A sprint stage and with it some pressure as this is the last chance for the sprinters before the mountains.
Milan royal: no attacks at the start. Total Energies duo Matteo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau took a flyer after the intermediate sprint both got the combativity prize for the day, two awards after none was awarded on Stage 3. It was inevitable they were caught but they put on a show. Tim Merlier punctured with an unlucky 13km to go, so did Paul Penhoët too but he said it wasn’t unlucky, there were nails on the road.
The sprint in Laval seemed to last an age, teams trains fighting for position in the final 10km. It almost looked like Jonathan Milan ran out of team mates but their plan was to deliver him to the final kilometre, using up resources to guide him through the roundabouts. This left him fending for himself but he’s a big guy and was bouncing shoulders and elbows. Once he started his sprint to come around Kaden Groves Wout van Aert could only follow.
Milan is trained by Mattias Reck who used to coach Marcel Kittel. Kittel turned pro thinking he was a time trial specialist but his power had his coaches pushing him towards sprinting and the rest is 14 Tour stages and more. Milan is similar, power on tap. Both have peak power numbers close to 2,000 watts but with Milan there’s more, Reck has said Milan can turn on the power for a five more seconds compared to Kittel, and that the Italian has a Vo2 Max of 92.
Milan is the first Italian stage winner in the Tour since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019. With the 50 points for the stage win and taking the maximum 20 points in the intermediate sprint he almost had the perfect day but got docked 10 points for obstruction but no yellow card.
The Route: 174km and 1,400m of vertical gain. This is the only day without a mountains point. A start in Chinon, home of Cabernet franc wins. The course changes direction several times in the finish, as designed to catch crosswinds.
The Finish: flat with a 1.6km long finishing straight that’s seen three wins for Mark Cavendish and before that Mario Cipollini.
The Contenders: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) or Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep)? Milan’s got a win and the confidence now, Merlier has ten pedal strokes of torque that often can’t be matched.
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has a chance and more since Mathieu van der Poel ought to fresh enough to supply the lead-out.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) is erratic so far and the flat finish suits him less. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco) is suited to this dragster finish but hasn’t cracked the top-10 yet. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull) has looked tired, perhaps Danny van Poppel sprints for himself? It makes both harder picks. Those who listen to The Cycling Podcast will remember stories of Alberto Dainese (Tudor) only winning stages without marked climbs… like today?
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Milan, Merlier |
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Groves |
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Groenewegen, Girmay |
Weather: 30°C and a 20km/h wind from the WSW. It could gust more and there’s a chance of thunderstorms later in the day.
TV: KM0 is at 1.25pm the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST.
Postcard from Anywhere
On a day with few obvious features, let’s go to KM129 and the small town of Buzançais, population 4,431 at the last survey. Like many places on today’s stage, the Tour’s arrival is the biggest thing to happen all year. It doesn’t mean everyone is excited, just that something is happening for a change.
Roads get fixed, here the départementale 138 was resurfaced at the end of April, costing €146,000. Flowers are planted by municipal workers, often with a yellow theme. Shop windows are decorated with cycling jerseys or old wheels. Roundabouts get Tour or bike-themed decorations. Organisers ASO seem to have a sideline in municipal merchandise with kits of yellow, green and polka-dot garlands available to hang in the streets.
If there’s field art nearby it’s rarely the work of an enterprising farmer, instead it’s coordinated by the FNSEA farmer’s union with a team working on the design for each department of France the race crosses. They’ll send the GPS coordinates to FranceTV so that the helicopter can film them. Some can be rudimentary, others elaborate. There’s a competition between local union branches to win the prize of best display of the Tour.
There’s plenty that’s harder to spot. A month or more before police will probably have held a meeting in a local auditorium to explain the road closures and other features, a few shopkeepers and senior citizens in attendance. Today is a Sunday so less worry for shopkeepers but on other days the race coming to town can be good for some businesses like bars but less so for others as people can’t drive to stores. But while road closures can generate frustration, the Tour is just accepted by even the most grudging local.
On the day barriers will be put in place. Side roads might be blocked with municipal vehicles to prevent any driver accidentally or deliberately bursting on to the course. Here local football club ACS Buzançais is offering food and drink, there will be sports activities in the morning and in the afternoon before the race arrives the publicity caravan’s Cochonou brand has picked Buzançais for its daily saucisson roadside bar offering cured meat to all. After the race has gone by there will be a DJ playing tunes in the evening.
And what happens in Buzançais is mirrored by many towns along the route today and all the other stages of the race. The race can be pretext for a host of events and months of anticipation.
I won’t ask, but I would love to know how you know all these things. Total fun to read.
All boring stuff on the weekend. Somehow cool
So a “tranquilo” day before the big stage (and festivities) on Monday? UAE would like that, but I guess it all depends on the wind.
Sprint teams up for one last chance before it’s time for the gruppetto and tough days in the mountains.
There’s only one more sprint stage after this so there’s pressure on the sprint teams to get it right.
Are there at least not two left?
Next Wednesday’s stage to Toulouse is much harder than a quick glance at the profile suggests, the finish is peppered with wall-like climbs, marked and unmarked and the last one of the day Pech David is savage and so if there’s a sprint, a lot of sprinters will be ejected over these. The same for Paris with the multiple climbs up Montmartre. Which only leaves Valence.
