Tour de France stage 19 - Live coverage

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage from stage 19 of the Tour de France

It's stage 19 of the Tour de France from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole, and it's a day that holds options for either a break or a sprint. It's wide-open, and made all the more complicated by the race for the green jersey. And after three days in the high mountains we're going to have a lot of tired legs out there, so this could be another brutally tough day in the Tour de France. Follow us throughout the stage for complete live text coverage. 

Our friends had previewed today's stage and here's what they have to say about the profile:

A rolling and transitional stage to Champagnole brings the race north with a chance to take stock after the Alps and prepare for one last hard day. It has been one of the most complicated routes in the last 117 years of the Tour de France.

The peloton will enjoy a rare moment of respite, even if it does come with two days to go until Paris. Bourg-en-Bresse has hosted several Tour de France stage starts in recent years. In 2016, the race went to Culoz, where breakaway riders Jarlinson Pantano and Rafal Majka battled it out for the stage win. In 2014, the riders left Bourg-en-Bresse for Saint-Étienne and Alexander Kristoff outsprinted Peter Sagan and Arnaud Démare. This year the race heads north for the small town of Champagnole on the River Ain. Champagnole makes its second appearance as a stage finish, the first was in 1937 when Belgian Sylvère Maes won the stage. 

Going from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole, the 19th stage of the 2020 Tour skirts the foothills of the Jura mountains without ever quite hitting the real climbs.Though there is only one classified ascent, the profile undulates between 250 and 800m altitude and it’s another very hard easy day for the peloton.

To most GC riders, this is a chance to absorb the hard lessons of the previous two and a half weeks, and gather themselves for one last crucial stage on the Saturday, while the break, and possibly the sprinters, focus on their own last chances. Give the sprinters their due, if they can get through the very rolling terrain of this stage, they will deserve their opportunity to win. But it’s likely that a big break will go while the GC riders try and rest their legs for the time trial and the sprinters look further ahead to the Champs-Élysées.

We have a great offer on Procycling subscriptions right here, that you should check out. It's just £5 for five issues. Name one thing that you can do with £5 that's better. I'll wait...

We roll out in about an hour from now but as I said we should see a real battle for the green jersey today because there are 70 points on offer. This is Peter Sagan's last chance because he's not going to get the better of Sam Bennett in Paris. Only Caleb Ewan or Alex Kristoff, can probably challenge for that final sprint. Bennett current has a *checks calculator* 52 point lead over Sagan in the competition, so the Bora rider really needs to take everything today and then cross his fingers for Paris.

Speaking of Peter Sagan he leaked a new Specialized bike overnight, alongside Daniel Oss. In a choreographed, but nevertheless slick bit of PR, the two Bora riders stuck pictures up of the new bike on social media. Josh Croxton who has hawk-like skills at spotting these things, has the story right here.

Here at the start, and some of the team buses have arrived. Let dive out from the  CN blimp like Anneka Rice - minus the fetching jumpsuit - and head on over to the Ineos bus. Yep, here we are, we've got Dylan Van Baarle.

"Today is a kind of a flat stage. It’s not as easy as it looks on paper. It’s rolling and after three really hard days everyone is getting tired. If there’s a break it will be strong guys anyway but lets see how the legs are. We’ll try and give it a go.

"It was nice to be part of the breakaway yesterday, of course but I didn’t stay there for long but the guys did a really good job. I’m confident that the legs will be okay but maybe I need some more luck.

"After the disappointment on the GC, which was our main goal of course, all the guys switched the button and made the most of it. Richie Carapaz was in the breakaway for three days, and then him and Kwiato finished the really hard block with a win. That was something really nice and we wanted that. I think that everyone can be really proud of that. We didn’t let our heads down, anyone from the riders to the staff and directors. That was really cool to see."

So Van Baarle thinks it could be a break. A  few buses away Lotto Soudal have parked up. Caleb Ewan is going to come off the bus in a few minutes and give us a few words, which will be nice but in the meantime, have a read of Philippa York's excellent piece on how Ineos turned their Tour around on stage 18. Philippa's story,  is right here and is a must-read. 

