Don’t call it a sprint stage, today’s route has been revised to add more climbs and a series of steep roads, including some unmarked climbs await. Watch out for the Tramontane wind today too.
The Route: 156km and 1,750m of vertical gain. We’ve had sprint stages with more climbing but today is all about the short climbs in the final hour.
There’s a long – 30 minute – parade out of the city to KM0. Then flat roads and after crossing the Garonne river comes the first climb of the day and then past the Fronton vineyards, all in a crosswind.
The next 50km are roughly with a tailwind but the course twists at times, all on exposed an rolling roads past sunflower fields. It’s after the sprint point that the course is most exposed to crosswinds.
The climbs start after crossing the Canal du Midi and its green waters. The first one out of Montgiscard is almost a nothingburger but it’s quickly chased by the climb to Corronsac which stings more, 900m at 7% on a twisty road. Next come some roller-coaster roads which rise up to ridges exposed to the wind.
There’s the unmarked climb back to Vigoulet d’Auzil with less than 25km to go, 3km at 4.5% but with a middle kilometre at 7-8%. The penultimate marked climb is listed as 6.8% but measure it differently and it’s more like 8%.
The last climb of Pech David goes up a wall, 800m at 12% says the roadbook but it’s got 18-20% gradients. There’s a tight turn into it too so positioning matters. It’s not long but still a two minute effort. There’s then a fast descent on wider, more regular roads.
The Finish: a flat run around the city on big boulevards, all flat and shaded.
The Contenders: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is the easy pick, adept on short climbs and able to win a sprint from a group, and the motivation that today suits when so many other stages to come don’t. Plus his team can try to control the stage.
If Van der Poel can win, Wout Van Aert (Visma-LAB) can too, especially as the climbs in the finish arguably suit more.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) was third in Châteauroux and is feeling stronger and better, today’s L’Equipe has an interview with him talking about depression and burnout, the less emphasis on diagnosis but he talks about being disgusted with cycling but now has found fun again.
Longer shots include Vincenzo Albanese (EF), Axel Laurance (Ineos) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor) but the latter picked on reputation as he’s been invisible so far.
The breakaway has a chance today because several sprint teams won’t be chasing. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Luke Plapp (Jayco), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon-Ag2r) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) have a chance but once again for Alaphilippe he needs to surf and bluff his way to a win rather than stomp on the pedals and ride off.
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Van der Poel, Van Aert |
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De Lie, Hirschi, Albanese, Laurance, Grégoire, Pogačar |
Weather: 29°C and sunshine, with a 25-30km/h Tramontane wind from the NW.
TV: KM0 is at 1.45pm the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. It could be a lively start but if you’re rationing your time the hills start after 4.00pm.
Postcard from Toulouse
Today’s stage starts and finishes in Toulouse, a rare loop for the Tour. The Tour’s logistical demands make Toulouse – France’s fourth city – a useful base in south-west France, plenty of hotels and easy autoroute access. For a rest day it’s a great place for any flâneurs on the Tour caravan.
The Tour’s recent visits have seen Caleb Ewan and Mark Cavendish win. Only today’s stage isn’t for the sprinters, the succession of climbs will thin the field. The course is the result of a hasty re-write. Having looked at the route in full the organisers decided to cut back on the sprint stages, presumably knowing that nobody attacks these days (Mathieu van der Poel and colleagues exempted).
So they decided to revise this stage. And if Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier get ejected today and can’t match the likes of Ewan and Cavendish, they can blame Sébastien Bosvieux. He lives at the foot of this hill and local newspaper La Dépêche reports that last year when he heard the rumours of the Tour coming to Toulouse he emailed ASO to suggest the climb of Pech David.
When the route was unveiled last October the exact details of each stage were not unveiled in the moment but with talk of a 20% climb and freeze-framing the video of the route unfurling on the screen it had to be: Pech David climb and tackled via its steepest side, the Chemin des Canalets. It’s well known to locals as the closest climb to the city, an open air gymnasium. Bosvieux got a reply saying his email had contributed to the decision.
