German Nils Politt produced a mighty ride to win stage 12 of the Tour de France on the day his Bora-Hansgrohe team lost star man Peter Sagan from the race.
The 27-year-old Politt held his nerve and showed impressive endurance to cross the line first in Nimes, after a 159.4-kilometre largely flat stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux.
The maiden tour win for Politt provided succour for his team, after Slovakian Sagan withdrew before the start, the seven-time Tour points classification winner bowing out due to a knee injury.
Politt formed part of a four-man breakaway with Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) that splintered over the closing 15km.
Erviti, a 37-year-old Spanish rider and Tour mainstay for over a decade, was chasing his first stage win in cycling's most famous race. For a while it was on, but he ultimately crossed the line in second place, with Sweeny third and Kung eventually a distant fourth.
Politt said on Eurosport: "It's unbelievable. It's a dream to win a stage in the Tour de France. We had to decide that Peter had to leave the race because of his knee problems, so it changed also a little bit of tactics.
"I've been feeling well in the last days and was trying to give my best today. There was quite a lot of sprinters in our group and quite a lot of fast guys.
"I had to do the race hard and I had to attack quite early. There was the first attack with four guys gone. I did it again and to go solo to the finish line was unbelievable.
"It's my passion, cycling, and for my whole family, and I'm away from home so much because of training camps and races and now it's like the biggest win you can have, winning a stage on the tour."
The outcome at the front of the race had no substantial impact on the general classification standings, with Tadej Pogacar remaining over five minutes ahead of closest rivals Rigoberto Uran and Jonas Vingegaard, as the Tour heads towards the Pyrenees.
The bulk of the field arrived in Nimes almost 16 minutes behind Politt, with Mark Cavendish producing a sprint to lead the peloton over the line.
STAGE RESULT
1. Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) 3:22:12
2. Imanol Erviti (Movistar) +0:31
3. Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal)
4. Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) +1:58
5. Luka Mezgec (Team BikeExchange) +2:06
CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 47:22:43
2. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) +5:18
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +5:32
Points Classification
1. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 221
2. Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) 162
3. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) 142
King of the Mountains
1. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) 50
2. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 44
3. Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) 42
What's next?
The 219km ride from Nimes to Carcassonne has all the hallmarks of a relatively straightforward stage before the teams head into the Pyrenees over the weekend.
IOC denies dragging its heels over decision on Russians and Belarusians for Paris 2024 Olympics
Thomas Bach denied the International Olympic Committee is biding its time over deciding whether Russia and Belarus athletes can compete at Paris 2024 amounted to "kicking it down the road".
IOC president Bach spoke on Tuesday at a press conference after interim recommendations were issued to international federations and organisers of events regarding the involvement of Russians and Belarusians in events while war in Ukraine continues.
The Olympic body urged federations to exclude any athletes or support personnel "who actively support the war", along with anybody "contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies", and said teams from either country should not be allowed to compete in international sport for now.
However, in a statement, the IOC said: "Sports organisations must have the sole responsibility to decide which athletes can take part in international competitions based on their sporting merits and not on political grounds or because of their passports."
There is a clear possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to compete as neutrals at the Paris Olympics next year, although Bach stressed there has been no decision taken on that matter, explaining it has yet to be discussed by the IOC executive board.
Bach said the IOC was going along with a United Nations position, and when asked whether Olympic chiefs were simply waiting for the war to end, and holding fire on direct action until then, he refuted the contention.
"We are not kicking it down the road, and we are not waiting," Bach said. "I guess we all would like the war to end now, and this is what we are calling for, but as you can see for all the reasons we are giving the conditions are not related to the development of the war, they are related to the respect of the Olympic charter and the Olympic values, and there we have to address these questions whether somebody is actively supporting the war in whichever way."
Bach said a decision regarding next year's Olympics would be made "at the appropriate time", without indicating when that might be, saying it was important to monitor the latest recommendations "for as long as possible" before taking "an informed decision".
He said there was no timeline because "nobody knows what's happening tomorrow or in one week or in nine months, so we have just to monitor and then find the appropriate time".
Bach knows there is unease in some quarters about the IOC not taking a firm decision.
When asked about Russia being happy its athletes were being able to compete, and Ukraine being unhappy with the situation, Bach said: "We have been accused by the Russian side of being agents of the United States, and we have been accused by Ukrainian side of being promoters of the war, so we appear to be somewhere in the middle."
Bernal back in hospital but escapes fractures after Volta a Catalunya crash
Egan Bernal has escaped significant damage but will remain in hospital for treatment following a clash at the Volta a Catalunya.
Two-time Grand Tour champion Bernal was making his UCI World Tour return at this week's event in Spain, which is led by Primoz Roglic after six stages.
However, Bernal will not be finishing the race after he abandoned on Saturday following a crash.
Bernal had not raced in a World Tour event since 2021, having missed the majority of 2022 due to a serious training crash in his homeland of Colombia.
The 26-year-old required surgery on his spine, while he also suffered two collapsed lungs, fractures in his right leg and kneecap, a broken thumb and a lost tooth in a collision with a parked bus.
Fortunately, Bernal has avoided any such injuries on this occasion.
In an update on social media, INEOS Grenadiers explained Bernal had been taken to hospital following the crash, but "imaging showed no signs of fractures".
The statement added: "Further medical assessment will continue over the next few days and treatment for skin abrasions he sustained."
It is the second abandonment in as many races for Bernal, who suffered a knee injury during the Vuelta a San Juan.
Pogacar fends off Vingegaard for 'dream' triumph at Paris-Nice
Tadej Pogacar achieved a "dream" victory in the Paris-Nice as the two-time Tour de France champion powered to a final-stage win on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Slovenian produced a thrilling solo surge on the 117.2-kilometre eighth stage, chiefly contested in the hills surrounding Nice.
His race-winning move came on the final climb, the Col d'Eze, as the UAE Team Emirates man left his rivals to scrap it out for second place before tearing away to the finish line on the Promenade des Anglais.
Pogacar took the stage by 33 seconds. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma) was second to cross the line on the sea front, with Pogacar taking the overall tour victory by 53 seconds from France's David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ).
Vingegaard, the reigning Tour de France champion, picked up third place on this occasion in the general classification standings.
Pogacar won the one-day Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior in Spain early last month, and then went on to dominate the five-day Vuelta a Andalucia.
The latest success is a further step towards the grand tours that await later in the year, with Pogacar electing to race at this event, on the roads where he does much of his training, rather than head to the Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy. That race, running concurrently, was won on Sunday by Primoz Roglic after Pogacar's victories there in 2021 and 2022.
"It was always my goal, my dream, to win Paris-Nice as well and now that I did it, it's incredible," Pogacar said on Eurosport.
"They say attack is the best defence and I really know these roads. A lot of training is done here, so I knew exactly how my legs were and on the final climb how much I could spend to come to the top and I calculated great."
Pogacar will turn his attention to next Saturday's Milan-San Remo one-day classic, satisfied to have got the better of a strong field.
"The competition here was really, really huge and to be alongside David Gaudu and Jonas Vingegaard on the podium is special because they are really top-class riders," Pogacar said. "If I don't win anything until the end of the season it's still not bad, so I can be more relaxed."
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