Disaster for France Continues, Peter Sagan closes the gap, Sunweb wins again, and the Colombian climbers eye tomorrows stage on the Grand Colombier.
Romain Bardet got bad news overnight following his crash with an MRI revealing small hemhorraging requiring him to withdraw from the tour, he will be on rest for as long as needed. Sad to see this be the end of his Tour de France and we wish him a swift recovery to racing.
If Peter Sagan was to have any chance at winning his 8th green jersey at the Tour de France it would require Bora Hansgrohe to do a ton of work today, and they did. Another blistering stage that dropped the sprinters early, giving Peter the opportunity to cut down Sam Bennett’s points lead. Peter gained 5 points on Bennett at the intermediate sprint and 18 points at the finish with his 4th place finish on the stage.
Sunweb won the stage with a 3 pronged attack of Tiesj Benoot, Marc Hirschi and Soren Kragh Andersen. It was Soren Kragh Andersen’s second and final attack with 3km to go that gave him the gap he needed to win the days stage, putting a size able 15 second gap into the field.
Stage 15 brings focus back to the yellow jersey and general classification with 3 cols including steep climbs of 11km and 7km both over 8% incline and finishing on the Grand Colombier with 17km’s over 7% incline. This will definitely be a day for the GC and another great opportunity for the Colombian riders to improve on their current GC standings where they hold 3-6th places.