2023-07-12 18:36:11
The streets of the center of Clermont-Ferrand are wide or steep and the cathedral does not detract from a city of almost 150,000 inhabitants who lives a different and extraordinary day, because the 11th stage starts from there, the one that marks the second part of the Tour, which on Friday will be reactivated again in the mountainous chapter with the ascent to the Large Dovecotestar in the Juras, a mountain range not to be confused with the Alps.
It is the city of the hangover from the victory of Pello Bilbao. The Bahrain bus is one of the first to arrive and the moment for Xavi Florencio, the Catalan director of the team, who was a gregarious Purito, but also the winner of the San Sebastián Clásica, remember the moments and nerves of your rider’s victory. the same Xaviwho days before the start of the Tour, accompanied Bilbao in their practices for the relegation of Jaizkibel in what was later their first failed attempt to seek a victory.
It’s not easy to win stages, especially not on the Tour. Bahrain is an English-speaking team, “it is the official language of the team,” he says Xavi, although he does it in Catalan and he is the one who breaks the English norm when he yells an intense “let’s go!” from his car. to Pello after raising his arms in Issoire.
A sprint in sight
He knows PelloEveryone knows that on the way to Moulins, where only a few heights appear at the beginning of the working day, there will be a sprint. florence nor is there any doubt about the outcome, as he climbs back on the bus, before almost in the blink of an eye, when the start is launched, the Tour disappears from the center of Clermont-Ferrand, the shops and streets open, and the city returns to normality.
Neighboring the bus parking lot is the UAE entourage, Tadej Pogacar’s team, full of Spaniards, and although they also speak English, the whole of the Emirates almost looks like the city of Miami with Spanish on the surface. And, next to it, those of Movistar, who were left without a guide after the fall of Enric Mas, and who are stuck and without luck waiting to achieve the stage victory that they almost had in the Puy de Dôme at the hands of Matteo Jorgenson.
????????????????@jasperphilipsen | @Continental_fr | #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/Zsx0lNLUER
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2023
There are not many options for a successful breakaway to prosper, only the darling, the one that decades ago was called a drum leak and only that sprint that everyone announces at the start of Clermont-Ferrand is the only possible resolution after almost 180 kilometers of effort.
When there is a sprinter who crushes the rest of the sprinters with his power, there is no other choice but to arrive demoralized at the Moulins finish line, where those who are risking the general classification must pedal cautiously because the curves are traced in descent with the double danger of falling or being left off the hook Jasper Philipsen He achieved the fourth victory in the sprint, absolute superiority over all rivals. Five sprints have been held on this Tour, he has won four and if he has not achieved the repóquer it was due to Mathieu van der Poel He wanted to fight for the victory in Limoges because he was next to his grandfather’s town, Raymond Poulidor, and he wanted to honor him almost at the gates of his house.
To the fury of Vingegaard
The announced danger of the arrival can excite someone, to try to take a few seconds from the most cautious, those who touch the brake for fear of falling. Jonas Vingegaard, always in yellow, sees that the sprinters have taken a few meters, that there will be a cut in the safety zone. He squeezes to see what happens. But Pogacar runs with the fly behind the ear and is attached like a barnacle to the rear wheel of the bike of the Danish cyclist.
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There is a court, indisputable, for the judges and for everyone. The group of sprinters gains a seven-second advantage over Vingegaard who fights, without risking his mustache, to capture them. Pogacar next to him and the rest, those who run in another league, do so at a certain distance. The two hopefuls for victory arrive together, they are given two extra seconds, which are later taken away, with their pursuers, those who fight for the photo with the couple in the Paris drawer, Jai Hindley (third), Carlos Rodríguez (fourth) and Bilbao installed in the fifth place. “If she is there, it is because she is strong and we are not going to give her up,” he says. florence with optimism still infected by the tremendous joy of Issoire.
#Philipsen #sprint