And here we have Caleb Ewan, who has already won two stages in this year's race:

"I'm pretty tired from getting through those mountains  but today could be another opportunity. I think that it's also the last chance of teams that haven't won anything in this Tour. It's going to be a very aggressive day. Peter Sagan hasn't won yet in this Tour and I think Bora are going to want to make it hard for us. I don't know how they're going to play it, if the want to control it or if they'll be aggressive. We'll have to see." 

"To be honest, I really don't know how it's going to play out. I'm sure that in team meetings the directors are telling riders to go in the breaks and if those are missed then I'm sure that the breaks will be brought back. It's going to be full-gas all day."

Oh yes, the other big news from last night was that Jumbo Visma's Merijn Zeeman kicked out of Tour de France for misconduct. He apparently lost the plot when someone from the UCI got a bit heavy with Roglic's bike during a check. We have conflicting reports from Jumbo and the UCI over what was done to the bike but here's the story. No video footage of the incident but it probably looked liked Tobias Funke losing it over his hardboiled eggs in Arrested Development. 

But it's a huge blow for Zeeman who has been instrumental in building Jumbo Visma into the team that they are now. He was key to bringing in Dumoulin and planning this year's Tour challenge. So in that sense, it's a genuine shame that he's gone but again we don't actually know what was said, which is obviously important. 

The revelation of this year's Tour de France has stopped by the CN blimp for a quick natter. He crashed yesterday but has looked immense in the race. Marc Hirschi, how are you, and what's going to happen today?

"I'm tired because of the crash and I don't feel so good. It's also a good opportunity for us to sprint with Cees Bol. We want to control the race and work for him. It's going to be a last opportunity for the break, so it's going to be hard to control. Plan A is to control a small group but if that's not possible we'll go for plan B and try and put riders in a large group."

Merci, Marc.

Gone but not forgotten. We have some words from Andre Greipel, who was forced out of the race yesterday through illness. 

"Although I am utterly disappointed not to reach Paris and the Champs-Elysees once more as I desired, I can honestly tell myself that I did all I could - to the limit. 

"My 2020 Tour de France journey was frustrating – I could never escape the hurdles put in front of me. It took me more than a week to overcome the crash injuries from the first stage, and it seemed that every other day I had to confront additional challenges, from stomach problems to infection. It’s just wasn’t my time.

"If it is indeed my last Tour de France, I can only say that I left with unforgettable memories. I want to thank team ISN and my teammates, and wish them the best in the rest of the Tour."

We hope this isn't the last time we see the likable and well-respected sprinter in the race. And Happy New Year to those on ISN celebrating today.

We'll be rolling out in about 30 minutes from now and about half of the bunch have signed on for the stage. In that time you could listen to most of our latest podcast, so why not treat yourself.

And before I forget you need to bookmark our Giro Rosa coverage. This link will take you to where you need to go, a page full of news, interviews, race report and photos from one of the best races in the world. We've got so much content on that page with contributions from our women's editor Kirsten Frattini, and Lukas Knofler and Amy Jones. It's the most comprehensive coverage of the Giro Rosa on the internet. 

This was buried a bit yesterday with race news but it looks like Daniel Martinez could be moving to Ineos next year. We confirmed yesterday that there have been talks between the British team and the Dauphine winner, even though he has a contract with EF for next year. Here's that story.

Sam Bennett has spoken in the media are this morning. Here's the green jersey ahead of stage 19 of the Tour de France.

"It would be nice if the break went. With 50 points for the sprint win that would be the safer option but we're going to have to stay concentrated, which is hard at this point in the race. We just have to keep racing. I know Bora will have another go today but that's why I'm ready and waiting for it. I just hope that I've taken a bit of their confidence but I don't think they'll crack under pressure."

"It's one more hard day to defend it again and I'm looking forward to the battle. The break is the safer option but we'll race whatever way it goes."

And just before we head to the start line we've caught up with Alberto Bettiol from EF Pro Cycling. He's been in a few breaks already during this year's race. Could he give it another go today?

"I think today's stage at the start it's going be tricky. We'll see a lot of opportunities and scenarios because there are teams that want to control the stage for the sprinters but at the same time it's not an easy stage, especially in the last 25km. Normally a good break can go but if there are too many people it's difficult because some riders will sit at the back and the bunch can chase. It's tricky, all the stages near the end are hard and the legs for everyone aren't good after three hard stages in the Alps. Anything can happen today but what we do know is that Jens and I will try and do our best to try and win the stage."

