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Despite being on French soil, 16🍰8澳洲5最新开奖结果:Samuel Sanchez's𒀰 victory at Luz-Ardiden today satisꦦfied tens of thousands of Basque supporters who crossed the Spanish border to see their hero in action.

The 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Euskaltel-Euskadi rider didn't disappoint. His ecstatic emotions at his first Tour stage win were the polar opposite to last year when the opportunity to beat Andy Schleck at Morzine-Av♕oriaz went begging.

"I'm still can't believe🍎 I just won a stage of the Tour de France," said the 33-year-old rider, who insisted he wanted to savour victory rather than prepare for an assault on the GC ꦐor the king of the mountains jersey which he now holds.

"It was very important for me to win here today in ♋Luz-Ardiden in front of my fans – in fact it's a double ✃value win because of them."

Sanchez escaped with Omega Pharma-Lotto's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jelle Vanendert close ꩲto the bottom of the climb. He knew skirmishing among the general classification favourites in the group behind would give the p💖air leeway.

"It was very important for me to try and att♈ack today," he said. "And it was easier for me to do so because the final was so important for the general classification. I also think it was a good possibility because none of the leaders behind had more than two teammates – it was impossible for them to chase behind🌺 for the whole climb. I knew if we could be 30 or 40 seconds ahead in the last kilometres we had a chance."

His fellow escapee, Vanendert, has been very active this Tour. On 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:stage 3 to Mûr de Bretagne, he rode so hard his leader, Philippe Gilbღert asked him to d🍸rop the pace because he was ‘breaking his legs'.

Today, Sanchez said he had been impress꧟ed by Vanendart's performances in the Ardennes Classics. "I knew him f🧔rom the Flèche-Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He was always the last rider with Philippe Gilbert, doing a really great job. Today there was really a good collaboration between us. When we talked it was only to say that we both wanted to take it to the finish and decide it in the final meters.

When pressed on whether he would try for a high placing in the general classification, Sanchez was coy. "I won't think about the future – I just want to think about today and see how I recover. I want🎀 to celebrate my victory with my teammates and my family who are here today. Anything that comes after will be a bonus."

Sanchez's victory comes exactly a decade since a former Euskalteꦅl-Euskadi rider, Roberto Laiseka, won at Luz-A❀rdiden in 2001.