Denmark's Kasper Asgreen outsprinted the chasing peloton to win stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday as Jonas Vingegaard maintained his comfortable overall lead.
The sprint teams got their sums wrong on the 185-kilometre stage from Moutiers as a four-strong break held on by just a few metres to take the honours, with the Soudal Quick-Step rider beating Pascal Eenkhoorn and Jonas Abrahamsen to the line.
The day brought no changes at the top of the general classification, in which defending champion Vingegaard took an all-but-unassailable seven-and-a-half minute lead over Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates on Wednesday.
Jasper Philipsen, hoping to add to his four sprint stage wins in this first opportunity for the quick men in more than a week, came home in fourth having failed to make the catch.
Asgreen was part of a four-man breakaway that took shape early in the stage, but they were never allowed to open a gap of more than one minute and a half by Philipsen's Alpecin-Deceuninck team.
As the bunch drew closer, Asgreen's teammates took turns at the front to slow the pace and offer more hope to the breakaway.
In the four-man group, Belgian Victor Campenaerts rode himself into the ground hoping to set up Lotto-Dstny teammate Eenkhoorn for a last-gasp sprint.
Yet Asgreen was stronger, launching his effort some 200 metres from the line to claim his maiden Grand Tour stage win.
“Obviously the situation was not ideal,” admitted Asgreen after the race. “I would have preferred to have gone with six, seven or eight [riders] but it's also the last week of the Tour and we're coming off some really hard weeks.
“We've seen it before that even a small group can manage to cheat the sprinters' teams. I didn't rule it out. It was a team time trial to the finish.
“I really couldn't have done it without Pascal, Victor and Jonas,” he added.
“They all did amazing out there. We all deserved to win with the work we put out there. I'm really happy to come away with the win.
“It means so much - with the period I had the last year with my crash in the Tour de Suisse and having to leave the Tour de France last year. I've come a long way.”
Overall, Vingegaard remains well clear of Pogacar – who described Wednesday's stage as “one of the worst days of my life on the bike” – with the Slovenian's British teammate Briton Adam Yates in third place, 10 min 45 sec off the pace.
Friday's Stage 19 sees the peloton travels across the Jura Mountains, without tackling any major climbs, over a 172.8km route from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny. The processional final stage in Paris takes place on Sunday.
Naga
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Federer's 11 Wimbledon finals
2003 Beat Mark Philippoussis
2004 Beat Andy Roddick
2005 Beat Andy Roddick
2006 Beat Rafael Nadal
2007 Beat Rafael Nadal
2008 Lost to Rafael Nadal
2009 Beat Andy Roddick
2012 Beat Andy Murray
2014 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2015 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2017 Beat Marin Cilic
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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The candidates
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Name: Kumulus Water
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Essentials
The flights
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Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
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- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives