4,500 m of vertical drop, rain, wind, less than 10 degrees at the top of the passes… In dire conditions, the final alpine stage of this 2,021 edition of the Tour de France finally smiled on Ben O’Connor ( AG2R-Citroën).
The 25-year-old Australian, out of the peloton more than 95 km from the finish in pursuit of Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), alongside Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) or Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo) gradually got rid of his fellow escapees.
O’Connor notably let go of Sergio Higuita more than 15 km from the summit. At the forefront much of the day, the Colombian Nairo Quintana could not keep pace with the winner of the day but nevertheless climbed on the podium this Sunday evening, as the new wearer of the polka dot jersey.
The Frenchman’s teammate Benoît Cosnefroy, who had tried to get out of the peloton from the first meters of this stage, could have done a double blow. Starting 8′13 ″ behind Tadej Pogacar this morning, he even found himself in a virtual yellow jersey just over six kilometers from the finish.
But the peloton, led by the Ineos-Grenadiers team finally decided to accelerate. If Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) attempted a first offensive, the Slovenian finally flew away. 6th in the stage, he keeps the lead of the general with 02′01 ″ ahead of O’Connor.
Martin back in the overall Top 10
Stuck in a group of pursuers from the middle of the race, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) crossed the finish line in fourth position, just over 5 minutes from the lead. He is replaced in general. Starting 12th this morning at 7′28 ″ behind the Slovenian leader, he now occupies 9th place in the standings, just ahead of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
Note the retirement of Frenchman Nans Peters (AG2R-Citroën), stage winner in 2020 at Loudenvielle, more than 70 km from the finish. Tim Merlier victorious in the third stage in Lorient (Alpecin-Fenix) and Jasper de Buydt (Lotto-Soudal) also withdraw from the Grande Boucle. The day of rest of this Monday July 5 should be well appreciated by the runners after this alpine episode, which will have done great damage.
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