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2014 Tour de France: Garmin-Sharp’s Navardauskas takes Stage 19 triumph

Garmin-Sharp 2014 jersey front

Only four stages after Kiwi Jack Bauer’s heartbreak on Stage 16, Garmin-Sharp reached its goal of a stage win at the 2014 Tour de France with Ramunas Navardauskas’s victory from a late attack. It was the first Tour stage win for a Lithuanian and Navardauskas’s second Grand Tour road stage triumph. Race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) finished safely in a crash-diet diminished peloton.

Though the route was a mostly flat 208.5 km with a Cat. 4 climb peaking 11-km from the finish line in Bergerac, it wasn’t a comfortable day for the racers as they were lashed with rain and wind. A five-man escape scampered up the road but wasn’t allowed more than 2:30 over the Katusha, Cannondale, Giant-Shimano and Lotto-Belisol driven peloton.

Tom-Jelte Slagter (The Netherlands/Garmin-Sharp) lit a fire in the breakaway at the 32-km to go mark with the peloton closing within 1:05. After all the other escapees were captured and Slagter was in the bunch’s sight, a few attacks before the Cat. 4 were launched and failed.

The 1.3 km Monbazillac climb shattered the peloton. Slagter gained a teammate before the peak in Navardauskas, who carried on alone on the wet, narrow roads. Gulping air and time trialing on the slick roads, Navardauskas increased his gap as argyle-clad teammates tried to block the peloton. With 4 km to go, the “Honey Badger” has a 22 second lead.

A crash just after the 3 km remaining mark disrupted the chase and put a dozen riders including Romain Bardet (France/Ag2r), Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Cannondale) and Frank Schleck on the ground. A string of 13 riders were left to chase the Lithuanian. There would be no tears of frustration for a Garmin rider on Friday.

Saturday is the Tour’s penultimate stage, but the last one that will affect the final GC. A 54-km chrono awaits with 15 seconds separating 2nd from 4th.

2014 Tour de France Stage 19

1) Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania/Garmin-Sharp) 4:43:41
2) John Degenkolb (Germany/Giant-Shimano) +0:07
3) Alexander Kristoff (Norway/Katusha) s.t.
39) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
156) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.


2014 Tour de France GC

1) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) 85:29:26
2) Thibault Pinot (France/FDJ) +7:10
3) Jean-Christophe Peraud (France/Ag2r) +7:23
120) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +3:59:30
135) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +4:20:31