialise and therefore there were no changes amongst the top men. After ten days of racing at this year’s Tour, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remains in control in the Yellow Jersey, still 33” in front of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and 1’15” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) in the general classification.

A relaxed start to the day

Following the withdrawal from the race of Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), due to an ankle fracture sustained in a crash on Stage 9, 172 riders were on the start line in Orleans, ready to do battle over the 187.3 km route to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Any candidates for the breakaway were in no rush at the start of the stage as the peloton advanced from Orleans at a moderate 37.2 km/h average speed in the first hour of racing.

Philipsen first in intermediate bunch sprint

A brief excursion for two teams with intermediate sprint interests saw Intermarché – Wanty’s Kobe Goossens and Lotto Dstny’s Harm Vanhoucke and Maxim Van Gils break clear. Van Gils soon sat up, but Goossens reached the point of the intermediate sprint first, followed by Vanhoucke. When the peloton arrived the bunch sprint was therefore for third place, which was taken by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) for 15 points, two more than green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who followed Philipsen over the line.

No major disruptions caused by crosswinds

The approach to and passage through Issoudun (km 125.3) agitated the peloton somewhat, due to the possibility of echelons, but the expected crosswinds were not fierce enough to considerably disrupt the progress of the GC and sprinters’ teams. So it was ultimately on to a bunch sprint for an exciting finale in Saint-Amand-Montrond, with Philipsen proving too hot to handle for his rivals and able to take a memorable victory with the powerful assistance of Van der Poel.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck): “Five Sprints Without Winning Was Too Many”

“I think we can speak of relief. Last week wasn’t great for us. Maybe we didn’t approach the Tour in our best condition, but we’re improving and we can finally show what we came for. Today we knew that the last corner could be tricky and we took it well. I was launched perfectly. I’m happy with the way we’re starting this second week. We are already on the tenth stage and we had done five sprints without winning, it was too many. But the whole team continued to believe in it and they deserve this victory. For the green jersey, Biniam Girmay started very strong. He is a lot of points ahead. Before thinking about the points classification, we first wanted a stage victory. Now that we have it, we will see what is still possible for the green jersey.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “On Flat Sprints I Am in The Best Shape Of My Life”

“Absolutely, I’m super happy. A flat sprint and everybody was really fresh. For me personally with my physique, to be second in this kind of finish it’s almost a victory. I’m super happy because the points were so close today, which means I don’t lose many points. For the next days there are not really going to be too many sprints so I have a few good options to take some points. I would say that for sure on flat sprints I am in the best shape of my life. I also feel good legs. This year I worked super hard for the flat sprint stages and now to see myself doing a great job, I’m really proud.”

Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility): “I Will Try All That I Can to Keep The Jersey”

“My intention was for me to help the lead-out of my team by pulling with 3 kilometres to go, as we were supporting Alexander Kristoff for the stage win. I’m happy I could do it as planned. I will try to keep the jersey, but it will be really difficult for me tomorrow, with a lot of climbs but I will try. Then it would be possible to keep it for some more days, so I will try all that I can to keep the jersey for as long as possible. My first priority is to get in the breakaway and then I will see if I am there. I’ll be lucky to have the jersey after tomorrow, but I feel so lucky to have had this jersey since the first day, it’s a very big thing for me.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “We Can Expect There to Be Two Races Tomorrow”

“It was almost like a second day off. I was a little nervous because of the risk of echelons in the cross winds, but my team remained vigilant all day. In the end, there were no gaps to deal with, nor any crashes, so everything went well. We can expect a great fight tomorrow for the breakaway. We know it’s not an easy route, it goes up and down all the time. We can expect that there will be two races, one for the breakaway and one for the general classification. I think Romain Bardet will be extremely motivated to try to win, I hope for him that he will at least manage to get a position at the front to try his luck.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “Tomorrow’s Stage Is Long and Hard”

