Foix, Friday, 14th July – French riders hadn’t won a stage of the Tour de France on Bastille Day since David Moncoutié in Digne in 2005. Warren Barguil did it as he attacked from the gun, rode on the offensive again for the polka dot jersey and outsprinted no less than Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Mikel Landa to claim the fourth French stage win this year after Arnaud Démare, Lilian Calmejane and Romain Bardet. He’s also the first Breton rider to win at the Tour since Pascal Lino in 1993. Behind the four escapees, Fabio Aru retained the yellow jersey despite losing his team-mate early.
After remaining focused on one goal, Team Sunweb have powered to the stage 13 Tour de France victory today, with Warren Barguil (FRA) winning the sprint from the breakaway group, a phenomenal victory on Bastille Day.
From the beginning of the Tour de France, Team Sunweb set out with one goal; stage success. The team had a few close calls with a second place for Michael Matthews (AUS) on stage three, followed by a brilliant team effort that allowed Barguil to take over the lead in the king of the mountains competition and narrowly miss day success on stage nine. Throughout the Tour de France’s thirteen stages Team Sunweb remained calm and focused on the plan, which today led to stage success with Barguil storming to take a historical victory.
“This is an incredible victory to take, it hasn’t sunk in properly yet,” explained a euphoric Barguil. “We were close already on Sunday, but we kept our confidence and chosed an offensive strategy from the beginning today. After I made it up the first climb I knew that I wasn’t going to give up. Before I knew it I was at 800 metres to go looking at the other guys and I knew who would attack and when and I used that to my advantage as a lead-out for my sprint. I’ve been so close to the win quite a few times now so to have the winning feeling back today is incredible. Of course a victory on Bastille day makes this even more special.”
Team Sunweb’s Tour de France coach Aike Visbeek (NED) added: “We believed in the team’s ability to take a stage victory at the Tour and everybody has remained committed to that goal so it’s great that all of our hard work has paid off. Our aim today was for Warren to ride offensively both for the stage win and to defend his KOM jersey. He remained motivated and calm going into the final, pacing everything to perfection. This victory is great for the team morale and a well deserved win after some challenging days in the mountains.”
STAGE RESULT
1. Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) in 2h36’29’’
2. Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), st
3. Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), st
INDIVIDUAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team)
2. Christopher Froome (Team Sky) at 6’’
3. Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) at 25’’
