Team NetApp-Endura played a key role in today's stage of the Tour de France as the team did a big job to chase down the early breakaway. The team wanted to keep the stage open for team captain Leopold König who ultimately finished 9th.
Today’s stage of the 101st Tour de France challenged the climbing specialists in the peloton once again. The highest point of this year’s Tour, the famous Col d’Izoard, had to be climbed 45 kilometers before the finish line. After 177 kilometers, Rafal Majka (Tinkoff Saxo) decided the stage for himself with a solo finish. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), the current holder of the yellow jersey, and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) completed the podium. Leopold König of Team NetApp-Endura moved up in the ninth daily rankings to improve two positions in the general classification. He is now in eighth place.
“We wanted to keep today’s difficult stage open for Leo up until the very end. That is also why we got an early start to keeping the group from getting too far away and cutting the lead. Astana wouldn’t have ridden today, which is why we took over the initiative on the Izoard pass to achieve our goal. Our team did a superb job of executing our plan and was impressive. No one was excluded today. Leo had an excellent ride on the final climb, but today his legs didn’t have what he needed to attack. Even still, our presentation today was a fantastic achievement by the entire team. We moved up two spots in the general classification, so our plan worked out. Simply put, it was a very good day for us,” Enrico Poitschke said after arriving in Risoul.
Before the peloton enjoys its second rest day on Monday, the sprinters will have another chance in tomorrow’s stage, which starts in Tallard and ends 222 kilometers later in Nimes.
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