“It is never easy to get on the bike and race after the rest day. Luckily it was an easy stage, especially in the first part. We didn’t ride the whole time at the front because we found it a bit unnecessary. It’s good to be at the front when things are tricky, but otherwise you can get in stressful situations that can result in crashes for no reason. We all knew there was a point on which there could be crosswinds, and therefore all teams tried to hit the front at the same time. Then the wind was not strong enough, so there weren’t any splits. It’s better this way. Echelons are fun to watch on TV, yet they are the worst if you are caught on the wrong side of them. Today there was nothing to do GC-wise, yet tomorrow’s stage comes with a question mark. It is long and hard. I haven’t done any recon of the course, yet I remember the Pas de Peyrol from a 2020 stage on which I fought with Primož [Roglič] to the line and it was one of the hardest finishes I’ve ever done.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 10 | ORLÉANS > SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND | DAILY STATS

71,9: A SPRINTING MASTERCLASS

After a frustrating first week for Alpecin-Deceuninck, the world champion took matters in his own hands to launch Jasper Philipsen to victory in Saint-Amand-Montrond. With his unique explosive skills, Mathieu van der Poel accelerated from 46.7km/h to 67.5km/h and Philipsen sealed the deal with a top speed of 71.9km/h inside the last 50 metres.

7: PHILIPSEN IS BACK ON TOP

Almost a year after his last Tour win to date (12 July 2023, in Moulins), Jasper Philipsen clinched a 7th victory in the race and join Chris Froome as the 4th active rider with the highest number of stage wins. They trail Mark Cavendish (35), Tadej Pogačar (12) and Wout van Aert (9). Since his last victory, Jasper Philipsen had finished 5 times inside the top-5, with no victories: 3 places of 2nd and 2 places of 4th.

4: SPRINTS ARE UP FOR GRABS

Jasper Philipsen is the fourth different sprinter with a stage win in this Tour after Biniam Girmay (2), Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen. Only three sprinters won last year as Mads Pedersen and Jordi Meeus found an opening while Philipsen claimed 4 wins.

The last Tour with four different successful sprinters was the 2020 edition, with Alexander Kristoff, Caleb Ewan, Wout van Aert and Sam Bennett.

40: POGAČAR EXTENDS SLOVENIA’S RULE

With a 29th Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar matches Fabian Cancellara’s record and brings Slovenia’s tally up to 40 jerseys. The country waited until stage 9 of the Tour 2020 to lead the overall standings for the first time ever, with Primož Roglič rising to power in Laruns. Since then, Roglič and his countryman Pogačar collected 47% (40/86) of the Maillot Jaune:

• 40 for Slovenia
• 27 for Denmark
• 6 for the Netherlands
• 5 for Belgium
• 4 for Great Britain
• 2 for France
• 1 for Australia and Ecuador

1-10: ABRAHAMSEN’S VERY OWN POLKA DOTS

A leader of the KOM standings since he went on the move on day 1, Jonas Abrahamsen has taken the polka-dot jersey all the way to the second week, a feat only achieved once in the history of the Tour de France, in 1984. That year, Ludo Peeters led the KOM standings from stage 1 until stage 10 and lost the polka-dot jersey to Jean-René Bernaudeau in stage 11. So far, Jonas Abrahamsen has spent 30% of his race time in breakaways, gone first atop 15 categorised ascents (out of 31) and collected a total of 33 KOM points (out of 81). The standings can change on Wednesday with 25 points up for grabs.

4: GIRMAY MEANS CONSISTENCY

Already the only rider with multiple wins in this Tour, Biniam Girmay didn’t make it to 3 victories on day 10, but he’s the first to claim a 4th top-3 result: winner in Turin and Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, 2nd in Dijon and Saint-Amand-Montrond. Jasper Philipsen follows with 3 results in the top-3. Girmay’s consistency will be rewarded with a 6th day in green as the leader of the points standings.

3: ACKERMANN GETS IN THE MIX

Already a stage winner in La Vuelta and the Giro, Pascal Ackermann claimed his first top-3 result in the Tour as he sprinted to the 3rd position in Saint-Amand-Montrond. The German sprinter is on the shortlist to become the 110th winner in all three Grand Tours after Remco Evenepoel made it in stage 7.

106: PHILIPSEN’S LUCKY NUMBER

Jasper Philipsen takes another victory with the bib number 106 pinned on his back, the same he had last year. Before him, we need to go back to 2002 to find a stage winner with the same bib (Karsten Kroon in Plouay).

