Matej Mohorič earns Bahrain-Victorious third 2023 Tour stage triumph
Hugo Houle in his sixth breakaway of the 110th edition
Three different Bahrain-Victorious riders have won stages of the 2023 Tour de France after Matej Mohorič beat Thursday’s winner Kasper Asgreen in a photo finish on Friday. He joins teammates Pello Bilbao and Wout Poels as recipients of the day’s flowers. Mohorič also claimed two stages in the 2021 Tour. It was another breakaway triumph with two stages to go and the second win for a Slovenian. Jonas Vingegaard stayed safe in yellow. Hugo Houle was the top Canadian in 16th.
The Course
Friday’s fare was a little more lumpy than Thursday’s, although both held two climbs. The final ascent, Cat. 3 Côte d’Ivory, peaked 28 km from the finish line in Poligny.
Another opportunity for the sprinters at the #TDF2023?
The terrain between Moirans-en-Montagne and Poligny suits those willing to go on the attack. pic.twitter.com/HckSyqQS05
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 21, 2023
It took a long time for a breakaway to form, although there were numerous attacks, counterattacks and splits in the peloton early in the day. Finally, a nontet centered around Julian Alaphilippe and green jersey Jasper Philipsen established itself as the day’s hopefuls, but just after the 100 km mark, another bigger bunch containing Tom Pidcock and Hugo Houle branched off from the peloton and bridged. With 66 km to go, the peloton had a 36-strong breakaway a minute up the road.
From this raft of riders, Victor Campenaerts, who was part of Thursday’s successful breakaway, flared out with Simon Clarke. It was at this point that the peloton sat up. With 40 km remaining, Campy and Clarke had nearly a minute on the Alaphilippe-Houle group and 4:30 on the yellow jersey group.
On Côte d’Ivory, Asgreen, Mohorič and Ben O’Connor shot to the front. The trio tipped over 19 seconds clear of their closest pursuers.
Poligny drew closer. The trio had to worry about being caught by Philipsen, Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen’s chase group. With 7 km to race, the gap was 27 seconds. The final 5 km were dead straight.
O’Connor led under the red kite. Asgreen and Mohorič came around him, the Dane in Position 1. The Slovenian popped out and they went shoulder to shoulder, so close at the line it couldn’t be called. But it was the pearl-clad Slovenian with the win.
Saturday is the penultimate stage of the 110th Tour, a mountainous course with two Cat. 1 climbs at the end for the final GC tussles.
2023 Tour de France Stage 19
1) Matej Mohorič (Slovenia/Bahrain-Victorious) 3:31:02
2) Kasper Asgreen (Denmark/Denmark) s.t.
3) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) +0:02
16) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:43
2023 Tour de France GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma)
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +7:35
3) Adam Yates (Great Britain/UAE-Emirates) +10:45
4) Carlos Rodriguez (Spain/Ineos) +12:01
5) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Jayco-AlUla) +12:19
