Peters is the strongest breakaway, Pogacar exposes Roglic and Bernal’s vulnerability | Tour de France 2020

With yesterday’s crazy fan ride still underway, the mountain ride to Loudenvielle was an excellent opportunity for a long flight. Thirteen riders saw some bread in this stage over the Col de Menté, the Port de Balès and the Peyresourde. Ben Hermans was the only fellow countryman in the escape, but was unable to continue.

Ilnur Zakarin was more than fifteen minutes from leader Yates the best-classified breakaway, so the peloton let it go. The maximum lead of the leading group sniffed at the fifteen minutes, more than enough to make it to the finish line. The battle on two fronts started on the Port de Balès, the first col outside category of this Tour.

At the front, Zakarin and Nans Peters showed themselves to be the spiciest climbers. In the peloton it went too fast for Thibaut Pinot. The French scrunchie was struggling with back problems and saw his chances for the final win go up in smoke. European champion Nizzolo had already stepped into NTT’s team car. Then things went smoother at Jumbo-Visma, where Gesink and then Van Aert did a lot of work for Primoz Roglic.

On the flanks of the Peyresourde even Dumoulin gave the Slovenian a snoke, but that turned out to be a miscalculation. Tadej Pogacar, who was screwed yesterday, fired away with a breakaway in two times and cleared part of his backlog. The other favorites tangled together behind him one by one, allowing Adam Yates to keep his yellow jersey.

That all happened more than six minutes from the winner. Peters had simply ridden the insecure Zakarin downhill. The Russian was still mumbling on the Peyresourde, but could no longer reach the Frenchman of AG2R. He took his second stage victory in a big round, after the ride to Anterselva in the Giro last year.

–