Dylan Groenewegen too strong on longest day on Tour de France

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Dylan Groenewegen wins stage 7 tour de france 2018

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):

1Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)

5:43:42

2Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)

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3Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)

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4Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)

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5Christophe Laporte (Cofidis)

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6John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)

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7Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott)

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8Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)

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9Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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10Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data)

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11Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin)

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12Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida)

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13Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

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14Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie)

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15Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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16Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

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17Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

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18Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb)

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19Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

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20Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb)

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General classification after stage 7:

1Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

28:19:25

2Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)

+06”

3Tejay van Garderen (BMC)

+08”

4Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)

+09”

5Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

+15”

6Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors)

+21”

7Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac)

+48”

8Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+54”

9Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)

+55”

10Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)

+56”

11Richie Porte (BMC)

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12Mikel Landa (Movistar)

+58”

13Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

+01’05”

14Chris Froome (Team Sky)

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15Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb)

+01’06”

16Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

+01’11”

17Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)

+01’20”

18Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)

+01’21”

19Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb)

+01’26”

20Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo)

+01’29”

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