BERGERAC (France): Ramunas Navardauskas said the fear of being caught like Garmin teammate Jack Bauer in the final metres 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.
“When five guys are working shoulder to shoulder (at the front of the peloton) it’s almost amazing to keep 20 seconds in front.
“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.
“Until the last 10 metres I was afraid to turn back. I went as fast as I can so at the end I couldn’t say that I could have done better. 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. After crossing the line he broke down in tears. AFP