Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) outblasted his rivals to the line in a sprint to take the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Friday, the longest single stage of the race, a 231-km haul from Fougeres to Chartres.
Groenewegen, who won the final stage on the Champs Elysees last year, crushed the pedals with 200 meters to go to easily beat Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors).
“I hope there’s more. I have the legs to win now, so we celebrate tonight and maybe the same tomorrow,” Groenewegen said.
World champion Peter Sagan, gunning for a record-equalling sixth green jersey for the points classification, took third place.
Greg van Avermaet (BMC) stayed safe in the bunch all day and retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the stage, six seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas.
All the top contenders for the overall victory enjoyed a comfortable day as the race heads towards a much-feared ninth stage featuring cobbled sectors on Sunday just before the first rest day.
Halfway through the stage, the AG2R-La Mondiale, Trek and Movistar teams accelerated in crosswinds and caused splits in the peloton, with Dan Martin trapped behind. But the move eventually failed and the bunch was compact again with 95km left.
“We knew there would be some crosswinds and other teams were interested in trying something,” said AG2R-La Mondiale manager Vincent Lavenu, whose leader Romain Bardet lost half a minute following a mechanical in the finale of Thursday’s sixth stage. “Unfortunately it did not work but at least we tried.”
The move at least ended Yoann Offredo’s ordeal. The Frenchman, who had been on a solo breakaway for 100 kilometers, was swallowed by the peloton.
Another Frenchman, Laurent Pichon, then tried his luck alone too, but the pace was controlled by the sprinters’ teams, and the Fortuneo-Samsic rider was reined in about 40km from the finish.
Saturday’s eighth stage is a 181-km ride between Dreux and Amiens that should once again favor the sprinters.
Tour de France 2018 – stage 7 results (Fougères – Chartres):
| 1 | Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) | 5:43:42 |
| 2 | Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 3 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 5 | Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 6 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 7 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 10 | Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 11 | Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 12 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 13 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 14 | Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 15 | Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 16 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 17 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 18 | Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 19 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 20 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
General classification after stage 7:
| 1 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | 28:19:25 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +06” |
| 3 | Tejay van Garderen (BMC) | +08” |
| 4 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +09” |
| 5 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +15” |
| 6 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +21” |
| 7 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) | +48” |
| 8 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +54” |
| 9 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +55” |
| 10 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +56” |
| 11 | Richie Porte (BMC) | ,, |
| 12 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +58” |
| 13 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’05” |
| 14 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 15 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | +01’06” |
| 16 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’11” |
| 17 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’20” |
| 18 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +01’21” |
| 19 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +01’26” |
| 20 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’29” |