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 9 | TROYES > TROYES

TROYES, France (July 7, 2024) — Stage 9 of the 2024 Tour de France was won by Anthony Turgis (Total Energies) in Troyes on Sunday after a highly challenging afternoon of racing over the ‘chemins blancs’. On a tough stage which included 32km of gravel roads, Turgis rode brilliantly with his breakaway companions, just winning a sprint to the line ahead of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech). It is a first win for TotalEnergies since 2017, with the previous victory for Jean-René Bernaudeau’s men dating back to 8th July of that year, when Lilian Calmejane won at Station des Rousses. The main GC favourites all finished together again, meaning that Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is still in control overall, with no changes at the head of the general classification on the ninth day of the Tour. Pogačar tried several attacks on Stage 9 but was followed by his rivals, so he goes into Monday’s rest day 33” ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and 1’15” in front of Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) in the GC rankings.

Five in the breakaway

173 riders took the start in Troyes at 1.15pm local time knowing that a tough challenge awaited them on a looping 199km route, which would take in 14 sectors of ‘white roads’ extending to 32km of gravel sectors in total, before concluding again in Troyes. After several early attacks Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto-dstny), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and French champion Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) formed a breakaway which had established a 25″ advantage at km 20.

Onto the gravel

That first breakaway was soon caught and a new leading group of ten riders formed before the first gravel sector of Bligny à Bergères (km 47.3 – 2km) was reached. Powless and Gee were in that group, along with Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), Jasper Stuvyen (Lidl-Trek), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-dstny), Oier Lazkano, Javier Romo (Movistar Team), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Anthony Turgis (Total Energies). They built a 45” advantage over the peloton at the end of the first gravel sector.

The breakaway grows

After the Côte de Bergères (Cat 4, km 51,7) Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) joined the front group, before Powless dropped back to try and help his teammate Ben Healy, along with Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) to make it into the lead group. Powless’ work paid off as he brought Healy and Pidcock into the front group at km 66, just before the second gravel sector of Chemin de Baroville (1.2km). Primož Roglič was dropped on the Baroville gravel sector by a group led by Visma-Lease a Bike, which also included Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). Roglič exited gravel sector 13 behind by 30”, but a powerful response from the Slovenian from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe brought around 30 riders back to the Pogačar group, which Visma-Lease a Bike continued to lead at the intermediate sprint marker at Fontette (IS, km 83.5). The breakaway had a 1’30” gap over the main group at Fontette, with Total Energies rider Turgis leading the escapees at the intermediate sprint.

Pogačar and Evenepoel marked by Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) would experience a first moment of stress on the Hautes Forêts gravel sector (km 96.8 – 1.5km), when he suffered a mechanical problem that forced him to change bikes with his teammate Jan Tratnik to avoid being dropped from a group in which UAE Team Emirates set the pace. It would be at the exit of sector 11, Polisy to Celles-sur-Ource (km 105.2 – 3.4km) that Pogačar would launch an attack for the first time, with Evenepoel and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) responding, to counter his move. At the top of the Côte de Chacenay (Cat. 4, km 121.2), in sector 10 from Loches-sur-Ource to Chacenay (km 118.6 – 4.2km), it was Evenepoel who became the attacker. He was joined by Pogačar – who collaborated – and Vingegaard who refused to do so. The three immediately hunted down the breakaway, which had lost Powless, Lazkano and Vermeersch. However, the three favourites would soon sit up, to be caught by a group in which Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe worked to prevent any further damage for Roglič.

The peloton breathes life into the breakaway

The activity of the top three overall allowed Pidcock, Stuvyen, Healy, Gee and Lutsenko to pull away past the rest of the breakaway and establish a new group at the front. However, Turgis, Romo and Aranburu managed to join up with them again at the head of the race on the arrival to Thieffrain à Magnant (km 140.8 – 3.9km). The complete calm in the peloton allowed the breakaway to gain traction and a group of seven riders counter attacked at km 156. They were Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X).

