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Denmark's Asgreen, the 2021 Tour of Flanders
winner, perfectly timed his final effort, with the peloton
breathing down the neck of the four breakaway riders on the
185-km ride from Moutiers.
He beat Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn and Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen,
who were second and third, respectively.
Shortly after Asgreen crossed the line, Belgian Jasper Philipsen
won the bunch sprint, having just been denied a fifth victory in
this year's Tour.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark retained the
overall leader's yellow jersey.
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 team mates 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 team mate Eenkhoorn
for a last-gasp sprint.
Yet Asgreen was stronger, launching his effort some 200 meters
from the line to claim his maiden grand tour stage win, making
the most of the peloton's fatigue after a grueling stage in the
Alps on Wednesday.
"Obviously the situation was not ideal. I would have liked to go
with more riders but it's the last week of the Tour," said
Asgreen.
"It's not the first time that a small group manages to beat the
sprinters' team. I believed in my chances."
Overall, Vingegaard still leads Slovenian Tadej Pogacar by seven
minutes and 35 seconds with Briton Adam Yates in third place,
10:45 off the pace.
Friday's 19th stage is a 173-km hilly stage from Moirans en
Montagne to Poligny.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Alex Richardson,
Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
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