Sam Bennett has relinquished the green jersey at the Tour de France as he was caught on the wrong side of early splits on today's stage 7 and never got back on to the peloton.
While Bennett tried to chase, his rival for the green jersey, Peter Sagan, had his Bora-hansgrohe team on the front to ensure the sprinters in the field were dropped during an undulating start to the day.
The tactic worked as first Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) were dropped followed by Cees Bol (Team Sunweb), Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and then Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
Kasper Asgreen dropped back to Bennett to help him chase back on and Tim Declercq as also there to aid the Irishman in the chase.
However, while they looked like they were getting back on, Bora-hansgrohe kept the pressure on and ensured the damage they had done on the first climb wasn't undone and they succeeded as none of the chasers, Bennett included, got back to the bunch.
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At the intermediate sprint after 68km Matteo Trentin (CCC Team) took the maximum 20 points from Sagan, who claimed 17 and went back into the lead in the points classification jersey.
The gap between Bennett’s group would continue to grow
all the way to the finish in Lavaur and he eventually lost 14½ minutes.
However, before they reached the end of
the stage Ineos Grenadiers drilled the pace on the front with about 35km to go;
hitting it hard in a cross tailwind section and causing carnage.
Most of the general classification men –
including yellow jersey Adam Yates (Mitchelton Scott) – made the front group,
though some did not.
Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was up there initially but he suffered a mechanical and never got back on as he slipped back to the second group, which contained some interesting names.
Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) was there
having been among those caught out when Ineos Grenadiers hit the front and he
lost 1:21.
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Also in that group losing 1:21 was Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) along with Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates), Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo), Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo).
In the sprint to the finish line, from a 42-rider group,
Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) took his second stage win from Edvald Boasson Hagen
(NTT Pro Cycling) and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept).
As Yates was in the front group along with all the other GC men – including Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) – there were no major changes in the overall.
And while Bennett has lost the green jersey, Sagan could
only manage 13th in the final sprint, meaning his points tally
advantage over Bennett today was more modest than it might have been.
Bennett had 12 more points than Sagan this morning – 129 Vs
117 – and after the stage Sagan has a nine-point lead.
That is far from fatal for Bennett and, indeed, could be easily turned around. He crossed the line looking relaxed, safe in the knowledge that there is plenty of racing to come and he’s still in the fight for green.
One concern for both Bennett and Sagan is Van Aert’s form; the Belgian 25-year-old now up to 3rd in the classification on 106 points compared to Bennett’s 129 and Sagan’s 138.
Van Aert is perhaps unique in the Tour peloton in being the only rider who could score points in a climbers' stage and on a day for the pure sprinters.
However, he should be restricted in working for Roglic which will likely mean he does not trouble Bennett and Sagan in the fight for green unless he, Van Aert, wins a couple more stages, which is not impossible.
After his breakaway heroics of yesterday, Nicolas Roche (Team Sumweb) signaled before the stage today that he was looking to recover in the next few days. And he came home today a long way back; in a large group almost 16 minutes down.
Tomorrow’s stage 8 is one for the climbers with two cat 1 ascents and a HC mountain on the 141km stage from Cazères to Loudenvielle. The last 11km is a decent from the final climb of the day, the Col de Peyresourde.
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