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Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quickstep) was the beneficiary of a dogged effort from the breakaway of four riders to hold off the peloton just into the finish in Bourg-en-Bresse. Asgreen sprinted to the win after Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-Dstny) pulled a very hard turn into the finish for teammate Pascal Eenkhorn.
Asgreen opened up his sprint with Eenkhorn in the wheel, but he had enough power to hold off the Dutchman and fellow breakaway rider Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) to win the stage, just ahead of the onrushing peloton, led by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
“Obviously the situation of our breakaway was not ideal. I would have preferred to break with 7 or 8 riders,” said Asgreen. “It’s also one of the final stages of Tour after really hard weeks. Yet we have seen small breaks making it to the finish against the bunch… so I didn’t rule out the possibility of winning.
“It’s been a team time trial all day long. My breakaway companions were just excellent out there. We all deserved to win because of how much work we put into the break. I’m happy to get away with it.
“It means so much with the period I had this year since I crashed at Tour de Suisse. I’ve come a long way, and to cap it off with a victory like this is amazing. I dedicate it to all the people who helped me through this hard time, and also to my team-mate Dries Devenyns in his last Tour and his last season.”
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was at a loss to explain the situation given the effort his team put into chasing down the smaller move.
"I also ask myself why the breakaway made it. We did everything we could,” said Philipsen. “We kept the gap to one minute. Many teams also chased. They must have been very strong at the front.
“Everyone is a bit tired. We worked a lot, but the front four were amazing. I wanted to win today but it hasn’t been a bad Tour so far. I can still be happy with four stage wins.”
