Before getting to the Pyrenees, the whole peloton expected a tense day on Friday from Millau to Lavaur. This stage 7 proved to be even more hectic than anticipated, as the fight started straight away and the pace never faltered. Some echelons did take place as expected in the last thirty kilometers, but the Groupama-FDJ managed to retain its place in front, surrounding its leader Thibaut Pinot. The French climber could then finish in the same time as the winner Wout van Aert, unlike other favourites. As a consequence, he moves up into the top 10 overall (9th) before the first big mountain stage on Saturday.
“Straight away I said to the guys: Hang in there, it’s not going to stop,” Stefan Küng
At the start this morning, everyone was talking about the wind, its strength, its direction and its impact on the Tour’s stage 7. However, it was not the weather that made the peloton implode from the very first minutes, but Peter Sagan’s Bora-hansgrohe, which was determined to get rid of the pure sprinters thinking about the green jersey and the stage win. The former world champion’s teammates therefore set a brutal pace that reduced the bunch from half after only ten kilometers. At this point, Thibaut Pinot still had six teammates with him. “It started earlier than everyone had imagined, but we knew this start,” said Stefan Küng five hours later. “It was the same two years ago, and I remember a similar scenario. The only difference is that it all came back together after sixty kilometers back then. I was not surprised when Bora started pushing and straight away I said to the guys: hang in there, it’s not going to stop, we’ll go like this until the finish”.
After a tough battle between the first peloton and Sam Bennett’s one, Bora-hansgrohe got rewarded for their initiative and managed to get rid of most of the sprinters. There were only a hundred riders or so left in the bunch when it was time to approach the smooth but long climb of Col de Peyronnenc. Thomas De Gendt then took advantage of a slightly slower pace to break away but he never got a minute gap and could hardly aim for the victory. Even less when the tension sharply rose in the main peloton with almost fifty kilometers to go, approaching Castres, where a major change of direction had been spotted by all the teams. Groupama-FDJ did not miss the boat, perfectly brought Thibaut Pinot up to the first positions and even found themselves in numbers when a group of 40 men or so broke away with a strong tail wind.
“They got us once, not twice!”, Matthieu Ladagnous
“That’s the result of the whole team’s work”, said Matthieu Ladagnous. “The climbers helped and protected us all day so we could save ourselves. For us rouleurs, the work really started after Castres, where we had to replace Thibaut, and we ended up being five in the first echelon. We then pulled and we made gaps. It was the opposite day from Albi’s one last year. They got us once, not twice! Today was a good day for us.” When the first echelon formed thirty kilometers from the line, Thibaut Pinot still had Matthieu Ladagnous, Valentin Madouas, Rudy Molard and obviously Stefan Küng, his official bodyguard, alongside him. “We always had to be careful and ride in front,” explained the European time trial champion. “We were there with the whole team and we did a really good stage. I told Thibaut to stay in my wheel and he did that well. I felt he was really committed; he always came back to his place whenever he happened to back up. It was also a good sign to all get together in the end when the pace started to be really strong. It also shows how strong the group is”.
Stefan Küng himself took the final turn until the last kilometre. In his wheel, his leader Thibaut Pinot was therefore able to complete the stage without trouble in eighteenth position. Unlike Pogacar, Landa, Porte, Mollema or Carapaz, Thibaut Pinot finished with the first group and climbed up a few more places in the general classification. He is now in ninth position, thirteen seconds behind the yellow jersey Adam Yates. “It was a very, very important day; a tricky one on paper, and we also had bad memories of last year in Albi, summed up Thierry Bricaud. We knew the conditions would be pretty similar and that we had to be there this time. We did, collectively moreover, which is the most important. This was a tough stage from the start and that also helped clear up the general classification. We were up there around Thibaut and that was the main thing. We went through this important day, but there are still many important days to come: this weekend already with the Pyrenees, for two mountain stages that will set things up a bit for the rest of the Tour”.
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