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August 18 Champagnole to Le Grand-Bornand Distance: 166.4 km (103.4 miles) Profile: Mountainous Stage 7: The GC battle gains in intensity Now the real mountains start
There’s been more than a flirtation with climbing on previous stages but the difficult ramps up considerably…
Now the real mountains start. There’s been more than a flirtation with climbing on previous stages but the difficult ramps up considerably for the final two days of this year’s race. Saturday’s contest from Champagnole to Le Grand-Bornand is the longest stage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift
Racking up more than 3000 meters of altitude gain across 166.4km
it will mash muscles and pummel pulmonary systems
An early uncategorized climb could help aggressive breakaway riders break the elastic prior to the first category Col de la Croix de la Serra (km 57.8) and subsequently fourth and third cat
including the 7km summit finish climb of Le Grand-Bornand
Gaps are certain to open and the battle for the maillot jaune will be a dramatic one
Race director Marion Rousse: “The longest stage of this 2024 edition will begin with a number of smallish hurdles
plus the long haul up the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12km at 5.1%)
“It concludes with a new and steep finish at Chinaillon (7km
an authentic hamlet with traditional chalets on the flanks of the Col de la Colombière.”
Tour de France Femmes 2024 stage 7 route profile(Image credit: ASO)The peloton has reached the pinnacle of the Tour de France Femmes in the Alps with the first of two mountain top finishes on Saturday's stage 7
which starts in Champagnole and finishes at Le Grand-Bornand
it is expected to shake up the general classification shake-up before the stage 8 finale on Alpe d'Huez on Sunday
with French favourite Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) at 56 seconds back and defending champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) at 1:19
losing time after crashing on stage 5 into Amnéville
Le Grand-Bornand has a special place in women's cycling
the site of a great battle between Dutch rivals Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen the 2018 La Course by Le Tour de France
with clips from the live broadcast that went viral across social media platforms
that captured global attention and the hearts of the cycling community
The cycling world could be treated to another thrilling battle through the mountains as a selection of women pursue the yellow jersey
The peloton was treated to a mountains appetizer across the combined Vosges and Jura on the previous day's stage 6 into Morteau
where Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) became the first French rider to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes
the riders are prepared to race through the two-day grand finale in the Alps on the weekend
Stage 7 marks the first major mountain stage of this Tour de France Femmes
and the field will tackle 167km from Champagnole to Le Grand-Bornand
It is also the longest of the eight stages and will include five categorised ascents
The field will head out of Champagnole along undulating uphill terrain for the first 50km
which could mark a place for an early breakaway as riders look to get ahead of the race before the major ascents
It will also be an important stage for those riders leading the mountain classification led by Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal)
Also in the running for the QOM points are Puck Pieterse and Yara Kastelijn (both Fenix-Deceuninck) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ)
The stage includes five categorised climbs that begin with the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12km at 5.1%)
It is the longest and most demanding of the ascents on tap for the stage
where either a selection or a small group could form early in the race
The peloton will descend before reaching the second ascent at Côte de Bois d'Ariod (2.4km at 4.6%)
a shorter ascent located mid-stage at 88.1km
The route is generally routed uphill from this point forward with Côte de Cercier (4km at 4.9%)
then they reach the base of the final two climbs at Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (5.4km at 5.1%)
which leads into the final ascent Montée du Chinaillon (7km at 5.1%) into the finish line at Le Grand-Bornand
"The longest stage of this 2024 edition will begin with a number of smallish hurdles
"It concludes with a new and steep finish at Chinaillon (7km
an authentic hamlet with traditional chalets on the flanks of the Col de la Colombière."
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science
She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006
Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy
race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect
All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense
In the seventh stage we finally get some real mountains
Demi Vollering snatches bonus seconds ahead of Alpe d'Huez showdown
the 28-year-old Belgian was part of a break of six that went away with over 80km to go
Profiting from the help of her teammate Julie Van de Velde
Ghekiere squirreled away QOM points throughout the stage and went solo on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt with 13.5km to go
Ghekiere started the finishing climb with a two-minute advantage and held off the chasers to win the stage
Maëva Squiban (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) had attacked from the peloton and finished second at 1:15 minutes
Yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacked just before the flamme rouge
and only Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) could follow her
Vollering sprinted away to finish third at 1:23 minutes
reducing her GC deficit by four bonus seconds
the whole team was at the front and protected me well and helped me to get in the breakaway
And then especially really big thanks to Julie
she did everything for me to get me in the best position to start this climb and to save as much energy as possible
This victory is also for her,” Ghekiere said
“When I took the last points [on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt]
I’m really looking forward to riding the last stage of this Tour in this skinsuit and with a win already
stage 7 was the longest of the Tour de France Femmes and included five categorised climbs
several riders did not start or abandoned the race during the stage
including double stage winner Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL)
No attacks succeeded in getting away in the two hours
and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) won the QOM sprint atop the first-category Col de la Croix de la Serra
temporarily reducing her deficit to Ghekiere by two points
Ghekiere and Van de Velde then made it into the break of the day together with green jersey Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike)
As their advantage over the peloton increased to over two minutes
but the 37-year-old was more interested in winning the intermediate sprint to bolster her lead in the points classification
Uno-X Mobility riders Anniina Ahtosalo and Marte Berg Edseth attacked from the peloton just before the intermediate sprint
and Berg Edseth continued on her own afterwards in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to bridge to the front group which was 5:23 minutes ahead at the top of the Côte de Cercier with 55km to go
Van de Velde did one last turn for her teammate
dropping Roy and Edwards before swinging off herself
Ghekiere was 2:32 minutes ahead of a peloton that had been reduced to less than 30 riders
and she was still two minutes ahead as she passed Le Grand-Bornand before starting the seven-kilometre finishing climb Montée du Chinaillon
Ghekiere could celebrate her stage win in style
Vollering made a first move on the flat between the two climbs but could not get away
Her teammate Niamh Fisher-Black then set the pace until Squiban took her chance and rode away from the favourites who were still looking at each other
Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) tried to get away with about five kilometres to go but was shadowed by Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT)
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) was next to attack
prompting Niewiadoma to take up the chase together with Vollering
Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) could bridge across
allowing Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) to come back from behind
soon followed by a group of about ten riders
Realini tried to attack but could not get a gap
and her teammate Lucinda Brand made the next move
and only Vollering could follow her as Pieterse had to let a gap open at the flamme rouge
and Vollering sprinted away from Niewiadoma on the last 100 metres to take the bonus seconds for third place
clawing back four seconds in GC ahead of the final stage
By winning four of the day’s five QOM sprints
Ghekiere increased her lead in the mountain classification to 16 points over Pieterse
she will still have to defend the polka-dot jersey on Sunday
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Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles
Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications
he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018
Teams running out of time for those still without a stage win or a big result
The Tour returns to the Jura a week after it was here for the Grand Colombier stage
But there are no mountains to climb this time
The route first goes around Lake Vouglans and then follows the Jura Lakes Road on backroads that are constantly up and down
The stage then passes through the small towns of Champagnole
where it takes a left turn onto an 8-kilometer-long finishing straight into Poligny
but the advantage will almost certainly be with the early-breakaway group
The best of these last-chance escape artists might be veterans like Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X)
Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R-Citroën) or Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech)
Moirans-en-Montagne is a stage town for just the second time in its history
Back in 2016 it hosted the start of a stage won in Bern by Peter Sagan
2015 Mur de Bretagne stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz
He was born close by in Saint-Claude and will be surely celebrated at the start of stage 19
He has not quite delivered on his potential due to injury
but did win a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné last season
He is a teammate of Sagan on TotalEnergies
Stage finish Pologny is making its debut this year as a host town this year
Previously the closest finish location was Champagnole
The town does have a link to high level cycling
as it hosted a stage start of the 1995 Grande Boucle women’s race
That stage to Le Sentier Vallée de Joux in Switzerland was won by Alessandra Cappellotto
who two years later became Italy’s first-ever female world road race champion
Moirans-en-Montagne is known for woodturning and toys and
That industry is important to the town and it has the Musée de France toy museum
It is regarded as one of the most beautiful collections of games and toys in Europe
The nearby Lake Vouglans was created by a dam of the same name
is 35 kilometres in length and the third largest artificial lake in France
It includes sandy beaches and hiking trails and this plus the rich fishing all boost the tourism industry
An important local food is Bleu de Gex Haut-Jura
a blue-veined cheese with a surprisingly mild taste
it has notes of chanterelle mushrooms in its taste
When further matured it becomes stronger and is known as Perrachu
Finish town Poligny has plenty of historical buildings
including the Church of Notre-Dame de Mouthier-le-Vieillard
This Romanesque structure was constructed in the 9th century
is the oldest monument in the commune and is a candidate for Unesco World Heritage listing
a 12 meter high cross installed on a rocky promontory
and allowing views of more than 40 kilometers away
Poligny is the world capital of Comté cheese
it has the highest production of all French Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) cheeses
What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France
Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view
Justine Ghekiere powered to a stunning solo victory while Kasia Niewiadoma protected her lead in the GC
Read moreAnd that concludes our Tour de France Femmes coverage for today. Thank you for reading and emailing in. We’ll be back for more tomorrow and the concluding stage eight. Will Niewiadoma finish it off? Bye for now.
Updated at 16.07 CEST17 Aug 202415.56 CESTKasia Niewiadoma, the race leader, speaks to Iris Slappendel of Eurosport about how her day went.
“I felt very good. At first, at the beginning of the [final] climb, I was like: ‘Wow, we’ve been riding for so long’. Once you get in race mode, you forget about everything, I was able to dial in.
