What looked set to be a regulation sprint stage ended up being anything but. Bora-Hansgrohe piled on the pressure early, splitting Peter Sagan’s green jersey rivals off the back, before late crosswinds shook up the GC quite significantly. Oh and there was a Thomas De Gendt breakaway too.
What might have been a rather predictable day’s racing turned out to be the most electrifying stage of the race thus far. Here’s how our photographers saw stage 7 unfold.
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- EF Pro Cycling’s Colombian trio enjoying breakfast before stage 7. From left to right: Sergio Higuita, Dani Martinez and Rigo Uran.
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- Adam Yates was in yellow for the second day running.
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- This is an early contender for weirdest photo of the Tour so far. It will be hard to beat.
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- Bora-Hansgrohe came to the front early in an attempt to distance the big sprinters.
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- Among those caught out were previous stage winners Caleb Ewan and Alexander Kristoff.
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- Echelons!
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- Thomas De Gendt went on the attack with 95 km to go.
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- He led until 35 km from the line, at which point Ineos were on the front, ramping up the pace to create further splits in the lead group.
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- Ineos got help from a bunch of teams up front which saw the lead group split into pieces.
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- Among those caught out were Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates).
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- A front group of 41 riders made it to the finish to contest the sprint. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT) hit the front and looked in a great position …
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- … but Wout van Aert came up his right-hand side to bolt to a second stage win at this year’s Tour.
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- It’s fair to say Wout van Aert’s been pretty good since the season resumed post-COVID lockdown.
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- He’s now got victories at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and on two stages of the Tour. What’s next?
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- Green jersey leader Sam Bennett was caught out in the early aggression and finished more than 14 minutes down, losing his green jersey in the process.
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- Sagan took back the green jersey but was left wondering what could have been. He had a mechanical in the final sprint and missed the opportunity to take more points (and possibly win the stage).
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- Stage 8 will be another day in yellow for Adam Yates.
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