[ad_1]
After a tough fight to get into the break today, there were finally eight men who got away. Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept) stayed away longer, but unsurprisingly, it was a battle between the combined cannons atop the Grand Colombier climbing category.
There was the close Jumbo-Visma race for many winners from last year and the third man in the summary before the stage, Egan Bernal, who had to drop 13 kilometers to the finish. In the end, Bernal reached the finish line more than seven minutes behind the winner Pogacar, and is now number 13 in the summary.
– Shocking, said TV 2 expert Thor Hushovd about Bernal’s footage that he had to drop the favorite field.
– I deleted from the first upload
Bernal himself tells of a very hard day on the bike.
– It hasn’t gone well since the first climb, really. I almost had to drop there. Even though I did the last climb with them, I already knew that I would fall.
– I wanted to do my best. Not just for me, but for the team and respect for the race. I’m number one and I tried to do my best, but in the end it was the drivers who were stronger than me, and I have to accept that, says last year’s winner.
You can’t point out what went wrong.
It’s hard to say what was wrong, but I felt empty. It had no power. I couldn’t push my body. Usually when they accelerate I can push myself backwards, but I can’t push myself as usual.
– But I have no excuses, I have eaten well, but I don’t know, I don’t have legs. The others have been stronger than me, says Bernal who says he has felt good the last few days.
– This is the first time we see images of this type.
Thor Hushovd, slightly shocked, says that he has never seen Team Ineos nudity like this before.
– This is the first time we have received this kind of photos from Team Sky / Team Ineos in all those years. It’s shocking for us viewers and not least for Gabriel Rasch and David Brailsford. It’s a slap in the face, says TV 2 cycling expert Thor Hushovd.
– The form has been good, he says, and the numbers have been brilliant for him, but it is not good enough, continued commentator Christian Paasche.
Expert commentator Johan Kaggestad calls it a collapse.
– This is a breakdown for Team Ineos and Team Sky, the team that has won seven of the last eight Tour de France. They get a total collapse, he says.
– It’s almost a bit good
Hushovd says that it is almost good to see that the team that has won seven of the last eight editions of the Tour cannot just come and get another victory.
– It shouldn’t be easy. Bernal came up with a new name and won the Tour de France very abruptly. It shows that you are human in the sense that you cannot go back and repeat the success one more time. He’s almost a bit good too, although I feel sorry for him, Gabba as the sporting director and the team, says Thor Hushovd.
Hushovd says he believes Bernal became passive after General Leader Roglic stationed him in Puy Mary on stage Friday.
– I looked at the interview that Bernal had the other day, where he was half surprised by the numbers he had when they took him away. He does something to the head and then he becomes passive. So it unfolds here, Hushovd thinks.
Pogacar stronger
With Quintana and Bernal parked, Jumbo-Visma continued driving very hard.
– It’s going too fast for someone to attack, said commentator Christian Paasche.
And Paasche was right. Instead, it was Roglic who started the sprint at the last kilometer. He was joined by Richie Porte, Tadej Pogacar and Miguel Ángel López. In the sprint, the 21-year-old Pogacar was the strongest and claimed his second stage win on this year’s Tour. Roglic finished second and secured the Slovenian double.
– Today has been a very hard road. Jumbo kept speed up all day, and in the heat that was like that it was tough. Towards the end, he was just waiting for the right opportunity to ask, says the winner.
– Bernal is no longer a threat to you?
– It looks that way. Like I said, Jumbo really increased the speed, which caused some riders to break down.
The distance between Roglic and Pogacar in the summary is now 40 seconds. It was not a very disappointed Roglic who showed up for the interview, despite second place.
– Of course I wanted to win today. The team did a brilliant job, but in the end I fell a bit short. In any case, it was a good day for us and we are still in yellow, says Roglic.
He says he doesn’t care much that they managed to drive Bernal away.
– I don’t care so much who does well and not others. We can only control what we do ourselves. So far so good.