“I am super happy I felt that way because of all the training rides I did with my coach. All the work we did on endurance has paid off.
“To be honest, I was trying not to focus on Demi … there’s a lot of talk about Demi and I, but the whole peloton consists of a lot of talented riders. I felt like Demi was following me for the most part.
“I think she confused part of the [final] climb. She attacked during the descent. Then I could feel her confusion … I tried to stay in the front so I could react quick. If she wanted to stay on my wheel, c’est la vie.
“I think four [bonus] seconds [for Vollering] is nothing. On Alpe d’Huez I think the real battle will start.
“I am looking forward to crossing the Alpe d’Huez finish line and celebrating with whatever we are going to achieve.”
Updated at 15.48 CEST17 Aug 202415.41 CESTTop five on stage seven:
Updated at 15.43 CEST17 Aug 202415.40 CESTOn Eurosport
Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx Protime) is asked if the stage went as expected: “Yes and no
I didn’t expect a group to get such a big gap
We were not prepared to ride straight away
And I think Canyon took a little while to do that
We were focused on going into the final climb and seeing how Demi feels
and maybe chip away at that gap … but time gaps were difficult to make [on the final climb]
“It was not our responsibility [to close the gap] – we weren’t thinking about the stage
In the end … all the teams wanted something out of today
and in the end everybody put a rider in [to work] … and the gap comes down.”
Is it a gamble to leave it to the final stage? “It’s a gamble. Cycling is always a gamble … it [Vollering victory] is possible. We’ve just got to keep that in our minds. Big time gaps will be made. We won’t be talking about a minute [gap] at the end of the tour, that’s for sure.”
17 Aug 202415.33 CEST“I really have no words,” says Ghekiere
“It’s really … I think I’m dreaming … yeah
The whole team in the beginning was in the front
she did everything for me to get me to the climb without using energy
“When I took the last points [on the penultimate climb]
and I thought – I’ll just go at my own pace
“That will be a big present to ride the bike with the polka dots [planned by the team tomorrow] …
“I’m really looking forward to riding the last stage of this tour
and with the win already: it’s just a dream.”
put her hands out and then held her head in disbelief as she crossed the line
It was an absolutely monster ride by her teammate Van de Velde in the break
Soon after the live pictures started Ghekiere pointed at her teammate and made it clear to the TV viewers how much work she was putting in
Updated at 15.22 CEST17 Aug 202415.21 CESTMaëva Squiban takes second. That was a huge effort. Vollering finishes third having come past Niewiadoma.
17 Aug 202415.20 CESTNiewiadoma and Vollering are marking each other to the line. It was the Polish rider who attacked and Vollering was able to follow.
Updated at 15.20 CEST17 Aug 202415.19 CESTJustine Ghekiere wins stage seven!What a ride that was! Incredible stuff. She looks like she can barely believe it!
17 Aug 202415.18 CEST500m to go: Attacks behind. Niewiadoma attacks under the flamme rouge! Vollering follows. Pieterse cannot respond.
Updated at 15.18 CEST17 Aug 202415.17 CEST1km to go: Ghekiere can almost taste this stage win. Phenomenal ride. She still has 1min 11sec. She grimaces with effort as she continues to crank the pedals around, keeping a good cadence. She is nearly there!
Updated at 15.17 CEST17 Aug 202415.16 CEST1.8km to go: Squiban has clipped off alone to chase the leader but she is 1min 12 sec behind. Vos and Martin are caught up the group of favourites.
17 Aug 202415.14 CEST2.3km to go: Niewiadoma now puts in a big acceleration! She closes the gap to Rooijakkers. The helicopter gives us some picturesque shots of the winding road up the mountain to Le Grand-Bornand.
Updated at 15.15 CEST17 Aug 202415.13 CEST2.5km to go: Vos, Martin and Squiban are together and are the closest chasers to our leader.
17 Aug 202415.12 CEST3km to go: Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix–Deceuninck) storms out of the big front group! A punishing attack and no one is willing or able to react.
Ghekiere powers on alone up front. This is a stunning ride and she still has 1min 30sec!
Updated at 15.12 CEST17 Aug 202415.09 CEST4km to go: Vollering loses a teammate as Niamh Fisher-Black is dropped.
Ghekiere shows the first signs of fatigue. She is grinding up a steep section and her souplesse is suffering a touch as she sways from side to side in the saddle.
Updated at 15.10 CEST17 Aug 202415.07 CEST5km to go: Ghekiere has 1min 12sec on her closest chasers and 2min 13 sec on the main group
Vos and Martin are together behind Ghekiere
Maeve Squiban (Arkea B&B Hotels) has attacked out of the front group and is now with Van de Velde who was dropped a while back
17 Aug 202415.04 CEST6km to go: The group of GC favourites hits the final climb. Up front, Ghekiere has a minute’s advantage.
