Jonas Vengegaard took a big step towards winning the Tour de France for the second time in a row after his rival Tade Bogachar fell to the ground on the most difficult stage of the race on Wednesday. After crushing Bogachar in Tuesday’s individual time trial stage, Vingegaard set off solo five kilometers before the summit of the Col de la Luz and went on his way despite being slowed by an organizers car and a motorbike. He was unable to catch stage winner Felix Gall of Austria, who attacked his nearest rival 6.4 kilometers from the finish line to move up to eighth overall.
Posted on: 07/20/2023 – 00:32
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On Wednesday, Austrian Felix Gall won first place in the seventeenth stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France, while the Dane came close. Jonas Wingegaard He managed to retain the title by extending the lead to 7:35 minutes between him and his direct chaser, Slovenian Tadi Bogachar.
Vingegaard finished the stage that linked Saint-Gervay-les-Bains and Courchevel at a distance of 165.7 km in fourth place, a minute and 38 seconds behind Gall, who finished first.
Vingegaard took advantage of the suffering of his direct chaser Bogachar, who finished in 22nd place, 7:37 minutes behind Gall, and thus the difference between him and the Dane widened from 1:38 minutes to 7:35 minutes.
On Tuesday, Vingegaard took a big step towards retaining the title when he won the sprint race in the sixteenth stage, extending the difference from 10 seconds to 1 minute and 38 seconds from Bogachar.
Bogachar, the tour champion in 2020 and 2021, withstood the entire day’s stage before retreating in the last eight kilometers, as he admitted his suffering to his Emirates team, saying, “I gave up, I died.”
Vingegaard, 26, became a strong candidate to retain the title, except for an accident in the remaining four stages, but the Dane warned, “It is clear that I am very comfortable, because I lead by more than 7 minutes, and this is great. As I said earlier, we have not yet reached Paris.” “There are still difficult stages. We are not there yet, I will do my best.”
He added, “I think Bogachar never gives up, he will try to do something, he will try again, I have to be ready to respond. I think there are still some exciting stages.”
“I don’t know what happened. I came to the last climb completely drained. I’m very disappointed that I couldn’t push as much as I wanted,” Bogachar said.
He added, “If I recover from today’s fatigue, I want to present a stage victory for my team. We will try, whether it is me or (British) Adam (Yates), (Austrian) Felix (Groschartner), (Spain) Marc (Soller), we will try to do it until I am And Adam is on the podium.”
On the other hand, Gall achieved the best victory in his professional career, which is his second after winning one of the stages of the Tour of Switzerland last June.
Gall covered the stage distance with a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes and 8 seconds, 34 seconds ahead of Britain’s Simon Yates, who rose to fifth place in the overall standings, and 1 minute and 38 seconds behind Spain’s Bio Bilbao.
The eighteenth stage will be held on Thursday at a distance of 185 km between Moutiers and Bourg-en-Bresse.
Ranking of the top five in the seventeenth stage:
1- Austrian Felix Gall 4.49:08 hours
2- Briton Simon Yates, 34 seconds behind
3- Spain’s Bio Bilbao, a difference of 1:38 minutes
4- The Dane, Jonas Vengegaard, by 1:52 d
5- French David Godot, a difference of 2:09 d
The top five in the overall standings:
1- Dane Jonas Vengegaard 63:06.53 hours
2- Slovenian Tadi Bogachar, 7:35 minutes away
3- Briton Adam Yates, 10:45 d
4- Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez, 12:01 d
5- British Simon Yates, 12:19 d
France 24/AFP
2023-07-19 22:32:00
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