A day to reshape the overall classification. A dress rehearsal ahead of the Tour de France? Yes but today’s course is longer and requires more finesse, it’s even more about cohesion than usual.
Antho(n)logy: a ten rider breakaway kept on a six minute leash by EF because the best rider overall up the road was Clément Braz Afonso who started the day 5m35s down on Alex Baudin. Squads with ambitions for today’s team time trial opted out of the racing as best as they could.
With 47km to go Baptiste Veistroffer launched the first attack, taking Braz Afonso with him and this set up a boiling final hour as Braz Afonso dropped Veistroffer on the Baraques climb, normally they had plenty to gain from working together but the others were closing in and Veistroffer just couldn’t climb fast enough to keep clear. From here on the moves kept flying with riders on the limit and seemingly nobody holding back.
Anthon Charmig was in the third group but he and others kept chasing. As soon as he got across kept the group moving. On the final climb of the day through Saint-Vidal and had only five seconds’ lead over Braz Afonso and Raul Garcia Pierna but this was the fitness test of the day and he had the most and stayed away solo for the win.
There’s a small symbolism to the victory as Charmig had ridden for Uno-X before signing for Astana and then returned. It’s important for the team to show that they can reignite careers as having to shop exclusively among Danish and Norwegian riders, one way to avoid paying a premium is to show the performance will improve. Small symbolism as this is not conclusive for all but it was a well-taken win in a race where smaller budget teams need to find opportunities.
The Route: 28km and tricky course. If this a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France’s opening stage, it’s like performing a tricky opera ahead of performing an Abba tribute in Barcelona next month. The route today uses smaller roads for the first half which keep changing direction and slope, it’s twisty in places and so hard to keep in formation and swap turns like a track pursuit event, instead riders will be changing gears, backing-off, even braking in places. This is most notable about 9km into the course on the descent out of Coutouvre.
Once past the second time check it’s on a bigger road that is much faster all the way to the finish. This part was used in the opposite direction in the 2015 Dauphiné TTT. The final kilometre sees the route climb into town and it’s narrow and twisty, a chance for the team leaders to make the difference.
The Rules: “Paris-Nice rules” with riders given the time they cross the line with and teams being awarded the time of their first rider across the line.
The Contenders: on paper Netcompany-Ineos are the first pick, they won the Paris-Nice stage with almost the same team, Michał Kwiatkowski was racing then when Laurens de Plus is here today. But they only won by two seconds from Lidl-Trek, but the German team had a more heavyset squad for the stage. Today though is more unpredictable as the first half of the course is more tricky. Visma-LAB are obvious contenders too. It should be one of these teams but UAE and Decathlon-CMA CGM can run them close.
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Netcompany-Ineos, Visma-LAB |
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Lidl-Trek |
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UAE, Decathlon-CMA CGM |
Weather: sunshine and clouds, 21°C. A 15km/h wind from the NW means a tricky 3/4 tailwind for much of the first half, a 3/4 headwind for the second.
TV: the first team off is Picnic-PostNL at 3.05pm and the last is EF Education-Easypost and they’re due in around 5.00pm CEST. If you want the full start order and times, go here.
Postcard from Roanne: today’s stage is in Perreux, population 2,111. It’s a village just outside the town of Roanne, home to over 35,000. It’s not famous for much but like several medium-sized towns is enjoying a revival of sorts because of rising defence orders and reindustrialisation.
The Tour de France visited Roanne in 2023 and the Dauphiné has been here several times, notably in 2015 for a team time trial that used part of today’s course too, the long downhill to the finish today was a drag up to the line. It was a day of mixed fortunes for Swiss teams as BMC won the stage while IAM Cycling managed to crash when going uphill during their recon ride leaving some sore and red-faced. It was a long time ago now but George Bennett rode it for Lotto-Jumbo and Emanuel Buchmann for Bora-Argon 18 and they’re back today with NSN and Cofidis respectively.
For Bennett if there’s déjà vu on these roads that’s also because he came to Europe to race as an amateur and in 2009 joined CR4C Roanne (pictured), a local team that has been among the first division of French amateur teams and sent many riders into the pro ranks.
Now things are different to the point where if an ambitious U23 rider can’t get on a World Tour development squad by the time they’re 21 then many will give up. However it is still, just, an avenue to the pro ranks. Ask Matthew Fox who rode for a French club last year and is now riding today’s team time trial with Lotto-Intermarché.