17 Aug 202415.02 CEST7km to go: Ghekiere is riding through a massive crowd. Which is good to see. Especially as they are at the side of the road and not in the middle of it.
The defending champion, Vollering, attacks behind! Niewiadoma covers the move.
Updated at 15.03 CEST17 Aug 202415.00 CEST8km to go: Ghekiere isn’t satisfied with the points on the penultimate climb. She is powering ahead and aiming for the stage win. The gap between her and the main bunch is 2min 23sec.
17 Aug 202414.58 CEST9.5km to go: Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step) nabs a further five points as she reaches the QOM point on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt alone.
17 Aug 202414.56 CEST11km to go: In terms of Niewiadoma’s GC hopes this is looking good. Her Canyon-SRAM team have had plenty of help to get the breakaway back and now it will be a question of who has the best legs on the final climb. The Polish rider should have plenty left in the tank to battle her closest rivals.
17 Aug 202414.53 CEST12km to go: Ghekiere has 30sec on the ever-diminishing break. The gap between Ghekiere and the peloton is 2min 30sec.
17 Aug 202414.52 CEST12.5km to go: Ghekiere has attacked her breakaway colleagues. She is out front alone and is going all-out for the points atop the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt.
Updated at 14.52 CEST17 Aug 202414.50 CEST13km to go: Van de Velde pops.
17 Aug 202414.49 CEST14km to go: Julie Van de Velde has put in an absolutely monster ride. She is escorting her teammate Ghekiere to the top of the second-last climb of the day. Will she sit up for a rest after that? You’d suspect so.
17 Aug 202414.47 CEST14.5km to go: Ruth Edwards is now dropped
and thus the least aesthetically-pleasing jersey in the breakaway is gone
Updated at 14.44 CEST17 Aug 202414.41 CEST18km to go: “It’s nothing crazy in terms of gradient,” says Eurosport’s reporter Manon Lloyd at the finish line, having just driven the final two climbs. “But definitely long enough to create some gaps.”
I guess that lack of steepness might play into the hands of the breakaway if they can co-operate well?
Updated at 14.42 CEST17 Aug 202414.39 CEST18.5km go to: The gap is 4min. The road hasn’t really kicked up for the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt just yet.
17 Aug 202414.38 CEST20km to go: “This is where we say it’s a bit like chess on wheels,” says Dani Christmas on commentary of the tactics of all these teams and riders. “There are a million different factors that go into it.”
17 Aug 202414.35 CEST21km to go: “I don’t think they are going to make it,” Slappendel says of the six-rider breakaway. “Once the peloton starts chasing the gap will fall really quickly.”
Judging by the facial expressions on the riders working on the front of the bunch, safe to say they are chasing already.
Updated at 14.35 CEST17 Aug 202414.32 CEST23km to go: Ghekiere is the second-best placed on GC in this front group and she is 3min down on the race leader Niewiadoma.
Vollering is pictured in the bunch looking ultra-focused and cool. The riders are all to aware they’ve got some painful climbing coming up very shortly.
Updated at 14.33 CEST17 Aug 202414.31 CEST24km to go: A good shot below from the start area courtesy of Fenix-Deceuninck’s Twitter
the peloton is split into two large groups on either side of a wide road on the valley floor
They are powering on to the foot of the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt
the routes for the men's and women's races are taking shape via news reports
Escorted as ever by the relentless Jumbo-Visma team, Roglic, in the yellow jersey since stage nine, was a discrete and untroubled presence on stage 19 to Champagnole, which was won with a solo breakaway by Denmark’s Søren Kragh Andersen, already a stage winner in Lyon, of the Sunweb team.
Read more“Two wins in the same Tour de France,” Kragh Andersen said
I could never have dreamed about something better.”
The main drama had centred on the battle for supremacy in the green points jersey classification
between Sam Bennett of Deceuninck Quick-Step
the select group with him had no response and the anticipated sprint duel failed to materialise
Saturday’s time trial covers 30km of rolling road before the tough 6km climb to the finish
but with Roglic leading his compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) by almost a minute there seems little chance of any radical change
The two Slovenians locked horns in a mountain time trial as recently as June
with Pogacar beating Roglic by nine seconds in the Slovenian national time trial championships
already a winner of time trial stages in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España
is unlikely to be dislodged from his position of power
“I’ve already done some time trials in my career
View image in fullscreenSøren Kragh Andersen crosses the line in Champagnole for his second win of this year’s Tour
Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images,But as Roglic edged closer to final victory in Paris
differing accounts emerged of the bizarre incident after Wednesday’s stage to the Col de la Loze
Under the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) rules governing technological fraud – or motor doping – bikes are regularly checked or undergo an X-ray by UCI staff. UCI mechanics can further examine the bike by taking it apart. After Wednesday’s finish, Roglic’s bike was taken for what was described as a “routine” check during which the crank set was removed.