These local tips are a feature for organisers. There’s a mix, from suggestions of fearsome local climbs that prove to be something the peloton barely has to change gear for, let alone swap chainrings; to the outright fiendish like the Mortirolo or Zoncolan in the Giro. An organiser can’t know every road in their country, a good one will cultivate sources and be open to suggestions, and even dip into cycling forums for tips or get ideas from local races.
With the race going into the Pyrenees tomorrow the pioneer event is the U23 Ronde de l’Isard stage race. Where it goes, the pro stage race now called the Route d’Occitanie often follows and this can pique the interest of the Tour in turn. So while Pech David is a small climb, there are still “new” climbs waiting for the Tour all over France, including big ones in the Pyrenees. If you want Thierry Gouvenou’s email to make a suggestion, just ask.
“disgusted with cycling” is a pretty strong condemnation from De Lie. I suspect that de Lie might be on the move! I suppose in due course we’ll hear the relevant details.
Can not see UAE wanting the yellow jersey so a breakaway day with a small bunch sprint probably. If the wind blows and we get another manic day like Sunday, then the same scenario with a smaller gap to the peloton, seems likely.
It sounds like he’s been under pressure to perform, doing a long winter camp in Spain when he’s happiest at home on the family farm helping his dad to milk the herd of cows and being able to ride his bike as he wishes without on-screen prompts to do X Watts for N minutes etc.
25-30 km/hr is a stiff breeze so it is hard to see this not unsettling things if it materialises.
30km/h is the rule of thumb to split things up… but today’s course helps more, some roads are along ridges (one even named Rue des Crêtes etc) and so exposed to more wind. Plus there’s the Tour effect where there are strong riders and everyone wants to go for things so 20-25km/h works.
The wind is just about strong-enough but will the wind be in the right direction? If they are coming into Toulouse from the south-east then the wind will mostly be headwind for the final hour. That could favour the sprinters again, and make it more difficult for a small break.
The key parts for potential crosswind carnage seem to be the 20km or so before the intermediate sprint, and the 7km after it…outside of that, it’ll be tailwind or headwind.
That still leaves 50km of hilly terrain to the finish, mainly into a headwind…so I don’t think we’ll see any final gaps due to the wind, but Visma may want to put some more stress & pressure on Pogacar, so could try something.
It looks as though the Tramkntane is a no show.
For now there’s little wind but this area is calmer, it’s to the SE of Toulouse that is windier but we’ll see for later.
I expect Visma will try and mix things up again after the intermediate sprint – last chance to wear Pog down/cause a split before the mountains.
I’m interested to see if they go for the stage with Van Aert, he has a chance… but they need resources for tomorrow too.
They could send WVA to the break with either Affini, Campi or Benoot, that would probably be more economic than controlling from the bunch.
I appreciate what ASO are doing, trying to make things entertaining for TV etc. But when they find something that works for them they are like a dog with a bone. A bit of variety wouldn’t hurt. I feel like we have already had this stage 2 or 3 times.
You are right: We kinda had this stage 2 or 3 times — but I love these stages and chapeau to ASO! (I personally don’t like pancake-flat sprint stages where you only have to watch the last 10 km if no echelon action … and I also find ITTs rather dull but I do enjoy TTTs 🙂 !
the thought of going back to a 90’s J-MLB route though…
If it was a sprint stage everyone would yawn. The sport is going in this direction, we see almost every cobbled classic now using the same climbs in Flanders, and the remaining ones that don’t get slammed as dull or crash festivals. During the Giro we lament when the race sticks to flat roads when there are hills and twisting climbs within sight.
As Thierry Gouvenou said the other day “the sprinters’ teams are sawing the branch they’re sitting on” by locking the race and even chasing down riders who try to attack in the opening phase of the race, if this happens there’s no show and not even the illusion of one either. To prevent ratings siestas the organisers opt for something hillier. We’ll see if riders attack today, I think a group has a chance as Alpecin-Deceuninck will chase but who else?
I’ve enjoyed the route planning and attention to detail. Having done a recon the route for today it’s a fun course with the climbs and also positioning matters, it should reward riders who can get the best out of the terrain. Several teams used their rest day rides to check out the final 50km of the course.
