A trip to the seaside but no picnic as another nervous stage awaits with crosswinds and rain too. The final has a series of wall-like climbs.
Lille aux trésors: the stage win and yellow jersey for Jasper Philipsen. His third win of the season and tenth Tour stage. It was well-delivered in every sense, thanks to a strong lead-out from his team. Impressive but arguably the last interesting moment of the day as we’ve seen it before and had expected it.
Matteo Vercher was the first to attack and was joined by four others including Benjamin Thomas. It was Thomas that took the first mountain point but the group was caught by a nervous bunch.
The bunch eased up after the intermediate sprint. Vercher attacked again and was joined by Thomas, again. If that scenario was unusual the déjà vu duo reached Mont Cassel and Thomas won the sprint for the second mountain point of the day to win the mountains jersey for a day. Only their wheels were bouncing on the pavé and Thomas wiped out, taking Vercher down too. When crashes can be so worrying and political this was fortunately just a slapstick moment. Vercher was easygoing about it later and got the combativity prize for his twin attacks. It’ll all be anecdotal but there’s a serious side in a race where a handful of riders and teams will feast, the rest have to take the crumbs left.
With 17km to the peloton split. Visma-LAB were at the front but, a pleasant surprise, Movistar were also at work. A group of 36 was away with Vingegaard and Pogačar in there, they both had team mates and this helped keep the pace up and dissuaded attacks, Visma are here to provoke moves. Pogačar though only had Tim Wellens who was on bodyguard duty, often on his leader’s wheel to prevent anyone taking out the world champ by accident.
Filippo Ganna and Stefan Bissegger crashed out with concussion, their race over. Remco Evenepoel’s win in the Stage 5 time trial looks even more likely now. Only his chances of a spell in yellow have diminished after his Soudal-Quickstep team missed the split and he lost 39 seconds. There will be enquiries in the Flemish press about this today.
Others fared worse still. Ben O’Connor made the front group but had a hard crash inside the final 5km so he didn’t lose time but smashed his knee. The likes of Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov, Simon Yates, Thymen Arensman, Eddie Dunbar lost over five minutes and if you didn’t see them going for GC anyway, their teams can’t use them for decoy bluff moves now. Luke Plapp lost more time still. Lenny Martinez finished last, alone at nine minutes after yo-yoing off the back all day, unable to stay on the wheels as if he had a dodgy moules-frites the night before.
The Route: 209km, the longest stage and 2,550m of vertical gain. Today’s stage is all about the final 35km but to get there plenty of lumpy roads and unmarked climbs. Take the intermediate sprint which is followed by the 3km climb up Mont Voyenne, not savage but exposed.
The Haut-Pichot climb begins with a turn into a narrow road and then it’s 1.2km at 9% with some 12% along the way. Short but the top is then along a ridge and exposed to the wind before the descent.
Once the descent is over there’s a big main road and it’s here the race can easily split as it runs north with the wind coming in from the west.
The next climb at St.Etienne-au Mont is a wall-like effort, 1km at 10% but with a long 15% section before the slope eases, and it’s here many sprinters can be ejected with 9km to go. A quick descent and other climb, short this time but steep again.
The Finish: a run along the banks of the river Liane in the streets of Boulogne and then a right turn and under the flamme rouge. It’s uphill from here but gentle for the most part, peaking at 5% and the finish line is around a gradual bend so the riders can’t see it until 100m to go.
The Contenders: a series of sharp climbs and a slow uphill sprint, this is suited to Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Plus his maman Corrine Poulidor told FranceTV she thinks he’s picked today to try. Jasper Philipsen is handy in the hills but a harder pick.
There’s a Belgian trio next. Wout van Aert (Visma-LAB) is suited too, but how to beat his nemesis, especially as he didn’t make the cut in the crosswinds yesterday? Once upon a time Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) would be an easy pick as he was a master at low speed sprints like today but he’s been struggling for some time with form and almost confidence even. It’s probably not steep enough at the finish for Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) plus he’s sore from a crash.
