Team Ineos Grenadiers suffered another bitter disappointment at the Tour de France as Lotto-Dstny’s Victor Campenaerts sprinted past former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski to win the title on stage 18 at Barcelonnette.
Kwiatkowski, the 2020 and 2023 Tour de France stage winner, finished third in a field that featured three riders, including Frenchman Matteo Weir Mattéo Vercher, but he was beaten by breakout specialist Campenaerts, one of the main car classics adventurer.
It was another blow for the British team, which had already suffered disappointment on stage nine, with Tom Pidcock unexpectedly being overtaken by Wycher’s TotalEnergies team-mate Anthony Turges to finish second.
If Kwiatkovsky was disappointed, then 23-year-old Tour de France rookie Wycher was heartbroken and sobbed uncontrollably outside the finish line. “You don’t get an opportunity like this every day,” he said after finishing second. It’s a sentiment Kwiatkovski would likely echo as Ineos Grenadiers strive to regain their past glory.
For ambitious hero Campenat, the impact of his first Tour stage victory was huge. When he stopped, he FaceTimed his partner and young son Gustav, who also burst into tears. “I always have big goals,” said the Belgian, who spent nine weeks training at altitude before the Tour. “It’s special to be in the Tour de France, it’s great to finish and it’s unbelievable to win a stage.”
It was another hot day, with temperatures peaking in the mid-30s, and the overall contenders finally took a back seat. With no breakthroughs in the Tour de France, it was finally the perfect opportunity for the escape artist as race leader, Emirates Team Tadej Pogacar, Wismar Second place on the rental bike team, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, Sudare stepped quickly and finally let them go.
Most teams have 37 riders taking part in the first round, including the Ineos Grenadiers duo of Geraint Thomas and Kwiatkowski, as well as Richard Carapaz from EF Education-EasyPost (winner of stage 17). 10 minutes behind, it was clear that the stage winner would come from the Escapees.
Thomas and Kwiatkoski were among the liveliest players in the final hour of the game, with the Welshman having a try on the bridge over Lac de Serre-Ponçon and Kwiatkoski then racing towards The last recognized climbing point – the top of the third grade hill.
Kwiatkowski started the attack on his own, followed by Campenaerts and Vercher, but the trio was consistently included by Bora Hansgrohe Five riders, including former Tour d’Italia champion Jai Hindley of Bora-Hansgrohe, chased all the way to the finish line. With his track record in tight sprints, the smart money is on Kwiatkovsky, but for a team that now finds it difficult to make a meaningful impact in a race it once dominated , another disappointing result.
“When we started racing we certainly had ambitions,” the team’s newly appointed performance director Scott Drawer told the Guardian. “You come here to win, get on podiums and win stages. Things didn’t necessarily go our way and unfortunately we were hit by the illness.
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But Drawer admits there’s still a lot of ground to make up. “There is no doubt that the evidence shows that motorsport has changed,” he said. “The numbers don’t lie. You look at Pogacar and Vingegaard on some of the climbs, they’re the best ever.
“From our perspective, we know there is a gap. We are working hard to study and understand that, and we will certainly close that gap over the next few years.
Friday’s stage 19, from Embrun to Isola 2000, is probably the most difficult of the Tour as it comes just 48 hours after the Nice time trial ends.
The 144.6km stage includes three daunting climbs: the Col de Vars at 2109m, the dizzying Cime de la Bonette at 2802m, and the 16km to Isola 2000, another high-altitude finish. distance.
