The 23-year-old made it five top-3 finishes for Quick-Step Floors at this year's edition.
On the longest day of the Tour de France, which started from Fougères, the action lacked almost completely until the final kilometers, with the exception of an echelons attempt that occurred some 110 kilometers from the line, enlivening the race only for a couple of minutes, before things calmed down again as the riders continued their 231km journey to Chartres, home to one of the most beautiful gothic cathedrals in Europe, built between 1194 and 1220.
Quick-Step Floors made their presence felt near the front of the peloton inside the last five kilometers, when Julian Alaphilippe, Yves Lampaert and Maximiliano Richeze helped Fernando Gaviria navigate through the bunch and find a good position in the nervous finale, which was spiced up by a 4% average gradient over the closing 600 meters.
As they came around a corner, Richeze hit the front with 500 meters left, put in again a monster lead-out and launched the talented Colombian with 220 meters to go, but despite a strong effort, Fernando took second place at the end of the day, behind Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo), a result which helped him reduce the gap to Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in the points classification.
Ahead of the race's second weekend, Quick-Step Floors continue to be at the head of the team rankings and the only squad with three men in the top 10 overall: Julian Alaphilippe, Philippe Gilbert and Bob Jungels.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images