Zeeman was said by the UCI to have become “very quickly emotional” and “angry” from the start of the bike check, as Roglic’s bike was dismantled in front of him. He is then said to have started swearing and becoming intimidatory towards the UCI mechanic. Crank sets are not routinely dismantled but can, at random, be subjected to examination.
Zeeman and the Jumbo-Visma team later claimed Roglic’s bike was “damaged” during the check. “The bike was damaged and the crank set had to be replaced,” a statement said. According to a UCI spokesperson, however, this was not the case.
“The bike wasn’t damaged, the crank set was removed – that’s all,” the Guardian was told. The UCI also confirmed the whole incident was captured on video for its records and that Roglic’s bike had in fact passed the check without any problems.
The check and X-ray have become as routine as doping controls and the bikes of the yellow jersey and each day’s stage winner are automatically put through this process. Zeeman, already familiar with the protocol, had been offered the opportunity to use his team’s own mechanic but the UCI said he was happy to use its own.
who earlier described Zeeman’s absence as “bad news,” took only three questions during his truncated post-race press conference
it’s not a good situation for us,” he said of Zeeman’s expulsion from the Tour
“I heard yesterday evening and for me it was a big surprise
I was not present when it [the bike check] happened so it’s really hard to comment on any of this.”
While rumours of motor doping have long been circulating, there has yet to be a high-profile case in men’s racing, with the most notorious incident involving the Belgian rider Femke Van den Driessche, who was found to have a motor in her bike at the 2016 Cyclocross World Championships
I want to be sure that we deliver a sport without doping and without motors
Complete live text coverage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage from stage 19 of the Tour de France
It's stage 19 of the Tour de France from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole
and it's a day that holds options for either a break or a sprint
and made all the more complicated by the race for the green jersey
And after three days in the high mountains we're going to have a lot of tired legs out there
so this could be another brutally tough day in the Tour de France
Follow us throughout the stage for complete live text coverage.
The peloton will enjoy a rare moment of respite
even if it does come with two days to go until Paris
Bourg-en-Bresse has hosted several Tour de France stage starts in recent years
where breakaway riders Jarlinson Pantano and Rafal Majka battled it out for the stage win
the riders left Bourg-en-Bresse for Saint-Étienne and Alexander Kristoff outsprinted Peter Sagan and Arnaud Démare
This year the race heads north for the small town of Champagnole on the River Ain
Champagnole makes its second appearance as a stage finish
the first was in 1937 when Belgian Sylvère Maes won the stage.
the 19th stage of the 2020 Tour skirts the foothills of the Jura mountains without ever quite hitting the real climbs.Though there is only one classified ascent
the profile undulates between 250 and 800m altitude and it’s another very hard easy day for the peloton
this is a chance to absorb the hard lessons of the previous two and a half weeks
and gather themselves for one last crucial stage on the Saturday
if they can get through the very rolling terrain of this stage
they will deserve their opportunity to win
But it’s likely that a big break will go while the GC riders try and rest their legs for the time trial and the sprinters look further ahead to the Champs-Élysées
We have a great offer on Procycling subscriptions right here
Name one thing that you can do with £5 that's better
We roll out in about an hour from now but as I said we should see a real battle for the green jersey today because there are 70 points on offer
This is Peter Sagan's last chance because he's not going to get the better of Sam Bennett in Paris
can probably challenge for that final sprint
Bennett current has a *checks calculator* 52 point lead over Sagan in the competition
so the Bora rider really needs to take everything today and then cross his fingers for Paris
Let dive out from the CN blimp like Anneka Rice - minus the fetching jumpsuit - and head on over to the Ineos bus
"It was nice to be part of the breakaway yesterday
of course but I didn’t stay there for long but the guys did a really good job
I’m confident that the legs will be okay but maybe I need some more luck
all the guys switched the button and made the most of it
Richie Carapaz was in the breakaway for three days
and then him and Kwiato finished the really hard block with a win
That was something really nice and we wanted that
I think that everyone can be really proud of that
anyone from the riders to the staff and directors
I really don't know how it's going to play out
I'm sure that in team meetings the directors are telling riders to go in the breaks and if those are missed then I'm sure that the breaks will be brought back
But it's a huge blow for Zeeman who has been instrumental in building Jumbo Visma into the team that they are now
He was key to bringing in Dumoulin and planning this year's Tour challenge
it's a genuine shame that he's gone but again we don't actually know what was said
The revelation of this year's Tour de France has stopped by the CN blimp for a quick natter
He crashed yesterday but has looked immense in the race
who was forced out of the race yesterday through illness.
"Although I am utterly disappointed not to reach Paris and the Champs-Elysees once more as I desired
I can honestly tell myself that I did all I could - to the limit.
