The last of the sprint stages, today’s race will sweep across the champagne region of France before the fizz of the finish. Again this looks like a day for the sprinters but with the first summit finish looming tomorrow the GC contenders will try to ride in economy mode.
If it is a sprint finish the final kilometre has a dangerous narrow point followed by a sharp turn turn.
Regular readers will know I’ve been following the case of Danish rider Alex Rasmussen closely since last September when news emerged that he’d committed three anti-doping “whereabouts” faults. Normally this constitutes an anti-doping violation under the rules, meaning a ban was likely. He got fired by his team, HTC-Columbia but when the case was heard by the Danmarks Cykle Union he was cleared. Only the case went to appeal and yesterday he lost.
The case is bigger than one rider as it covers the systemic issue of out-of-competition testing, the logging of an athlete’s “whereabouts” and also exposes discrepancies in the UCI rules which have to be fixed.
Maybe something random will happen today? Otherwise it’s a dull dash across northern France where many TV viewers in France will be having a siesta on the sofa before the adrenalin rush of the sprint finish. Meanwhile the riders risk being cold and wet whilst dodging crashes, today is the day to spectate rather than participate.
But the last kilometres are trickier than they look with tight turns and a gradient to the finish line.
One of the great things with the Tour de France is that not only do you get almost all the best riders competing in the race but you also get a depth of content that’s not available during the rest of the season.
There is a wealth of audio content out there. I’m a fan of podcasts as you can listen whilst doing something else and the way they are recorded means analysis and debate of the day’s racing as opposed to live coverage. So when André Greipel powers across the line you might turn off the TV but the race coverage continues for hours and hours.
The profile above suggests a sterile stage with a flat route and a sprint finish. But today’s stage hugs the exposed coastline for a long time and there’s an uncategorised climb before the finish to derail the sprint trains.
It hard to write about Sagan. He’s so good you quickly run out of adjectives. Today’s results don’t even tell the full story, he finished a second clear of the others but in fact had time to look back, sit up, cross himself and then perform a goofy “running man” celebration. It makes you wonder what the other riders think.
The Tour returns to French soil. If the start town sounds familiar it’s because it’s on the route of April’s Paris-Roubaix race, in fact it’s where they make the winner’s cobblestone trophy. But the Tour will stay on smooth tarmac all day – the first day of this year’s race without pavé.
Instead the difficulty comes from the climbs at the end. They might look small on the profile but they are a strength sap and a tactical trap.
With his win today in Tournai Mark Cavendish’s total of Tour de France stage wins stands at 21 stage wins, placing him in sixth place on the all time list of Tour stage winners. This puts him above übersprinter Freddy Maertens and now only one win away from André Darrigade, the French sprinter who took 22 stage wins from 14 Tour de France appearances.
A fast sweep across Belgium. In recent years the near-certainty of victory by Mark Cavendish would make this kind of stage almost dull to watch, even if this is testimony to Cavendish’s peerless sprinting. This year however it’s different, a sprint is still likely, “Cav” could win but there are many more sprinters who can challenge.
Today’s stage is a big loop to the south of Liège before it returns to Seraing, a suburb of Liège. It avoids some of the infamous climbs in the area but the race doesn’t need them to make the race come alive.
This is the opening stage of the Tour de France and there are several races on at once, from survival to the chance to take one of the leader’s jerseys.