We are just a few minutes away from the start of stage 19. This could be complete chaos as we see riders move up to the startline ahead of the neutralized zone. Just a few stragglers holding us back and then we'll be off. 

Roglic is at the front with all the other leaders of the main classifications. We've got a 6.2km neutralized zone to complete and then Prudhomme will pop up from his sun roof and start the race.

Lotto near the front. Given how much Ewan has suffered so far he might want to save what powder he has left for Paris. Perhaps we'll see De Gendt go up the road again? Israel Start Up Nation also have riders near the front, several of them in fact. Weather wise it's sunny and very little wind. And there's Tony Martin, near the front, again, and ready to spoil everyone's fun by closing gaps.

Luke Rowe is also near the front and he looks like he might make a move once we start racing, as we hear that Michael Gogl (NTT) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos) have not started today.

And we're racing on stage 19 of the Tour de France and it is Luke Rowe who attacks first but lots of riders on his wheel. Rolland is there, and Bettiol and Stuyven. 166km to go.

CCC and NTT are trying to get in on the action but still no break. We could have this for a long, long time as we see NTT launch another rider up the road.

And we have three riders clear, just like that, and they have 5 seconds immediately. Quickstep aren't happy though and they're trying to bring it all back together. 

And Kwiatkowski has made the juncture so that's four riders in the lead and one of them is also Powless. They only have a few seconds though as Trek give chase with Stuyven. 

That group moved out to about 9 riders but it's Bora who shut it all down and we're back together with 162km to go as Rowe and Stuyven kick things off yet again.

Remi Cavagna is the next rider to try his luck and this looks like a good move by the Quickstep roder. We have a group of four chasing which includes Amador and Van Avermaet. It's not going to work though.

Cavagna is still out there, and he's got 13 seconds on the peloton. He'll plug away and hope that a small group comes and joins him. 

Cavagna is still dangling out there at 42 seconds as we see Van Baarle try and jump across on his own as a few more riders try and skip clear as well. This is going to take a long while to settle down. 154km to go.

So behind Van Baarle we have three riders trying to make it across but there's so much activity at the front of the peloton that other than Cavagna no rider is able to establish even a slender lead.

Martin (Cofids) is in the group with Van Baarle. Bonne chance with that one. He's 11th on GC and there's no way he'll be allowed to go clear on a stage like this.

Our four chasers behind Cavagna are: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Cyril Barthe (B&B) and Geoffrey Soupe (Total).

Pöstlberger is out of the race, stung in the mouth by a bee or a wasp. That's a terrible way to leave race but is similar to what happened to Jonathan Vaughters during his Credit Agricole days.

Max Walscheid (NTT)  has made it a five man chase as Cavagna moves his lead out to  1'23 with 148km to go.

Cavagna isn't going to wait and now Bora move up and start to chase down the Martin group. From the Frenchman to the peloton, the gap is at 2'28 with 142km to go. Martin gets on radio with his group about a minute clear of the main field. Cavagna is looking back but he's got a decent little gap at the moment.

141km to go and Martin has sat up, which makes sense, because no one else in the break will have wanted him there due to his high place on GC. Bora are still chasing though.

Cyril Barthe (B&B) has dropped back so that leaves three riders in the chase group but Bora still lead the peloton, 2'23 behind Cavagna. 137km to go.

Cavagna, on his own, is putting even more time into the chase group, with the trio behind him at 1'55. They're not going anywhere right now as Buchmann leads the peloton at a pretty brisk pace. 

Right now it's basically Cavagna vs Bora and so far it's the QuickStep rider who is winning because he currently has 2'55 on the main field. This is an immense job by the Frenchman. 

The second group on the road, that contained Van Baarle has been gobbled up by the Bora bunch but the gap to Cavagna is still at 2'55 as we see the peloton strung out in one long line as they keep the pace up. 123km to go.

Hirschi, who we spoke to this morning  is at the back, his entire left side wrapped in bandages after yesterday's big crash. 

