Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) was close to breaking a drought, but it wasn't one caused by the extreme heat out on course for Stage 15 of the Tour de France, but one of wins for Cofidis. The French team hasn't won at their home Grand Tour since 2008 but a plucky attack from Thomas looked like it might be about to bring the unwanted statistic to its conclusion.
Attacking with 48 kilometres to go, Thomas and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels) moved clear of a fast-travelling peloton, never given much leeway at all by the sprinters teams looking to ensure a bunch finish in Carcassonne. The two-time world champion on the track put his technical skills to good use, sweeping through descents with ease and then going into an extreme aero pedalling position more often seen in a velodrome than on a road.
He was caught finally with 450 metres to go, swallowed up by the peloton with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) going on to win.
“I went further than I thought," said Thomas of his effort. "At first I wanted to score points for the mountain classification to protect Simon's (Geschke) jersey.
"When I saw that Alexis Gougeard was accompanying me, I said to myself: “why not try my luck”.
The pair gained a lead on the descent of 25 seconds as they sped towards Carcassonne. The Trek-Segafredo, DSM and BORA-hansgrohe squads all chased hard, with the dual benefit of keeping the dropped sprinters on the climb from returning quickly.
Thomas and Gougeard continued strongly at the front of the race, while the general classification teams accelerated in the crosswinds and slowed in headwind sections, giving the breakaway a bit of hope with the pair having a 30-second lead with ten kilometres remaining.
Gougeard dropped off with just under five kilometres remaining, leaving Thomas alone with a gap of ten seconds trying to hold off the peloton. Pedalling in an extreme aero position, Thomas managed to fight all the way into the final 450 metres before being swallowed up by the sprinters.
"The ending, I knew it by heart," said Thomas, a local to the Occitanie region. "It was perfect to give it a shot and I didn't miss much. I got stuck a little in the final, I pushed to the maximum. The people on the side of the road encouraged me, I thank them for it and I believed in it!
"When the peloton came back, everything fell apart... Today it didn't go far but there will be other opportunities next week."
The Tour de France goes into a rest day, but will resume with Stage 16, an intermediate day in the foothills of the Pyrenees that sees the riders traverse 179 kilometres to the finish in Foix. Watch on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 2020 AEST, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast beginning at 9.30 AEST.
