Norway’s Waerenskjold wins fastest Tour de France stage in history

At an average speed of 50.91kph, Soren Waerenskjold’s sprint was the fastest road stage in the 113 editions of the Tour.Norwegian Soren Waerenskjold launched a long-range sprint to claim victory at the Tour de France in the fastest stage in the race’s history.Dutchman Olav Kooij, who won the fifth stage, took second at the end of the 161-kilometre (100-mile) 11th stage from Vichy to Nevers, with Belgian Milan Fretin promoted from fourth to third after his compatriot Jasper Philipsen was demoted.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Beauty and grace: Spain prodigy Lamine Yamal’s game lives up to his namelist 2 of 4Spain’s Oscar-winning actor raises Palestine flag at World Cup matchlist 3 of 4‘Football is for everyone’: Djed Spence and the Three Lions’ Muslim momentlist 4 of 4Photos: Spain ends Mbappe and France’s World Cup dream to reach finalend of listAt an average speed of 50.91km/h (31.63mph), Wednesday’s sprint was the fastest road stage in the 113 editions of the Tour de France.“It means everything, it’s my biggest win so far,” said the 26-year-old who was second in the seventh stage to Bordeaux and last year won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad one-day classic.“When I came here, I knew that there are two or three guys that are faster than me, but if I’m lucky and I have a good sprint like today, then it’s possible.“Sometimes, I have really good confidence, and I believe in myself, but there’s many, many times where I feel super tired and it’s impossible to win here.”Once again, there was a fairly disjointed sprint finish with none of the teams able to organise a sprint train to set up their fast man.Kooij’s lead-out rider Cees Bol launched off the front as the main sprinters hesitated, but Waerenskjold was the first to chase after the Dutchman.He instantly put several bike lengths of daylight between himself and the rest, and although both Kooij and Philipsen caught him by the line, they did not have enough strength to edge past Waerenskjold.Belgian Tim Merlier, who had won the seventh and eighth sprint stages, finished a disappointing 14th.