Bob Jungels, the 29-year-old Luxembourger riding for the AG2R Citroën team, took his first Tour de France stage win after a 50km lone attack through the climbs of the Swiss Valais and Haute Savoie.
Jungels, who endured a lean period in his career before being diagnosed with endofibrosis, a narrowing of the arteries, missed the 2021 Tour and the Tokyo Olympic Games due to iliac artery surgery. His win will have also offered some comfort to a team shocked by the collapse in form of leader Ben O’Connor, who placed fourth overall in the 2021 Tour.
“It’s hard to say what I feel right now,” said Jungels. “I’m just overwhelmed. I know this means a lot for the team, after a couple of years struggling, a very tough last year with surgeries. It’s my style of racing, my style of taking the victories.”
Jungels was part of a 21-rider breakaway that included several notables, with past Tour stage winners such as Rigoberto Urán, Wout Van Aert, Thibaut Pinot and Warren Barguil among the group.
But as the group wilted in the heat of the Alpine afternoon, Jungels moved clear with the mercurial Pinot, who had crashed twice and been accidentally punched in the face by a soigneur during Saturday’s stage to Lausanne, in pursuit on the long haul up the Pas de Morgins.
Although the French rider, buoyed by fervent support from home fans, fought to close the gap to Jungels, he was unable to bridge across to the AG2R rider before the finish. Further down the climb, race leader Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates controlled his main rivals, before the Slovenian accelerated hard in the closing kilometre to steal three seconds on Geraint Thomas.
