18 Sep 2020
Rowe picks up seventh in the break
Related riders
Luke Rowe
Tour de France - Stage 19 » Bourg-en-Bresse › Champagnole, 166.5km
Luke Rowe rode to a battling seventh place finish in the breakaway on stage 19 following another attacking performance from the INEOS Grenadiers.
The Welshman was part of two escape attempts in the closing kilometres, with a high-quality group going clear on the run-in. Rowe picked up a top 10 to continue the team’s momentum in consecutive breakaways.
Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) pulled off an impressive second stage victory, launching out of the group with 16km to go and staying clear to the line.
Earlier, Dylan van Baarle forced his way into an early move on the road out of Bourg-en-Bresse but, with the peloton pushing hard behind, the Dutchman was reeled in before the break could establish itself.
Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) spent much of the day solo out front, but with 51km to go Rowe was among those to accelerate clear and kick-start the stage back into life. Stage 18 victor Michal Kwiatkowski was again active, trying to go clear on a number of occasions.
Pavel Sivakov was also in the early mix and was later involved in a crash towards the end of the stage.
Pavel Sivakov was also in the early mix and was later involved in a crash towards the end of the stage.
The GC picture went unchanged heading into Saturday’s racing finale, while a lack of categorised climbs also ensured that Richard Carapaz retained the polka dot jersey by two points.
Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
Reaction
- Luke Rowe
"We just want to keep that momentum going of being aggressive and being at the forefront. We’ve got nothing to lose you know. As soon as the two guys went, I went with them. I kept going and kept being aggressive and I found myself in a group full of sprinters. It was hard to get that right and the only way I could do anything was to attack – I could never come to the line with these guys. It’s just nice to keep that going since losing our GC guy. We’re Grenadiers you know!
"(Matteo) Trentin went on that kicker. Soren Kragh just hit it at a perfect point. Everyone knew that was the moment to go they just didn’t have the legs. Chapeau to them they rode a great race. You look around and it was a star-studded bunch of guys I was surrounded by. It’s just nice to be on the offensive."
- Luke Rowe
"We just want to keep that momentum going of being aggressive and being at the forefront. We’ve got nothing to lose you know. As soon as the two guys went, I went with them. I kept going and kept being aggressive and I found myself in a group full of sprinters. It was hard to get that right and the only way I could do anything was to attack – I could never come to the line with these guys. It’s just nice to keep that going since losing our GC guy. We’re Grenadiers you know!
"(Matteo) Trentin went on that kicker. Soren Kragh just hit it at a perfect point. Everyone knew that was the moment to go they just didn’t have the legs. Chapeau to them they rode a great race. You look around and it was a star-studded bunch of guys I was surrounded by. It’s just nice to be on the offensive."
