Tour of France | Dane Kasper Asgreen wins stage 18

(Bourg-En-Bresse) BOURG-EN-Another Danish cyclist stole the show on Thursday at the Tour de France, as Kasper Asgreen joined an early breakaway before hanging on to clinch 18^e sprint step.

His compatriot, Jonas Vingegaard, opted for a conservative approach, content to stay in the heart of the main peloton to ensure that he maintained his impressive lead at the top of the general classification. The defending champion has a cushion of seven minutes and 35 seconds in front of the holder of two titles in the Grande Boucle, Tadej Pogacar, and 10: 45 in front of Adam Yates, approaching the last stage Sunday on the Champs-Élysées.

It was Asgreen’s moment, however, as he raised his arms to the sky after beating Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn and Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen at the finish line.

“Our breakaway was not very well synchronized. I would have preferred us to be seven or eight runners. It is also one of the last stages, after a very difficult few weeks, mentioned Asgreen. I did not rule out the possibility of winning. My breakaway partners were excellent. We all deserved the win because we all worked hard in the breakaway. »

They all received the same time of four hours, six minutes and 48 seconds after repelling attacks from an intimidating group of experienced sprinters who, however, picked up the pace a bit too late. Star sprinter Jasper Philipsen narrowly missed out on victory, ultimately settling for fourth place.

After Vingegaard took control of the Tour de France following a masterful performance in the Alps at the expense of Pogacar, Thursday’s stage, which was mostly flat for 185km between Moûtiers and Bourg-en-Bresse, offered some respite for the main title contenders.

Belgian Victor Campenaerts joined Asgreen and Abrahamsen to form an early breakaway.

They worked together and after about an hour they had a lead of about a minute over the rest of the peloton. The gap persisted, within one or two seconds, until about 100 km from the finish.

The peloton, after riding under sunny skies at a much slower pace than the day before, eventually picked up the pace.

Eenkhoorn was the next to launch an attack, and he was the only one to join the leading trio to form a foursome.

The peloton ran out of time to clear the backlog, and Asgreen pulled out all the stops to cross the finish line first. The sustained effort appeared to pain the Dane, who then sat down at the roadside to catch his breath as his Soudal Quick-Step teammates came up to him to congratulate him.

“It’s significant for me, especially after my crash in the Tour de Suisse earlier this year,” said Asgreen. It took me a while to get back to the top, but this victory today is the icing on the cake. »

Montrealer Guillaume Boivin distinguished himself by finishing in 24^e rank of the stage, just like his teammate Hugo Houle, from Sainte-Perpétue, who followed in 36^e rung with the same time as Asgreen. Ontarian Michael Woods finished in 113^e position, 50 seconds.

In the cumulative standings, Woods is still the best representative of the Maple Leaf by virtue of his 41^e place. His compatriots Houle and Boivin are 47^e and 121^ein order.

Van Aert leaves the Tour to join his wife

Belgian rider Wout van Aert, a key teammate of Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard, left the race to join his wife Sarah ahead of the birth of their second child.

Van Aert, a versatile cyclist capable of winning on all terrains, has provided crucial support to Vingegaard since the start of the Tour. But as Vingegaard has created a considerable gap in the general classification, with only one difficult mountain stage remaining, the presence of Van Aert was not deemed essential.

“As everyone knows Sarah is pregnant, things are starting to get a bit complicated at home,” Van Aert said in a video posted by his Jumbo-Visma team before the start of the 18^e stage, Thursday.

“In consultation with the team, we decided that my place was now at home. »

Van Aert added that leaving the race is “a strange feeling, but it’s not a dilemma”.

Vingegaard, the defending champion, edged past Tadej Pogacar in the final big stage in the French Alps on Wednesday to extend his overall lead to seven minutes and 35 seconds. Barring a serious crash, he should win his second Tour title on Sunday.

Van Aert has nine career stage wins on the Tour, but none in 2023.

“I often had the legs to win a stage, but that didn’t happen,” said Van Aert. “But I will always remember this Tour as the one where I called home every day. »