BErgkönig Simon Geschke rolled leisurely over the finish line after the sweaty climb in the Pyrenees and waved briefly to the audience. A little later, the Berliner with the full beard beamed from the big podium again, which has almost become a daily ritual at the 109th Tour de France. Regardless of the corona worries in the team after the positive test of his roommate Maximilian Walscheid, the veteran with the big fighting heart is getting closer and closer to the dream of the first German mountain jersey in Paris at the 109th Tour de France.
“It wasn’t a giant step to Paris, but it was still an important step to make a small statement and expand the lead,” said Geschke, who finished eighth on Tuesday’s stage 16 and collected important mountain points in the process. “I hope I don’t have to pay for it tomorrow. That was a big investment. I’m glad it was worth it.”
Gift and ballot in the same room
The fight for yellow is coming to a head. As expected, defending champion Tadej Pogacar switched to attack mode and made the man in yellow sweat with sharp attacks – albeit without success. Jonas Vingegaard also showed no weakness on the 178.5 kilometers from Carcassonne to Foix, where breakaway Hugo Houle ensured the first Canadian victory in 34 years and remains on course for victory and in yellow. Houle dedicated the win to his brother, who died in a traffic accident. It was his first win ever as a professional cyclist.
For two Germans, on the other hand, the tour is over: Lennard Kämna, who was so aggressive up to now, did not get on his bike anymore because of a cold, for Maximilian Walscheid, on the other hand, the race was over because of a positive corona test. This means that only seven of the originally nine German professional cyclists who started are still there.
The end of the tour by Cofidis teammate Walscheid must have alarmed Geschke, after all, the native of Berlin has often shared a room with Walscheid in the past few days. “I’m not so worried about something like that because it’s not in my hands. We will test and hope. There is a new rule that you can continue driving despite a positive test. But if it doesn’t work at all, that’s how it is,” said Geschke, who had already been thwarted by Corona at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Geschke showed great courage again, secured the mountain jersey on the eighth day in a row and even extended his lead in the climbing section. The 36-year-old was the first to cross the 1517 meter high Port des Lers, secured two important points on the last climb and finished eighth.
The yellow jersey remains on the shoulders of Vingegaard, who was attacked a number of times by Pogacar on the penultimate climb but was always in control. Both reached the finish just under six minutes later. The showdown comes at the mountain finishes in Peyragudes and Hautacam on Wednesday and Thursday.
But in the duel for yellow, the stars of the scene are increasingly losing their most important trump cards. After Vingegaard lost the two noble helpers Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk on Sunday, Pogacar is now threatened with the loss of his third helper Marc Soler. The Spaniard had to vomit during the stage, visited the tour doctor several times and fought his way up the mountains just before the broom car.
The day’s win was decided on the final climb when Houle broke away. A breakaway group of 29 had formed early on, which fell apart more and more during the ride over two category 1 mountains in the last third of the stage. Captain Alexander Wlasow of the German Bora team couldn’t keep up either, but moved up to a top ten place in the overall standings by finishing sixth.
Heat, corona, illnesses – at the start of the third week of the tour, the peloton is increasingly feeling the strain. Kämna, who has been so aggressive up until now, was absent from the starting line on Tuesday. The 25-year-old from North Germany had been complaining of a small infection for days, and his condition had not improved even on the rest day. The corona test was negative for the 25-year-old and his teammates.
Due to his aggressive driving style, Kämna was one of the positive appearances from a German point of view at this year’s Tour of France, even if he was denied a happy ending. On the stage to La Planche des Belles Filles he was only 100 meters short of winning the day, and a few days later he missed the yellow jersey in Megève by eleven seconds.
Walscheid was the eleventh driver to test positive for Corona, after the two Frenchmen Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Mikaël Chérel from the AG2R team had also been affected. “After all the work, this is a big disappointment. I had a serious accident in spring but the team gave me confidence. I got back in shape, ready and happy to compete in Denmark. Not reaching Paris is frustrating. But there was no other choice,” Walscheid wrote on Instagram.