This is helping the sprinters to some extent but this pace can't be maintained for the entire stage. Surely Cavanga can't keep this up for too long, even with the vital intermediate sprint coming much later in the race. 

Earlier today we caught up with Mads Pedersen. Let's see what the world champion had to say:

"Today is going to be another tough day. Richie is the guy we race for, so it's one last day for me to make sure that he doesn't lose any time. We say yesterday how unlucky he was with the puncture in a bad moment and this we want to avoid. I'm sticking with him and making sure he doesn't lose time. He needs to keep things easy today and then hopefully he can do a really good TT tomorrow."

"I hope that today will be a break, so that we can take it easier in the peloton, but I really don't know. It's going to be 50:50."

We're rattling along at a frantic pace with just over 110km to go. Cavagna still has 2:35 as he saps the power from the Bora team with this one-man Tour de Force. 

The GC guys would have wanted an easy day today but no luck there. I wonder how much the race for green has had a knock on effect when it comes to the fight for the yellow jersey, and if days like today have nullified some of the possible GC attacks in the mountains because of the added fatigue. 

The gap to Cavagna is coming down but slowly, because he still has over two minutes on the main field. 2'21 to be precise with 103km to go.

The Giro Rosa stage may have ended and someone might have won. We know some of our readers don't like spoilers but maybe if you click here you'll find out what happened. 

100km to go

Cavagna has 2'22 but the profile of the stage will start to get harder soon with a few more rolling hills. Bora have done a lot of work so far but they'll need to come up with something special to rescue Sagan's green jersey defence. 

Sunweb have moved up as well because they want to set up a sprint for Bol, and they might look to drop Bennett and Ewan before the finish, which is slightly uphill. 96km to go as a number of riders pick up their feeds. 

Sunweb continue with one rider on the front as Bora take a breather before this one 4th cat climb. The next 20-30 could be massive in the fight for the green jersey. 91km to go and the gap is at 2'11.

The Côte de Château-Chalon is 4.3km in length and it's just hard enough to be used as a launchpad for Peter Sagan. Cavagna's gap is down to 1'58 so he's lost about 30 seconds on the last few kms. And there's some wind out there too. 

And Cavagna hits the lower slopes of the 4th cat climb. He moves out of the saddle for just a couple of seconds before settling back down and tapping out that steady tempo. He's taking one for the team today with his move as Quickstep concentrate all their efforts on the green jersey. Bora hit the front. Where is Bennett?

Ewan has moved up as the climb starts but the pace isn't nuts at the moment. 1'38 though for Cavagna. 

Roche  is on the front and is just keeping the pace steady for now on this relatively flatter section. 

2km from the summit of the climb and Cavagna has 1'45 over the main field. 

Hostilities have ceased on the climb but ahead of the intermediate sprint the road does rise, so it could be there where we see some real action. 

Some news ahead of the finish in Paris on Sunday and crowds will be limited to 5000 due to the COVID-19 related restrictions. The full story is here.

Ewan is being dropped, or at the very least he's struggling. He should be okay though if some teammates can come back and pick him up. He takes a nice sticky bottle, which should help.

Here's our news on Postlberger being forced out of the race due to wasp sting. 

Up ahead though and Cavagna is still out there on his own and driving a strong pace that keeps him clear with a gap of 133 with 78km to go.

Bora and  Sunweb continue to swap turns on the front with the gap down to just over a minute with 73km to go. Ewan has made it back to the peloton.

Cavagna is on a short downhill section and is still holding over a minute on the peloton. He's never had more than 2'56 but he's been away for almost 100km. We've got 68km to go as Bora and Sunweb continue to set the pace at the front of the peloton.

This morning Sagan spoke to the media, and this is what he said, as reported by LeTour.com.

"Today's a little bit more up and down. We will see. We try to control. I think also with other teams we're going to come to the sprint.   It's very difficult because Sam is always on my wheel if I want to try to go in the break, or stuff like that. And after he's faster in the sprint, you know. We are sprinting, I don't know, 200-300 metres for the sprint, then taking points. Then we will see. I have to try my best in the sprint, and we'll see how it's going. I will try." 