"My 2020 Tour de France journey was frustrating – I could never escape the hurdles put in front of me
It took me more than a week to overcome the crash injuries from the first stage
and it seemed that every other day I had to confront additional challenges
I can only say that I left with unforgettable memories
and wish them the best in the rest of the Tour."
We hope this isn't the last time we see the likable and well-respected sprinter in the race
And Happy New Year to those on ISN celebrating today
We'll be rolling out in about 30 minutes from now and about half of the bunch have signed on for the stage. In that time you could listen to most of our latest podcast, so why not treat yourself
And before I forget you need to bookmark our Giro Rosa coverage. This link will take you to where you need to go
race report and photos from one of the best races in the world
We've got so much content on that page with contributions from our women's editor Kirsten Frattini
It's the most comprehensive coverage of the Giro Rosa on the internet.
Niewiadoma moves into Giro Rosa lead after Van Vleuten abandons Close GC with only two stages of Italian stage race to gohttps://t.co/T176TAGfY3September 18, 2020
"It's one more hard day to defend it again and I'm looking forward to the battle
The break is the safer option but we'll race whatever way it goes."
And just before we head to the start line we've caught up with Alberto Bettiol from EF Pro Cycling
He's been in a few breaks already during this year's race
"I think today's stage at the start it's going be tricky
We'll see a lot of opportunities and scenarios because there are teams that want to control the stage for the sprinters but at the same time it's not an easy stage
Normally a good break can go but if there are too many people it's difficult because some riders will sit at the back and the bunch can chase
all the stages near the end are hard and the legs for everyone aren't good after three hard stages in the Alps
Anything can happen today but what we do know is that Jens and I will try and do our best to try and win the stage."
We are just a few minutes away from the start of stage 19
This could be complete chaos as we see riders move up to the startline ahead of the neutralized zone
Just a few stragglers holding us back and then we'll be off.
Roglic is at the front with all the other leaders of the main classifications
We've got a 6.2km neutralized zone to complete and then Prudhomme will pop up from his sun roof and start the race
Given how much Ewan has suffered so far he might want to save what powder he has left for Paris
Perhaps we'll see De Gendt go up the road again
Israel Start Up Nation also have riders near the front
Weather wise it's sunny and very little wind
and ready to spoil everyone's fun by closing gaps
Luke Rowe is also near the front and he looks like he might make a move once we start racing
as we hear that Michael Gogl (NTT) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos) have not started today
And we're racing on stage 19 of the Tour de France and it is Luke Rowe who attacks first but lots of riders on his wheel
CCC and NTT are trying to get in on the action but still no break
long time as we see NTT launch another rider up the road
Quickstep aren't happy though and they're trying to bring it all back together.
And Kwiatkowski has made the juncture so that's four riders in the lead and one of them is also Powless
They only have a few seconds though as Trek give chase with Stuyven.
That group moved out to about 9 riders but it's Bora who shut it all down and we're back together with 162km to go as Rowe and Stuyven kick things off yet again
Remi Cavagna is the next rider to try his luck and this looks like a good move by the Quickstep roder
We have a group of four chasing which includes Amador and Van Avermaet
He'll plug away and hope that a small group comes and joins him.
Cavagna is still dangling out there at 42 seconds as we see Van Baarle try and jump across on his own as a few more riders try and skip clear as well
This is going to take a long while to settle down
So behind Van Baarle we have three riders trying to make it across but there's so much activity at the front of the peloton that other than Cavagna no rider is able to establish even a slender lead
Martin (Cofids) is in the group with Van Baarle
He's 11th on GC and there's no way he'll be allowed to go clear on a stage like this
Our four chasers behind Cavagna are: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos)
Cyril Barthe (B&B) and Geoffrey Soupe (Total)
That's a terrible way to leave race but is similar to what happened to Jonathan Vaughters during his Credit Agricole days
Max Walscheid (NTT) has made it a five man chase as Cavagna moves his lead out to 1'23 with 148km to go
Cavagna isn't going to wait and now Bora move up and start to chase down the Martin group
Martin gets on radio with his group about a minute clear of the main field
Cavagna is looking back but he's got a decent little gap at the moment
because no one else in the break will have wanted him there due to his high place on GC
Cyril Barthe (B&B) has dropped back so that leaves three riders in the chase group but Bora still lead the peloton
is putting even more time into the chase group
They're not going anywhere right now as Buchmann leads the peloton at a pretty brisk pace.
Right now it's basically Cavagna vs Bora and so far it's the QuickStep rider who is winning because he currently has 2'55 on the main field
This is an immense job by the Frenchman.
