One for the breakaway across some fine roads to ride, a succession of peaceful climbs in woodland, including some surprise climbs on very small rural roads. This should be a hard stage and those with ambitions for the overall classification need to avoid the traps and ambush risk.
It’s the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tour de France, a vintage edition of the race. It’s famous for the eight second gap between the winner Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon, the narrowest margin of victory in the history of the race. Yet this was only the final moment of the race, the three weeks before this and even the months and years leading up to the race made it great.
The longest stage of the race, today’s a stage interlude and the first real dragstrip finish of this year’s race.
The first mountain stage and a hard summit finish made even tougher today thanks to an extension to the habitual finishing straight, this time there’s an extra 900 metres on top culminating in a final ramp of 22% to the line.
The Tour de France continues its procession down the east of France. The race tries to visit as much of the country as possible and each year it’s inevitable that some regions get skipped but there’s a trend now with the race directors searching for the geography needed to make for lively racing and the result is some parts of France are being skipped for years in a row.
The first of two days in the Vosges mountain range, today’s course should see a good battle between what’s left of the bunch and a late breakaway.
The riders pass the Kilomètre 0 point, Christian Prudhomme waves his flag and the race gets underway. Instantly a handful of riders from the wildcard teams stand on the pedals and go clear. Only this kind of move doesn’t work so why waste the energy? They say it’s to “show the jersey” but is this a good image? Maybe it’s just great fun.
A day for the sprinters but with a climb thrown in the end as a late fitness test. With few opportunities for the sprinters in this year’s race today’s a crunch day.
Jumbo have had a great weekend, winning both stages of the Tour de France and taking the yellow jersey, the first time in 30 years for a Dutch rider. It’s a publicity bonanza and good news story for Jumbo, a chain of Dutch supermarkets expanding into Belgium right now but do you know what Visma does? And do you know your CCC from your Cofidis and what the EF in EF Education First stands for?
The Tour goes to France, swapping beer-producing Binche for Epernay, capital of champagne wines. The finale 50km have plenty of fizz, with steep climbs amid the vineyards and a sharp ramp to the finish line.