A fitness test for Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), at his best he can cope with the climbs and is good in an uphill finish. Likewise but the other way around for Marc Hirschi (Tudor) who should be good on the climbs but may find the final climb to the line isn’t selective enough, likewise Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) but his team mate Lewis Askey gets a stage to suit.
Laurence Pithie (RedBull) seems suited but he’s had few wins. Magnus Cort (Uno-X) ought to be suited to this too but his form in the Dauphiné seemed off. Vincenzo Albanese (EF) won a stage of the Tour de Suisse but there’s a lot of competition to see off today.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE) has a chance here too but if he’s in the mix Van der Poel ought to be faster and after yesterday’s ride with only Wellens for company look to see if he has more support with 10km to go or not.
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Van der Poel |
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De Lie, Philipsen |
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Van Aert, Pogačar, Nys, Girmay |
Weather: cool conditions, just 18°C and with rain coming in the afternoon. The wind will blow from the west at 25-30km/h, crosswind conditions again.
TV: KM0 is at 12.35pm the finish is forecast for 5.35pm CEST. The prospects of crosswinds makes it a hectic day but most of the stage heads east and so into a headwind. The route will catch the crosswind more around 3.00pm and the first climb. The intermediate sprint around 4.15pm.
Postcard from Lauwin-Planque
Lauwin-Planque? Well you’ve heard of it now. It’s a village of around 1,500 people on the outskirts of Douai.
For years the mayor here was Christian Poiret. He is also chief of the Douai agglomeration, a councillor for the Nord départment and its president too. This multi-tasking is a feature of politics in France – you might remember from the UCI President’s roles before – and being the local boss means Poiret is the one who has led the bid for the Tour’s grand départ. It’s his party and he’ll decree it goes here if he wants to.
It’s a reminder that mayors make the Tour go round. They host the race. While we see racing for 21 days, the Tour is a logistics operation today and crucially for the rest of the year. Hosts are picked, routes are planned and then every detail is worked out. Where will the signing-on podium go? Where will team buses line up? Can the publicity caravan park its wacky vehicles in a sports field, if so does this need matting if it gets muddy or are there multiple exit points? Is the electricity supply sufficient? What is the capacity of the cell phone towers? Thousands of related matters have to be resolved and the initial point of contact is the mayor and the organisers will send their teams to work with his teams.
The Tour gets more offers to host it in the run up to an election year, as if mayors want the prestige and photo opportunities. Hosting the Tour often makes commercial sense. Some mayors just love cycling and a few will even contribute to the route design, passing on tips about climbs or other features. Many want to showcase something local, it could be a new municipal building or some local heritage.
All this takes planning and ASO has separate start and finish host teams. Their roles are 99% logistics but the other 1% is art as they try to imagine how to photograph and film the start and finish and which angle and shots will look the best. Hopefully President Poiret enjoys today’s TV coverage.
Are Alpecin the new Wolfpack?
For some years now, yes
It’s notable how Soudal-Quickstep have changed in identity, and how Alpecin-Deceuninck have supplanted them in the spring classics. But one difference, the “wolfpack” was partly for a team where lots of riders scrap for results and most of the team can win a race for results while Alpecin is more like what zoologists would call a wolfpack with an alpha male, in this case the whole squad is built around Van der Poel and Philipsen.
Or perhaps the ‘Greyhounds’, fighting for their Hare…
They surely have their own identity, but functionally yes. It seems that way to me.
The idea of a QS team missing the split in crosswinds in their own back yard seems improbable, but here we are. And not the first time they have had their leader out of position at crucial moments this year.
Visma and Alpecin rode an excellent race. Expecting more of the same today. Hopefully a VdP v WvA finale!
Unfortunately, because I’d quite like to see him do well for the depth of competition in the race, Evenepoel’s head doesn’t seem to be in it for the first week – he said himself he wasn’t looking forward to it. That of course may be true but in days past would have been left unsaid.
There’s a subtle difference between domestiques being up at the front with their leader to support them, and back with their leader to support him because they’re reticent to get to or stay at the front. I’d like to think at least some of the QuickStep domestiques would have relished the crosswinds but they have to perform their role too. More surprising perhaps is that those looking after Merlier, and Merlier himself, missed the split when it was clearly a huge goal and the subject of extensive preparation technically and physically.
