POLIGNY, BRATISLAVA. “Kasper Asgreen is still in first place 24 hours after his first victory. A beautiful fight and Matej Mohorič didn’t make it,” commented Tomáš Jílek from Czech Television at the end of the 19th stage of the Tour de France.
The Danish cyclist fought for a unique double.
It’s quite common for sprinters to win two stages in a row, but to win twice in two days from a breakaway is something that is rarely seen in a Grand Tour. And at first glance, it really seemed like Asgreen had done just that.
But when he was on camera, he wasn’t sure. He was not happy. He probably knew that it was very close and that he was losing his lead in the last decimeters.
In the end, only the finish photo decided, which awarded the victory to Mohorič. He was immediately overcome with emotion, hiding his face in his hands.
“It means a lot to me because being a professional cyclist is hard and you sacrifice a lot,” said Slovinec after his 19th career victory.
Sagan was trying to break away
While the breakaway victory was a big surprise on Thursday’s stage, this time it was very likely to happen.
The sprint teams were simply so exhausted that they could not pull off the stage, which had only two short categorized climbs, but the cyclists had to overcome almost two thousand meters of altitude.
The fight for escape was great, one of the starts was also initiated by Peter Sagan. However, he did not manage to stay at the front and finally was not enough for the pace of the peloton.
That was once again very sharp. This is evidenced by the fact that the stage was the fifth fastest in the history of the Tour de France with an average speed of 49.13 km/h.
It was a stage that was more like a spring classic.
The decisive attack took place 32 kilometers before the goal. Kasper Agreen attacked and only Ben O’Connor was able to catch his start, apart from Mohorič.
It was a surprise that it was the Dane who was attacking, since he had reached the bottom of his strength the day before. However, he confirmed his good form and was only centimeters away from victory.
Mohorič threw the wheel in front of him at the last moment, as Peter Sagan often did in sprint finishes. Perhaps the best example is winning his third world title in a fight with Alexander Kristoff.
VIDEO: Editing of the 19th stage at the Tour de France 2023
“Kasper was incredibly strong. Yesterday he attacked, won the stage and today he had the courage to try again. Sometimes you feel like you don’t belong here.
I tried to follow him, do everything right and give my best. I did it not only for me, but also for Gino (Mäder, note) and the whole team.
I feel like I betrayed him a bit. I knew that if I wanted to win, I had to be behind his rear wheel and beat him in the last 50 meters. But that’s professional sport, everyone wants to win,” said Mohorič.
Philipsen was really upset
2023-07-21 17:43:56
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