Tour de France (Stage 19), Amaury Capiot 6th, Hugo Hofstetter 8th in Cahors
A sprint concluded this penultimate stage in a row. Amaury Capiot took 6th place, Hugo Hofstetter was 8th.
On the line
“The stage was windy and therefore nervous. The last 25 kilometres the peloton rode very hard to catch the riders who had escaped. We were together all day around Nairo, the objective was to protect him. Hugo, Matîs and I found ourselves at the front, the last ten kilometres were very fast, and on the last one Laporte took the breakaway. I can see that Hugo is jumping in front of the peloton, he doesn’t make mistakes and launches when he has to. I was further back and on this uphill finish, I was able to gain some places. I finished 6th, 4th was not more attainable. I am happy with this place today on the 19th stage of the Tour de France”.
“It was a sprint like I like them here in Cahors, I was in the wheel of Reinard Janse Van Rensburg who was supposed to launch Caleb Ewan, but in fact when he gets away, I look behind and I see a hole. I lost half a second at the launch, it’s a pity afterwards I made a nice gap thinking that the distance to the line was less. When I saw 400 metres, I knew it was going to be a long way to the line, especially as I had lost a bit of speed. I can’t have any regrets because today I was able to do a real sprint. There is still one stage left for the sprinters on Sunday and it is the one that all the riders are dreaming about. I hope to have another good sprint in Paris in two days time”.
The debrief
“Another nervous stage in this Tour de France, even if it was the 19th one of this edition, because many teams were afraid of the wind. This bumpy finish allowed Arkéa-Samsic to place two riders in the top 10 in Cahors, with Amaury Capiot 6th and Hugo Hofstetter 8th. This is a sign that our riders are finishing the Tour well and fresh, and we now hope to put in a good performance on the Champs-Élysées stage on Sunday with Arkéa-Samsic sprinter’s” in two days.”