For all that if it was easy Evenepoel’s would have been at the front with Pogacar, Vingegaard and their respective teammates. There’s only so much roadway at the front and it’s usually taken by the strongest and most expensive racers. It’ll be very interesting to see where Evenepoel ends up after his QuickStep contract expires next year, and whether he finally gets something close to UAE/VLaB levels of support.
In closing, sincere thanks again and as always to Inrng for the most interesting and insightful race commentary anywhere.
“Evenepoel’s head doesn’t seem to be in it for the first week”
His reaction afterwards was surprisingly subdued. Evenepoel has become more calm and professional, but in general still is one of the more outspoken riders. But he displayed an almost Roglic level of stoicism here to Sportza. Especially compared to Girmay and Aike Visbeek, who both professionally, but very clearly expressed disappointed in the lack of support for Bini.
It feels like for all Remco’s greatness, he knows 3rd is his best spot this year and just being closer to the top two is his goal – losing 40seconds doesn’t help but you get the feeling he’s only measuring his performance in the mountains and looking to Roglic/Lipowitz and a few others as his competitors for 3rd. So the stocism may just be masking the truth that yesterday didn’t matter in the grand scheme as he sees it?
Although it is telling that Pog has him mentally beat before they’ve even turned a pedal stroke – even if I expect the competitive fire in Remco would quickly return should he get a sniff of a win in the coming weeks.
I wonder how his mindset would affect those looking to sign him… (INEOS/Total) because it does seem he needs to move team now given the lack of support and feeling that he’s plateaued (in a GC sense) – but would you sign him? Do you think he has the extra level to compete with those coming behind him or the current top two as they fade in years to come? Has he plateaued because of his team or because last year was his GC limit? I don’t know tbh.
“It’s his (my) party” How many IR followers will get the reference? Wonderful.
If Askey has a chance toaday then Watson does too
Agree. I missed yesterday’s stage but Watson is obviously up for it.
I got and loved it.
You would decree too if it happened to you…
Is there a new(ish) change to concussion protocol?
It goes back to 2021. Romain Bardet involuntarily played a role twice here, the sight of him dazed in 2020 catalysed the introduction of concussion protocol, then in 2023 he crashed and was taken out of the race because of it.
It’s a difficult system because of the ingrained culture of riders wanting to race, but also some of the original questions were difficult, like “where did the stage start” (some riders don’t know what day of the week it is inside the Tour bubble, let alone place names in a foreign country). So in 2024 the warning signs and tests were updated.
It’s meant to be applied by all, from medics to team staff. The Tour has a lot of medics – ten I think – so more chance to test riders in crash rather than a team manager who might be worried about being a rider down. There are two medical cars with the peloton with two doctors inside each, plus a moto with a doctor on the back that follows the breakaway.
Very comprehensive reply! Thankyou
A small note on concussion testing.
Following a freak fall three years ago I was tested for concussion in my local A and E.
The basic tests were:
Count backwards from 20.
Repeat the months of the year in reverse order.
Name the prime minister.
There are probably more subtle variations that could be added to this list. Any doubt would lead to a scan.
If you’re Briitish, naming the Prime minister 3 years ago was harder than counting backwards from 20.
I thought exactly the same – coincidentally looked on the Prime Ministers wikipedia yesterday and made me laugh that all PMs get same sized icons/row in the table despite Truss only being there two months!
You’re right.
It was 4 years ago.
Doesn’t time fly when you’re old.
I can’t bring myself to name who is was in April 2021.
In rugby the players have a list of personalised questions that are used during the test.
I suppose Jonas Vingegaard is now one of the favourites for next year’s Ronde? I thought Visma were impressive yesterday, it might be post stage spin, but the claim was they always planned to make a split exactly where they did. It was notable that Tadej Pogacar was often on his own, whether that makes a lot of odds, given his ability, we shall see but the chances are that at some point he will need team mates and not much good if they are spread all over the field. It was also continuing a pattern we saw at the Dauphine and, to some extent, at the Giro.
Interesting podcast with Geraint Thomas, he said he was just behind the Lidl Trek group and just in front of QS when the split happened, he didnt react as he assumed the others would chase and they didnt. It was irritating for him even if he had no plans to go for GC as he could have made the front group but was then too late.
Given how the riders are approaching the race, today seems likely to be a GC day. Sean Kelly made the point that when he was racing, in the first week, the break would go and both break and peloton would take it steady for most of the stage. Now it is full on racing from km0 practically every day. Even if a decent break gets a decent lead (unlikely) the GC folk will be trying to grab more seconds behind. More likely a tussle between MvP, Tadej Pogacar & Jonas Vingegaard for the win.
Pog has remarked on more than one occasion that Vingegaard could do well in the Ronde. I’ve found it hard to tell if he’s just being charitable or is actually genuine, but the more I see Jonas race the more I think Pog is serious. Jonas is much more versatile than his light build would indicate and does well in a scrap (even if Jorgenson says he doesn’t enjoy it!).
re Pog being on his own, I think he likes to race like that but if you looked closely Wellens was there at all times just camouflaged by Belgian national jersey and riding behind Pog most of the time.
agreed re GC day today, if Visma planned that move on stage 1 you’d think they’ve planned more elsewhere and have decided all out aggression is the way to unsettle Pog – they hinted at as much in preTour press. Could make for an exciting few weeks!
Was anyone a tiny bit surprised it broke up yesterday?
I’m so used to teams coming to the tour ultra prepared that these kind of stages are usually reserved for the Daupjine (or insert other smaller race).
If you see echleons at the Tour it’s usually an entire team pulling on the front to rip it apart but yesterday it happened in the blink of an eye and seemed like only two Visma riders caused it? (One of which looked to be Jonas?)
I was wondering if the TV coverage missed something or whether the days high speeds tired everyone (although it didn’t look that quick?), or whether younger riders just didn’t see it coming?
It just didn’t feel quite right to a Tour veteran like me!? Did anyone else think similar?
ps small thoughts:
Kaden Groves avoiding that crash??? Wow.
Jonas looked very strong and seems to be here at max aggression, excited for today and what he’s going to do this Tour.
But Pog seemed scarily at ease compared to everyone in that break.
The DS of Trek must have gone totally nuts last night, they were right behind the split and somehow didn’t make it or close it.
I didn’t see Grove’s save but I think O’Connor must have been half asleep as he seemed to make no attempt at all to avoid the fallen rider.
Just replayed it and see what you mean about Grove’s save. Must be something that he learnt doing Motocross.
+1 for Groves staying upright (I’m assuming you’re referring to the O’Connor crash with 5km to go!). Staggering how he avoided crashing… reminds me of Sagan at PR and MSR several years ago
A pair of Yates’s the wrong side of the break – no surprise there!
The 5km crash rule was in place yesterday, and right on Q it helped a few out who crashed only just within 5km from the line! I always thought it was always 3km as a standard but then read the INRNG guide and seen it’s varied this year tailored for different stage types. Always great information to be found here, thanks.
One thing to note is rather than saying the kilometre rule applies for n-distance, this space is being rebranded as the “Sprint Zone” which makes sense, so the sprint zone is 4km long, 5km etc. I think we can get used to this idea more easily.
It doesn’t apply today as it’s an uphill finish but there are risks in the descent and run through Boulogne.
Geraint Thomas said on his podcast that he could see the split happening but expected Lidl and Soudal to close it but they hesitated and then it was gone.
Was I the only one struggling to identify teams and riders yesterday with new colours and national champs jerseys. Marion Rousse didn’t have that problem though. She must prepare well.
They don’t have big screens to watch in the commentary booth but Rousse has the “eye of a lynx” or a hawk that can spot a mouse in a field, it’s impressive.
If I was one of the ‘GC’ men in the second main group, I would not have been happy seeing my sprinter racing for 39th place when they could have been helping close the gap to the lead group.