Page 7 - MIN VOS 18 JULY 2015
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SPORTS A19
Saturday 18 July 2015
Unlucky Sagan 2nd-best again
at Tour as Froome stays cool
JOHN LEICESTER Riding past plantations two powerful riders com- Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet celebrates crosses the finish line
AP Sports Writer of yellow sunflowers and peting for one prize. ahead of Peter Sagan of Slovakia, wearing the best sprinter’s
RODEZ, France (AP) — Pe- golden fields of harvested The 30-year-old Belgian green jersey, to win the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France
ter Sagan might be the wheat, the riders worked made the top 10 on five cycling race over 198.5 kilometers (123.3 miles) with start in
unluckiest rider at the Tour on staying hydrated as previous stages. Not bad, Muret and finish in Rodez, France, Friday, July 17, 2015.
de France. “So close yet so temperatures soared into but no cigar. As well as sec-
far” could be his nickname. the mid-30s Celsius (mid- ond places on Stages 2, 5 Associated Press
With a few more pumps 90s Fahrenheit). A loss of and 6, 25-year-old Sagan
on his pedals, a few more concentration proved very also placed third twice.
ounces of speed and pow- painful for Jean-Christophe Both were ravenous to win.
er, the spunky Slovakian Peraud. Last year’s runner- Van Avermaet, it turned
could have won four stag- up suffered a nasty spill out, just a fraction more so.
es by now. at speed on the flat, tear- Sensing a rider — he didn’t
Instead, he has four sec- ing strips of skin off his left know it was Sagan — on his
ond places. leg and arms as he hit the wheel, he emptied his tank.
He blamed only himself for deck hard and rolled sev- Sagan, sprinting behind, off
the latest addition Friday eral times. The French lead- his saddle, sat back down
to his unwanted collection. er of the AG2R La Mondia- just a tad too early.
In a man-to-man duel on le team gingerly picked “Incredible,” said van
an uphill final sprint against himself up and remounted, Avermaet, who rides for
Greg van Avermaet, Sa- gritting his teeth. A Tour the BMC team.
gan mistimed his finish, eas- doctor then patched him “I was dead, really dead,”
ing up just a fraction too up on the move, wrapping he said. “I thought I’d
early against the Belgian his wounds in bandages as caught second. I pushed
rider who pushed to the Peraud gripped the speed- for the line and was so
very end. ing medical car. happy he didn’t overtake
“My stupid mistake,” said “When it’s hot like that, you me.”
the Tinkoff-Saxo rider. need a new bottle of water Sagan glowered at a re-
Chris Froome was fault- every 10-15 minutes,” said porter who asked how it
less. Again. Another stage Froome. “It was tough.” felt to be second again.
down, another step closer And it got tougher. He is the most consistent
to sipping champagne on As the finish in Rodez drew sprinter of this Tour, wearing
the Champs-Elysees for the close, the peloton woke the green jersey awarded
race leader. from its slumber. Like mice for that quality. But he last
“Just happy to tick that trying to escape a hunt- won a stage in 2013. He
day off. One day closer to ing cat, the escapees rode won three the year before
Paris now,” he said. furiously, eyeing the stage that.
For most of the flat-to- win in the town of 26,000 “I’m very angry and disap-
hilly Stage 13 from Muret people. Their special- pointed,” Sagan said. “I
deep in southern France, ity dishes include aligot, a sat down and all the pain
six low-placed riders rode mix of melted cheese and comes. Bad.”
in a breakaway at the mashed potato, and tripe. The cat-mouse chase killed
front of the race. None The cat had other plans. Froome’s hopes for an
were a threat for the po- Riders took turns at the uneventful day. The Brit-
dium in Paris. The closest to front of the peloton to pile ish leader of the Sky team
Froome, Cyril Gautier, was on speed. The gap melted and his closest podium
more than an hour behind like ice cream. With 7 kilo- challengers threw them-
him in the overall stand- meters (4 miles) to ride, it selves into the final sprint
ings. So Froome and the had shrunk from minutes because they didn’t want
main pack happily let the to 40 seconds. It was clear to lose time, even just a
escape get away, hop- this would be agonizingly few seconds, to each oth-
ing instead for a breather close. The pack caught er. Mission accomplished.
on the 198-kilometer (123- its prey inside the last ki- Froome’s lead remains un-
mile) trek after three gruel- lometer (half-mile), swal- changed, with Tejay van
ing days of climbing in the lowing up the last three Garderen of BMC still 2
Pyrenees and under unre- escapees. That was when minutes, 52 seconds back
lenting sun that melted tar- van Avermaet and Sagan and Nairo Quintana third,
mac. pounced, surging ahead, still 3:09 back.q
