Power, and a bit of play-acting, carried Victor Campenaerts to victory in a three-up sprint from the breakaway on Stage 18 at the Tour de France. Campenaerts immediately shared an emotional video call with his family as the enormity of a maiden stage win at the Tour sunk in, while, back down the road, the GC riders cruised towards the finish as they conserved energy ahead of three tough days.
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Richard Carapaz took the glory on Stage 17 of the Tour de France after a superb solo display. The Ecuadorian made the most of being allowed up the road – for once – by the GC teams to take Ecuador’s first ever Tour stage win. Behind him, Tadej Pogacar attacked late on but Jonas Vingegaard – after initially struggling to respond – fought back to limit his losses to two seconds.
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his third victory at this year’s Tour de France, cruising ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) in Nîmes on stage 16. Despite a frustrating start to the race, winless in the first nine stages, the Belgian began the third week as he finished the second, with his arms in his air, celebrating at 70km/h.
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Tadej Pogacar put on a climbing exhibition on Bastille Day to complete back-to-back wins in the Pyrenees and put one foot on the final podium ahead of the second rest day. The Slovenian dropped his big rival Jonas Vingegaard with 5km to go of the final climb on Plateau de Beille, which he ascended in a record-breaking time to strengthen his grip on the yellow jersey.
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Any question marks about Tadej Pogacar have surely been dismissed after he produced a scintillating ride to take Stage 14 solo at the Tour de France, with Jonas Vingegaard a distant second. The day exploded into life on the final climb as UAE Team Emirates sent Adam Yates up the road to tee up a Pogacar attack, with the yellow jersey charging away as Vingegaard and Evenepoel struggled to respond.
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