2020 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2020 Tour de France is the 107th edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Nice with a hilly stage on 29 August, and Stage 11 will occur on 9 September with a flat stage to Poitiers. The race will finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 20 September.
Classification standings
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Denotes the leader of the general classification |  |
Denotes the leader of the mountains classification |
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Denotes the leader of the points classification |  |
Denotes the leader of the young rider classification |
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Denotes the leader of the team classification |  |
Denotes the winner of the combativity award |
Stage 1
29 August 2020 – Nice to Nice, 156 km (97 mi)[1]
An early break was made by Michael Schär, Cyril Gautier and Fabien Grellier, who split the six mountain points on offer evenly between themselves; Grellier was awarded the King of the Mountains jersey by virtue of having scored his two points first. The break was caught with 100 km still to go, after which it started to rain, making the downhill stage very slippery and leading to several crashes. The riders agreed a truce in the peloton. A large pileup occurred with 3 km to go, however the riders involved were all credited with the same time as the stage winner. Alexander Kristoff won the final sprint. The crashes led to the withdrawal of John Degenkolb, Rafael Valls and Philippe Gilbert and left several other riders injured.[2]
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Stage 2
30 August 2020 – Nice to Nice, 186 km (116 mi)[4]
Peter Sagan was involved in the early break, however he was pipped at the intermediate sprint by Matteo Trentin. Kristoff retained the green jersey but lost several minutes on the field. Benoit Cosnefroy and Anthony Perez scored 18 points each in the two category 1 climbs; Cosnefroy was awarded the polka dot jersey. Julian Alaphilippe, Marc Hirschi and Adam Yates made a late break, maintaining a narrow lead over the peleton to the finish, where Alaphilippe took the sprint and claimed the yellow jersey.[5]
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Stage 3
31 August 2020 – Nice to Sisteron, 198 km (123 mi)[7]
Benoit Cosnefroy, Anthony Perez and Jérôme Cousin arranged an early break for points in the three category 3 climbs. Perez crashed and abandoned the race, Cosnefroy withdrew from the break, while Cousin continued his efforts and won the intermediate sprint before he was caught. Deceuninck–Quick-Step led the bunch for Sam Bennett victory, but Caleb Ewan attacked from slipstream skilfully and overhauled the Irish on the finish line. Peter Sagan took the green jersey.[8]
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Stage 4
1 September 2020 – Sisteron to Orcières-Merlette, 160.5 km (99.7 mi)[9]
Benoot, Burgaudeau, Neilands, Pacher, Politt, Vuillermoz formed the attacking group. Politt was first at the intermediate sprint and Pacher won most of mountain points through the route. Benoot crashed and the rest of breakaway struggled except Neilands. The Latvian was caught at the beginning of final climb. Pierre Rolland tried to escape unsuccessfully. In the final 2 kilometers, Sepp Kuss accelerated to shake out most of the riders, Guillaume Martin launched the sprint but Primož Roglič was the fastest from the group of climbers.[10]
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Stage 5
2 September 2020 – Gap to Privas, 183 km (114 mi)[11]
Despite some approaches and moderate pace of the peloton, no one could make a long-range attack on this stage. Benoit Cosnefroy scored two mountain points to keep the polka dot jersey. Sam Bennett won the intermediate sprint and finished third on the stage, what made him the new leader of the points standings. Meanwhile, Team Jumbo–Visma let their domestique Wout Van Aert take part in the battle for stage win. He found the perfect place behind Cees Bol from Team Sunweb in the slightly uphill last kilometer. His lead-out was well-organised but Van Aert's wheel crossed the line few centimeters ahead. Race leader Alaphilippe received a 20 seconds penalty for illegal late feed and Adam Yates took the yellow jersey.[12]
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Stage 6
3 September 2020 – Le Teil to Mont Aigoual, 191 km (119 mi)[13]
Greg Van Avermaet, Alexey Lutsenko, Jesús Herrada, Nicolas Roche, Daniel Oss, Neilson Powless, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Rémi Cavagna all managed to get into the day's breakaway. At one point they had six minutes of advantage, what was enough to secure a stage win. Boasson Hagen won maximum intermediate sprint points. On the decisive climb, Col de la Lusette, Lutsenko accelerated and managed to take win the stage ahead of Herrada and Van Avermaet. The main favourites finished almost three minutes down on stage winner.[14]
Stage 7
4 September 2020 – Millau to Lavaur, 168 km (104 mi)[15]
This tactical stage started with early hills, strong crosswinds and high pace from Bora–Hansgrohe. All these factors caused two peleton splits. Stage contenders like Ewan, Bennett, Nizzolo, Bol and Kristoff lost their chance to contend the stage by being caught behind. Matteo Trentin won the intermediate sprint and Peter Sagan earned enough points to regain the lead of the points classification. Thomas De Gendt attacked on the long climb and his solo ride lasted 60 kilometers. Ineos Grenadiers formed an echelon with 33 kilometers left and the bunch divided again. As a result, Pogačar, Landa, Carapaz, Mollema and Porte were left in the group behind and lost 1'21" on the other favourites. Wout Van Aert took his second stage win from a reduced bunch.[16]
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Stage 8
5 September 2020 – Cazères to Loudenvielle, 141 km (88 mi)[17]
Thirteen riders teamed up for a breakaway. None of them was placed highly in the general classification, so the peloton allowed them to race for stage win. Jérôme Cousin won the intermediate sprint and Benoit Cosnefroy took 10 points at the first category 1 climb to maintain his lead in the mountain classification. As the breakaway arrived at the foot of highest category climb - Port de Balès, Nans Peters and Ilnur Zakarin accelerated. Peters distanced Zakarin on the descent. He reached the last summit - Col de Peyresourde alone and went for stage victory. Toms Skujiņš and Carlos Verona filled the podium.
