Tour de France: Fraile wins in Mende

21 July 2018 02:00
Omar Fraile (Astana) flew to victory on the Mende airstrip on stage 14 of the Tour de France, surviving from a large breakaway. The Spaniard beat out polka dot jersey wearer Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) by six seconds in order to take his third victory of the season, the biggest of his career. In a day of two races, the breakaway contested the finish 18 minutes ahead of the peloton. Fraile's compatriot Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) kicked off the attacking festivities 59km out, taking with him Stuyven and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data). The Trek-Segafredo man soon went it alone, his fantastic effort coming to naught on the final climb. There, Fraile piggybacked a Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) attack to launch his own. Catching Stuyven towards the top of the 'Montée Laurent Jalabert', he powered away to win solo despite the best efforts of Alaphilippe, who flew up the latter part of the climb - perhaps leaving his effort a touch too late.ADVERTISEMENT "It's an amazing day," said Fraile after the finish. "I've been dreaming about this victory. In the end we picked up this phenomenal win and it's absolutely amazing. It's easily the best day of my career so far." "We had a headwind [on the climb] and it was really tricky, but I just tried to climb it at the best rate I could, and in the end I did have the legs. I knew the climb today very well indeed." Primož Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) led the GC men in, finishing 18:01 behind Fraile. The Slovenian had started the attacking on the final climb and wasn't caught despite the efforts of those behind. Race leader Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) was next in, 8 seconds later. He couldn't be separated from teammate Chris Froome and third-placed man Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), with the two Sky men being the only riders able to follow the Dutchman's attack 2km from the line. How it happened Big break Izagirre starts the attacking The final climb The peloton makes it, eventually You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article

Source: Cycling News