Slovenian rider Matej Mohoric won a compelling stage 7 to complete his set of victories on all three of cycling’s grand tours, as Mathieu van der Poel retained the yellow jersey and increased his advantage over the chasing pack.
The Bahrain-Victorious rider prevailed from the day’s breakaway, which also featured the maillot jaune of Van der Poel, on the longest Tour stage for 21 years covering 249km of central France from Vierzon to Le Creusot.
Ineos Grenadiers’ Richard Carapaz surged away from the main bunch late in the day in an effort to claw back precious seconds on key rivals like Tadej Pogacar, but he was caught on the line by the main bunch including teammate Geraint Thomas as well as Pogacar, meaning his substantial efforts brought no reward.
Primoz Roglic, one of the pre-race favourites who finished second last year, cracked late in the day and his challenge appears to be over.
At the end of a frantic day, Van der Poel had seen what had been an eight-second lead over Pogacar in the general classification become a 30-second lead over Wout van Aert.
Recommended
Kasper Asgreen and Mohoric moved up to third and fourth respectively, with Pogacar now fifth, three minutes and 43 seconds down.
The Slovenian remains the best-placed of the overall contenders for glory in Paris, but there are huge question marks over his supporting cast after a brutal day.
More to follow...
