The best shark of the Italians crosses the finish line for eleventh Loses ground The Frenchman Martin who has lost almost 4 minutes to his direct opponents
Andorra La Vella (Andorra)
The Tour de France is increasingly in the hands of Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian defends the yellow jersey in the first of the four Pyrenean stages, the Ceret-Andorra, won by the American Sepp Kuss alone, without giving anything to his opponents and keeping 5’18 ” ahead of Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo). The French Guillame Martin (Cofidis), on the other hand, loses ground, losing almost 4 minutes to his direct opponents. He dropped from second to ninth in the standings. Second place in yesterday’s stage for the 41-year-old Spaniard Alejandro Valverde who started a duel with Kuss. Third Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), which is also the new polka dot jersey, while in the third group (eleventh) Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) closed, rejected by the slopes of the Col de Beixalis after a fraction approached with courage.
For Kuss this is the first stage success in the Tour de France. As expected, it was a stage characterized by escapes. After several shots, a squad of 32 men in command was formed. Pogacar and his Emirates teammates let the gap with the fugitives widen to around 10 minutes. Then it was the turn of Ineos who accelerated the pace by reducing the gap from the fleeing group. Everything was decided on the last ascent of the day, the Col de Beixalis: among the fugitives, after a couple of shots by Quintana and Nibali, Sepp Kuss finally stretched, chased only by Alejandro Valverde. In the group the first attack was by Richard Carapaz, then Jonas Vingegaard also tried, but for Tadej Pogacar no worries, always ready to respond in first person. Kuss managed to better manage the descent, triumphing with his arms raised in front of the veteran Valverde. Third place for Poels, eleventh Vincenzo Nibali. The yellow jersey group reached 4’50 ” with practically all the big names. Today is a rest day. –