Will we see a natural change in the pelotons behaviour over time?
In the relatively recent past sprint and GC trains dominated their disciplines, because the best riders performed best in those systems. In the post-Sagan age, the new age of gluttons and cannibals who win everywhere, a more dynamic form of course design and racing has evolved. But it need not stay this way.
This happens in all sport. In football, wingers and number nines are making a comeback…
Part of the change in the behaviour of the peloton is driven by the change in the UCI points system. There are now points down to 15th place in GT stages. In the fight against relegation, lower-ranked teams prefer to employ a second tier sprinter to get top-10 in several spring stages and stack-up UCI points. The barroudeurs do not get as many UCI points from breakaways (the points system severely unvalues these types of riders).
This part explains why Cofidis are doing this but there are teams not worried by relegation that we’ve barely seen in this race too.
Your final paragraph says why you can strengthen that “need not” to “will not” stay this way and I guess you know that already 😊 Ten or fifteen years is a lifetime in sports. They are always evolving, changing in response to a host of factors, some of which will be completely unknown even a year or two before they happen, and there’s no reason to think that will change in cycling at the moment.
I am not sure whether Thierry Gouvenou is not exacerbating the problem of boring sprint stages with his course design: the fewer the number of flat stages, the fewer opportunities for the remaining sprinters, the greater the incentive not to take risks and not to give breakaways too much room.
Agree with that Peter. In the days of dominating sprint trains we used to get breakaways, somehow with less dominant trains we get less riders taking a chance on a sprint day.
There’s also the fact that many teams believe they have something to get out of sprint days – the incentive to be in the break is less. Even if a long-shot, Arkea and and Cofidis have riders for the sprint while Arkea have also Vauquelin to protect.
Who does that leave for the break? Just Total. Maybe Astana?
Ineos?
Even Astana have Ballerini, Bol & Teunissen, so will have an interest in a sprint. Those riders aren’t going to win of course, but they could pick up a 7th place or 10th place, and as John says above, that’s enough incentive to ride for a sprint (or at least, to not ride for a breakaway) in order to pick up some valuable UCI currency.
Why wouldn’t Inter Marche chase for Girmay? Or Cofidis for Coquard. Presumably both handle these climbs no?
Coquard’s abilities uphill have been ruthlessly exposed more than once this year in French domestic racing when the team have ridden for him and he’s let them down badly.
Is Pech David the climb up to the hospital which has the cable car? Can see that being uncomfortable at the end of a fast stage.
That’s the one.
Actually think you’ve got this one wrong Richard S – often agree but don’t think you’re giving the organisers enough praise/time for being in a difficult spot – as INRNG says more sprint stages and you’d have people complaining about being bored, more gravel purists complain about gravel, more cobbles the same people complain about cobbles, shorter stages people complain it’s too easy…
It’s a real nightmare and headache to organise…
There’s also the added problem (as INRNG says again) of breaks not going on sprint stages in recent years, and any middlingly-hard stage now being a GC day – and with each GC day the field gets further spread meaning you decrease the chance of surprises and may have the same rider in yellow for all three weeks… (as with last year).
Trying to balance all that is an unenviable task.
These kinds of stages are a get out of jail free card currently for the organisers and personally I’d take them any day over a sprint stage. Overall I just think the old school need to accept gravel/cobble days in grand tours and we move with the time to enjoy the variety rather than pressure organisers to throw in these more traditional years – so in the longterm I do agree you but I think you’ve gotta give them a break currently… my hope is this generation moves the dial and cycling as a whole benefits as they force route planners to go in new directions.
The Tour should really be praised in recent years for imaginative route design. But the Tour should also be vilified for failing to support the rest of the sport to grow alongside it.