Oh man. Poor kid. Wasp sting allergies are really no fun at all. https://t.co/RP7DsE4HiJSeptember 18, 2020
that contained Van Baarle has been gobbled up by the Bora bunch but the gap to Cavagna is still at 2'55 as we see the peloton strung out in one long line as they keep the pace up
who we spoke to this morning is at the back
his entire left side wrapped in bandages after yesterday's big crash.
This is helping the sprinters to some extent but this pace can't be maintained for the entire stage
Surely Cavanga can't keep this up for too long
even with the vital intermediate sprint coming much later in the race.
Earlier today we caught up with Mads Pedersen
Let's see what the world champion had to say:
so it's one last day for me to make sure that he doesn't lose any time
We say yesterday how unlucky he was with the puncture in a bad moment and this we want to avoid
I'm sticking with him and making sure he doesn't lose time
He needs to keep things easy today and then hopefully he can do a really good TT tomorrow."
so that we can take it easier in the peloton
We're rattling along at a frantic pace with just over 110km to go
Cavagna still has 2:35 as he saps the power from the Bora team with this one-man Tour de Force.
The GC guys would have wanted an easy day today but no luck there
I wonder how much the race for green has had a knock on effect when it comes to the fight for the yellow jersey
and if days like today have nullified some of the possible GC attacks in the mountains because of the added fatigue.
The gap to Cavagna is coming down but slowly
because he still has over two minutes on the main field
The Giro Rosa stage may have ended and someone might have won. We know some of our readers don't like spoilers but maybe if you click here you'll find out what happened.
Cavagna has 2'22 but the profile of the stage will start to get harder soon with a few more rolling hills
Bora have done a lot of work so far but they'll need to come up with something special to rescue Sagan's green jersey defence.
Sunweb have moved up as well because they want to set up a sprint for Bol
and they might look to drop Bennett and Ewan before the finish
96km to go as a number of riders pick up their feeds.
Sunweb continue with one rider on the front as Bora take a breather before this one 4th cat climb
The next 20-30 could be massive in the fight for the green jersey
The Côte de Château-Chalon is 4.3km in length and it's just hard enough to be used as a launchpad for Peter Sagan
Cavagna's gap is down to 1'58 so he's lost about 30 seconds on the last few kms
And there's some wind out there too.
And Cavagna hits the lower slopes of the 4th cat climb
He moves out of the saddle for just a couple of seconds before settling back down and tapping out that steady tempo
He's taking one for the team today with his move as Quickstep concentrate all their efforts on the green jersey
Ewan has moved up as the climb starts but the pace isn't nuts at the moment
Roche is on the front and is just keeping the pace steady for now on this relatively flatter section.
2km from the summit of the climb and Cavagna has 1'45 over the main field.
Hostilities have ceased on the climb but ahead of the intermediate sprint the road does rise
so it could be there where we see some real action.
Some news ahead of the finish in Paris on Sunday and crowds will be limited to 5000 due to the COVID-19 related restrictions. The full story is here
He should be okay though if some teammates can come back and pick him up
Here's our news on Postlberger being forced out of the race due to wasp sting.
Up ahead though and Cavagna is still out there on his own and driving a strong pace that keeps him clear with a gap of 133 with 78km to go
Bora and Sunweb continue to swap turns on the front with the gap down to just over a minute with 73km to go
Tour de France: Pöstlberger abandons after in-race wasp sting.Austrian unable to reach Paris after 18 days of racing #TdF2020 https://t.co/Ugmq9PWN37 pic.twitter.com/YbGcGZXWsKSeptember 18, 2020
Cavagna is on a short downhill section and is still holding over a minute on the peloton
He's never had more than 2'56 but he's been away for almost 100km
We've got 68km to go as Bora and Sunweb continue to set the pace at the front of the peloton
I think also with other teams we're going to come to the sprint
It's very difficult because Sam is always on my wheel if I want to try to go in the break
66km to go now and still no real action from the main field but the terrain is mostly flat at this point
That will change soon enough as he head into more rolling terrain.
Bennett now is being dragged up closer to the front of the peloton but we're still about 14km from the intermediate
No intermediate sprint for Ewan as he's right at the back but that's to be expected
The main field now passes through the feedzone and that will allow Cavagna to find a few more seconds
QuickStep will want him to take the intermediate points that are coming up
Bahrain have moved up now as the tension rises ahead of this sprint
We've 59km to go as we see Poels leading Landa to the front
All the GC teams are bringing their leaders closer to the action.
This climb that comes up before the sprint
is longer than the 4th cat that we had earlier as the gap continues to drop
Ewan has been brought up by Lotto Soudal and the pace has eased as De Gendt sets the tempo
Everyone is just watching and waiting for the moment
The road is going to start to climb now for Cavagna and then the peloton too
The speed in the bunch those is far from frantic.
5km until we reach the intermediate sprint.
