A big day in the Pyrenees mountains saw the Tour de France peloton tackle over 5000 metres of climbing throughout the day, and traverse famous climbs such as the Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, Col de Peyresourde before a finish on Luchon-Superbagnère. Before getting to any climbing though, 60 kilometres of valley roads made for a fierce battle to make the break; where Team Picnic PostNL’s sprint group looked after and protected the climbers in the squad.
No move could go clear on the flat, so it was on the lower slopes of the Tourmalet where a large group went clear; from which eventual stage winner Arensman would make his winning move. Back in the peloton, Warren Barguil and Frank van den Broek rode superbly to help guide and protect Oscar Onley up each mountain pass and down the twisting descents on the other side. With some great teamwork, the trio came onto the lower slopes of the last ascent in the drastically reduced yellow jersey group, where the pace then increased. Onley continued to impress as he pushes his limits and boundaries each day at the Tour de France, riding ably within the group when it had thinned down to seven riders.
A stinging attack from Vingegaard, which was followed by Pogacar, split the GC group to pieces and Onley rode at his own tempo. Pushing all the way to the line, he gained time on other riders and finished sixth on the stage; and with that moving up to fourth place overall with Team Picnic PostNL.
Onley said: “It was a hard day again; with the break only going on the Tourmalet and then UAE set a hard pace during the stage. It was quite a good pace that Yates set on the last climb and I was hoping that they would do that for as long as possible. It was then basically all-out to the line after Vingegaard attacked and I did what I could. It’s one more stage down and one more day closer to Paris but it’s still a long way to go and we still have some pretty tough climbs to cover in the Alps next week. I’m continuing to surprise myself. We didn’t really come here with any big GC ambitions pre-race, and today was probably the biggest test of my long-climbing abilities in my career so far. It’s nice to be in fourth and gain some time on a few guys, but it’s a long way to go and a lot can change next week.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “Our sprint group did really well in the flatter start to keep an overview and things under control, and then when we hit the Tourmalet the peloton exploded. Frank and Warren rode really well today and could support Oscar all the way until the final climb which was great. Then in the final it was all about Oscar trying to do his own race and giving everything he had to the finish, and it was great to see him hang on for sixth on the day, which sees us move up to fourth on GC. So far Oscar’s gone 100 percent in every stage, so his fatigue level can go up next week, which can and should be expected and whatever happens going forward we’ve had a really nice Tour de France. He is still riding only his second Tour de France so we are still seeing him develop as a rider. Actually with the six guys that have came from our Development program into the Tour – it is all about keeping that progression going, now that they are at the highest level. With Oscar doing what he has done so far in the Tour, and with Pavel and Tobi performing in the sprints: you can really see that they are coming to that last level of their development at the top level of the sport.”