26th July – Stage 20: Nantua – Pontarlier
While Paris looms — and with it, the climb to Montmartre that could spoil the sprinters’ party — stage 20 offered no breathing room either. The peloton set off from Nantua along the shores of a stunning lake for a tough 184.2km stage through hilly terrain. As expected, the rain came early — and not just from the skies as the attacks also rained in. Half the peloton saw this as their last real chance of a victory, and so one move followed another. Team Picnic PostNL was active from the start, and eventually, Frank van den Broek made it into the day’s breakaway. The group of 13 had to work hard to earn a gap, but from around 100km to go, the lead began to rise steadily — approaching the two-minute mark. At one point, the peloton briefly split, with Oscar Onley caught in the second group, but the team remained calm and quickly helped bring things back together. From then on, Onley stayed safely positioned near the front, well supported by his teammates.
On the steepest climb of the day, the Côte de Thésy, several riders — including Warren Barguil — tried to bridge across from the peloton. This chasing group of nine quickly carved out more than a minute’s advantage over the bunch, but they never made the junction with the leaders.
At the front of the race, things began to break apart in the final. Sweeny attacked solo, with Frank van den Broek and four others in pursuit. After Sweeny was caught, two riders crashed on a rain-slicked corner, leaving Van den Broek in a reduced lead group alongside Groves and Stewart. The trio entered the final 20 kilometres of the stage together. Groves slipped away solo, leaving Stewart to look to Van den Broek to do the chasing. He eventually countered with a solo move of his own in pursuit of the Australian. Groves, however, proved just out of reach, and Van den Broek crossed the line in second after spending the entire day on the attack. Oscar Onley finished safely in the peloton, retaining his fourth place on GC as we head to Paris for tomorrow’s stage.
After the stage, Van den Broek said: “Once I was up front with Groves and Stewart, I knew it was going to be really hard to win — they’re both really fast. When Stewart didn’t close the gap to Groves, I decided not chase. I knew I wouldn’t beat them in a sprint anyway. In the end, I think second was the best possible outcome. I’ve got no regrets — it’s been a beautiful Tour for us as a team, and to be up there again today is something to be proud of.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “The whole team did a really good job today. It was hard work getting into that break, and when the peloton briefly split and Oscar was caught behind, the guys stayed calm. They got Frank into the break, Warren was up the road in the chase, it was a spirited race from the team. In the final, Frank did everything he could to get the best result possible. On the climbs, it was clear that Groves was the strongest rider in the race, and I think the right guy won today. Frank and Stewart ended up watching each other, which neutralised things a bit. In the end, Frank secured second place and on a Tour de France stage, that’s a fantastic result.”