Cavagna is closing in on those vital points
which will just push Bennett that much closer to arriving in Paris in the green jersey
Bora though have totally moved off the front
There's been an attack and it's from Rolland and Cosnefroy with 50km to go and now Rowe has attacked as well.
That makes three riders with Rowe linking up with Cosnefroy and Rolland
It looks like Sagan is going to wait for the sprint at the finish and aim for the stage win.
we don't see him on the attack in the Tour much
Cavagna takes the points at the intermediate
Then it's Bennett and then Sagan and that's 53 points to Bennett over Sagan in the green jersey competition.
That's four leaders with 46km to go and the race has burst into life.
Behind them and Bennett and Sagan and Trentin are in a group but Sunweb are leading the mass chase for Bol.
The Sagan group has been caught but there are then attacks from Cofidis and Greg Van Avermaet but Pavel Sivakov is down
Sicard and Carthy also came down but all thee riders are back on their bikes
The four leaders up front have 45 seconds
Sivakov has been in the wars all through this Tour but he's shown real spirit to carry on
it looks like Uran has been dropped or was in that crash but we have a group around Van Avermaet that's about 8 strong as more and more rider jump away.
Fraile and Stuyven are bridging too but the four riders up front
Uran is just about to make it back to the peloton after that scare
There's some real quality and depth to this chase group and they are closing on the leaders but the bunch aren't sitting up either because the race for the stage win is truly on
The four leaders have been joined by Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
Soren Kragh Andersen and Casper Pedersen (Team Sunweb)
They have 12 seconds though with 36km to go
is the next rider to try and move off the front but it looks like Jumbo Visma are taking control
They're being hit on all sides though as more and more riders try and escape.
Bora once more push to the front and shut everything down again with 32km to go
Ewan there is hanging on for dear life at the back of the peloton
As up front Naesen leads with Rowe on his wheel
There's a lot of intent to break the race up but Bora
Sunweb and Jumbo want a sprint at the moment.
and Benoot are now clear from the main field
30km to go as more rider try and make contact
Trek are leading a counter attack with a few more riders but the yellow jersey is only at 15 seconds
sorry not Benoot in the leading group of seven
The leading seven have been joined by a number of other riders
The leaders have 1'53 and with 25km go this could be the winning move
Lotto are chasing with just one rider.
There is a chase group of three at 1'23 but they're going to struggle to make contact
2'20 now to the main leading group and our winning move has formed.
Huge quality in this break but there are a few passengers
Bennett is glued to Sagan's wheel as the leaders begin to take on a short little climb.
The likes of Van Avermaet have to attack before the finish because they won't want to drag the sprinters to the finish
UAE have come to the front but they don't have that real intent and it looks like the bunch are sitting up.
Tony Martin is on the front and he's laughing
I think it means the pace has dropped off as the gap goes out to 2'40 with 18km to go
That chasing trio are unlikely to make contact either with their gap at 1'41
16.5km to go as Bennett remains glued to Sagan's wheel
Big move from the CCC rider but Sagan closes it down with Bennett on his wheel
Now Sunweb attack and Andersen has gone clear
Well-timed move with 15km to go as Bauer goes and Van Avermaet follows.
It's about 11 seconds with 14km to go and he's flying
It's on Sagan or CCC to chase but it's Rowe who takes a turn with the gap to Andersen at 14 seconds still.
CCC take things up but the gap goes out to 14 seconds
and of course Quickstep will not take a single turn
15 seconds with 12km to go and again it's Rowe who takes a long pull but the gap jumps out to 23 seconds.
Andersen is in full time trial mode right now as Stuyen counters but the gap is now at 28 seconds
It's going to take a huge effort to bring the Dane back
who went away just after the Trentin move was caught
The Sunweb rider has 40 seconds with 9.4km to go
46 seconds for the Sunweb rider with 7.7km to go and it's going to take something really special for the chase group to catch him
We're onto a flatter section of road and with 2.8km to go Soren Kragh Andersen is about to pick up his second stage win of the race
This all but ends Sagan's challenge for the green jersey with his chance down from slim to non-existent.
Soren Kragh Andersen has a minute with 1.4km to go as the chasers begin to attach each other
He comes to the line and Soren Kragh Andersen wins stage 19 of the 2020 Tour de France.
Here come the rest and Mezgec takes second and Stuyven third
Bennett out gunned Sagan for eighth at the line
Here's our brief report from today's stage
Robert Gesink has just rolled over the line to bring the main field home at 7:38
It was a really hard day and I know that I probably race very frustrating for other competitors but it’s all I can do because they’re so strong
and it’s more of a compliment on how strong they are than… (Flobikes)
Thanks for joining us today. You can find our complete stage report, here. We will be back tomorrow with the all-important individual time trial. Have a good afternoon.
in disbelief he held a minute over the world's best riders for a second solo victory at this year's Tour de France
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Team Sunweb rider Soren Kragh Andersen of Denmark in action