Matej Mohoric posted a second Tour de France stage win after surging solo from a breakaway group with a darting attack on Friday. (More Sports News)
Mohoric, who rides for the Bahrain Victorious team, made his move with 26 kilometers (16 miles) left and produced a tremendous individual effort after spending the day at the front.
His victory brought relief to his team, which was raided by French police this week as part of a doping investigation.
The Marseille prosecutor in charge of the case said a preliminary investigation targeting the team was opened on July 3 “for acquisition, transport, possession, import of a substance or method prohibited for use by an athlete without medical justification.”
None of the Bahrain Victorious riders competing at the Tour has been publicly accused of wrongdoing, but Mohoric made a “zipping the lips” gesture before he crossed the finish line, as if to silence the team’s critics.
Mohoric has stage wins at all three Grand Tours and is a specialist of long solo efforts. The Slovenian earned his first Tour stage win by claiming the marathon stage of this year’s race- a 249-kilometer hilly trek in central France.
On paper, Friday's 207-kilometre flat stage to the southwestern town of Libourne looked tailor-made for Mark Cavendish, but the British sprinter's team did not try to catch the breakaway when it formed.
After matching Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34 stage wins last week, Cavendish will have another chance to break it during Sunday's final stage, a mainly processional ride generally ending with a mass sprint on the Champs-Elysees.
Christophe Laporte was runner-up, 58 seconds off the pace, and Casper Pedersen completed the podium.
With none of the breakaway riders a threat in the general classification, race leader Tadej Pogacar rode safely in the pack, crossing 20 minutes and 50 seconds behind with his main rivals.
Barring an accident, the UAE Team Emirates rider should be crowned Tour champion for the second straight year. Pogacar has a huge lead of nearly six minutes over Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification. Richard Carapaz is third.
Before Sunday’s final stage, there is just one difficult stage remaining — a time trial through the Bordelais vineyards on Saturday. Pogacar excels in the race against the clock and won the first time trial of this Tour, beating the pure specialists.
Mohoric was part of a group of six riders that broke away in the early stages and quickly opened a gap. A spill after 38 kilometers disrupted the peloton’s tempo and the chase was disorganized, with a myriad of attacks that split the bunch in several groups.
Nils Politt and Edward Theuns went clear as a 20-man counterattack group filled with punchy riders excelling on flat terrain managed to move away with 130 kilometers to go.
With Merckx's record at stake, that unexpected scenario was bad news for Cavendish, since it was extremely difficult for the pack to control such a big group and guarantee a sprint finish.