Apart from Tony Martin’s stage win, the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team could also celebrate the achievements of Michal Kwiatkowski and Sylvain Chavanel.
The 23-year old Pole was the GC rider who lost least time to yellow jersey and stage runner-up Chris Froome, finishing fifth and being 1:19 minutes slower than the overall leader. The French ITT champion posted the seventh-best time of the day.
With his splendid effort, Kwiatkowski also took back the white jersey from Nairo Quintana (Movistar) who finished in 54th place on a day that wasn’t suited to him.
“I’m very happy with my performance,” said the new leader of the youth classification. “Today I did a really good ITT, and I’m also happy to get back the white jersey. It would be nice to stay in the top-10 overall, but I will take it day by day. The third week is one for the climbers, it’s very hard and I think Nairo [Quintana] will be hard to beat. But I won’t give up until we are in Paris.”
“We want to keep working on the flat stages for Mark [Cavendish], and then see how it goes for me. Even if I lose my top-10 spot I can still learn from the best. I want to improve everywhere. This Tour de France has already taught me a lot and I will come out of it stronger. Hopefully it will be a big step in my career.”
20.05: GP Mazda SCHELKENS |
20.05: Paris - Troyes |
20.05: Ronde van Limburg |
12.05 - 21.05: Tour d'Algérie |
22.05: GP de la Ville d'Annaba |
20.05 - 24.05: Cycling Tour of Albania |
24.05: GP de la Ville d'Alger |
23.05 - 25.05: Tour of Estonia |
25.05: Due Giorni Marchigiana |
25.05: ZLM Omloop der Kempen |
Sadrack TEGUIMAHA 44 years | today |
Gaetan VERLEYEN 21 years | today |
Gian BUTIKOFER 21 years | today |
Kees DUYVESTEYN 26 years | today |
Jiri HUDECEK 38 years | today |
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