Tour de France: Navardauskas solos to stage win

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Ramunas Navardauskas has been showing himself as a sprinter in this year's Tour de France, but the Lithuanian time trial champion used his strength for riding solo to finally deliver the stage win for which Garmin-Sharp has tried so hard.

"It was a big dream to win a Tour de France stage," Navardauskas explained. "It's everyone's dream. I am really thankful to my teammates. Jack Bauer and Sebastian Langeveld helped me on the climb, And TJ [Tom-Jelte Slagter] was just amazing."

John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) led home the fractured peloton seven seconds later, with dual stage winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) in third.

Navardauskas attacked from the field on the sole categorized climb, the category 4 cote de Monbazillac, with 13km to go on the rain-soaked stage, catching his teammate Slagter, who was the last survivor of the day's breakaway, and then leaving him behind on the descent. It was a pre-formulated strategy by Garmin-Sharp to salvage its Tour de France which was plagued by bad luck - first by the abandon of GC leader Andrew Talansky, then the heartbreaking near-miss of Jack Bauer on stage 15.

"This was the plan from the beginning," Navardauskas said. "To have someone in the break. If we didn't we had to work on the final climb. Thankfully Tom [Jelte Slagter] was in the break. He did an amazing job. And then he had the strength to help me on the top. That gave me some extra motivation. I didn't want to disappoint my teammates. I am really happy for the team."

Navardauskas built up a half-minute lead on the run-in, and still held a 20 second advantage with 3km to go, despite a furious chase by the sprinters' teams. But a crash in the field that upset the Cannondale train, taking down green jersey holder Peter Sagan in the process, and the disruption helped his chances.

The crash happened in the front part of the peloton and held up a number of riders, including race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) was the most prominent overall contender who went down in the crash. The young Frenchman remounted and finished, but the injuries should not impact his chances in the time trial on Saturday.

"I don't really know what happened," Bardet said. "Some riders fell in front of me and I couldn't avoid them, and lots of us hit the ground. But it's OK. I'm not in much pain."

The wreck was inside the 3km mark, so there was no effect on the overall standings, with Nibali keeping his commanding lead over Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R-La Mondiale).

Nibali seemed unruffled by the late crash, explaining how he avoided any problems by taking an inside line in the corner.

"It was a hard day because of the weather and there was a moment of surprise with the crash but we got through it okay. We were close to the finish and so we'd moved back to let the sprinters take charge. We didn't want to take any risks," he said.

Nibali explained he is proud to wear the yellow jersey, despite its responsibility and pressures.

"It's earning me a lot of attention and popularity, congratulations and prestige. For me personally, it pays me back for all the sacrifices that I, and all the people who have ever helped me, have made."

"I've traveled a long road since I was a boy in Sicily and made a lot of sacrifices and had lot of help from a lot of people in Messina and then in Tuscany, where I developed as a rider. I've been lucky to be able to do what I love the most and make my boyhood dream come true."

How it unfolded

Just after the white flag was dropped for the 208.5 kilometre stage to Bergerac, Cyril Gautier attacked for Europcar. IAM Cycling's Martin Elmiger and Arnaud Gérard for Bretagne-Seché followed, and after Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) managed to bridge to the leading trio, the day's leading group was established.

There were a few failed attempts to bridge across, namely from Sagan and the Pinot, who, currently second in the overall, was quickly chased down. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) was allowed to go, making it five in the breakaway.

Gérard, Gautier, Elmiger, Slagter and Taaramae were never allowed a gap of more than 3:30, while the sprinters' teams Giant-Shimano, Lotto-Belisol, Katusha and Cannondale did most of the work at the front of the bunch.

With temperatures of barely 20 degrees and rain pounding down on the peloton, the day would become a long one with many flat tyres but luckily no crashes in the opening stages of the race.

When the gap of the five leaders dropped to a minute with 30 kilometres to go, Slagter attacked the breakaway . The 25-year-old Dutchman left Gautier, Gérard, Elmiger and Taaramae behind.

The stragglers were caught by the peloton at 20 kilometres to go, and then Omega Pharma – Quick Step's Jan Bakelants launched an attack to bridge to Slagter but he never made it far.

Slagter was the first to start up the only rated climb of the day: the côte de Montbazillac. At 1.3km in length, it offered the peloton a 7.6% gradient. Garmin-Sharp was present at the head of the bunch, ready to pounce as Slagter was dangling 20 seconds ahead.

Navardauskas attacked, bridging across to his teammate before dropping him before the descent. With 5 kilometres from Bergerac the Lithuanian had 23 seconds on a disorganized peloton.

It came down to Omega Pharma-Quick Step to close the gap to Navardauskas when a crash wiped out the chances of Peter Sagan and it derailed the chase.

Navardauskas finished seven seconds ahead of the peloton where John Degenkolb sprinted to second and Alexander Kristoff to third.

Slagter was really emotional at the finish line. "This was our last chance and we grabbed it. We had to change our tactics after Andrew [Talansky] left. We had a plan every day and we never succeeded. What Ramunas did was amazing. I had a good day in the break and the rain helped us. I didn't believe in our chances but what Ramunas did was great."

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