Dane Søren Kragh Andersen wins in stage 14

Published on : 12/09/2020 – 18:27

This is his first Tour victory. Dane Søren Kragh Andersen concluded the collective work of the Sunweb team to win the 14^e stage of the Tour de France, Saturday September 12, on the banks of the Rhône in Lyon.

Kragh Andersen came out in the final to lead the first peloton by 15 seconds, set by Slovenian Luka Mezgec ahead of Italian Simone Consonni and Slovakian Peter Sagan. Slovenian Primoz Roglic donned his sixth yellow jersey at the end of this heat-driven transition stage.

Peter Sagan’s Bora left most of the sprinters behind and especially the wearer of the green jersey, the Irishman Sam Bennett, in the main difficulty of the day, the Col de Béal, crossed in the lead by the Swiss Stefan Küng who had escaped shortly after departure.

The forcing continued for about sixty kilometers, with the help of the CCC of the Italian Matteo Trentin. He led Bennett and his family to surrender 80 kilometers from the finish.

A new success for the Sunweb team

In the end, the Sunweb team led the operations. First with the Belgian Tiesj Benoot, who went out on the penultimate hill, 11 kilometers from the finish. Then with Kragh Andersen who countered an attack by Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, himself chasing after German Lennard Kämna.

Kragh Andersen, who had never yet won on the Tour, brought Sunweb another success after that of Swiss Marc Hirschi on Thursday in Sarran (Corrèze).

The 26-year-old Dane, winner of Paris-Tours in 2018, won the Paris-Nice time trial last March. “I had really very good legs,” savored the winner of the day. “Marc Hirschi inspired us, it gave us confidence”.

Sunday, the 15th^e 174.5 km long stage links Lyon to the top of the Grand Colombier. Two first-class passes, the Selle de Fromentel and the Col de la Biche, are climbed before the final ascent of 17.4 kilometers (at 7.1%), classified out of category.

With AFP