They could always put climbs at the start of the stage to make it a difficult break to manage and at the same time, let the break get a good gap as the sprinters would need to go at their pace over the early climbs. Then have a chase that keeps us on our seats in the second part of the stage. Instead all the climbs have been stacked at the end of the flatter stages. The reason is because that’s when the majority tune in…
I accept that I am being churlish. Sprint stages as they are ridden now are a snooze fest and a hopeless chore for commentators. My complaint is that the stages have been just a little bit too similar. They could use climbs early or in the middle maybe to mix it up. But I know the geography of this part of France doesn’t lend itself to huge amounts of variety or creativity. I was just moaning for moanings sake really, it was half 6 in the morning..!
One thing that the hill do is bring out the spectators.
yeah, that’s fair I’ve done similar many times.
I think we likely want the same version of cycling in future but so far today is pretty good – I’m actually a big fan of circuit stages during Grand Tours, great for spectators and seem to bring an element of chaos as the laps churn through the weaker riders.
When I say ‘future’ I only mean more diversity in stage types to keep things interesting – there’s a far bigger future I hope to materialise one day but keeping it restrained for today!
One thing I have been thinking though is firstly why people are surprised by Jonas’ sprinting/one day ability in this Tour when he’s shown the skills many times before during recent TDFs – my hope is if he’s finding winning further yellow jersey’s tough maybe he will decide to give the classics a go. I think Pog is correct he’d do well at Flanders, and I hope in years to come Pog leads the way in GC contenders branching beyond stage races.
And this points out that it’s the riders what makes the races. Kudos to the organizers, but also to the riders and their team leaders.
then just freaking don’t watch a snoozefest. Life could be so easy if you guys wouldn’t complicate everything
Looks like another day of crosswind stress. Whether the wind is strong enough / in the right direction (looks like a cross headwind) is a different matter but the teams will be on edge. I assume Visma will be at the front trying again, which will probably mean more complaining from Tadej Pogacar! Given the long tailwind section the course might favour a break, though outside of Alpecin the teams dont seem keen on breaks, certainly on flattish stages. Perhaps wildcards for the small Italian teams?
Great summary of today and love the use of flaneur https://www.theartstory.org/definition/flaneur/ – I think I maybe one! great info on timings for those of us WFH i can schedule my cafe break and late lunch. Top marks INRNG.
Double word in paragraph 5.
Next some some roller-coaster
N.B not being pedantic, only posting because Inner Ring appreciates the heads up as a favour to the next person reading.
That polka dot jersey combined with polka dot bibs looks horribly bad. The only thing that comes to my mind every time I see it is a pyjama. Why can’t it be worn with black shorts or regular team bibs like in Virenque era? Where is that famous French elegance and taste? 😉
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Mr INRNG, once again salutes for your countinous effort and every entry on the blog. Please bear in mind that your daily writing is the best companion to a morning coffee for some.
Hindsight is 20-20 and maybe it’s a bit unfair to post this right now but ………. it’s been a terrible stage so far, hasn’t it? 🤣 It reminds me of those stages in Naples that the Giro has done a couple of times recently – shortish, grippy roads all day, placed just so in the three week cycle. Result, an attackfest including a few riders who haven’t been able to get that involved in the race so far.
Totally bemused by this.
That Naples stage was excellent? A stand out of recent years.
Today’s stage has also been good so far.
It’s hard to understand the word ‘attackfest’ being used to label a stage bad?
Attacks are what make cycling brilliant aren’t they? The more the better?
I’m with you on this, think Anon’s take is a bizarre one
Dave – I think you missed the emoji!
Thank you Georgr – apologies my bad.
Anonymous posts so often with left field takes I’m unsure what to take seriously or not but absolutely missed the emoji!!
One thing – Dear Anonymous I’d be overjoyed if you’d just add a * to the end of Anonymous so we knew it was you in future!
Second thing – where’s Larry?
Incredible crowds at the end of that stage!!! Can’t explain why but really felt like the tour began today for me, those climbs and the cheers were electric.
I think Larry is still lurking around here. Some of the anonymous posts have a familiar ring to them. Hoping we get gabriele back soon.
There’s a Larry T commenting on the Cycling Weekly website….
Le patron, Ben Healy, having mercy on Tadej Pogačar today then.
I can think of one or two riders from the past who perhaps wouldn’t have been so generous.
That was Jonas the Patron.