Thymen Arensman won the second mountain arrival of the Tour de France in Superbagnères after a 36 -kilometer solo. Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard finished second and third place. Florian Lipowitz became fifth.
Arensman had already set off on the penultimate mountain from an outlier group. The 25-year-old Dutch went up to the 12.4-kilometer final climb to the ski station with a three-minute lead over the classification drivers. At the finish of the 14th stage, the Ineos professional still had 1:08 minutes ahead. It is the first stage win for Arensman on the tour, and he had already taken second place on the 10th stage.
In the small group of classification drivers behind Arensmann there was only the first attack on the four-kilometer brand. Vingegaard competed and only Pogacar and Lipowitz were able to follow. The German could no longer go with the second attack of the Danes. Behind the fourth Felix Gall, the 24-year-old finished 1:25 minutes behind.
Lipowitz also takes over the white jersey
Lipowitz moves to third place with the almost usual strong performance and after the task of Remco Evenepoel in the overall classification and also takes over the white jersey of the best young professional. Pogacar, who sprinted over the finish line a few meters before Vingegaard, expanded his lead by ten seconds together with the time bonification. The Slovenian is now 4:13 minutes ahead of its greatest competitor.
| Place | driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | Florian Lipowitz | 50:48:21 |
2 | Oscar onley | + 1:25 |
3 | Kévin Vauquelin | + 2:28 |
4 | Ben Healy | + 10:48 |
5 | Carlos Rodriguez | + 15:04 |
On the third day in the Pyrenees, the Peloton went from Pau to Luchon-Superbagnères over three tour classics. Before the final climb went up, the drivers had to climb the Col du Tourmalet, the Col d’Apin and the Col de Peyresourde, almost 5000 meters met at 182.6 kilometers.
Martinez first at the Col du Tourmalet
Immediately before the climb to the Tourmalet, the route planners had put the intermediate sprint. Lidl-Trek made sure that Jonathan Milan was able to sprint around the points after almost 65 kilometers. And the Italian delivered and scored the maximum possible 20 points. Mathieu van der Poel (17 points) and Biniam Girmay (15 points) were satisfied with the places behind. Milan also has to collect points if he wants to wear the green jersey to Paris. Because Pogacar is second in the sprint rating thanks to its many stage wins. Not excluded that he will end up in the end.
After the sprint, the 19 -kilometer and hardest climb of the day went to the Col du Tourmalet – and the race really started. Many good mountainists wanted to go to the first promising outlier group. Lenny Martinez, who was wearing the mountain jersey for Pogacar, was also represented at the front. The young Frenchman was alone around seven kilometers before the mountain ranking. The 22-year-old scored 20 points and was the first to descend with fog and on Nasser Strasse.
Tadej Pogacar in the fog at the Col du Tourmalet
Drama around Evenepoel – Skjelmosis has to give up
A drama had previously played on the Tourmalet behind the Peloton. Evenepoel, who drove behind the field 15 kilometers before the mountain ranking, had major problems. The third in the overall classification could then be dropped out of a small chase group, spoke to his sports director in the car. The Belgian’s task came 100 kilometers before the finish. Mattias’s Skjelmosis also experienced a bitter day, the Danish fell before the first climb on a traffic island, was bleeding strongly and still trying to continue – but the tour was also ended for him on the tour
For Lipowitz, Evenepoel’s task meant that he has the great chance of taking third place in the classification at the end of the day. The German had gone into the stage with just six seconds behind the Belgian. How much respect Lipowitz has already earned with his achievements, Nils Politt from the UAE team of the Tour Leader revealed before the start: Lipowitz “It’s a marked driver with us that we don’t just let go.” And Politt added: “The performance that Florian calls up is extremely good. This is good for German cycling. I personally hope that it will continue for him.”
Martinez takes the lead in the mountain ranking
Martinez also reached the second mountain of the day, the Col d’Astr, as a soloist and collected another five mountain points. The picture at the top changed until the third mountain ranking. Arensman was alone at the Col de Peyresourde and scored ten points at the mountain ranking. As a second, Martinez was able to collect eight points. It was also clear that the Frenchman now held the lead in the mountain rating.
Arensman finally went to the chasing and three and a half minutes lead over the group around the yellow jersey. It should be enough for the greatest success of his career to date. “I really can’t believe it”he said in the winner interview. “Today I had incredible legs and probably the shape of my life.”
Thymen Arensman in Superbagnères
Hilly stage to Carcassonne on Sunday
There is a hilly section on Sunday. The 15th stage from Muret to Carcassonne is over 169 kilometers. After the efforts in the Pyrenees, the stage outliers offers good chances of winning the day. If the sprinter teams still have enough strength to hold the field together, there could also be a sprint on the flat terrain in the final.