Frenchman Tony Gallopin (Ag2r-La Mondiale), strong in an unbridled final, won this Friday the 7th stage of the Tour of Spain in Pozo Alcon (Andalusia).
The French cyclist Tony Gallopin (AG2R-La Mondiale) party in tough unbridled final, won Friday, August 31, 2018 the 7th stage of the Tour of Spain in Pozo Alcon (Andalusia) , where his countryman Rudy Molard maintained dynamics tricolor by keeping the leader’s red jersey .
Gallopin was five seconds ahead of Molard (Groupama-FDJ) and most of the top leaders, with the notable exception of Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), who fell from the air and was slightly behind in the final kilometres.
VICTOIRE DE TONY GALLOPIN !!! 🇫🇷 👏 🇫🇷 👏
Le Français s’impose lors de la 7ème étape de la Vuelta, quelques secondes devant Peter Sagan !
La Vuelta est à suivre en exclusivité sur Eurosport 👉 https://t.co/sZZSQQGkIn pic.twitter.com/awsnGyMPtg
— Eurosport.fr (@Eurosport_FR) 31 August 2018
Gallopin beat Spain’s Jesús Herrada in the final end of a classic race and resisted the return of his pursuers, who were settled by Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), third.
The Frenchman was five seconds ahead of this first group, which also featured Molard (Groupama-FDJ) and most of the great leaders, with the notable exception of Pole Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), who suffered a fall and was relegated to 30 seconds of winner.
“I had a plan: if I had a possibility, I wanted to try to attack. I found the best time to do it and I am delighted, “Gallopin savored at the microphone of the Spanish public channel Teledeporte.
“It’s a dream for every runner to win on a Grand Tour”
This success will do a lot of good to “Gallo”, who had not raised his arms since February and was forced to retire on the Tour de France in July. This is his second stage victory on a Grand Tour after a conquered bouquet on the Great Loop in 2014. “The plan was good”
“It’s a dream for any cyclist to win on a Grand Tour. Especially after a season like this, so much bad luck … I often fell, I was sick. After my abandonment on the Tour, the plan was that I come to the Vuelta. And I win a stage, so the plan was good.”
Already selected for the World Championships in late September in Innsbruck, Austria, Gallopin confirmed his good form of the moment and nibbled a few places in the overall ranking: 7 th Friday morning, reassembled here in 5 th place to 59 sec Rudy Molard, just ahead of Kwiatkowski, now 7 th at 1 min 06 sec.
This tricolor success, the second in two stages after that of Nacer Bouhanni Thursday , is in any case a good omen for the French cycling, which had not held any more one of the emblematic jerseys of leader of the three Grands Tours (yellow in France , red in Spain, pink in Italy) since 2014 … and Tony Gallopin on the Tour de France.
📊 Etapa 7 | Stage 7 #LaVuelta18
🔝🔟 Clasificación General | General Classification
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— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) 31 August 2018
On Saturday, the 8th stage will lead the riders from Linares to Almaden on 195.1 km, with one listed problem and an end to false flat amount in step likely to disrupt some sprinters.
