What’s sports without a bit of chirping? Mathieu van der Poel reclaimed the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogačar by a single second after Thursday’s breakaway on Stage 7 of the Tour de France. The Dutchman had only lost the race lead the day before in the TT.
Ireland’s Ben Healy was the biggest winner from the move, taking the stage victory and jumping to eighth overall. Michael Woods finished 66th and remains the top Canadian.
Pogačar made a late push to defend yellow but fell just short.
“I don’t know what tactics they used at Visma–Lease a Bike, but two riders try to steer along Simon Yates and Victor Campenaerts, in the leading group, seems like a waste of energy to me,” the world champion said. “Even that sprint at the end is pointless. Visma–Lease a Bike rode a very high pace on the penultimate climb and on the last climb.”
Pogi didn’t stop there with mincing words.
“Matteo Jorgenson started the sprint. That’s a bit pointless, because it was no longer a sprint for a top-10. He thought maybe he could gain another second or two,” he said to Wielerflits. “Maybe they lost their way after the time trial.”
The team leader, Jonas Vingegaard, had an uncharacteristically disappointing TT, losing 1.5 minutes to Remco Evenepoel and a minute to Pogi. Still, the (former) yellow jersey said he was confused.
“I know they are behind, but what they did today really didn’t make sense,” he said.
“But yes, maybe they made an attempt to keep me in yellow. But that doesn’t matter much to me. I don’t mind cycling around in the yellow jersey,” he said.
His bud, van der Poel, took back the yellow, which means Pogi’s UAE Team Emirates squad doesn’t need to defend until they hit the mountains. So, fair play?
Stage 7 is a lumpy ride from Saint-Malo to Mûr-de-Bretagne (Guerlédan) for a total of 197 km.
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