Lopez 3rd in GC after Tour de France Stage 18
«A hard day, but I am happy to pass it without problem and to finish up there with the best riders. Once again the team did a great job for me and I was able to save some energy for the last the most difficult climb. The pace of our group on the last climb was really high, so it was not possible to try something. The gravel section was a bit dangerous, but I managed to pass it well. I am happy to keep my position in the general classification and not to lose time to the others. Well, one stage less and we are a bit closer to Paris. On Saturday we will have a tough individual time trial and of course I will try to show my maximum there. Every time trial is different and a time trial at the 20th stage of the Tour de France differs a lot from any other race. All you can do - just to give your all. But, first of all we have to do tomorrow’s stage well,» said Miguel Angel Lopez after the last day in big mountains.
Stage 18 became the last mountain stage of this edition of the Tour de France: the peloton passed 175 km with 5 categorized climbs from Méribel to La-Roche-sur-Foron. A group of 32 riders went away at the first part of the distance with Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez among the escapers. On the second climb of the day a new group of 5 riders broke away clear, while Sanchez remained in the first chasing group. In the end of the day two riders from the leading group, Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz finished together to make 1-2 for their team Ineos Grenadier.
Behind their shoulders, several attacks have been made inside the yellow jersey group on the steep last climb of the day Montée du Plateau des Glières. Miguel Angel Lopez stayed up there among the favorites always ready to follow any move of his rivals. However, no one of the race contenders could escape on the last 30 km and they arrived at the finish line all together, almost 2 minutes behind the stage winner. Miguel Angel Lopez finished 12th, thus protecting his 3rd place in the overall standings.
Ahead of the last three stages of the Tour de France 2020 the Slovenian Primoz Roglic leads the race, his compatriot Tadej Pogacar is second, 57 seconds behind, Miguel Angel Lopez is 3rd, 1 minute 27 seconds behind, while the Australian Richie Porte is 4th, 3 minutes 6 seconds behind.
Stage 19 with a hilly profile will be held tomorrow: the riders will do a 166.5-km-long distance from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole.