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A Bit of Cat & Mouse T18-81
As it would be expected, the three riders with teammates in the final leading group, were who was able to come to the line to contest the sprint. The two without were out gunned in the closing kilometers. The trio of Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana) and Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) had time in hand to shadow each other prior to launching the sprint. Izaquirre took a peek back over his shoulder, making sure the others were closing in in the final couple of hundred meters. As Mollema looked back, Nielsen opened up his sprint. After playing cat and mouse, forcing Nielsen to go from the front, it was still the Dane that out sprinted the others for victory. That now gives Astana back to back stage wins going into the final rest day of the Tour. Had I been able to stay caught up, I could be enjoying the rest day myself.