And in the end, in Poitiers, it is Caleb Ewan who wins. The result of a 167.5 kilometer plain stage between Châtelaillon-Plage and Poitiers, the expected sprint took place. It was also during the sprint that Peter Sagan, second in the points classification, was downgraded from the stage. And that is undoubtedly all that we will remember from this eleventh step.
Because for the rest, this transition stage did not transcend viewers. Before the actual start, at Châtelaillon-Plage, three runners fell in the parade: Zakarin, Lutsenko and Gautier. Once the flag was waved (by François Lemarchand, interim Tour director) Matthieu Ladagnous left alone in the first kilometer of the stage. Nobody joined him, enough to make the Groupama-FDJ runner probably think about it.
–
???? Wheels are rolling! Mathieu Ladagnous immediately at the front.
???? The step is launched, and @LadagnousMatth immediately goes on the offensive.# TDF2020 #TDFunited pic.twitter.com/VZdlS9lR4a
– Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) September 9, 2020
–
–
A few kilometers further, six pursuers attempted the adventure in their turn: Naesen, Stuyven, Gogl, Küng, Postlberger and Van Asbroeck. A counter-attack undoubtedly considered too dangerous by the peloton, which never gave these fugitives more than 30 seconds in advance.
Bennett again ahead of Sagan in the intermediate sprint
Matthieu Ladagnous was convinced of this: under the sun of the Marais Poitevin, he would be alone until the end. The native of Pau, admittedly not dangerous in the general classification, has never been more than three minutes ahead of the peloton, concerned from the first moments of the day by the sprint in Poitiers.
The only small animation of the day, the intermediate sprint. Located almost 60 kilometers from the finish, it saw Sam Bennett consolidate his green jersey a little more, passing in front of his teammate Morkov, Sagan, Trentin and Coquard. A sudden acceleration of the peloton which will be fatal to Ladagnous, resumed 17 kilometers further after having opened the road for 125 kilometers. A great performance, logically rewarded with the red bib of the day’s combatant.
–
Intermediate sprint (1500 E)
+ GPM (200 E)
+ Prize for Combativeness (2000 E)= 3,700 Euros gleaned by Matthieu Ladagnous thanks to his solitary breakaway. # TDF2020
– Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) September 9, 2020
–
–
Another fighter also took the start this morning: Gregor Mühlberger, the Austrian of the Bora team, spent his day doing the rubber band at the back of the peloton. Sick, Peter Sagan’s teammate resisted for a long time, before finally dismounting 38 kilometers from Poitiers. A few minutes later, Jon Izaguirre, the Astana runner, was forced to retire after a heavy fall while crossing a village.
–
Ion Izagirre has been moved directly to the hospital of Poitiers for medical checking. Looks like he avoided too serious injuries, but we will know more later # TDF2020 #AstanaProTeam
— Astana Pro Team (@AstanaTeam) September 9, 2020
–
–
From then on, the peloton became tense: the teams of sprinters and leaders accelerated the tempo to place their riders in the front. Too fast a pace for Benoît Cosnefroy, dropped ten kilometers from the finish. Aware of the danger, Julian Alaphilippe made the choice to let himself go, no doubt for fear of being caught in a massive fall.
On arrival in Poitiers, 5 kilometers from the line, Lukas Pöstleberger (Bora) tried to leave the peloton behind, but the Austrian was chased by Bob Jungels and Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step). Resumed 2 kilometers from the finish, the trio gave way to the sprinter teams, this time alone. And at the end of a very muscular sprint, with in particular a small duel shoulder to shoulder between Sagan and van Aert (which will also be worth a downgrade in Slovakia), Caleb Ewan raised his arms for the second time on the Grande Boucle 2020 .
–
–
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/cf0c7f90-f2c1-11ea-a949-0217670beecd.png "Burned truck driver (46) makes bad | Inland")