After Fabio Jakobsen abandoned the Tour de France without a stage win and with Julian Alaphilippe looking like a shadow of his former self, Kasper Asgreen salvaged a stage win for Soudal QuickStep today after a determined breakaway held off the bunch.
In a very tight finish - with just seconds between the breakaway and the peloton - it was Lotto-Dstny's Victor Campenaerts who stepped up in the final kilometre to ensure the escape group stayed clear. However, while he was doing that work in the hopes his team mate, Pascal Eenkhoorn, could win the sprint for victory, Asgreen had other ideas.
He sprinted in at the front of the breakaway - caught on the line the peloton - to win the day from Eenkhoorn and Tour debutant Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), who was also in the break today.
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had earlier tried to bully and physically block Eenkhoorn from joining the escape group, led in the bunch for 4th place, on the same time as the three breakaway men who made it all they way.
Asgreen, Abrahamsen and Campenaerts formed the day-long breakaway for 185km. However, they were kept on such a short leash by Alpecin-Deceuninck, along with Jayco AlUla and Team DSM-firmenich, other riders began to make efforts to jump across to the leaders, making for a messy period mid-stage.
It was on the Côte de Boissieu that Eenkhoorn attacked, only to be tracked by Philipsen, who tried to bully him out of his move. However, Eenkhoorn went again a short time later and managed to get across to the leading duo. Once the breakaway was bolstered by Eenkhoorn's arrival, Bora-hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek began helping in the chase at the front of the peloton.
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While the breakaway only ever had a maximum of 1:30 today, it was down to 30 seconds when Eenkhoorn attacked for a second time, with about 65km to go, with Campenaerts dropping back to help him. The breakaway's advantage then went back out to one minute.
With 16km to go, the gap was just above 30 seconds, and it seemed like a bunch sprint was inevitable; the gap down to just 10 seconds with just 5km remaining, though the breakaway just held on.
There was no change in the overall, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) still leading Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) by 7:35, with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in 3rd at 10:45.
