2017 Tour de France: Stage 13 Daily Dish
Stage 13 was a memorable victory for the French, while the race for the yellow jersey got closer than ever.
Stage 13 was a memorable victory for the French, while the race for the yellow jersey got closer than ever. – By Joe Lindsey
It’s been a good Tour de France so far for the French. They got the first stage win from a sprinter in 11 years (Arnaud Démare’s Stage 4 victory), a stage win from a promising young talent in his first Tour (Lilian Calmejane’s Stage 8 breakaway, with its riveting cramps-and-all conclusion), and Romain Bardet is in third overall, within easy striking distance of yellow after yesterday’s stage win.
The perfect cap would of course be Bardet in yellow in Paris. But today’s stage was a pretty good appetiser: a French rider winning a stage, on Bastille Day, in the polka-dot jersey.
Warren Barguil, who narrowly missed out on the Stage 9 victory, got one today on the short, hard stage to Foix. This hadn’t been a banner year for Barguil so far, but the Tour is proving to be an excellent remedy for that. In addition to the stage win, he’s got a comfortable lead in the KOM competition with all the points he soaked up today.
And it makes for a happy Bastille Day as well: it’s France’s fourth stage win this Tour, and they have one jersey competition all but sewn up, a number of promising young riders, and the emergence of Bardet, who himself is just 26, as a possible Tour winner, riding on a French-sponsored, France-registered team that is one of the strongest in the race. Sure, it’s been 32 years now since they last won their home Tour. But after a long stretch without much to get excited about, it’s a good time to be a fan of French racing.
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