What a Tour de France debut Magnus Cort Nielsen is having.
The Dane handed Astana their second consecutive victory by winning the 15th stage of the race in Carcassonne on Sunday.
Welshman Geraint Thomas, of Sky, maintained his 1min 39sec race lead over teammate and compatriot Chris Froome after a 181.5-kilometre ride from Millau in which the yellow jersey holder's rivals failed to launch a challenge.
Thomas and the main peloton trailed over the finish line just over 13 minutes in arrears on what, for them, was a comparatively easy stage ahead of Monday's rest day.
"I've been feeling pretty good. Days like today are always a bit funny because you don't really want to push. You want to recover as much as possible," Thomas said.
The 32-year-old Welshman, however, refused to speculate on whether he, and not Froome, will lead their charge over the following, decisive stages into the Pyrenees mountains.
"No honestly, I'm not thinking about that," Thomas added.
"I'm taking each day as it comes. I'm looking forward to the rest day, then the next stage, the next climb, and just keep on doing what we're doing."
🔎 Enjoy how @MagnusCort made his way to the win today!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2018
🔎 Appréciez comment @MagnusCort a su s'imposer aujourd'hui !#TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/NCWEA1wDZx
Astana, meanwhile, took full advantage of what was set to be a transition stage ahead of three tough days in the Pyrenees mountains starting from Tuesday.
Nielsen was one two Astana riders who fought hard to get in a breakaway group of 29 riders, along with compatriot Michael Valgren.
And when it came to the final kilometres, the race debutant seized the day.
Nielsen first underlined his ambitions 8km from the finish when he quickly countered Italian Domenico Pozzovivo's effort to break clear.
And two kilometres further on, Nielsen was quick to join Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek) and Jon Izagirre (Bahrain) when they left five of their breakaway companions behind.
A lack of cooperation in their wake meant the trio were allowed to build an insurmountable advantage over the closing kilometres.
But Nielsen was simply unbeatable after launching his sprint just under 300m from the finish, where Izagirre finished second and Mollema third.
______________
Read more:
[ Geraint Thomas victorious but booed after Tour de France Stage 12 ]
[ Thomas soars to 11th stage win as Mark Cavendish misses cut ]
[ Alaphilippe talks up importance of winning stage 'for a Frenchman' ]
[ UAE Team Emirates rider loses ground with crash in Stage 8 of Tour ]
UAE Team Emirates rider Dan Martin wins Stage 6 of Tour de France
______________
It is Astana's second consecutive win on the race after Spaniard Omar Fraile capped an audacious attack on the final climb of stage 14 to triumph in Mende.
"I knew I had the legs to win, and that I would be fastest at the line, but I still kept some powder dry in case," the 25-year-old Dane said.
It is Astana's second consecutive win on the race after Spaniard Omar Fraile capped an audacious attack on the final climb of stage 14 to triumph in Mende.
But both Fraile and Nielsen could now be called upon to put their personal ambitions aside to help their podium contender, Jakob Fuglsang, who is ninth overall at 6:14.
"We made the decision to target stage wins in these past two days, but trying to keep Jakob up as high as possible in the general classification is our priority," said Nielsen.
After Monday's rest day, the race resumes when the 16th stage takes the peloton from Carcassone over five categorised climbs and 218 km to the downhill finish in Bagneres-De-Luchon.
