Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The most demanding stage of the entire race was left for the final day, where the riders had to climb 5,450m across three horse class climbs covering 170.9km to finish second in two days at the iconic Alpe d’Huez ski-resort.
American Coos of Visma-Liz A bike was part of a big early breakaway with riders looking for a stage win and attacked alone with about 25km to go.
The 31-year-old has found the strength that helped him win the Vuelta a Espana in 2023 and looks set to hold on to a slim lead for victory.
But the often unflappable Kuss was on edge and crashed into a right-hand corner after getting his line wrong, his bike half-stopping before his rear wheel skidded on the dirt at the edge of the road and leaning against the safety net that prevented him from going down in a sheer drop.
He maintained his lead at the time but soon crashed again exiting a tunnel approaching the town of Alpe d’Huez and took the lead as the American overtook EF Education-Egypost’s strong Carapaz Kus.
Carapaz, the 2019 Giro d’Italia winner, won his second stage in three days and won the King of the Hill race.
Normally, on a stage like the French Alps, Pogakkar would have been expected to deliver another masterclass but he held back to help del Toro, who at one point started to struggle on the Col du Galibier, defend his white jersey and third place overall from French sensation Paul Cxas of the Decathlon CMA-CGM.
The 19-year-old Sexus finally lost power on the race’s final hill and set to finish fourth in the general classification, 11 minutes and 56 seconds down on Pogacker’s overall time.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 finished the stage 16th, nine minutes and three seconds down, and will finish ninth overall in the GC.
Lidl-Trek’s Denmark’s Mads Pedersen will win the green points jersey in Paris on Sunday as he leads Alpesin-Premier Tech’s Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen by 82 points.
