Defending Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas on Thursday defied his doubters as Belgian Dylan Teuns won stage six and his breakaway partner Giulio Ciccone snatched the maillot jaune by just a few seconds on an iconic mountain stage.
Teuns won the tough mountain stage to Planche des Belles Filles when he and Ciccone, a relatively unknown duo, crossed the summit finish line as the sole survivors of a mass breakaway.
Behind them, Thomas dispelled skepticism over his form.
Photo: Reuters
It was this year’s Tour’s first foray into the mountains. It was a stage that defending champion Thomas had described as “the big day.” He was expected to drop time, instead he showed strong form by beating all his main general classification rivals.
For Teuns, this was a prestige win. He enters a storied history of the Planche des Belles Filles finish. Meanwhile, Ciccone goes down as the 269th maillot jaune in its 100-year history.
“When it came down to the two of us, we stayed calm, we talked about it,” said Teuns, hinting that the pair did a deal for a win-win instead of risking it all by not collaborating and getting caught by the big guns.
Ciccone was less relaxed about his feat.
“It’s just unbelievable,” the Italian said after taking the overall lead from Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe by just six seconds.
Alaphilippe put in a heroic defense of his lead, but missed out due to the bonus seconds over the final two summits saw the young Italian edge ahead.
“It feels strange, to have the yellow jersey on my back feels so strange.” Ciccone said.
“I wanted to win the stage for the team, but I never believed it would be possible to take the lead,” said the 24-year-old who rides for the same Trek-Segafredo team as Richie Porte.
The stage ended as a battle not only for the stage and the overall lead, but for psychological control of the race, with Thomas gaining an edge.
Chris Froome won the first finish on the mountain in 2012 to confirm his potential before he went on to win the 2013 Tour and Thomas must have sensed something special.
The Welshman gave food for thought to those who had called him a one-hit wonder after his win last year, who raised eyebrows when he lost a few seconds on a climb at Epernay earlier in the week and who had tipped Team Ineos teammate Egan Bernal.
“I don’t listen to tips,” Thomas said. “I felt pretty good. I thought it would be more of a solid day. I was feeling good, but I was unsure. I thought the steep climbs weren’t my cup of tea.”
Thomas and Bernal, who dropped nine seconds to the Welshman, were part of an impressive Team Ineos effort that controlled the pace over the most of the course as the peloton crossed seven mountains.
Thomas waited until first Mikel Landa, then Thibaut Pinot and, finally, the overnight leader Alaphilippe himself had attacked before showing his form was back after a nasty fall in the Tour de Suisse last month.
“It’s one of those climbs where you really have to be patient,” the 33-year-old said.
Other good performances came from Colombia’s Nairo Quintana, Briton Adam Yates, Irishman Dan Martin and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who grew up in the region.
Two of the overall contenders lost significant time as 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali and Frenchman Romain Bardet suffered on the slopes.
“I just wasn’t up to it today, it’s a bitter realization,” said Bardet, who has twice finished on the podium, but who was the day’s biggest loser.
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