Tour de France nearly man Hirschi tastes victory at last
Last updated on: 11 September,2020 07:30 am
Marc Hirschi won the stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday.
SARRAN (AFP) - Persistance finally paid off for Marc Hirschi as the Swiss soloed to victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday, putting behind him two gut-wrenching near misses.
There was no change in the overall standings a day ahead of a massive mountain slog with Jumbo s Primoz Roglic 21 seconds ahead of defending champion Colombia s Egan Bernal of Ineos.
The 22-year-old Hirschi was first pipped at the line by flying Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe on Nice s iconic Promenade des Anglais on stage two.
He then suffered another blow when the Slovenian pair Tadej Pogacar and Roglic caught and beat him at Laruns in Sunday s stage nine.
But the Sunweb man finally found the right formula to produce a heroic long-range solo victory on the Tour s longest stage of 218km from the chateau-dominated town of Chauvigny over four rolling hills to Sarran in central France s pastoral heartland.
"I haven t been sleeping well and I had a bad back but I said to myself just go for it," said the bearded escape artist.
"I never would have believed it and even in the final kilometre I still didn t allow myself to hope," said the 2018 under-21 s world road race champion.
"I was so close twice, so it s an unbelievable feeling."
Hirschi was given a late scare again by Alaphilippebut the Frenchman quickly abandoned his late pursuit.
"He deserved his win, I m glad for him, I just didn t have the legs. He was too strong," Alaphilippe said at the line.
The Tour takes in Europe s largest volcano Friday with the 70km in diameter Puy Mary on the Cantal Massif with the peloton to ascend to 1783m.
"Our team needs a win," Bernal warned at the finishing line Thursday.