Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) became the first rider to win two stages in the 107th Tour de France. It’s also his second win in the Tarn department as he imposed himself in Albi last year. He outsprinted Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT) and Bryan Coquard (B&B) in Lavaur after a fierce battle that deprived the top sprinters of another opportunity while an acceleration by Ineos-Grenadier made Tadej Pogacar, Mikel Landa and Richie Porte lose some significant time. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) retained the yellow jersey.
BORA-HANSGROHE MAKE THE RACE HARD
172 riders started stage 7 of the 107th Tour de France in Millau. Polka dot jersey holder Benoît Cosnefroy attacked from the gun as the côte de Luzençon was located only 9km after the start. Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) tried to come across but failed. Michael Schär (CCC) managed to bridge the gap but for a little while only. The Bora-Hansgrohe team put the hammer down as early as km 5 to make the race hard for the sprinters. Quickly, the likes of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) got dropped. Later, the same happened to green jersey holder Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) who found himself in a chasing group.
SAM BENNETT IN A GROUP BEHIND
Bora-Hansgrohe caught Cosnefroy just before the summit of the first climb but allowed the Frenchman to take 2 KOM points. Critérium du Dauphiné winner Dani Martinez (EF) who still suffers from his crash in Nice on day 2 was also in the Bennett group but the combined efforts of EF and Deceuninck-Quick Step didn’t enable the green jersey to come across for the second time. It was game over for the Irishman when his 57-man group crossed the line of the intermediate sprint of Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance with a deficit of 2’10’’ at km 58 where Matteo Trentin (CCC) won the sprint of the 92-man strong peloton ahead of Sagan. Previous stage winners Alexander Kristoff and Caleb Ewan were much further behind along with Italian top sprinters Elia Viviani and Giacomo Nizzolo.
DE GENDT 60KM AT THE FRONT
Being freed from his usual duty at the service of Ewan, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) rode away from the peloton with 95km to go. Bora-Hansgrohe kept pulling the bunch, sometimes helped by B&B Hotels-Vital Concept that had high ambitions for Bryan Coquard. After he enjoyed a maximum of 50’’ lead, De Gendt got brought back by the pack as Ineos-Grenadier took advantage of a three-quarter tail wind to open an echelon with 35km to go. It affected two former Team Sky riders, Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) who got trapped in a third and second group respectively. White jersey holder Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was another victim of the acceleration. The tempo remained high till the end with Groupama-FDJ, Astana and Jumbo-Visma taking over from Ineos-Grenadier at the head of the peloton. Van Aert won the sprint of 40 riders while hot favourite Sagan couldn’t do better than thirteenth.
