A home Tour victory at last as Laporte takes stage
CHRISTOPHE Laporte delivered an overdue French win on the 109th Tour de France as Fred Wright was the nearly man again and the sprinters were left to wonder what race organisers have against them.
Stage 19 was circled as one for the fast men, starved of opportunities since the race left Denmark almost three weeks ago.
However, the flat appearance of the profile did not tell the true story of an undulating 188km route from Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors, even though threatened crosswinds stayed away.
After the first break of the day had been caught, Wright joined Alexis Gougeard and Jasper Stuyven in slipping off the front with 35km to go and they stayed clear to the flamme rouge.
Even as the peloton bore down it was a disorganised chase and Wright stamped on the pedals as the drag to the finish began, briefly distancing those behind him.
The 23-year-old Londoner had chased victory from breaks on stage eight into Lausanne, then into Megeve two days later.
On stage 13 in Saint-Etienne he was within sight of the line when Mads Pedersen powered away from him and it was a similar story here as Laporte, coming out of the pack, carried superior speed on to the climb and rode away - winning from Jasper Philipsen and Alberto Dainese as Wright faded.
French fears had been growing of a first Tour without a home win since 1999, but Laporte’s burst of speed put that to bed with only two days to spare- - delivering yet more success for Jumbo-Visma, who go into today’s penultimate stage looking to carry the yellow, green and polka-dot jerseys to Paris.
Jonas Vingegaard retained the race lead by more than three minutes, albeit losing five seconds to Tadej Pogacar, who sprinted at the end and took fifth as gaps appeared further back. That battle will be settled in today’s time trial before the parade into Paris.
Geraint Thomas remains third overall.