Mendy, France July 17 (BUS): With only seven stages left in this year’s race, French riders face the awkward prospect of finishing the Tour de France without achieving a stage victory for only the third time since the event began in 1903.
While fourth-placed Romain Bardi is battling for a podium finish in Paris and David Gaudeau can still hope to end up in the top five overall, none of the 27 French riders showed up in the race. , with the exception of Thibaut Pinot, are in a position to raise their arms in celebration, reports Reuters.
Pinot, a 2014 podium finisher, came close to winning the Tour in 2019 before giving up his injury two days before the Champs-Elysees parade, finishing fourth at Chatel and third in Mendy on Saturday.
The Groupama-FDJ rider is at the Tour with no ambition for the title after suffering injuries for two years and will go on to win a stage again in the Pyrenees.
Neither Gaudo, his team leader, nor Bardet will be allowed to separate, and they are inferior to the race’s top two runners, yellow jersey holder Jonas Weinggaard of Denmark, and Slovenian defending champion Tadej Pogakar.
Only twice before, in 1926 and 1999, local candidates arrived in Paris empty-handed.
World champion Julien Alaphilippe is the last French rider to win the Tour after winning the opening stage last year. Since then, the locals have cut 34 stages without a victory – the worst performance ever.
But he did not race this year after sustaining several injuries at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Classic in April.
“Alaphilippe is not here and he missed it badly,” AG2R-Citroen coach Vincent Lavigno said.
“Three Danish riders have already won this year but no French. Until the end of the Tour we need to find opportunities to put more riders into the breakout.”
Joining a group of separate riders seems to be the only hope for the French as they cannot compete with Vingegaard and Pogacar in the mountains, and this year there is no sprint specialist on any team in the absence of Arnaud Demare.
Christophe Laporte, also a decent runner, rides for Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma and has been tasked with home runs on the flat stages.
“It’s hard to explain,” Laporte said. “You have to be strong but you also have a bit of luck.”
“We see strong French jockeys but they’re not so lucky. I also think these days it’s always the same who wins. (Belgian) Wout (Van Aert), (Tadig) Poujacquard, Jonas (Vinggaard).
“You have to be stronger and stronger to win and I think we are not the best in the mountains. The French need to defect.”
One of their best chances may come on Sunday when the 15th stage takes the peloton from Rhodes to Carcassonne for a bumpy 202.5 kilometer ride.