Another day in Yellow for BORA – hansgrohe but a tricky stage at the Dauphiné as there was some crosswinds expected in the finale and a steep climb waiting with only 10 kilometers before the finish in Saint-Vallier. After the first KOM of the day a strong five men break formed at the front including K. Asgreen who was sitting only 9 seconds down on Lukas Pöstlberger in GC. BORA – hansgrohe tried to control the race and as the gap was only 40 seconds with about 100km remaining another three riders attacked to join the leading group. But especially Gamper, Schwarzmann and Wandahl did an excellent job today pulling in the bunch to keep the gap under 2 minutes and with 70km remaining Bahrain also started to work in the bunch. It didn’t take long until the break was caught, but echelons forced splits in the bunch serval times now. On the final climb there were no attacks as the race was really hard until that point and Lukas stayed without any trouble in the first group. In the end G. Thomas took the stage with a late attack, while Lukas retains the Yellow Jersey.
Results
01 G. Thomas 4:02:15
02 S. Colbrelli +0:00
03 A. Aranburu +0:00
From the Finish Line
“The day was very hard like we expected it to be. I followed some moves in the beginning but then Asgreen was in the break. Our initial plan was to go for Patrick and a stage result, but then our guys did an incredible job to keep control of the race. I felt really good in the end but unfortunately, we messed it up in the final. But of course, it is great to keep the jersey one more day. Tomorrow is a GC day and I will work for Wilco and Patrick, so I don’t think we’ll see at the podium tomorrow.” – Lukas Pöstlberger
“To wear Yellow is an honor and of course you don’t want to give it away easy, on the other hand we didn’t want to defend it at all costs. That’s why we started to ride early to don’t let the group with Asgreen go away too far. At a certain point the race got some dynamics which was to our favor. I have to say that Nils, Patrick Gamper, Frederik and Schwarzi did an excellent job today. In the final, due to our work, there was a bigger group battling for the stage. We wanted to give Patrick the opportunity to follow moves on the last climb or to go for the sprint. That didn’t work out 100% but still we are very happy with the day. We are in Yellow and Patrick and Wilco finished without any troubles.” – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director
