Blues left out of elusive break before decisive ITT
16 July 2021

Tour de France (st. 19)

Valverde, Cortina, Arcas join the move seeking for the winning break in Libourne, end up left behind at the decisive moment. Enric Mas remains 6th overall despite early, minor crash.

A situation which promised to give the Blues some good dividends, yet ended up ruined at a key moment of the day. The Movistar Team did not have on Friday the luck required to chase victories at big races like the Tour de France, left out, bu a handful of meters, from a group ultimately contesting the win on stage 19 from Mourenx to Libourne (207km), which came to the hands of Slovenian champion Matej Mohoric (TBV).

An evenful day for Jorge Arcas, two stages away from his first Paris finish. (c) BettiniPhoto

As an initial, six-man break led the way under strict control from the sprinters’ teams, a split in the peloton 75km into the stage left Alejandro Valverde, Iván García Cortina and Jorge Arcas into launchpad position, all three inside a counter-attack of twenty riders. However, a further acceleration inside the group broke it into two, with all three Blues out just as the peloton started to lose strength in their chase behind the escapees.

Mas did not suffer serious troubles en route to the TT, despite an early crash. (c) BettiniPhoto

In the end, the 20 escapees reached the finish with a big margin over a peloton where Enric Mas, who sustained a minor crash (together with Arcas) at 40km into the stage, did not have any problems to retain his 6th spot overall. His final result will be decisive at Saturday’s TT showdown, over a 31km course, flatter than in the first time trial, just outside Bordeaux, from Libourne to Saint-Émilion.

– Final TT start times (Saturday 16th, all CEST): Verona 14.11, Cortina 14.15’30, Arcas 14.23, Erviti 15.01, Valverde 16.33, Mas 17.09

Cover picture (c): BettiniPhoto

Male Team 26 Jun - 18 Jul

Tour de France FRA

(19th Stage) Mourenx - Libourne (207 km)
  1. 01 Matej Mohoric Bahrain Victorious 4h19'17"
  2. 02 Christophe Laporte Cofidis +58"
  3. 03 Casper Pedersen Team DSM "
  4. 29 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team +20'50"
  5. 30 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team "
  6. 31 Iván García Cortina Movistar Team "
  7. 34 Enric Mas Movistar Team "
  8. 37 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team "
  9. 39 Carlos Verona Movistar Team "
  10. —  Miguel Ángel López Movistar Team DNS
See prov general ranking
  1. 01 Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates 79h40'09"
  2. 02 Jonas Vingegaard Jumbo - Visma +5'45"
  3. 03 Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers +5'51"
  4. 06 Enric Mas Movistar Team +10'11"
  5. 24 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team +1h04'24"
  6. 70 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team +2h45'37"
  7. 90 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team +3h10'58"
  8. 95 Iván García Cortina Movistar Team +3h17'48"
  9. 98 Carlos Verona Movistar Team +3h21'10"
See stage ranking