2019 Tour de France, Daily News Digest, Features, Jakob Fuglsang, Marianne Vos, Mike Teunissen, News - July 7, 2019

Teunissen tops Sagan and Ewan to win Tour de France opener: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

Mike Teunissen takes a stunning sprint victory ahead of Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan in stage 1 of the Tour de France, Jakob Fuglsang crashes, Marianne Vos wins stage 2 of the Giro Rosa. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Teunissen takes surprise victory in Tour de France opener

Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) took a stunning sprint victory in the opening stage of the Tour de France, topping Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) to nab the first yellow jersey of the race.

What could have been a disaster for Jumbo-Visma when Dylan Groenewegen crashed in the finale turned out quite differently when Teunissen seamlessly transitioned from lead-out man to sprinter, staying well-positioned into the final kick and pipping Sagan at the line.

“I cannot believe it. We’ve been working for weeks, months even to bring Dylan to the stage victory, to the yellow jersey,” an incredulous Teunissen said after the finish.

“At one and a half k, everything disappeared because [Groenewegen] went down in a crash. I thought, I’m still here, I’m still fresh, we can still try it, eh? I saw everyone dying in the last few meters—even Sagan, I was catching up on him. I overtook him on the line. It’s beyond imagining.”

Mike Teunissen takes a phone call from his father while mid-way through the mixed zone. ‘He wanted to say he was proud of me’ pic.twitter.com/eN9dSazOyv

— Sophie Hurcom (@sophiehurcom) July 6, 2019

Groenewegen was not the only big-name rider to hit deck on the crash-marred stage. GC hopeful Jakob Fuglsang hit the deck hard just inside the final 20 kilometers. He ultimately rejoined the peloton before the finish, but sustained a cut near his eye.

The 194.5-kilometer stage started and finished in Brussels with a parcours that favored the fast finishers. A four-rider move that included Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) got away early, and once the last remnants of that break were caught, Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) soloed away and stayed clear into the final 10 kilometers.

The peloton was rolling at a high tempo to chase down the lone escapee when Fuglsang went down. Although bleeding from his cut, the 34-year-old Dane remounted and linked up with several teammates to slowly but surely work his way through the cars and return to the pack at around the same time that Rossetto was caught.

Katusha-Alpecin and Lotto-Soudal led the peloton into the final few kilometers, but a big crash in the pack brought down Groenewegen and several others with two kilometers to go. Teunissen stayed calm despite the chaos, holding on near the front of the peloton as Deceuninck-Quick-Step led the way into the sprint.

Sagan, Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida), and Michael Matthews (Sunweb) launched early with Sagan still at the front in the closing meters, but Teunissen surged past as the line approached to take a narrow, unexpected victory.

Stage 1 results

1 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:22:47
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
5 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
6 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

General classification

1 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:22:37
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:06
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data 0:00:10
5 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
6 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

Socially Speaking

It’s never a bad time for a PSA: If you’re at the Tour, watch out for, you know, bike riders.

Not cool, bro. Nice stop, @NairoQuinCo . #tdf2019 pic.twitter.com/hAyfN5e8Bx

— DANIEL McMAHON (@cyclingreporter) July 6, 2019

Race Radio

Vos wins stage 2 of the Giro Rosa

Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) won stage 2 of the Giro Rosa, surging to a convincing victory on an uphill drag ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) and Lucinda Brand (Sunweb).

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) finished on the same time and retained her overall race lead, although Vos, van Vleuten, and Brand all improved their GC standing with bonus seconds at the line.

The 78.3-kilometer stage started and finished in Viù, with an early second-category climb and then a long but gentle uphill run-in to the line. An initial break was caught shortly after the big early climb, and then a second escape was reeled in inside the final 10 kilometers. From there, attacks were stifled by the high tempo in the pack, setting up a showdown for the final few hundred meters.

Vos exploded clear in the finale and no one could touch her. Van Vleuten finished a distant second just ahead of Brand and a strung out lead group.

????????@marianne_vos of ????????@CCCLivTeam wins stage 2 of ????????@GiroRosaIccrea #UCIWWT #GiroRosa (????PMG Sport) pic.twitter.com/FxnkeKTDW7

— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) July 6, 2019

Niewiadoma will continue to wear pink into Sunday’s stage 3, 104.1 kilometers from Sagliano Micca to Piedicavallo.

Stage 2 results

1 Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv 2:15:56
2 Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott Women
3 Lucinda Brand (Ned) Team Sunweb Women
4 Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
5 Soraya Paladin (Ita) Ale Cipollini
6 Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women
7 Ane Santesteban Gonzalez (Spa) WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling
8 Demi Vollering (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
9 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo Women
10 Erica Magnaldi (Ita) WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling

General classification

1 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM 2:47:37
2 Omer Shapira (Isr) Canyon-SRAM 0:00:12
3 Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Canyon-SRAM 0:00:19
4 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 0:00:24
5 Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv 0:00:35
6 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) CCC-Liv 0:00:45
7 Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott Women 0:00:47
8 Leah Thomas (USA) Bigla Pro Cycling Team
9 Elise Chabbey (Swi) Bigla Pro Cycling Team
10 Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women 0:00:53

Stitches needed but no fractures for Fuglsang after crash

Jakob Fuglsang rode the final 18 kilometers of the Tour’s opening stage with blood streaming down his face following a crash. According to his Astana team, he emerged from the incident without any broken bones, but will require stitches.

Our @jakob_fuglsang finished the stage, he will have a medical check now. We’ll publish an update later.#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/3LMuYI9k7M

— Astana Pro Team (@AstanaTeam) July 6, 2019

Fuglsang went down inside the final 20 kilometers of the stage and was distanced by the pack as he returned to his feet and clipped back in. Numerous Astana teammates dropped back to help him chase back to the bunch, however, and he made the junction within the last 10 kilometers. He was then one of several GC riders caught behind the same crash that brought down Dylan Groenewegen, but as that pileup occurred within the final three kilometers, it did not affect his GC standing.

Dimension Data performance director: I wanted Cavendish at the Tour

Rolf Aldag, performance director at Dimension Data, confirmed in no uncertain terms on Saturday that he wanted Mark Cavendish on the team’s Tour de France roster.

“There’s no secret about it,” Aldag told media outside the Dimension Data bus on the Tour’s opening stage. “I wanted to have [Cavendish] here and I think he would have suited our strategy, but ultimately it was a team owner decision.”

Team principal Doug Ryder ultimately made the call on selecting the eight riders for the Tour squad, with Cavendish not on his final list.

“It’s within my responsibility to select a team and I called eight names, and Mark was included,” Aldag said. “The team owner has the right to overrule me, which he did. And now we have eight athletes here who have done nothing wrong and deserve full support from everybody.”

Moving Pictures

A short film from Streetfilms explores the ways that planning and infrastructure have helped make the Dutch city of Utrecht one of the world’s best cities for cyclists. Hopefully more cities will catch on one day.

Coming Up at the Tour

The Tour de France rolls on with a team time trial on stage 2.

The 27.6-kilometer course in Brussels will take teams past several city landmarks on a parcours with some rollers but no major climbs. Ineos, Jumbo-Visma, Mitchelton-Scott, and Sunweb will start the TTT among the top favorites, with a chance to put one of their riders into yellow – or hold onto it, in Jumbo-Visma’s case – with a strong enough ride.