Stuyven comes so close

As the race reached Ru de Paradis (km 165.7 – 1.2km), the leading eight had a gap of 1’05” over their seven pursuers and 2’10” over the peloton. On this sector, Pogačar would try another attack that was cancelled out by Visma thanks to Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson, who were excellent in supporting Vingegaard. The fight for GC gains would ultimately end in a stalemate. In the battle for the stage win the group of Girmay and Van der Poel were unable to join the leaders of the race and Stuyven attacked 11 km from the finish line to open up a gap of ten seconds. His fellow breakaway riders denied him victory by catching him inside the last km, with Turgis finally proving the strongest man at the finish.

Anthony Turgis (Total Energies): “We Came For A Stage Victory And We Got It”

“It’s crazy. I’ve been riding in the Tour de France for years, this is my seventh, with the goal of winning a stage. I had won at all levels of competition but I was missing one in the WorldTour, and now it arrives at the Tour de France, on a legendary stage. We had a very big day of racing. I saw the leading group forming and I didn’t give up against the great champions. I knew Jasper Stuyven was going to attack in the finale. I wanted the others to take me as far as possible. It was a question of who played it the smartest. But it’s super hard to be in the lead in the Tour de France. This victory is great for the team. We came for a stage victory and we got it.”

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “The Start Of The Tour Has Been Wonderful”

 “I had fun at the beginning, but after 50 kilometres I was completely empty. I just tried to keep going in order to score some points for the green jersey. I thought it was going to be a battle for GC riders, but in the end I found myself in the mix for the stage win and it was good fun. This first week has been absolutely perfect. The start of this Tour has been wonderful and I have enjoyed it so much. I have been super good both physically and mentally. I feel more confident after winning the third stage.”

Jasper Stuyven (Lidl – Trek): “I Left It All Out There”

“I tried everything and maybe it would have been nice not to have such a headwind for the last few kilometres. I think I left it all out there and I wish I could have pushed a little bit harder for the end, but it is what it is and it was not enough. At the moment it is hard to see the positives. I think from now most of the stages are really sprint stages or mountain stages so today was the very, very good chance and I was close. I think I’ll have to enjoy the rest day tomorrow and maybe take a look to see if there are any more opportunities.”

Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility): “This Week Has Been Amazing For Me”

“It’s the rest day tomorrow so I tried to get in the breakaway. It was a great ride from Rasmus (Tiller) today. We tried and hopefully we can get a victory another day. This week has been amazing for me. I’m so happy to have the climbers jersey from day one and the green jersey and second place on the second stage. It’s so, so big for me. I can’t believe it. Keeping the polka dot jersey?.. It is a hard day on Stage 11 and hopefully I can go in the breakaway there and get some points, but after the 14th stage I think it is not possible anymore, with a lot of first category climbs and that’s not so good for me. But we will see, I will still try to keep it as long as possible and try to find the climbing legs.”

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) “Whatever Happens, I Adapt To The Situation”

“My day went well. I didn’t suffer that much and I felt good on the gravel. I knew Tadej was going to attack and I managed to stay in contact with him almost the entire time. There was only one time when I was in a bad position and I think my teammates weren’t aggressive enough to get me back to the front of the group, so I was surprised, but it was resolved straight away. It’s a shame that when there were three of us Jonas Vingegaard didn’t want to cooperate to widen the gap. We had the possibility of getting back to the leading group and securing the overall podium, but I respect the tactics of Visma, they chose to play defensively. Whatever happens, I adapt to the situation. I would have accepted before the race to find myself in this position at the rest day. Anything extra will be a bonus, I will now focus on defending this place.”

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Think Visma Is Just Focusing On Me”

“It was pretty fun racing. There was lots of sand and dust all over the place, so it was impossible to get a clear picture of the race and you just had to ride on instinct and power. I had great legs, which is great news as this was one of the hardest stages of this Tour de France. I’m really happy with how this start of the Tour has gone for me. I feel very confident, as I am in great shape and have a very good team around me. So far, I have enjoyed this Tour de France a lot. I don’t know what happened in the race when I stopped for a nature break. I only know that it was quiet and then, somehow, I had to chase very hard along with Tim (Wellens) to regain my position in the peloton. From then on, every gravel sector was full of changes – first Visma led, then us, then Remco (Evenepoel) attacked, then me… At some point, Remco, Jonas (Vingegaard) and I went up the road. I think it was a great opportunity for us to put some time on the rest of the GC favourites and secure the podium, but Jonas refused to cooperate. I think Visma is just focusing on me and underestimating the other GC contenders. They just follow me, without thinking of Primož [Roglič] or Remco. Afterwards, it was a shame that there were some headwind towards the finish, as that made it impossible for me to break away in the closing kilometres.”

TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 9 | TROYES > TROYES | DAILY STA

7: A LUCKY NUMBER

On the 7th day of the 7th month of the year that sees him participate for the 7th time in the Tour, Anthony Turgis takes his maiden stage win! There are now 7 French stage winners in the peloton of the Tour 2024: Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, Arnaud Démare, Christophe Laporte, Nans Peters, Anthony Turgis and Kévin Vauquelin. This is also the first stage win for Team TotalEnergies since Lilian Calmejane won 7 years ago, on 8 July 2017, to celebrate in style their manager Jean-René Bernaudeau’s birthday. This time, the 8th of July is a rest day, so the gift was delivered one day in advance.

3: FRENCHMEN ARE ON A ROLL

After Romain Bardet (stage 1) and Kévin Vauquelin (stage 2), Anthony Turgis delivers a third French victory in this edition, matching the record of Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot in 2019. In order to find (at least) three different French stage winners, we need to go back to 2017, with successes for Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, Lilian Calmejane and Arnaud Démare. As for the last time France claimed three victories in the first 9 days, it happened in 2009, with Thomas Voeckler (stage 5), Brice Feillu (stage 7) and Pierrick Fedrigo (stage 9).

37,0: TURGIS TAMES THE WHITE ROADS

The relentless action of the day saw Anthony Turgis maintain an average of 37.0 km/h over the 32.2 km of white roads (14 sections). With a fierce attack on sector 10, Remco Evenepoel even did 38.9km/h according to the NTT Data trackers. But the battle for the stage win unfolded at the front… As Jasper Stuyven was caught after the “flamme rouge”, Anthony Turgis averaged 52.4km/h in the final kilometre, with a spike at 67.5 to fly past his breakaway rivals.

27-28: MORE AND MORE JERSEYS FOR POGAČAR

 Making the most of his Classics skills to tame the white roads, Tadej Pogačar is now up to 28 Maillot Jaune in his career, one more than Jonas Vingegaard, as many as Romain Maes, and one less than Fabian Cancellara. Pogačar has also collected 27 Grand Tour leader jerseys in 2024 (20 Maglia Rosa, 7 Maillot Jaune), the 8th highest figure ever in a single year. He matches the records of Romain Maes (27 Maillot Jaune in the Tour 1935), Freddy Maertens (1977 – 21 jerseys in La Vuelta, 6 in the Giro) and Bernard Hinault (1982 – 12 in the Tour, 15 in the Giro).

93%: 14 WHITE ROADS, 13 STRAVA KOMS BEATEN

With an all-out battle all day long, the likes of Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Tim Wellens, Jan Tratnik, Axel Zingle et al smashed the references set on Strava in 13 of the 14 white roads section of the day – a ratio of 93%. They only came short on sector 7, with Mathieu van der Poel being 1 second slower than the KOM!

 1-3: PIDCOCK RETURNS TO THE TOP-3

With a place of 3rd in Troyes, Tom Pidcock finishes for the second time in the top-3 of a Tour de France stage, two years after his victory at L’Alpe d’Huez. On both occasions, he attacked from the bunch to bridge the gap to a breakaway established earlier. But this time, he couldn’t drop his rivals.

 26: GEE, CANADA’S YOUTH

 At 26 years 11 months and 4 days, Derek Gee is the youngest Canadian with a stage top-3 result in the Tour, beating Steve Bauer (28 years 1 month 14 days, 2nd in Paris, 1987).

He is also the first rider from Canada to finish inside the top-3 since Michael Woods won at the Puy-de-Dôme last year… at 36 years, 8 months and 27 days, which made him at the time the 3rd oldest rider ever to take a maiden stage win!