Top Tour riders save energy for final weekend push
Boasson Hagen goes right way to win sprint to the finish
After two second-place finishes, Edvald Boasson Hagen finally got a stage victory at this Tour de France. Chris Froome and the other top riders took it easy, saving themselves for their last big fight this weekend.
Boasson Hagen, from Norway, caught the right breakaways on the longest stage and used all of his guile and strength to hold off chasers in the final section on Friday.
Boasson Hagen was part of a 20-man group that Froome and Team Sky gave freedom to escape from the peloton because none of them presented a threat to his overall lead. After two energy-sapping days of climbs in the Alps, Froome and his rivals had their sights set instead on the time trial on Saturday in Marseille that will determine the podium order before the race ends in Paris on Sunday.
At the finish of Stage 19 in Salon-de Provence, Boasson Hagen and German rider Nikias Arndt went right around a roundabout while others went left. Their route proved shorter. Capitalizing on that slight lead, Boasson Hagen left Arndt behind with a quick acceleration and used his strength on the flat to power to the finish. Arndt placed second, five seconds back.
Third-placed Jens Keukeleire was among those who went left around the roundabout and immediately realized they’d made a mistake, as Boasson Hagen pulled away.
“That’s when it struck me: We should have taken right,” Keukeleire said. “He’s one of those riders, give him 10 meters and he’s gone.”
It was Boasson Hagen’s third career stage win at the Tour. He said he did his homework, studying the stage finish and identifying the shorter route around the roundabout.
“I was hunting for opportunities, and then the roundabout arrived,” he said. “I understood that going right would be quicker.”
Froome’s group, which included the main race contenders, was still riding as Boasson Hagen celebrated his win. The peloton eventually rolled in at a leisurely place more than 12 minutes after Boasson Hagen claimed the first stage win for the Dimension Data team at this tour.
The overall standings remained unchanged, with Froome leading French rider Romain Bardet by 23 seconds and Rigoberto Uran of Colombia by 29 seconds.