Thread: Sporting News

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The racing has begun!

172km to go: The 151 riders have begun the race and there is already a group of four fighting for a breakaway.

Also, here is a little GC recap for you: Vingegaard, in the yellow jersey, leads the Tour de France with an impressive 7min 35sec over Pogacar. Adam Yates sits in third with 10min 45 sec and Carlos Rodriguez is in fourth position with 12min 01sec.

150 km to go: Pedersen and Lutsenko have 6sec of the chasing group and they’re climbing.

Matej Mohoric wins stage 19

Poligny

Lol, I was way off.

• Mohoric wins furious stage 19 Tour duel as Vingegaard is quizzed on anti-doping

Matej Mohoric won a volatile 19th stage of the Tour de France after narrowly outsprinting Kasper Asgreen, a stage winner 24 hours earlier, in Poligny. The Slovenian won by a hair’s breadth, his last-gasp bike throw doing enough to ensure his Bahrain Victorious team’s third stage win in the 2023 Tour.

A rapid afternoon of racing through the Jura focused less on the overall standings and more on Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen. The wearer of the green jersey as leader of the points classification, Philipsen battled to ensure that rival Mads Pedersen, of Lidl-Trek, was not allowed to sneak up the road to further narrow the gap between them.

In the end, it boiled down to a furious chase between a nine-man group of pursuers, containing the Belgian sprinter Philipsen, and three breakaway riders. Asgreen, of Soudal Quick-Step, winner in Bourg-en-Bresse on Thursday; Ben O’Connor of AG2R Citroën; and Mohoric as they closed on the finish line. After his win, Mohoric said that his success meant a lot because “it’s hard and cruel to be a pro cyclist”.

Stage 19 results

Overall GC results after stage 19

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Stage 20 - Belfort > Le Markstein Fellering

Length: 133.5 km
Start: 13:30 CEST

Tour de France 2023: stage 20 heads for decisive finish at Le Markstein – live

Julian Alaphilippe before the stage start in Belfort

The stage 20 roll-out is under way

The riders are assembled en masse behind Christian Prudhomme’s official red Tour Skoda and have another couple kilometres of the neutral zone through which to meander before getting the signal to begin racing.

It’s likely to be hell-for-leather from the start with this being the last chance for many riders to bag themselves a stage win. It’s been a brilliant race so far, one of the best I can remember, and today’s should be another cracker.

They're off and racing on stage 20 ...

132km to go: At the drop of the flag, two Lotto-Dstny riders, Vincent Campenaerts and Jasper De Buyst, immediately make a break for it, quickly opening a gap of 22 seconds on the bunch.

Tadej Pogacar wins stage 20

• Pogačar wins Stage 20 but Vingegaard is virtually assured of Tour de France win

Tadej Pogačar pipped defending champion Jonas Vingegaard to take the Tour de France penultimate stage on Saturday but it won’t be enough to stop his great rival winning the race.

Vingegaard maintained his lead of 7 minutes, 35 seconds over two-time champion Pogačar and will surely be crowned the Tour winner again after Sunday’s largely ceremonial stage ends on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Pogačar, who won in 2020 and 2021, claimed his second stage win in the 110th edition of cycling’s most famous race but was unable to make up for Vingegaard’s huge advantage built in the Alps.

Saturday’s 133.5-kilometer (83-mile) stage from Belfort to the mountain resort of Le Markstein was the last tough test for the riders and the 3,600 meters of climbing took its toll on many of them.

Stage 20 results

GC after stage 20 results

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Stage 21 - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines > Paris Champs-Elysees

Length: 115.1 km
Start: 16:30 CEST

Tour de France 2023: final stage to Paris Champs Elysees – live

The stage 21 roll-out is under way

Happy faces across the front of the peloton as the riders roll out for their final stage of the 2023 Tour de France. I can imagine they are all happy to have made it to Paris after a fast, hectic and tiring three weeks.

113km to go: Campenaerts had a cheeky attack off the front but he soon slows up and winks at the camera. He was just having a bit off fun as the most combative rider of the Tour.

Jordi Meeus wins stage 21

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Stage 21 results