Team Jumbo–Visma dictated a high speed for the peloton on the climb. Thibaut Pinot suffered from terrible back pain, he was dropped early losing almost 19 minutes on his general classification rivals. Alaphilippe also lost 11 minutes on his competitors. Tadej Pogačar attacked on the Col de Peyresourde and finished with 40 seconds advantage on most of the other general classification contenders. Dumoulin, Valverde and Higuita lost 2 minutes.[18]
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Stage 9
6 September 2020 – Pau to Laruns, 153 km (95 mi)[19]
This stage started with intense pace and multiple attacks but Team Jumbo–Visma and Ineos Grenadiers prevented any breakaways from forming. Riders arranged plenty of small groups on Col de la Hourcère climb. Marc Hirschi rode away with 87 kilometers left, his attack managed to get a lead of four minutes. While out in front he won the intermediate sprint and twenty-four mountain points. On the decisive Col de Marie Blanque, Hirschi was being reeled in as other youngsters Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogačar opened the chase, followed by Primož Roglič and Mikel Landa. They reached the summit twenty seconds behind Hirschi. The Swiss rider sat up as he saw the group catching him with two kilometers to go. Hirschi launched the sprint first but both Slovenians passed him right on the line. Pogačar won becoming the youngest stage winner of the Tour for 27 years. Runner-up Roglič replaced Yates as the wearer of yellow jersey. Bardet, Martin, Quintana, Urán, Porte and Mollema finished the stage eleven seconds behind.[20]
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Rest day 1
7 September 2020 – Charente-Maritime[21]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all participants underwent the tests for coronavirus. The rule says that the whole team will be ejected from Tour de France if there are two positive cases between their cyclists or staff members. Hopefully, results of all riders' tests were negative but one staff member from each team Ineos Grenadiers, Mitchelton–Scott, Cofidis, AG2R La Mondiale was positive. Race director Christian Prudhomme tested positive for COVID-19 and was quarantined.[22]
Stage 10
8 September 2020 – Île d'Oléron to Île de Ré, 168.5 km (104.7 mi)[23]
Windy and almost pan-flat stage near the Atlantic coast opened with breakaway by Stefan Küng and Michael Schär. Guillaume Martin and Tadej Pogačar were involved in a crash 65 kilometers before finish with no serious consequences. Matteo Trentin was fastest on intermediate sprint. The peleton split with 17 kilometers remaining but nobody of the Tour contenders was caught behind. Sam Bennett won the first Tour de France stage in his career, ahead of Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan. Irish champion became the leader of points classification.[24]
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Stage 11
9 September 2020 – Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers, 167.5 km (104.1 mi)[25]
Mathieu Ladagnous was the only rider in day's breakaway. He won the mountain point for only categorized climb and maximum points for intermediate sprint before he was caught. Few riders tried a surprise attack in final kilometers but it all ended with bunch sprint. Caleb Ewan won it. Peter Sagan finished second but he was relegated to the end of peleton for a dangerous use of his elbow. As a result, stage runner-up Sam Bennett significantly increased his lead in points classification over Slovakian.[26]
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Notes
References
- "Stage 1 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- "Kristoff strikes in crash-marred Tour de France opener". SBS. 30 August 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- Benson, Daniel (29 August 2020). "Tour de France: Alexander Kristoff wins crash-marred stage 1". CyclingNews. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- "Stage 2 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Whittle, Jeremy (30 August 2020). "Alaphilippe back in yellow after thrilling stage two finish". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- Ryan, Barry (30 August 2020). "Tour de France: Julian Alaphilippe wins stage 2". CyclingNews. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- "Stage 3 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Farrand, Stephen (31 August 2020). "Tour de France: Caleb Ewan wins stage 3". CyclingNews. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- "Stage 4 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Fletcher, Patrick (1 September 2020). "Tour de France: Roglic claims first summit finale on stage 4". CyclingNews. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- "Stage 5 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Farrand, Stephen (2 September 2020). "Tour de France: Van Aert wins stage 5". CyclingNews. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- "Stage 6 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Ryan, Barry (3 September 2020). "Tour de France: Alexey Lutsenko wins stage 6 on summit of Mont Aigoual". CyclingNews. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- "Stage 7 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Benson, Daniel (4 September 2020). "Tour de France: Wout van Aert wins stage 7". CyclingNews. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- "Stage 8 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Ostanek, Daniel (5 September 2020). "Tour de France: Nans Peters wins stage 8". CyclingNews. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
- "Stage 9 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Farrand, Stephen (6 September 2020). "Tour de France: Pogacar wins stage 9". CyclingNews. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- "Rest 1 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Farrand, Stephen (7 September 2020). "Tour de France: Ineos Grenadiers, Mitchelton, Cofidis and AG2R staff test positive for coronavirus at Tour de France". CyclingNews. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- "Stage 10 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Weislo, Laura (8 September 2020). "Tour de France: Sam Bennett wins stage 10". CyclingNews. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- "Stage 11 Tour de France 2020". ASO. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- Benson, Daniel (9 September 2020). "Tour de France: Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 as Peter Sagan is relegated for dangerous sprint". CyclingNews. Retrieved 9 September 2020.