66km to go now and still no real action from the main field but the terrain is mostly flat at this point. That will change soon enough as he head into more rolling terrain. 

Bennett now is being dragged up closer to the front of the peloton but we're still about 14km from the intermediate. Sagan needs to do something. 

No intermediate sprint for Ewan as he's right at the back but that's to be expected. Trentin is up there though.

The main field now passes through the feedzone and that will allow Cavagna to find a few more seconds. QuickStep will want him to take the intermediate points that are coming up, with the gap now at 1'23.

Bahrain have moved up now as the tension rises ahead of this sprint. We've 59km to go as we see Poels leading Landa to the front. All the GC teams are bringing their leaders closer to the action. 

This climb that comes up before the sprint, is longer than the 4th cat that we had earlier as the gap continues to drop. It's at 1'09 as Bora control the pace. 56km to go.

Ewan has been brought up by Lotto Soudal and the pace has eased as De Gendt sets  the tempo. Everyone is just watching and waiting for the moment.

The road is going to start to climb now for Cavagna and then the peloton too, with the gap at 1'23. The speed in the bunch those is far from frantic. 

5km until we reach the intermediate sprint. 

Cavagna is closing in on those vital points, which will just push Bennett that much closer to arriving in Paris in the green jersey. Bora though have totally moved off the front.

There's been an attack and it's from Rolland and Cosnefroy with 50km to go and now Rowe has attacked as well. 

That makes three riders with Rowe linking up with Cosnefroy and Rolland. Nothing else from the bunch. It looks like Sagan is going to wait for the sprint at the finish and aim for the stage win. 

Rowe, we don't see him on the attack in the Tour much, but he's driving this one along nicely. 49km to go and the bunch are at 1'00.

Cavagna takes the points at the intermediate. That's 20 points well earned. He's pushing on as well as Cosnefroy, Rowe and Rolland take more points. 

Then it's Bennett and then Sagan and that's 53 points to Bennett over Sagan in the green jersey competition. 

Now Cavagna has been joined by Cosnefroy, Rolland and Rowe. That's four leaders with 46km to go and the race has burst into life. 

Behind them and Bennett and Sagan and Trentin are in a group but Sunweb are leading the mass chase for Bol. 

The Sagan group has been caught but there are then attacks from Cofidis and Greg Van Avermaet but Pavel Sivakov is down.

Sicard and Carthy also came down but all thee riders are  back on their bikes. The  four leaders up front have 45 seconds.

Sivakov has been in the wars all through this Tour but he's shown real spirit to carry on, especially after what happened on stage 1.

it looks like Uran has been dropped or was in that crash but we have a group around Van Avermaet that's about 8 strong as more and more rider jump away. 

Politt is in the group with GVA, Fraile and Stuyven are bridging too but the four riders  up front, Rolland, Cosnefroy, Rowe and Cavagna still have 32 seconds.

The chasers in group two are De Clercq, Van Avermaet, Périchon, Politt and Burgaudeau.  Uran is just about to make it back to the peloton after that scare.

There's some real quality and depth to this chase group and they are closing on the leaders but the bunch aren't sitting up either because the race for the stage win is truly on.

36km to go

The four leaders have been joined by Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Cofidis), Omar Fraile (Astana Pro Team), Nils Politt (Israel Start-Up Nation), Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Direct Energie), Soren Kragh Andersen and Casper Pedersen (Team Sunweb). They have 12 seconds though with 36km to go.

And just like that, it's all back together. 

And Kwiatkowski, who won yesterday, is the next rider to try and move off the front but it looks like Jumbo Visma are taking control. They're being hit on all sides though as more and more riders try and escape. 

Bora once more push to the front and shut everything down again with 32km to go.

Ewan there is hanging on for dear life at the back of the peloton.

As up front Naesen leads with Rowe on his wheel. There's a lot of intent to break the race up but Bora, Sunweb and Jumbo want a sprint at the moment. 

Naesen, Rowe,  Bauer, Sagan, Bennett, and Benoot are now clear from the main field. 30km to go as more rider try and make contact.

Trek are leading a counter attack with a few more riders but the yellow jersey is only at 15 seconds.

It's Andersen, sorry not Benoot in the leading group of seven. They have 34 seconds now.

