Ramunas Navardauskas wins 19th stage of Tour de France

RAMUNAS Navardauskas has made history by becoming the first Lithuanian cyclist to win a stage of the Tour de France.

BERGERAC, FRANCE - JULY 25: Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania and Garmin-Sharp celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the nineteenth stage of the 2014 Tour de France, a 208km stage between Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour and Bergerac, on July 25, 2014 in Bergerac, France. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Navardauskas said the fear of being caught in the last metres, like Garmin teammate Jack Bauer, was what drove him to his historic first Lithuanian victory at the Tour de France on Friday.

The 26-year-old broke away from the peloton on a short 1.3km climb 13km from the finish of the 208.5km 19th stage from Maubourguet to Bergerac.

In driving rain, the Lithuanian held on to win by seven seconds ahead of a bunch sprint, with John Degenkolb second and Alexander Kristoff third.

Afterwards he said it was painful memories of New Zealander Bauer’s own near miss in Nimes last Sunday that motivated him.

“In all the last kilometres when I had a gap of 25 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, I didn’t know what was happening back there,” he said.

“I was thinking that maybe the sprinters’ teams would chase me down.

“I’ve no idea what happened, I just went as fast as I can, I kept my speed up and hoped that what happened to Jack wouldn’t happen to me.

“It was really sad to see that after he had been going for 200km to be caught in the last 10 metres.

Navardauskas said the fear of being caught in the last metres was what drove him to his historic first. Picture: Christophe Ena

“I went with all my power and at the end I had nothing left in my legs.”

Last Sunday Bauer and Swiss champion Martin Elmiger spent the entire 222km stage in the lead only to be caught by the peloton metres from the line.

Bauer was particularly distraught as he had been the one so close to winning.

Elmiger was again in the breakaway on Friday alongside Frenchmen Cyril Gautier and Arnaud Gerard, as well as Navardauskas’s Dutch teammate Tom-Jelte Slagter and Estonian Rein Taaramae.

Slagter broke clear of his escape companions with 32km to ride but he was caught by his teammate after Navardauskas powered away from the peloton on the final short climb.

The Lithuanian said that had always been his team’s plan.

“Jack Bauer covered some moves and Sebastian Langeveld, all the team was around me and supported me as much as they could.”

There were still 13km to cover but the peloton failed to organise a chase and those who were massing at the front were held up by a crash just inside the final 3km.

One to fall was sprint points leader Peter Sagan, who was finally hoping for a stage victory following four second placings at this Tour.

But when he went down, leaving his Cannondale team without a purpose, the chase stalled and Navardauskas was able to easily hold on.

Another who went down in the spill was Frenchman Romain Bardet, placed fifth overall. As the crash happened in the final 3km, though, he lost no time.

Neither did race leader Vincenzo Nibali, who was held up by the spill, as he maintained his 7min 10 sec lead over second placed Frenchman Thibaut Pinot ahead of Saturday’s 54km individual time trial.

“Once we’d gone past the 5km to go sign I let myself slide down the pack a bit because once you get inside the final 4km or 3km I wanted to leave space for the sprinters,” said Nibali.

“It’s important for me not to take risks so I was a bit behind the crash and was able to avoid it.”

The battle for the two minor podium places is wide open with only 15 seconds separating Pinot, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Alejandro Valverde.

Originally published as Ramunas Navardauskas wins 19th stage of Tour de France