Kaden Groves won the penultimate stage of the Tour de France. The Australian was part of the early breakaway alongside Tim Wellens, Frank van den Broek, and Pascal Eenkhoorn, and went solo with sixteen kilometers to go. Van den Broek finished second, Eenkhoorn third.
On the penultimate day of the Tour de France, the riders didn’t face a tough mountain stage but rather a challenging transitional stage. Between the start in Nantua and the finish in Pontarlier, there were four categorized climbs. Among them was the sharp Côte de Thésy (3.5 km at 9%) about sixty kilometers from the finish. The course seemed tailor-made for the breakaway riders.
Nantua) Pontarlier)Chaos in the opening phase
So many riders went on the attack in the early part of the stage, despite the rainy conditions. Tim Wellens, Wout van Aert, and Neilson Powless were active, but Louis Barré was the first to crest the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12.2 km at 4.1%). The Frenchman from Intermarché-Wanty was caught again on the descent. Afterwards, we saw Davide Ballerini, Pascal Eenkhoorn, and Frank van den Broek at the front. The latter was in a leading group with Wellens once again on the Côte de Valfin (5.6 km at 4.3%).
Meanwhile, Picnic PostNL also had a problem. GC contender Oscar Onley, fourth overall, had ended up in the second peloton amid the chaos. A stroke of luck for the British rider: his closest rival Felix Gall was also dropped. The Austrian led his Decathlon AG2R teammates to the front to close the gap to the yellow jersey group. The situation was quickly rectified.
Breakaway with two Dutchmen and one Belgian
Wellens still rode ahead of the gradually growing peloton, now accompanied by Ewen Costiou and Matteo Jorgenson. Later, Eenkhoorn, Van den Broek, and eight more riders joined: Romain Grégoire, Kaden Groves, Matteo Trentin, Iván Romeo, Simone Velasco, Jordan Jegat, and Jake Stewart. This formed a thirteen-man breakaway. Brent Van Moer and Samuel Watson also attempted to bridge across but ended up in the chasse patate (dogfight).
The escapees received the peloton’s blessing but weren’t allowed to get too far away. Jayco AlUla saw Ben O’Connor’s tenth place under threat from Jegat, who was eleventh and four minutes behind the Australian. Earlier crasher Mauro Schmid therefore kept the attackers within two and a half minutes. The break reached the Côte de Thésy (3.5 km at 9%) with that advantage.
Van Aert shows himself
Axel Laurance thought that gap could still be closed. He attacked uphill from the peloton but initially only brought Mathis Le Berre with him. More riders then responded. Led by Wout van Aert, the chase was on. With a large group including fellow Belgian Dylan Teuns, they eventually bridged to Laurance. Up front, Jordan Jegat accelerated again. The Frenchman opened a nice gap and was joined just before the summit by Sweeny. The two continued together.
At least, for a while. With 54 kilometers to go, after a few kilometers riding together, Sweeny left the Frenchman behind. Jegat dropped back into the chasing group, which soon trailed Sweeny by almost a minute. The peloton—which saw Jonas Vingegaard forced to change bikes due to mechanical trouble—was already more than four minutes behind. O’Connor now considered Jegat a significant threat and joined the chase himself.
Romeo attacks but crashes
Jegat’s group soon fragmented. The jockeying led to five riders breaking clear from the rest: Van den Broek, Eenkhoorn, Groves, Stewart, and Grégoire. They caught Sweeny again at the foot of the Côte de Longeville—the day’s last climb. Not long after, Trentin, Velasco, and Romeo rejoined the group, with Groves pushing the pace uphill. He kept that up until Romeo threw a spanner in the works. The Spaniard’s attack caused trouble for Sweeny, Eenkhoorn, and Jegat, though the latter two remained alert at the top of the Longeville.
On the descent, Grégoire put pressure on the others. Velasco followed his wheel immediately, then Groves, Stewart, Van den Broek, and Romeo managed to reconnect. Romeo then launched an attack himself. He took risks and crashed hard in a right-hand corner. Grégoire couldn’t avoid him and went down as well, but the others stayed upright. Velasco lost contact with Groves, Stewart, and Van den Broek, who were now leading the race by three. However, this didn’t last long.
Groves goes solo
Groves slipped away quietly when Stewart wanted Van den Broek to collaborate, but the Dutchman refused. In no time, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider opened a 30-second gap on Van den Broek and Stewart, who dropped back to join Eenkhoorn, Jegat, and Velasco. That group soon fragmented again, after which Van den Broek tried a solo chase on Groves. The Australian held strong and gave Alpecin-Deceuninck their third stage win of this Tour.
Behind Groves, Van den Broek held off his pursuers, securing second place. The first rider in that chasing group was Eenkhoorn, who finished third.
In the overall classification, Jegat gained enough time on O’Connor to take over tenth place.
It was a tough start for the sprinters (and Arnaud De Lie in particular) – photo: Cor Vos
Van den Broek leads the breakaway – photo: Cor Vos
Van Aert counterattacked – photo: Cor Vos
photo: Cor Vos
Tour de France| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04:06:09 | |
| 2 | + 54 | |
| 3 | + 59 | |
| 4 | + 01:04 | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
