Thread: Sporting News

Jonas Vingegaard wins the stage 16 in a time of 32min 36sec.

Jonas Vingegaard keeps yellow jersey and blows away Tadej Pogacar

Jonas Vingegaard tightened his grip on the yellow jersey in the Tour de France after he blew away Tadej Pogacar in the individual time trial on stage 16.

The Dane won the 22.4km route from Passy to Combloux in 32 minutes 36 seconds on a decisive day of the Tour.

Vingegaard's impressive ride increased his overall lead over Pogacar from 10 seconds to one minute and 48 seconds.

Britain's Adam Yates moves up to third place and is five seconds ahead of Carlos Rodriguez with five stages left.

Two-time winner Pogacar now faces a huge task to claw back ground on the defending champion before the Tour finishes in Paris on Sunday.

Stage 16 results

Top five on stage 16

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 32min 36sec
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 38sec
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +2min 51sec
4. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +2min 55sec
5. Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla) + 2min 58sec

Remi Cavagna, Adam Yates, Mattias Skjelmose, Mads Pedersen and David Gaudu make up the top 10.

Top five after stage 16

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 63hr 06min 53sec
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 48sec
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +8min 52sec
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +8min 57sec
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +11min 15sec

Sepp Kuss, Pello Bilbao, Simon Yates, David Gaudu and Felix Gall make up the top 10.

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Stage 17 - Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc > Courchevel

Length: 165.7 km
Start: 12:20 CEST

Tour de France 2023: stage 17 through the Alps to Courchevel – live

Cofidis rider Guillaume Martin signs a shirt for a young fan ahead of today’s stage.

The riders journey through the neutral zone ahead of today’s Queen stage has begun and they will be given the signal to begin racing once they’ve covered about four kilometres.

Felix Gall takes stage 17

• Felix Gall takes stunning stage win in Courchevel on stage 17 of the Tour de France

Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) climbed to a superb victory in Courchevel on stage 17 of the Tour de France as Jonas Vingegaard increased his overall lead to more than seven minutes.

After sterling work from his Australian teammate Ben O’Connor, Gall attacked from the breakaway on the brutal slopes of the Col de la Loze - taking the souvenir Henri Desgrange in the process - and soloed to the line in Courchevel. Simon Yates (Jayco-AIUla) took second place and improved his position in the general classification.

Behind the Austrian, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates) cracked on the slopes of the final climb. Jonas Vingegaard increased his lead over the Slovenian to 7-35 in the fight for overall victory and extinguished any hope Pogačar may have had of wearing the yellow jersey in Paris on Sunday.

As was widely expected, the hors categorie Col de la Loze shattered the race in the stage finale. The remnants of the day's 34 man breakaway - which included climbers of the calibre of Yates, David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Bahrain Victorious duo Pello Bilbao and Jack Haig - exploded on the brutal gradients as Gall attacked on one of the toughest sections.

Behind them Pogačar suddenly blew up in the yellow jersey group and was quickly distanced by Jumbo-Visma and Vingegaard.

Gall held on to take the biggest win of his career as Vingegaard all but sealed a second successive overall victory.

Tour de France stage 17 results

1. Felix Gall (Aus) AG2R Citroën, in 04-49-08
2. Simon Yates (Gbr) Jayco-AIUla, at 34s
3. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, at 1-38
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-52
5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 2-09
6. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X, at 2-39
7. Chris Harper (Aus) Jayco-AIUla, at 2-50
8. Rafał Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-43
9. Adam Yates (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
10. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 3-49

Overall GC after stage 17

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma in 67-57-51
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 7-35
3. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, at 10-45
4. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, at 12-01
5. Simon Yates (Gbr) Jayco-AIUla, at 12-19
6. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, at 12-50
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 13-50
8. Felix Gall (Aut) AG2R Citroën, at 16-11
9. Sepp Kuss (Usa) Jumbo-Visma, at 16-49
10. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 17-57

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Stage 18 - Moutiers > Bourg-en-Bresse

Length: 184.9 km
Start time: 13:05CEST

Tour de France 2023: stage 18 from Moutiers to Bourg-en-Bresse as peloton leaves the Alps

Laurent Pichon greets the fans as he arrives for the start of the eighteenth stage.

I’m not sure how long this neutralised section is in total, but the graphic on screen just said they still have 7km to ride before the official start.

And they're off! We're racing on stage 18

Boom. Attacks from the start, as expected.

113km to go: Not an awful lot happening, in truth. The gap is just over a minute. The three breakaway riders – Kasper Asgreen (Soudal–Quick-Step), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Victor Campanaerts (Lotto–Dstny) – continue to work hard up front.

Kasper Asgreen wins stage 18

• Huge upset as Kasper Asgreen wins from breakaway on Stage 18 to deny sprinters

The sprinters' reward for surviving the mountains? Having the best seats in the house to watch the breakaway take a surprise victory on Stage 18. Kasper Asgreen ended Soudal-QuickStep's hunt for a victory at the 2023 Tour after proving the quickest from a brave quartet of escapees, while Jonas Vingegaard stayed upright to leave him just three stages away from a second overall title.

On the Tour de France sometimes the impossible happens. Not Jonas Vingegaard losing grip of the yellow jersey four days from Paris – that was never going to happen in a flat transitional Stage 18 to Bourg-en-Bresse – but how about a four-man breakaway holding the peloton at bay to deny the sprinters a gilt-edge opportunity to fight for the win.

Against all odds, Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) emerged victorious but will owe his win in large part to an almighty pull by fellow escapee Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) on the home straight with the peloton breathing down the neck of the leading quartet.

Campenaert’s team-mate Pascal Eenkhoorn – a late addition to the break after bridging over with around 60km remaining of the 185km stage – went shoulder-to-shoulder with Asgreen but could only take second place ahead of Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), as Belgium’s Campenaerts was swallowed up by the marauding pack behind.

Stage 18 results

1. Kasper Asgreen (Den/Soudal-Quick-Step) 4hrs 06min 48secs
2. Pascal Eenkhorn (Ned/Lotto-Dstny) same time
3. Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor/Uno-X)
4. Jasper Philipsen (Bel/Alpecin-Deceuninck)
5. Mads Pedersen (Den/Lidl-Trek)
6. Cees Bol (Ned/Astana Qazaqstan)
7. Jordi Meeus (Bel/Bora-Hansgrohe)
8. Matteo Trentin (Ita/UAE Team Emirates)
9. Christophe Laporte (Fra/Jumbo-Visma)
10. Luca Mozzato (Ita/Arkea-Samsic)

General classification after stage 18

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 72hrs 04mins 39secs
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +7min 35secs
3. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +10mins 45secs
4. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +12mins 1sec
5. Simon Yates (GB/Team Jayco-AlUla) +12mins 19secs
6. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +12mins 50secs
7. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +13mins 50secs
8. Felix Gall (Aut/AG2R) +16mins 11secs
9. Sepp Kuss (US/Jumbo-Visma) +16mins 49secs
10. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +17mins 57secs

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Stage 19 - Moirans-en-Montagne > Poligny

Length: 172.8 km
Start: 13:15 CEST