“I didn’t really understand it yet. I thought the team supported me. There were hardly any chances for me,” said Laporte, who is supposed to protect captain Vingegaard in particular on the flat stages: “I enjoy it to work for the team. Tour victory should be assured,” said Laporte.
“Can something still go wrong for Vingegaard?” asked the Danish newspaper “Ekstrabladet”. Not really, because the lead over Pogacar should easily be enough in the individual time trial over 40.7 kilometers from Lacapelle-Marival to Rocamadour on Saturday. Pogacar snatched the yellow jersey from his compatriot Primoz Roglic two years ago in the last fight against the clock just before Paris, but this time it’s not going up the hill. And Vingegaard is considered a good time trialist, who had already lost only eight seconds to Pogacar at the start in Copenhagen. The Danish flags can therefore be planted for the grand finale on the Champs Élysées on Sunday. “The tour is more or less sealed,” said Pogacar.
Geschke as representative in mountain jersey
The fact that Geschke, as Vingegaard’s deputy, was also allowed to wear the mountain jersey on Friday was rather an unwelcome compulsory event for the Berliner. “Now I’m the guy who drives the jersey around but doesn’t lead the ranking. If I had the choice, I would start in my normal jersey,” said the Cofidis professional, who enjoys this dubious pleasure will probably arrive in Paris by Sunday.
The Spaniard Enric Mas, who was the 16th professional cyclist to get out before the 19th stage due to a positive corona test, will no longer reach Paris. The Movistar driver was in eleventh place overall. During the tour, the four-time tour winner Chris Froome and the German Maximilian Walscheid also had to give up because of Corona.
Of the seven remaining German drivers, only Nils Politt was able to put himself in the spotlight a little on Friday. After starting in the 800-strong town of Castelnau-Magnoac, the birthplace of rugby star Antoine Dupont, Politt was represented in a breakaway group for a while. But the man from Cologne quickly gave up the venture. As a result, Politt experienced the second neutralization of the tour this year at the forefront. Because demonstrators were back on the streets, the stage had to be interrupted for five minutes. Something similar happened on the tenth stage.