Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay made it a hat-trick of wins in this year's Tour de France after beating Wout van Aert and Arnaud Demare in a frantic bunch sprint finish on Thursday.
Girmay became the first black African to win a stage on the Tour on the third day of this year's edition at Turin and was first again on Stage 8 before completing an impressive treble after proving fastest again in Villeneuve-sur-Lot to extend his lead in the sprint points race. The Intermarche-Wanty rider now has 328 points to Jasper Philipsen's 217 with few real sprint stages remaining, with the exception of Friday.
UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar retained the leader's yellow jersey and remains one minute six seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel, with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard a further eight seconds behind. Pogacar's teammate Joao Almeida is now fourth in the overall standings, with Ineos rider Carlos Rodriguez fifth.
“First of all I would say thanks God giving me a lot of strength and power,” said Girmay. “Without God we cannot do anything so I'm super happy. Second, I want to say thanks to my teammates. Thank you for everyone, without them I cannot prove I am the fastest. I'm super happy.
“From the start of the Tour I feel like I knew I can do good results if I have the right time and the right wheel. I proved in the last three sprints if I'm in the right position I am able to win Especially today, We didn't have any stress.
“We think the break will arrive, don't take risk, but in the end when everyone came together I got on the radio and said I feel good. I'm super happy I can deliver.
“Since I started to wear this green jersey, somehow I felt super fast, especially in my mind. I believe I can prove I’m the best. I’ve had a lot of ups and down with crashes. But this year I completely changed my training. I hope it continues like this.”
Asked if he was comfortable as a role model, Girmay said: “Cycling is not a global sport yet, so for African cycling this [his stage wins] is a good thing. Now maybe the European teams may take more Africans. For now I'm the only one and I wish there were more black riders in the peloton.
“I'm in the best shape of my life. I get up every morning and look in the mirror and tell myself to live the day. To win three stages in one race is wonderful. After the last win I had nearly 600 messages from home.”
Primoz Roglic had been fourth overnight but trailed home nearly two-and-a-half minutes behind Girmay after a fall that left his shoulder bleeding as he crossed the line after struggling home over the final 12.5km. The fall happened outside the zone where late crashes are overlooked for overall times.
The Slovenian was involved in a crash for a second consecutive day after an Astana rider failed to see a slender traffic island and took down some dozen riders. The 34-year-old four-time Grand Tour winner took a couple of minutes to get back in the saddle.
Pogacar's thoughts were for his countryman Roglic. “I heard the crash but didn't look around. I was shocked by the bad news,” he said. “I'm really disappointed for him. It really sucks. I hope he can carry on. We know he's a big fighter.”
When asked about his thoughts on being beaten to the line on Wednesday by Vingegaard, he said he was happy in his yellow overall leader's jersey. “I'm comfortable in the lead. It's up to him to attack if he wants the lead,” said the 2020 and 2021 champion.
Friday's Stage 13 is one of the last obvious sprint stages on a flat run from Agen to Pau, the gateway to the Pyrenees.
