July 28, 2018 – 17:26
It was time for the settling up at Espelette, an individual time trial of 31 kilometers. Favorite Tom Dumoulin has again claimed the master of the clock. The Dutchman, who won in 2016 on the Vallon Pont-d’Arc Ardèche course, won this time in the Basque country and secured second place on the Paris podium behind Geraint Thomas. Thomas’ decline in second part of course did not threaten his position at the top of the overall ranking. It is with the Yellow Jersey and a slightly reduced advance to 1’51 ” that the Welshman will start of the final stage tomorrow. His teammate Chris Froome has done well on the course today. With the 2nd best time, 1 ” of Dumoulin, he resumed his place on the podium of the Tour. He will reach Paris for the 6th time in his career, at the expense of Primoz Roglic.
Hepburn over 44 km / h
Of the 145 riders expected at the start, Lawson Craddock, is preparing to become the first rider in history to walk the red lantern from the beginning to the end of the Tour. The first to settle in the lead was Michael Hepburn, with an average speed of 44.02 km/h which reflects the difficulty of the route.
Kragh Andersen raised the level
Four-time Spanish champion Jonathan Castroviejo stumbled at eight seconds. Another Spaniard, Marc Soler, climbed to the same level and took advantage over Hepburn with a tiny margin of 5 hundredths of a second. But the performance does not impress Michal Kwiatkowsi, who cuts 1 “to the benchmark and gives an idea of what can be achieved later by the best specialists at the end.
Roglic back
Ilnur Zakarin stands out by momentarily taking the lead on intermediate scores, while Romain Bardet applied to overtake Mikel Landa for 6th overall. Among the last players of the day, the match for the stage is doubled this year in a battle for places on the final podium. Primoz Roglic showed himself unable to defend his place on the podium against Chris Froome (30” behind the time point of km 13, 49 ” at km 22). The man in good shape is indeed the boss of the Tour: Geraint Thomas had the best lap times with a comfortable margin on his former leader. In the end, Tom Dumoulin, has his second success on a time trial, while securing 2nd place on the Tour de France 2018.
STAGE RESULT
1. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) in 40’52’’
2. Chris Froome (Team Sky) at 01’’
3. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) at 14’’
INDIVIDUAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
2. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 1’51’’
3. Chris Froome (Team Sky) at 2’24’’
