The demonstration of Wout Van Aert which contrasts with the failure of Stefan Küng and the difficulties of the French, find the tops and the flops of the second time trial of the Tour de France vintage 2021.
Tops
Van Aert has gold in his legs
A brilliant and no less surprising winner at Malaucène (11th stage), where his breakaway through the double ration of Ventoux impressed everyone, Wout Van Aert offered himself a second stage victory by crushing the time trial between Libourne and Saint-Emilion. Relegating to 21 seconds a Kasper Asgreen who was beginning to take a liking to the chair of the leader, the double Belgian champion in the specialty offered himself a victory more predictable than the first, even if he had announced to ease off on Friday to prepare for the Olympics. To better surprise? The now six-time stage winner on the Grande Boucle will be one of the most serious contenders for the medal on Japanese asphalt, before seeing bigger on the roads of the Tour? “I first want to focus on my specialties, the classics and especially Flemishs, he assured France TV. The general classification, for the moment, is not an objective. Maybe it will be possible to change after.»
The good surprise Vingegaard
Propelled as a substitute leader since the retirement of Primoz Roglic, the Dane from Jumbo-Visma will be on the podium in Paris for his first participation. Third in the stopwatch (as in Laval) 32 seconds behind her teammate, the 23-year-old nugget brilliantly secured her second place overall. A major feat but commensurate with his talent. His status as Pogacar’s dolphin has also been verified during each mountain stage this week, where he finished just ahead of Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), who secured him his third place overall this Saturday despite his difficulties in against the watch. Where Vingegaard is much more comfortable. From there to giving him the keys to the truck more often in the future? If he will be forced to return his white best youngster jersey, worn by proxy, to his owner Tadej Pogacar, the Dane could potentially get involved in the fight with the future two-time winner of the Tour.
Read also :Tour de France: Van Aert finishes in style
Flops
The big Küng disappointment
He carried the last hopes of Groupama-FDJ in a Tour de France devoid of any success, like last year. And the famine will continue for Marc Madiot’s team, unable to get involved in the fight on the Champs-Elysées without its home sprinter Arnaud Démare. Second and cautious behind Pogacar during the Laval time trial, Stefan Küng was vengeful when setting out through the Bordeaux vineyards. In the lead at the first intermediate, the European champion of the discipline, considered one of the best riders in the world, let go in the last portions of a course however cut out for its qualities. Result: a fourth place unworthy of its status (+ 38 ”). “I left too hard, I paid it then”, soberly summed up the person, resigned to the microphone of France TV.
Read also :The French on the Tour: “Could do better”
The French still in retreat
The absence of Rémi Cavagna, the new French champion… on the road, left little doubt about the French chances during qualifying. True specialist in the exercise, the “TGV of Clermont” was not aligned on this Grande Boucle and therefore found that it had little competition in the field at the level of its compatriots. Apart from Bruno Armirail, a time on the provisional podium and who comes out with an honest 12th place (+ 1’46 ”), the French drivers remain at a respectable distance from the top, like Julian Alaphilippe and Anthony Perez, in the same second (19th and 20th at 2’05 ”). At the level of the best placed French people, it is at the limits of the top 50 that we have to look for David Gaudu (49th at 3’36 “) and Guillaume Martin (3’44”). But the essential was elsewhere for the two men, since each was able to keep his position and his best career ranking (8th for Martin, 11th for Gaudu).
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