The race restarts on the National Day, and it will be as hot as the first week which cooked many riders who will spend Monday in an ice pool. The temperature will not decrease until Thursday perhaps, or Friday more surely, when it will not even be cool but just ‘more normally’ hot.
Weeks are shorter now, 6 days only. This one starts with a medium mountain stage, then presents 2 easy days, before getting harder over 3 mountain days, with a finish on top on the two week-end stages.
Standings after week 1
General Classification:
While the Slovenian detached a bit already, there are still many contenders (8) for the podium, and they all are expected favourites.
- Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE
- Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: +2′42″
- Isaac Del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE +3′27″
- Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Bora: +3′30″
- Juan Ayuso 🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek: +3′34″
- Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: +3′55″
- Florian Lipowitz 🇩🇪 Bora: +4′00″
- Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain: +4′21″
- Mattias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: +4′57″
- Egan Bernal 🇨🇴 ineos : +9′12″
Points classification (Green jersey):
- Mads Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: 268 pts
- Biniam Girmay 🇪🇷 NSN: 223
- Tim Merlier 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS: 213
- jasper Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin: 191
- Max Kanter 🇩🇪 Astana: 172
- Olav Kooij 🇳🇱 Decathlon 110
Mountain (Polka Dots jersey)
Few points were scored so far.
- Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE: 28 pts
- Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 19
- Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain: 16
- Alex Baudin 🇫🇷 EF: 13
- Valentin Paret-Peintre 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS & Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: 12
Stages
Stage 10, Tuesday 14
167 km, D+ 3800 m
The stage in the Massif Central looks a bit like the previous (Ussel) stage, but the climbs are significantly more substantial and there is even less flat for recovery, so a breakaway of climbers more than punchers can be expected (if UAE doesn’t decide to win it from the peloton).
Press to the finish profile
Stage 11, Wednesday 15
161 km, D+ 1100 m
This is a sprinters stage.
Press to see profile and map
Stage 12, Thursday 16
179 km, D+ 1400 m
This one is a bit more hilly than the previous one, but those hills look far from enough to prevent another sprinters stage.
Press to see profile and map
Stage 13, Friday 17
206 km, D+ 2300 m
After 2 days of sprint, we are progressively getting back in business with this pilgrimage into the land of Pinot. Because the following two days will be finish-on-top stages, this one is likely to be granted to a breakaway. As always these days, it means that a ton of riders will try to join it. The two (not very difficult) climbs only start after 150 km of slightly hilly terrain, and this is the longest stage in this Tour.
Press to see the map and the profile of the main climb (Ballon d'Alsace)
Stage 14, Saturday 18
155 km, D+ 3900 m
This Alsatian mountain stage is a loop in the Vosges. It climbs again the same side of the Ballon d’Alsace that was climbed the day before. The almost final Haag Pass is basically a different road to get to the same point as the Grand Ballon climbed early in the stage.
Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Grand Ballon & Haag)
Stage 15, Sunday 19
184 km, D+ 4100 m
This weeks ends up as this year’s Dauphiné did (when Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) beat badly the rest of the field). The final climb is the same but the whole course which starts in the Jura mounts, before bypassing Geneva by staying on the French side, is very different, much more varied.
Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Croisette Pass & Solaison Plateau)
Stage 12, Thursday 16
There was quite some action compared to other sprinters stages. My memory and therefore my account will be pretty fuzzy because I slept through several parts and was away at a few others :-)
Breakaway took some time to form. Finally, only Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto) successfully broke away alone. At the I.S. there were a few attacks, I though they had all failed (after reducing the gap by half, to 1 minute), but when I came back, 3 guys had joined Veistroffer🇫🇷.
(Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) won the peloton’s I.S. but he could have been relegated for he went from the centre to the right of the fence, blocking Philipsen (🇧🇪 Alpecin) and another rider against the fences.)
With 60 km to go, Veistroffer🇫🇷 dropped Caruso (🇮🇹 Bahrain) and Vercher (🇫🇷 Total). 10 km farther, Costiou (🇫🇷 FDJ) gave up, and Veistroffer🇫🇷 was alone again.
When the peloton reached the hills 35-40 from the line, there were a lot of attacks (the fist one caught Veistroffer🇫🇷), mainly by Lidl-Trek who wanted to avoid a mass sprint. They put quite a mess during 25-30 km, but the last 10 km, really flat, allowed sprinters teams to regain control.
Therefore, it ended with a mass sprint. And a mass crash, due to a vicious little wave of the road brilliantly set 350-400 m from the line, which left only a few riders for the sprint (basically, everyone who survived the crash scored UCI points…). The first to hit the ground was Gaviria (🇨🇴 Caja Rural), whose front wheel was hit by a Bahrain rider who changed direction.
Fun fact: after 12 stages, Veistroffer🇫🇷 has grabbed 3 times as much prize money 💶 as the whole GFDJ team 🤣
The Cycling Podcasts reports the Bahrain rider was coasting back after finishing lead-out work, which is no longer allowed for exactly this reason, so was relegated and yellow-carded, but I doubt many will feel that sufficient penalty for taking two riders out of the race entirely.