Well done to Total Energies for providing the day’s animation. With so much coverage to be had, why didn’t other teams try? Cofidis, Arkéa…
The massive Milan is using his bulk to push his luck. After the penalty he may need to be more careful in Châteauroux.
Arkéa have Démare and need riders to protect Vauquelin, Cofidis want to get Coquard and also Renard and Aranburu into the top-10 to score points, done for Coquard but Aranburu is having tough time. But Total have lost their house sprinter Jeannière.
Ah, that makes sense. Could be up to TE to form the break again today in that case. Gachinard I imagine but hopefully a couple of other teams will be interested today too.
This stage was closest to Vendée, where TE originates, getting the Combativity podium must have been a target. Further with no real incentives (like decent KOM points) and UCI points that matter, smaller teams have quit the visibility thing indeed.
Is there so much coverage to be had?
Why do so many people assume that TV time for a ride in front of the peloton which everybody, everybody’s dog, and everybody’s dog’s fleas know is going nowhere is something of value?
Is there any evidence that there is marketing value in a no-hope break? Is anybody watching and noting and caring? If they are, do they think “Well done Total Energies, I’ll switch my gas and electric to them now!” or do they think “Total Energies, outclassed dogsbodies and whipping boys beholden to ASO, out of their league, what a bunch of losers, I don’t want to be associated with them.” [both exaggerations for effect and it’s a spectrum, obviously, with plenty of more nuanced opinions available]
I’d bet dollars to donuts that Total get far more value, and in more than one sense, from their underdog wins in the likes of Paris-Nice and the Dauphine and especially Turgis’ win in last year’s TdF gravel stage than they do from yesterday’s “action”.
And I’d bet that they and other teams know this.
It’s not about coverage, it’s about getting a wildcard next year. There’s an understanding between the organisers and wildcard teams that part of the job is sacrificing a rider or two in a break if nobody else is attacking
I get the doomed look of losers having to make a pointless move but there is value to be had off the front in a “commercial break”. But it depends on the team and the demographic they’re aiming for. Some brands just want exposure, others want wins. It depends on the team and their backers.
Readers might remember Yoann Offredo making doomed moves. He said he regretted some of them because he’d use up a lot of energy for little and so when the tough days came like tomorrow he’d be struggling just to stay on the wheels. But having gone up the road, getting interviewed after the race and even invited to post-stage chat show… it got him the gig as a pundit for FranceTV today.
But if some riders want to go up the road and get some limelight – a Tour combativity prize is a nice thing to have on the bookshelf back home – there can be team orders to sit tight.
Speaking about Unions, do you have some intel about what happened to the threats made by CGT to block the third stage to Dunkirk? It was reported back in May but come the stage everything was okay.
Was an agreement reached, did the core issue regarding metal works get resolved, or did the vacation period start and nobody was interested to protest?
I ask because a few stages back I was standing next to the road admiring the kitsch of the publicity caravan when a car tossed a CGT pen at me. I wondered if a ride in the caravan had anything to do with there being no protest.
The CGT are always in the caravan. But there was a deal where workers/union members were allowed to march up the finish line ahead of the race and stand on the podium to make their point ahead of the race.
Postcard from anywhere :
The anywheres through which the Tour passes can make for a good day out with buvettes, kids amusements, and general fun. The access is much easier than start/finish towns too.
Another excellent postcard, thanks.
Should that be Mario C who won before Mark Cavendish, or is my memory not good enough to remember who Mario V was? I’m also intrigued by the Cab Franc wins ;). Many thanks as always for the unrivalled blog, todays was particularly enjoyable for the conjuring up the atmosphere of a small town in France for those of us not making the trip
Fixed Cipollini’s vanishing surname.
CTRL-V sans CTRL!
The mayor of Châteauroux has gained considerable publicity in France by temporarily renaming his town Cavendish City. A clever idea.
On a cultural note maybe it’s worth pointing out that Chinon is Rabelais country. His father’s farm of La Devinière is not far from Chinon and has a museum worth visiting.
Many of the epic tales from his ‘Gargantua’ books in fact take place in local villages with a knowing wink from the author.
Chinon was also the centre of the Angevin empire and favourite residence of Henry II
Incredible they have chosen the weekend for such boring stages. combined with endless adverts on a f*cking expensive discovery+ it’s almost unwatchable
Something I’ve been wondering though is why teams don’t try attack as a team with say 4-5 riders really going for a break at once?
It’s not a choice, more geography. But yes, as soon the route came out this weekend stood out. The Loire valley and roads around Chinon have some gravel roads but there’s not much you can do to spice up a stage to Châteauroux. The course is designed to catch the wind but it’s a calm part of France, especially in summer.
Just to say I love the opening pun! Lucky they are scavengers, not hunters ( unlike their namesake).
Milan royal flew past the red kite yesterday.
Seems odd that a stage into Chateauroux doesnt feature Mark Cavendish on the list of potential winners. Also the cast of sprinters seems to be nowhere at the level of the heyday of Cav, Marcel Kittel, Andre Griepel etc perhaps the move to fewer “sprint royale” stages means less sprinters in a self reinforcing loop. Agree that these sort of stages are not the most interesting (but a lot of the TV audience tune in for views of the countryside not the racing) but a big TdF sprint is always an occasion. Hopefully less of the alpha male nonsense between UAE and Visma, no problem with it during a sprint to the line but at other times it becomes tiresome. Most of the peloton will be taking it easy (as much as that is possible) with tomorrow in mind, just hope that doesnt lead to a bad crash.