Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo) won the seventh stage of the Tour de France on Friday in Chalon-sur-Saone, with no impact on the overall standings.
Third solid sprint, third winner: Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo) won the 7th stage of the Tour de France on Friday in Chalon-sur-Saone, with no consequences for the overall classification led by Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Trek) .
After the successes of his compatriot Mike Teunissen in Brussels and Italy’s Elia Viviani in Nancy , Groenewegen has also made an impressive victory. The photo-finish was necessary to decide between the Dutchman and the Australian Caleb Ewan.
“It’s very tight every time I sprint against Caleb (Ewan),” Groenewegen said. “I felt he was coming back in the last 50 meters.”
The Dutchman (26), who had fallen on the first day of the inaugural stage in Brussels, signed his fourth stage success in the Tour. He has won at each of his stakes since 2017.
The green jersey, the Slovak Peter Sagan, took the third place ahead of the Italian Sonny Colbrelli, after 230 kilometres
Transition stage, from Franche-Comté to Burgundy
The usual pattern of plain days has been respected in this transition stage, from Franche-Comté to Burgundy. Two riders, the French Yoann Offredo and Stéphane Rossetto, left early to lead a breakaway of 218 kilometres.
Accustomed to long raids, the two Parisians who know each other well have opened the road up to 12 kilometres from the finish. They counted less than six minutes in advance for maximum advantage, without benefiting from the clemency of the sprinters (Deceuninck, Lotto, Jumbo) who dictated the pace of the peloton. In contrast, the Ciccone Trek did not have to work.
The headwind until the approach of the final has removed the hints of attack to the candidates. Not even when the Colombian Nairo Quintana and the Irishman Dan Martin were caught in a small break about thirty kilometres from the finish.
Saturday, the 8th stage takes a course of a medium mountain along the 200 kilometres connecting Mâcon to Saint-Etienne, with no less than seven ribs on the program.
