Are you sitting comfortably? On Sunday morning Marc Soler was sat comfortably in sixth place overall, wearing the white jersey of the best young rider under his rain jacket and had taken a strong second place in the Saint Etienne time trial earlier in the week. He’s a promising rider and was already in a very satisfactory position. Only it wasn’t enough for him and he took off on the steep climb to Peille with 47km to go and won the race overall.
110km and it’s all up and down on twisting roads with time bonuses on offer and the overall classification still to play for.
The Queen Stage and a long climb to the fiish, a 45 minute uphill effort is beaucoup for early March and should tease out the overall contenders who remain huddled together. If you’ve been watching during the week note the earlier finish time.
Hopefully two races for the price of one with a breakaway making it and behind the GC contenders exploiting the tricky finish including a surprisingly nasty penultimate climb.
After three skirmishes for time bonuses and stage wins, the first big chance to shape the overall classification. The course is harder than the profile suggests with a steady opening climb and then a sharp spike nearer the finish.
The story of the race and a story of a race, The Ronde is both a history of the Tour of Flanders and an account of the 2011 edition.
Some low-rated climbs and an inevitable sprint finish? The map is not the territory and the last climb should be too much for most sprinters.
A near-certain sprint finish. Paris-Nice doesn’t offer the sprinters many chances and today’s stage is their day so all their teams will work for this scenario. We’ll see who is the fastest between Elia Viviani and Dylan Groenewegen and it’s a test for their teams because the finish will see see who can fight for space and the right to position their leader. Will the uphill finish tilt it to Arnaud Démare?
Start as you mean to go on. The opening stage has a suburban feel but the tricky uphill finish is crucial for the overall contenders, a split in the field or a missed time bonus could cost them plenty.
