Vincenzo Nibali conquers Val Thorens in Tour de France, Egan Bernal keeps Yellow Jersey
Jul 27 2019 10:36 pm CET
Photo of Vincenzo Nibali by Bahrain-Merida
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) has taken the victory of the penultimate stage in the Tour de France. The rider crossed the finish line by himself while Egan Bernal defended the lead of the General Classification.
The last Alpine stage of the French grand tour was 59 kilometres long between Albertville and Val Thorens with a finish on a hors-category climb. The organisation of the race decided the day before to shorten the stage due to mudslides on the first climbs, leaving only the last ascent of the stage.
A group of 29 riders escaped early on the day and included names like Vincenzo Nibali, Gorka Izagirre, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Thomas De Gendt, Tim Wellens and Ilnur Zakarin. At the start of the climb, Perichon, Nibali and Zakarin took the lead of the escape while in the peloton Jumbo-Visma set a high pace for its leader Steven Kruijswijk.
The rhythm set by the Jumbo-Visma riders dropped riders like Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) -finishing his options for the final podium. With 12 kilometres to go, Nibali was left in front by himself and shortly after, a chase group was formed by Simon Yates, Marc Soler and Warren Barguil.
With 500 metres to go, Mikel Landa attacked from the favourites' group but couldn't reach Nibali in time to fight for the stage victory. The Italian rider took his sixth win in the race, crossing the finish line by himself, while not too long after Alejandro Valverde, Landa and Egan Bernal with Geraint Thomas did so too.
The Colombian of Ineos successfully defended the Yellow Jersey with one stage to go, while Thomas moves to the second GC position and Kruijswijk climbed to the third place of the podium.
Race report: Vincenzo Nibali conquers Val Thorens in Tour de France, Egan Bernal keeps Yellow Jersey https://t.co/3eR9htjlA9#TDF2019
— CyclingPub (@CyclingPub) July 27, 2019
?A.S.O./Alex BROADWAY pic.twitter.com/QUPeSrLYrx
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