Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) beat out his breakaway companions in Barcelonnette today, outpacing Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) to the line. In this Ubaye region, many were hoping Frenchman Vercher would win. But heavy crowds who flocked to the town, many on bicycle from every direction, made up somewhat for the disappointment.
It was Campenaert’s first ever Tour de France stage victory, adding to his Giro d’Italia stage stage win in 2021. It was a result of cooperating well with Vercher and Kwiatkowski as they rode clear of the peloton in the final 35 kilometers.
Having been the most aggressive rider of the 2023 Tour, Campenaerts can now cherish a hard-earned Grande Boucle bouquet. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) remains in yellow, still 3’11” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 5’09” in front of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
The crowds in Barcelonette waited all day for the teams to arrive, many of them preparing for the sprint by taking in local beer on tap. As the sun beat down these visitors from all over the world, including, Slovenia, Mexico, England, Ecuador, the Netherlands, the U.S., and especially France, they shopped in the local shops, filled up on food, and enjoyed the town’s fully pedestrianized cobblestoned streets and passageways. By the time the riders were 2 km from the finish, the crowds roared and pounded the barricades until they passed the finish line in the final sprint.
37 riders in the breakaway
The stage started with an early breakaway with World Champion Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) amongst those highly active at the front looking to escape. After constant attacks and counter attacks in the opening kilometers Van der Poel was finally dropped from the group of about 20 riders who went clear at km 26, just before the first climb to the Col du Festre.
Talent in the breakaway
Finally 37 riders made it into the breakaway, including: Bart Lemmen, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Chris Juul Jensen, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard, Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail, Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Jai Hindley, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), Clement Champoussin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Louis Meintjes, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty), Oscar Onley, Frank Van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Steff Cras, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jordan Jegat and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies). Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates, Soudal Quick-Step, Alpecin – Deceuninck and Astana Qazaqstan were the four teams without representation in the breakaway, all four having already achieved at least one stage win at this year’s Tour.
Five categorized climbs
It was a rolling hill stage, and Lazkano was the first over the Col du Festre summit (Cat. 3, km 32.2), as well as the Côte de Corps (Cat. 3, km 57.5) and the Col de Manse (Cat. 3, km 97.3), whilst Onley lost contact with the breakaway due to a series of mechanical problems.
Matthews was first in the Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur intermediate sprint (IS, km 84.3), where the breakaway enjoyed a lead of 5’40” over a peloton controlled by UAE Team Emirates. There were numerous attacks at the front of the large breakaway on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire (Cat. 3, km 121), which was topped first by Johannessen, with the leaders of the stage going over the climb 10’30” ahead of the bunch. On the final categorised climb of the stage it was Kwiatkowski who led the way over the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées and after the descent a trio formed at the front of the race, 35 km from the finish line, as Vercher and Campenaerts joined the Polish rider of Ineos Grenadiers in the lead.
A thrilling finale
Over a final sector of 25 km of rising false flats Kwiatkowski, Vercher and Campenaerts collaborated well, to open up a gap over the chasing group behind them. With 15 kilometers to go the leading trio had managed to extend their advantage over the five closest chasers to over 40”. In the final meters of the stage Campenaerts
After the final riders came in, the town became an open market for those who wanted to surround them and walk to their team buses. The buses lined up in the sun down several blocks from the finish line, while young boys and men, and some women, flocked to the team directors and riders outside their team buses.
As teams and TDF cars began their long ride to the next stage, they passed hundreds of cyclists making their way into the mountain along the road leading to Isola 2000, the route on tomorrow’s stage.
