MICHAEL MATTHEWS HAS won the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday as Chris Froome retook the yellow jersey from Fabio Aru.
Matthews won comfortably ahead of Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet in the tough uphill sprint finish to the 181.5km stage from Blagnac to Rodez, with Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen third.
But Aru was caught out well down in the peloton as gaps appeared in the finale, allowing reigning champion Froome to retake the jersey he’d lost to the Italian on Thursday.
In this type of finish, positioning is crucial and Aru failed to manouevre himself to the front of the peloton in a rapid last 10km.
Froome did, though, and was in the right place when the sprint for the line started in the last 600 metres.
The Briton finished seventh, just a second behind Matthews, while Aru was well down, 25 seconds further adrift.
Froome now leads the race by 19sec from Aru with Romain Bardet third at 23sec having also lost four seconds to Froome in the finish, although gained two on the yellow jersey.
Of the overall contenders, only Rigoberto Uran and Ireland’s Dan Martin stuck with Froome.
Uran remains in fourth but closed in to 29sec off the lead.
Meanwhile, Martin — who finished stage 14 in eighth place — gained six seconds and is now at 1:26 as he holds onto his overall sixth place from yesterday, just behind Froome’s Sky team-mate Mikel Landa at 1:17.
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Unless he changes his name to Ryaniano Burkitino, he won’t be getting a game.
@Shameless McFly™: buzz off
@Shameless McFly™: why,is his dad the manager?
This lad isn’t even in the 19s training squad which is already shy of 5 lads that won’t be released by their clubs and there’s another 10 or 20 lads in the same boat as him. Amazing pool of talent between 16 and 19 at present. Long may it last and hopefully prosper at senior level.