News :
Tour de France: Mike Teunissen wins, Jakob Fuglsang crashes
Scene of the race: Suddenly the field tore apart. A fall separated the peloton one kilometer from the finish of the fast top. Dylan Groenewegen of Team Jumbo-Visma sat in the street, face in the crook of his arm. The Sprinter could not drive for victory. This was taken over by his teammate Mike Teunissen: The alleged helper took on star sprinter Peter Sagan - and won the race.
The race result: At the finish line in Brussels, Teunissen had a few millimeters advantage over Peter Sagan of the German team Bora-Hansgrohe. Thus, Teunissen surprisingly takes the yellow jersey - as the first Dutchman since Erik Breukink 30 years ago. Sagan can console himself with the green jersey of the best sprinter.
Grand Départ: 50 years ago, cycling legend Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France for the first time. In his honor, the organizers had the 106th Grand Départ this year in Merckx 'home Belgium. The 74-year-old stretched in Brussels next to Tour Director Christian Prudhomme from the roof window of the car and waved to the crowd. Since the neutral start phase of the race was a little longer than usual.
Temporary work at the Mur de Grammont: A four-man breakaway group sat down directly with the sharp start of the race. Greg van Avermaet (CCC), Natnael Berhane (COF), Mads Würtz Schmid (TKA) and Xandro Meurisse (WGG) drove off, but one of them only targeted the hill climbs: Van Avermaet stormed the cobblestones on the Mur de Grammond and the Bosberg was fastest, secured the mountain jersey - and fell back into the peloton again. Curious: The Belgian had worked with the route planners to take the Mur into the program. After the spectacle in which he cheered his compatriots, it is also clear why.
Train on cobblestone: In Les Bons Villers waited the first Sprintwertung. Bora-Hansgrohe formed his train for Peter Sagan, who won the intermediate sprint confidently and collected twenty points. It was these points that gave him the green jersey. Sagan, like Teunissen, has 50 points, but wears the green jersey, as the winner of the stage can put on the yellow.
Favorites fall: Jakob Fuglsang from Team Astana is probably the most formidable rider of the season so far. Before the tour, he won the dress rehearsal at the Dauphiné Tour and became the co-favorite on the victory in Paris. The first stages, it is true for the top riders only survive harmless. But the Dane crashed 20 kilometers from the finish, suffered a laceration on the head and skin abrasions. In the end, he made it back to the peloton with the help of his team. Astana explained after the race that Fuglsang had not broken anything. Nevertheless, the coming days could be painful.
Lonely escape: In March Stéphane Rossetto had broken the pelvis three times. A cat had jumped in front of him. Four months later, the 32-year-old Frenchman attacked on his first tour. But the escape was doomed to failure. Only his time trial qualities left the lonesome anticipatory Rossetto dreaming about victory for some time. Twelve kilometers from the finish, the peloton swallowed him.
The hustle and bustle of the finale: "I realized that everyone died in the end, then I got Sagan on the finish line and I need a few more days to understand that," said stage winner Teunissen at the finish line. The final spurt had turned out chaotic with the fall. Maximilian Schachmann, Peter Sagan's team-mate, said: "I experienced the middle of the race even more nervously than the final, and the race was very fast and nervous overall, with some delicacies for the Belgians, so boring today Not."
What is coming now? Whether Teunissen can keep the yellow jersey longer depends on the time-trial qualities of his team. On Sunday, the teams go in Brussels on a second-chance. Good for teunissen: Tony Martin, the former world champion in individual and team time trial drives in his team. Martin could become the helper of the helper.