Tour de France: Rambunctious Roglic earns Zwift Rider of the Day
Another descent to the finish on a stage featuring a mythical Tour de France climb meant another stage victory for LottoNL-Jumbo's Primož Roglic, and with it the second Zwift Rider of the Day award of the 2018 Tour. After last year's win at Serre Chevalier, the Slovene added to his win total after an attacking display in Laruns.
Stage 19 was the last chance for the GC men to affect the overall standings ahead of Saturday's 31km time trial from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette, and the last chance to try and put time into the race leader, Team Sky's Geraint Thomas, who lay 1:59 ahead of second-placed Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb at the stage's start.
Movistar, somewhat surprisingly given their usually-conservative nature, were the first to try, sending Mikel Landa up the road with 102km of the 200.5km left to run. It was the Spaniard who provoked the first appearance from Roglic's team at the front of the peloton, working to limit the gap and preserve his then-fourth place on GC.
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On the Col du Soulor, the toughest part of the Col d'Aubisque, teammate Steven Kruijswijk went on the offensive, part of a tactical move which saw Roglic try to shake Thomas and Dumoulin and bridge up to the Dutchman. The move worked in a sense, as Team Sky's defending champion Chris Froome – who lay just 16 seconds ahead of Roglic in third – dropped from the group.
The Brit would come back, and he and Thomas would stay in touch over the top of the Aubisque, partly helped by Dumoulin, who led the GC group in pursuit of Roglic as he put in attack after attack on the final mountain of the Pyrenees.
Roglic – a former ski-jumper, in case you hadn't already heard – didn't stop attacking after the climb ended though. As the GC group descended into the mist, with Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin at the rear precariously descending on the drops, Roglic flew off the front, exhibiting a similar aptitude for racing down a mountain as he had on the Col du Galibier last July.
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