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July 20, 2018

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Thomas extends lead at Tour

Geraint Thomas sprinted away from Sky teammate Chris Froome to win the legendary climb on Alpe d’Huez while wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France yesterday.

With questions over which rider Sky is backing for victory, it was a bold demonstration of strength by Thomas, who has been Froome’s loyal lieutenant for years.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb crossed second, two seconds behind, and France’s Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) was third, three seconds back.

Froome finished fourth, four seconds behind Thomas, as the 12th stage concluded with the famed 21 bends to the iconic Huez ski resort.

Thomas extended his lead over Froome in the overall standings to 1 minute, 39 seconds.

Dumoulin was third overall, 1:50 behind.

Vincenzo Nibali recovered from a crash in the final kilometers to finish seventh in the stage. The Italian was fourth overall, 2:37 back.

The last and most feared of the three stages in the Alps this year, the 175.5-kilometer leg began in Bourg-Sant-Maurice and took the peloton over three grueling, beyond-category climbs.

Earlier, three more of the Tour de France’s top sprinters succumbed in the Alps.

Fernando Gaviria of Colombia, Dylan Groenewegen of the Netherlands, and Andrew Greipel of Germany all withdrew during yesterday’s stage.

Rigoberto Uran, a climbing expert who was runner-up last year to Froome, also withdrew due to injuries he sustained on Stage 9.

Gaviria won the opening stage on his Tour debut and backed that up by claiming the fourth stage, while Groenewegen won bunch sprints at the end of Stages 7 and 8.

Greipel has 11 career stage wins at the world’s top three-week race.

All three pulled out midway through the grueling leg.

Their withdrawals come a day after sprinters Mark Cavendish of Britain and Katusha star Marcel Kittel, who have 44 combined Tour stage wins, failed to make the time cut on another mountain stage.

With the race heading to the Pyrenees in the final week, there are only two flat stages left before the traditional finish on Paris’ Champs Elysees.

Uran crashed on Sunday during the stage to Roubaix, damaging his left leg and arm. He went through a hard day on Wednesday and was 30th overall, more than 31 minutes behind race leader Thomas.

Uran’s EF Education First-Drapac team said in a statement that he has not fully recovered and couldn’t pedal properly.

“I didn’t recover after the crash,” Uran said. “Yesterday in the first real climb, all day, there was pain in my body.”




 

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