The leading seven have been joined by a number of other riders. The leaders have 1'53 and with 25km go this could be the winning move. Lotto are chasing with just one rider. 

There is a chase group of three at 1'23 but they're going to struggle to make contact. 2'20 now to the main leading group and our winning move has formed. 

22km to go

The 12 leaders, thanks to letour.com are:

Luke Rowe (Ineos), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sam Bennett and Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Greg van Avermaet and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Jack Bauer and Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), Nikias Arndt and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) with 25km to go. Three chasers: Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT), Bryan Coquard (B&B) and Hugo Hofstetter (Israel).

Huge quality in this break but there are a few passengers. Bennett is glued to Sagan's wheel as the leaders begin to take on a short little climb. 

2'30 for the leaders with 21km to go. The likes of Van Avermaet have to attack before the finish because they won't want to drag the sprinters to the finish. UAE have come to the front but they don't have that real intent and it looks like the bunch are sitting up. 

Tony Martin is on the front and he's laughing. Is that good or bad? I think it means the pace has dropped off as the gap goes out to 2'40 with 18km to go.

That chasing trio are unlikely to make contact either with their gap at 1'41.

A reminder of the leaders in the break:

Luke Rowe (Ineos), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sam Bennett and Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Greg van Avermaet and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Jack Bauer and Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), Nikias Arndt and Soren and Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb).

16.5km to go as Bennett remains glued to Sagan's wheel. Trentin attacks and Sagan follows.

Big move from the CCC rider but Sagan closes it down with Bennett on his wheel. CCC want to break this up. 

Now Sunweb attack and Andersen has gone clear. He's already won a stage, is it going to be a second? Well-timed move with 15km to go as Bauer goes and Van Avermaet follows. 

Andersen though has a healthy little gap. It's about 11 seconds with 14km to go and he's flying.

It's on Sagan or  CCC to chase but it's Rowe who takes a turn with the gap to Andersen at 14 seconds still. 

CCC take things up but the gap goes out to 14 seconds, and of course Quickstep will not take a single turn.

15 seconds with 12km to go and again it's Rowe who takes a long pull but the gap jumps out to 23 seconds. 

Andersen is in full time trial mode right now as Stuyen counters but the gap is now at 28 seconds. It's going to take a huge effort to bring the Dane back.

10km to go and the gap continues to grow. It's at 34 seconds.

It was such a good move from Andersen, who went away just after the Trentin move was caught. The Sunweb rider has 40 seconds with 9.4km to go.

46 seconds for the Sunweb rider with 7.7km to go and it's going to take something really special for the chase group to catch him.

53, the lead keeps expanding, and this is almost a done deal. 5km to go.

We're onto a flatter section of road and with 2.8km to go Soren Kragh Andersen is about to pick up his second stage win of the race.

This all but ends Sagan's challenge for the green jersey with his chance down from slim to non-existent. 

Soren Kragh Andersen has a minute with 1.4km to go as the chasers begin to attach each other.

He comes to the line and Soren Kragh Andersen wins stage 19 of the 2020 Tour de France. 

Here come the rest and Mezgec takes second and Stuyven third.

In the race for green, Bennett out gunned Sagan for eighth at the line. All over.

Here's our brief report from today's stage.

Robert Gesink has just rolled over the line to bring the main field home at 7:38. No changes on GC.

Lets hear from our winner. Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb):

I have to say that the last kilometre, I was screaming for them to confirm one minute, and I didn’t believe it. Two wins in the same Tour de France. I’m speechless. I could never have dreamed about something better. When the group was there, they had all the best riders in the world on hilly terrain, and I thought ' how do I beat these guys?' The moment came after [Matteo Trentin], he attacked really hard, and I was also at the limit. I thought that if I just got a small gap, they might look at each other, and that is exactly what happened. That was my luck.For the rest of my life, this is a memory for life, I’m super happy.

Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep)

I want to thank my team again. It was a really hard day and I know that I probably race very frustrating for other competitors but it’s all I can do because they’re so strong, and it’s more of a compliment on how strong they are than… (Flobikes)

Thanks for joining us today. You can find our complete stage report, here. We will be back tomorrow with the all-important individual time trial. Have a good afternoon.