Until Bob Jungels won Sunday’s first day in the Alps, no rider from Luxembourg had won a stage of the Tour de France since Andy Schleck atop the Galibier in 2011. Jungels soloed away from a large breakaway that contained Canada’s Hugo Houle and held off the pusuit of Thibaut Pinot in the final kilometres. The GC riders took a day off from throwing haymakers before the second rest day.
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The Course
The stage stayed in Switzerland except for its last kilometers, as it took a loop through the mountains near Lac Léman and then headed down the Rhone Valley back towards France. After an early Cat. 4 and a Cat. 2 around the midway point of the day, Cat. 1 Col de la Croix at kilometer 130 was the hardest climb of the day. The last Cat. 1 of the day, Pas de Morgins, was long, with its steeper slopes in its first three-quarters. After a short descent, the final climb to the finish line was 4 km of 4.6 percent.
A first taste of the Alps at #TDF2022, with four classified climbs stacked on the 192.9km course between Aigle and Châtel Les Portes du Soleil. pic.twitter.com/tVHmMTKCxX
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) July 10, 2022
Michael Woods was involved in an early crash before two breakaway groups gelled.
In the raft of 21 escapees were Wout Van Aert, Hugo Houle, Thibaut Pinot and Rigoberto Uran, the best-placed rider at +3:24. Only five teams weren’t represented.
The fugitives started up the Cat. 2 Col des Mosses with a 3:20 gap. After making the first attack near the top of the climb, Hugo Houle came second to Pierre Latour, who was aiming to take over the polka dot jersey from Magnus Cort.
Latour was hungry for the points atop Col de la Croix. He made a move with 3 km to climb, but it would be Simon Geschke who would tip over first, snatching the KOM lead on the road. The peloton was 2:20 in arrears.
On the 23 km descent of the first Cat. 1 Bob Jungels plummeted in the lead. He reached the valley floor with a minute’s gap over his former breakmates.
Pas de Morgins
Jungels hit the foot of the climb 1:40 ahead of Houle, Van Aert and company, and he was 3:18 ahead of the peloton.
In the yellow jersey group, Dani Martinez was the first favourite to drop. Pinot lit out after Jungels and was a minute back…
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