Schultz pipped on the line and Pogacar’s defence takes a hit on eventful day in the Alps
Megeve: Caleb Ewan expressed doubt that he will finish this year’s Tour de France, as COVID-19 cases threatened to weaken Tadej Pogacar’s title defence and an environmental protest held up stage 10 on Tuesday.
Australian Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) on race debut came within inches of winning the 148.1-kilometre stage from Morzine, placing second to Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-EasyPost) in a photo finish at the mountain-top finish in Megeve. Veteran Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) was third.
Australian Nicholas Schultz, front, and Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen were millimetres apart at the end of stage 10.Credit:AP
Schultz felt he started the day with bad legs, following the second rest day on Monday, but credited teammate Jack Bauer with looking after him in the main breakaway, which contested line honours. The peloton came in more than nine minutes later.
Schultz, 27, played a cool game of cat and mouse inside the final kilometre and was well-positioned, but said he may have opened his sprint against more experienced rivals too early.
“I’ve never really been in that position to contest a Tour de France stage win, you know, and it was almost perfect, but we know Magnus Cort, he’s won stages in so many grand tours and he was just a better man,” Schultz said.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar crosses the line in Megeve.Credit:AP
“I’m really happy with second but, to be honest, I’m also really upset. It’s not every day you get to try and win a stage of the Tour de France. I’ll keep trying and see where we get to.”
Compatriot Ewan (Lotto Soudal) finished the stage last and within the time cut, but was fearful at one point that he wouldn’t make it. He sent his teammates up the road and came in by himself, with only the team car at his rear.
“There’s not much to say. I had really bad legs at the start and I got dropped quite early and had some teammates with me that thankfully got me through, but it was a pretty shitty day,” Ewan said.
The five-time Tour stage winner entered the 109th edition without his usual drilled sprint train, which was derailed through injury and circumstance, working with some men for the first time when the race started in Denmark.
He was winless in the opening flat stages and will have to survive two full-on days in the mountains, including Thursday’s run to Alpe d’Huez before the roads flatten out again.
“I don’t feel sick. Sometimes after a rest day you never know how your body is going to be and mine wasn’t very good today. I definitely have to have better legs than I did today. Otherwise, I’m going to be in big trouble,” Ewan said.
Race leader Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who is aiming for his third consecutive title victory, lost one of his key support riders before the stage started, with New Zealand climber George Bennett testing positive to COVID-19. It follows the departure of another teammate, Vegard Stake Laengen, who withdrew after testing positive last week.
The peloton underwent mandatory COVID-19 testing after stage nine on Sunday and the UCI, cycling’s international governing body, reported on the second rest day on Monday that all riders returned negative results.
However, some teams, like UAE Emirates, are following their own internal COVID-19 testing protocols in addition to two mandatory tests carried out on the second and third rest days. That process has drastically reduced the arsenal at Pogacar’s disposable ahead of key mountain stages in the Alps this week.
The 23-year-old Slovenian prodigy is now down to five support riders – one, Rafal Majka, also tested positive to COVID-19 on Tuesday morning but was allowed to start.
“As per our internal testing protocols, Rafal Majka was tested for COVID-19 and returned a positive result this morning. He is asymptomatic and analysing his PCR found he had a very low risk of infectivity,” team doctor Adrian Rotunno said in a statement.
“As per protocol, we reported it to the UCI medical team this morning, who granted Rafal permission to take the start just prior to race departure.”
Pogacar maintained his race lead after stage 10, which was held up for about 15 minutes when police removed a group of environmental protesters who blocked the race route.
However, the Slovenian now only has an 11-second advantage over Lennard Kamna (Bora-hansgrohe), who catapulted up the standings to second, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 39 seconds adrift in third.
It may be a lonely road for Pogacar at the Tour this season, with his team isolating riders where possible to avoid further COVID-19 cases. Cyclists at the Tour normally stay in twin-share accommodation, but UAE Emirates have diverged from that.
“We’re isolating all the time, but I think the problem is, I mean, it’s just unlucky that we race among so many people, so big bunch, crowds on the climbs, and we are close contacts to many people when we are riding on the road,” Pogacar said post-race.
“I think in our team we take really good precautions. We keep hygiene really high, and we are alone in the room, we try to be as much as possible alone.”
Pogacar’s rivals were divided on whether his reduced support would potentially hurt his title defence, with some saying it would make no difference to the prodigy who will just attack, but others stated it could be a game changer.
American Sep Kuss, who races for the Jumbo-Visma team that has so far proved to be the biggest threat to Pogacar’s campaign, said it was a blow and would make it more difficult for UAE Emirates to control the race, but he did not discount his rival as news of Bennett’s withdrawal broke.
“You never want to see people go out like that. You want the best race possible with the complete teams. I’m friends with George and I feel for him that he can’t continue on,” Kuss said.
Nielsen’s win turned around a bad start to the day for EF Education-EasyPost, whose bus got stuck on uneven, melting tarmac turning a corner into the team’s paddock on Tuesday morning, creating a traffic jam. Officials wedged pieces of wood under the bus tyres in an effort to dislodge it as the smell of burning rubber filled the air. A yellow tractor was called in, and the coach was dislodged, but three teams, including UAE Emirates, Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers, parked outside the paddock.
Schultz’s teammate Luke Durbridge also did not start stage 10 after returning a positive COVID-19.
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