IT was third time lucky for Edvald Boasson Hagen as he won stage 19 of the Tour de France while Chris Froome crossed safely in the pack to retain the yellow jersey with two stages to go.
Norwegian Boasson Hagen has been on the wrong side of two photo finishes so far in this Tour but he made certain of victory in Salon-de-Provence as he attacked out of the breakaway with three kilometres to go and raced solo to the line.
Nikias Arndt did his best to keep up but the Team Sunweb man came home in second place, five seconds behind.
That all happened a good 12 and a half minutes before the peloton crossed the line, with the contenders taking it relatively easy after two long days in the Alps.
Team Sky’s Froome leads by 23 seconds from Frenchman Romain Bardet and 29 seconds from Colombian Rigoberto Uran going into today’s penultimate stage, a 22.5km time trial starting and finishing in Marseille’s Velodrome stadium.
Froome is now firmly odds on for a fourth Tour title with today’s time trial expected to see him gain further time on his rivals.
The 32-year-old certainly looked in relaxed mood as the peloton cruised along, and he even took time to high-five famed Tour fan Didi the Devil along the way.
With Sunday’s stage to Paris traditionally processional, the time trial should be all that stands between Froome and a third straight victory.
“Certainly at this point it’s my race to lose,” he said. “I have to make sure I do everything right, follow the right processes and hopefully not have the bad day.”
Froome is yet to win a stage on this Tour and is aware that, if he falls short on Saturday, he could become one of only six people to win the Tour without taking a stage.
However, he believes Marseille could play to his strengths.
“I think it suits me well, it’s quite a power time trial,” he said. “I certainly think someone like (Primoz) Roglic or Tony Martin could be fighting for the stage win.”
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