The big unlucky fellow – his dream burst again
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These are the favorites: Buchmann, Roglic and Co. chase Egan Bernal
Defending champion Egan Bernal is the hottest candidate for overall victory in the Tour de France. The path to the yellow jersey will be anything but a walk for the young Colombian on an immensely difficult tour of France. Many competitors are scraping his throne.
At the 107th Tour de France, the favorites got down to business for the first time on Saturday. Emanuel Buchmann has to cope with a severe setback, but for another co-favorite it was even more bitter. Once again.
IIn the midst of the high Pyrenees, Emanuel Buchmann was disappointed. “When things really went off on the mountain, I didn’t feel good and had to let go. Of course, that’s not what I wanted, ”said the German hopeful after the dream of a podium at the 107th Tour de France had become a long way off during the first big exchange.
Buchmann reached the finish line in Loudenvielle on Saturday, over a minute behind the stars of the industry. Can he still catch up? In any case, he doesn’t want to give up. “There are still two weeks with many mountain stages. I haven’t lost much time now either. I will definitely keep fighting. “
The French co-favorite Thibaut Pinot fared even worse after experiencing a major slump and losing all opportunities. And his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe has also lost sight of the yellow jersey. So it was little consolation for the hosts that runaway Nans Peters single-handedly won the eighth stage after 141 kilometers and three difficult mountains ahead of Latvian Toms Skujins and Spaniard Carlos Verona.
Again nothing: Thibaut Pinot can be comforted at the finish on Saturday
Source: AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO
The yellow jersey of the overall winner was defended by the Briton Adam Yates with the last of his strength, after he had been left behind several times, but kept fighting. “That was a tough day. We drove at full throttle to the finish, but I’m still in yellow, ”said Yates, beaming.
Buchmann’s plan was completely different
The first time it got down to business was the favorites who arrived 6:40 minutes after the outliers. On the ascent to the Col de Peyresourde, the stars put their restraint on, and there were repeated attacks. That was too much for Buchmann, who could no longer keep up with the pace early on. In the end he lost 1:03 minutes to Roglic and Co. and is now eleventh in the overall standings, 1:25 minutes behind. The Ravensburger had calculated it differently. He didn’t really want to lose any more time until the day of rest to be able to attack in the final week.
Only the absolute favorites on the podium stayed together. The young Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar, who was left behind on a wind attack the day before, was even able to make up for more than half a minute. But Roglic, last year’s winner Egan Bernal, his Colombian compatriot Nairo Quintana and Yates crossed the finish line together. But that didn’t hide the fact that Bernal showed some weaknesses and had to fight his way back several times.
The big loser of the day was Pinot. On the penultimate ascent to the 1755 meter high Port de Balès, a mountain of the highest category, the 30-year-old had to tear down. Escorted by his helpers, Pinot struggled over the mountains and lost 25 minutes to day winner Peters. Apparently he had health problems, possibly from his fall on the first day.
This makes Pinot the unlucky one again. In 2019 he had the overall victory in mind before a muscle injury forced him to give up on the third last day.
Buchmann looks to himself to blame
The damage to Buchmann was still limited, but it was not a good day. The 27-year-old was once again a lone fighter. The last helper had already said goodbye on the penultimate ascent. Perhaps it was also due to the great efforts made the day before, when the Bora-hansgrohe team attacked shortly after the start and set the pace for most of the day.
But Buchmann did not want to make accusations: “The helpers did a good job up to the penultimate mountain, in the end everyone was alone. That wasn’t the problem. It was missing from me. You can’t blame the team. “
Maximilian Schachmann was one of the longest at Buchmann’s side, at some point it was no longer possible with the German ex-master. The Berliner, who started the tour with a broken collarbone, is on the mend.
The second climbing tour in the Pyrenees follows on Sunday. Although the mountains on the ninth section over 153 kilometers from Pau to Laruns are not that high, they are all the steeper. The Col de Marie Blanque in particular, an ascent in the first category, has an average gradient of twelve percent over the last four kilometers. Then there are still 18 kilometers to the finish.
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