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Van Aert wins the seventh stage

Wout van Aert won the seventh stage of the 107th Tour de France and benefited from an early surprise attack by the German Bora-hansgrohe racing team. The Belgian from the Jumbo Visma team won on Friday after 168 kilometers from Millau to Lavaur ahead of the Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen and the French Bryan Coquard. For Van Aert it was already the second day win after his success on the fifth stage.

He benefited from the fact that top sprinters such as Caleb Ewan (Australia) and Sam Bennett (Ireland) were left behind early after the Bora team tore the field apart by increasing the pace on the first mountain. For hours afterwards the “Bora-Express” gave full throttle, but in the end the German top team wasted away for free.

Bora star Peter Sagan (Slovakia) at least took over the green jersey of the best in points, although he had lost his orientation in the sprint for the day’s victory and only reached the finish in 13th. The best German in the surprisingly small top group was Sagan’s team-mate Emanuel Buchmann in 19th place, which means he improved to tenth place overall (+0: 22 seconds).

The finish had no influence on the top and the fight for the yellow jersey. Brit Adam Yates was three seconds ahead of top favorite Primoz Roglic (Slovenia). Egan Bernal (Colombia) slipped behind Guillaume Martin (France).

The German team gave full throttle right from the start – and caught the competition completely unprepared. In the wind, the Bora-Express divided the field into several groups at high speed, with Maximilian Schachmann and Lennard Kämna also doing heavy work at the front. Those who were suspended included the stage winners Alexander Kristoff, Caleb Ewan and Sam Bennett, the previous wearer of the green jersey. After about an hour, the persecutors’ resistance was broken.

The Belgian Thomas De Gendt, famous for his escape attempts, pulled away 90 kilometers from the finish. The professional from the Lotto-Soudal team never took a decisive lead and was set 35 kilometers from the finish. In this phase, wind edges whirled up the already thinned out main field.

At the weekend, the two Pyrenees stages are on the program. First, the 141-kilometer stage from Cazères-sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle over two mountains of the first and an ascent of the highest category. A day later there are five more mountain ratings waiting on the section from Pau to Laruns.

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