Biniam Girmay took his third victory in 11 days after winning stage 12 of the Tour de France in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, while Mark Cavendish was described as “upset and angry” after being relegated from fifth place in another hectic sprint finale.
The Tour’s record-breaking stage winner was penalised by the race jury for “deviation from the chosen line, that obstructs or endangers another rider”, and dropped down the field to 68th place on the day.
The Astana Qazaqstan sports director, Mark Renshaw, said: “Cavendish is really upset with this decision, as am I and the team, because we thought it was a hard-earned fifth place.”
It was a bad day at the office for the British sprinter, who also lost his key lead-out man, Michael Mørkøv, to Covid before the day’s stage began.
“I think our team has taken a responsible decision,” Cavendish told Eurosport. “I know there are riders in the peloton with Covid and that can affect everybody. But there’s not much you can do about that, is there?”
Girmay, meanwhile, keeps blazing a trail through the Tour de France peloton, not just as a sprinter but also a role model for African cyclists, long ostracised by the top European teams. After his victory on Thursday, Girmay called for more black riders in World Tour racing.
“This year I am the only black rider in the peloton,” Girmay said. “It’s not nice to be honest. I wish I could have more black riders inside the peloton.”
Asked if he was comfortable being a role model in a sport that has traditionally been dominated by white Europeans, Girmay, of the Intermarché-Wanty team, responded: “I’m comfortable in myself.”
“He added: Cycling is not a global sport, like other sports. I am super happy to show that now, cycling is more global and [I’m happy] to see that in the peloton more and more, especially for African cycling.”
Primoz Roglic, one of the general classification’s “Big Four”, lost more time in the overall standings, after a traffic island caused a bad crash in the heart of the peloton with only 11km left to race. Roglic, leader of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, who had started the day in fourth, 2min 15sec behind the race leader, Tadej Pogacar, finished the stage with a bloodied left side and his jersey ripped at his shoulder.
By the end of the afternoon, Roglic had tumbled to 4min 42sec behind the UAE Team Emirates rider, with concern growing over his ability to continue racing.
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The “Big Four” may have been decisively cut to a “key three” of Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel (who is 1min 6sec behind) and the defending champion, Jonas Vingegaard, a further eight seconds back. Pogacar said that news of his fellow Slovenian’s bad luck came as “a shock”, adding: “It was really shit news. I’m really disappointed for him and sad that he lost time. He was looking better every day.”
Pogacar said of the crash: “I heard something at the back of the bunch but you can’t look around. You just know something has happened, but you don’t know how many guys have gone down.”
In hot and heavy conditions on the Tour’s fourth 200km-plus stage, an increasingly fatigued peloton – with many riders licking their wounds after Wednesday’s gruelling stage through the Massif Central – zigzagged south-west through the Lot region towards the distant Pyrenees.
The race is now nearing the end of its second week and steadily the number of drop-outs is increasing. The Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and 2023 stage winner Pello Bilbao, of Bahrain Victorious, are among those heading to the nearest airport for an early flight home.
Friday’s 13th stage to Pau may be unlucky for some, but with another sprint finish looking likely, Cavendish will be hoping for a return to winning form – even without Mørkøv at his side.
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