On the roads of the Tour (19/21)
The Slovenian national champion wins alone his second stage of the Tour de France 2021. Two days after the search of the hotel where his team, the Bahrain Victorious, was staying. And also the statement, the stat, the bike dico, the quiz …
Slovenia, its mountains, its ski resorts, its lakes, its bears and its doping cases. The last major, Aderlass, in 2019 clearly implicated the cyclist Kristjan Koren and the former rider and sports director, Borut Bozic. The two do not only have the Slovenian passport in common, they were also members of the same team: that of Bahrain.
Become Bahrain Victorious, the formation is on the Tour de France 2021. Searched in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, it is the target of an investigation opened by the prosecutor’s office of Marseille, for “Transport, possession, importation of a prohibited substance or method for use by an athlete without medical justification”. So see, this Friday, a Slovenian, member of this team, win a second time on the Tour 2021, after a solitary raid of 30 kilometers …
Mohoric, first name Matej. Not a partridge of the year, he has already won a stage in the Tours of Italy and Spain. Very moving since the start of the Tour, the Slovenian national champion won at Le Creusot, and was part of the breakaway this Thursday at the exit of the Pyrenees. Second personal victory, third for his team with the success of Dylan Teuns at Le Grand-Bornand, fifth success for a Slovenian rider on this Tour after Tadej Pogacar’s hat-trick, still largely at the top of an unchanged general classification. As a reminder: the other favorite, Primoz Roglic, who retired after a crash, is also Slovenian.
Before that, the stage was interesting: we did not see, as expected, a breakaway start and be nibbled by the teams of sprinters. A little before the halfway point, the peloton revolted, a large group came out, succeeded, after a struggle as unusual as it was pleasant to watch, to join the first runaways of the day. The group of 20, where all the sprinting teams were represented, then gained ground, more than fifteen minutes ahead.
A dozen attacks between 50 km and 30 km from the finish, before the flight of the wader Mohoric. On the line, the Slovenian from Bahrain Victorious is ahead of Christophe Laporte and Casper Pedersen by one minute. Mohoric who, celebrating his victory, makes a hush with his finger and pretends to zip his mouth. Omerta. The line passed, he will nevertheless be more talkative: “I was treated like a criminal. For me, it shows that we have been checked and that nothing has been found. It’s still complicated to see a policeman come and search your room. I had nothing to hide. ”
The state: 16
The Tour de France had not started from Mourenx for sixteen years (2005). Pau was the finish, and the first on the line: Oscar Pereiro. The Spaniard from Phonak did even better the following year. Transferred to the Caisse d’Epargne team, he won the general classification of the 2006 Tour after the downgrading of Floyd Landis.
Thing seen
On the gallery of an UAE Team Emirates car between Mourenx and Libourne. “Pogacar has a polka dot bike as a spare today.”
The dico of the bike
Put the arrow
Whoever puts the arrow does not attack at high speed, on the contrary, he gives up. He leaves the race discreetly. We also say bacher.
Two stages from the finish, 42 riders left the race. Michael Woods and Miguel Angel Lopez did not start the 19th stage at Mourenx.
The question of the day
This Saturday, time trial between Libourne and Saint-Emilion. Saint-Emilion was in 1996 the finish of a stage of the Tour, already a time trial, won by Ullrich. He was leaving from Bordeaux, how long was the solitary effort?
♦33,5 km
♦47,5 km
♦57,5 km
♦63,5 km
Answer tomorrow!
Answer of yesterday’s question: Lycos is the intruder, and also Creon’s murderer.
The profile of tomorrow’s stage
Season 2021 Episode 01 / Episode 02 / Episode 03 / Episode 04 / Episode 05 / Episode 06 / Episode 07 / Episode 08 / Episode 09 / Episode 10 / Episode 11 / Episode 12 / Episode 13 / Episode 14 / Episode 15 / Episode 16 / episode 17 / episode 18
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