Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania led a late breakaway in a downpour to win the 19th Stage of the Tour de France on Friday after hitching a ride with his Garmin-Sharp teammates.
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey and is expected to take it home with him when the three-week cycling showcase ends today. His lead of more than seven minutes over his closest challenger is so big that only a racing disaster could strip him of it.
Navardauskas stole away from the pack late in the 208.5km trek from Maubourguet to Bergerac in southwest France. He looked back over his shoulder, kissed his fingers and raised his arms in victory, with a bunch of sprinters barreling behind him. They crossed seven seconds later, and the stragglers followed.
Photo: EPA
The 26-year-old Garmin-Sharp rider became the first Lithuanian to win an individual stage at cycling’s greatest race and gave his team their first stage win this Tour. In 2011, he was part of the Garmin-Cervelo squad who won the team time trial at the Tour that year, and he also won a stage in last year’s Giro d’Italia.
Garmin-Sharp made the win a team effort. First, Dutch rider Tom-Jelte Slagter joined a five-man breakaway early on, then sped ahead alone. Alex Howes of the US helped pull the Lithuanian up front, before Navardauskas went away solo with about 13 km remaining.
“I gave it all. My teammates worked really hard for me,” Navardauskas said. “I took a risk — you have to try — and it worked.”
Photo: Reuters
The performance offered some vindication for Garmin-Sharp, who have had a rough Tour. First, team leader Andrew Talansky of the US pulled out before Stage 12 due to pain from crashes.
Three stages later, New Zealand cyclist Jack Bauer cried at the finish line after looking back over his shoulder in the final several seconds only to see the pack deprive him of a long, breakaway victory with just meters to go.
“I was just hoping that it would not happen the same way as Jack. To the last 10 meters, I was afraid to turn back,” Navardauskas said. “I had no idea what was happening behind me.”
Within the final few kilometers, about a dozen riders crashed together while trying to turn right on the rain-slickened roads.
Among them were Slovak rider Peter Sagan, who has the green jersey — given to the Tour’s best sprinter — and Romain Bardet, who is fifth overall.
Fellow French rider Jean-Christophe Peraud, who is third, was held up for a short time by the incident.
Under course rules, because the crash happened in the final 3km, nobody who got ensnared in it lost time in the title chase.
The top standings did not change. Nibali led his closest rival by more than seven minutes, but the quest for the final two podium spots was tight. Only 15 seconds separated second-placed Thibaut Pinot, Peraud and Alejandro Valverde in fourth.
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