Marathon man Matej Mohoric posts second Tour de France stage win

July 17, 2021 â€" 2.06am

Libourne: Matej Mohoric posted a second Tour de France stage win after surging solo from a breakaway group with a darting attack on Friday.

Mohoric, who rides for the Bahrain Victorious team, made his move with 26 kilometres left and produced a tremendous individual effort after spending the day at the front.

His victory brought relief to his team, which was raided by French police this week as part of a doping investigation. The Marseille prosecutor in charge of the case said a preliminary investigation targeting the team was opened on July 3 “for acquisition, transport, possession, import of a substance or method prohibited for use by an athlete without medical justification.”

Stage winner Slovenia’s Matej Mohoric breaks away during the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France.Credit:

None of the Bahrain Victorious riders competing at the Tour has been publicly accused of wrongdoing, but Mohoric made a “zipping the lips” gesture before he crossed the finish line, as if to silence the team’s critics.

Mohoric has stage wins at all three Grand Tours and is a specialist of long solo efforts. The Slovenian earned his first Tour stage win by claiming the marathon stage of this year’s race, a 249-km hilly trek in central France.

On paper, Friday’s 207-km flat stage to the southwestern town of Libourne looked tailor-made for Mark Cavendish, but the British sprinter’s team did not try to catch the breakaway when it formed.

After matching Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34 stage wins last week, Cavendish will have another chance to break it during Sunday’s final stage, a mainly processional ride generally ending with a mass sprint on the Champs-Elysees.

Christophe Laporte was runner-up, 58 seconds off the pace, and Casper Pedersen completed the podium.

With none of the breakaway riders a threat in the general classification, race leader Tadej Pogacar rode safely in the pack, crossing 20 minutes and 50 seconds behind with his main rivals.

Barring an accident, the UAE Team Emirates rider should be crowned Tour champion for the second straight year. Pogacar has a huge lead of nearly six minutes over Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification. Richard Carapaz is third.

AP

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