Ok, so we’re not going to create a race thread for ALL races this year, especially since we’re only about 10 people reading here :)
This thread is available for you to write about all the races which don’t have a race thread.
Ok, so we’re not going to create a race thread for ALL races this year, especially since we’re only about 10 people reading here :)
This thread is available for you to write about all the races which don’t have a race thread.
2nd stage, the double climb of the Col de Portes.
Nothing happened during the first climb.
During the second, Unibet pulled before EF started pulling stronger, Poels (🇳🇱 Unibet) was in the first group of about 10 riders, then he was in the group of 3 juste a few seconds behind the 7-8 others. Then I don’t know what happened to him, he must have completely blown up while the other 2 jumped back into the first group, because the first group got bigger during/after the descent, yet Poels🇳🇱 didn’t come back, and on the contrary ended up in the next group 2 minutes behind, with Eiking🇳🇴. So that’s a definitive flop for Unibet.
FDJ was absolutely terrible, their best rider arrives after 12 minutes; while you can find Club riders in the first group of 11 riders…
Another hard failure is J. Ward (🇦🇺 Lidl-Trek devo) who came after 20 minutes.
The rest of the ‘favourites’ (well, the guys of which I had picked the name)responded all right: J. Meehan🇮🇪 for Cofidis, J.A. Cepeda🇪🇨 and M. Beloki🇪🇸 for EF; and for youngsters H. Buck-Jones🇬🇧 from Bourg en Bresse, A. Mariault🇫🇷 from CIC and R. Arsac🇫🇷 from Decathlon (upgraded from the devo).
M. Beloki🇪🇸 broke away on the final flat section, when others were finishing to get their bottles and stuff. Nobody chased him, they all looked at each other; it eventually even allowed the return of a group of 3 with N. Isidore (🇫🇷 Decathlon) who isn’t supposed to be a climber. That group lost almost a minute to *M. Beloki🇪🇸 in 10 km!
So, there were a few surprises / unexpected riders in the first group behind the Spaniard. This Isidore🇫🇷, but also riders unknown to me like a Brazilian and a Mexican from Soudal’s devo, Henrique Bravo🇧🇷 and Jose Cisneros🇲🇽 . Adam Howell🇬🇧 is another rider from Bourg en Bresse’s club, like H. Buck-Jones🇬🇧!
It wasn’t a bad stage. The first climb was rather useless today as nobody ‘used’ it. Conversely, there was much action in the second climb. However, as last year, this climb and its descent see a lot of regrouping, riders who were dropped relatively long before the summit seem to manage to come back. Not to mention the 15 km flat section (coming after the 12 km downhill) which is prone to ‘tactical’ cycling (which is often a synonym for ‘idiotic’).
At the end of the day, there are still clear gaps in GC before the tomorrow’s (last) hard stage (a ton of climbs). M. Beloki🇪🇸 is alone 1 minute ahead of 11 riders, which are 2 minutes ahead of 14 others, which themselves are more than 2 ahead of a few others. Among the first 12 riders, there 4 teams who have 2 riders: EF, Decathlon, Soudal-QS and Bourg en Bresse.!
Stage 3 (last) the no-flat stage
We found the same strong guys as yesterday breaking away in the Col des Menthières, with the addition of B. Rolland (🇫🇷 FDJ) who was dropped several times but came back.
There were again quite some regrouping in the descent.
Adam Howell (🇬🇧 Bourg en Bresse) had just caught up the front group where his teammate Buck Jones🇬🇧 was already, when he lost control of his handlebar before a curve. When he got it back, he was on an outer trajectory and crashed on the roadside.
M. Beloki (🇪🇸 EF) was trying hard to have his teammate Cepeda🇪🇨 win the stage, pulling the group on flatish sections like a Pogatchar willing to have Del Toro win. That would have made EF win the 3 stages with 3 different riders.
In the very long (10 km) final uphill false flat, there were a lot of observations and a lot of half-attacks. Finally, Cepeda🇪🇨 made a stronger one before the flatter section near the end, but he was caught in the last half-mile which gets a bit steeper again.
M. Beloki🇪🇸 started his sprint too soon, and with the various efforts he had done earlier, was beaten on the line by Mariault (🇫🇷 CIC) who sucked wheels almost all day long.
In GC, they had counted a 3 seconds split within the peloton after the first 25 riders on the first stage, and Mariault🇫🇷 was the only rider among the top guys who was in the first part of the peloton that day. So he takes the 2nd place in GC.
Behind, Buck Jones🇬🇧 and Cepeda🇪🇨 lost a few seconds in the sprint today, so they finish 8th and 7^th.
As there were no time bonuses on this race, 3rd to 6th GC positions were determined by the total of stages positions, and that’s Meehan (🇮🇪 Cofidis) who wins this little game.
Despite his crash, Howell🇬🇧 could save his top-10.
Chris Hamilton🇦🇺 was on the race, by the way. Today he was in the second group, with Poels🇳🇱. That’s 5 UCI points for Picnic, wow 😆 4 of their 6 riders didn’t finish the stage (it was the development team, but…)
Noah Hobbs (🇬🇧 EF) didn’t finish the stage either. The winner of the first stage was in big trouble yesterday already. Barillot (🇫🇷 National selection / Aix en Provence) who was 3rd in that first stage finished, but over the time limit.
E. Buchmann (🇩🇪 Cofidis) was dropped early one more time, this time by his own teammate, whom he was supposed to relay at the front of the peloton… The downfall of this rider (once 4th of the Tour de France!) will never stop.
Conci (🇮🇹 Astana) is a cunning rider. Yesterday, when accelerating at the front of the group, he was heading for posts and other obstacles, hoping that the following rider would hit them. Today, he tried twice to break away en facteur. I don’t know how they say in English: the rider goes on the other side of the road, seemingly at the same speed as the rest of the group, but in fact he accelerates progressively and imperceptibly, and by the time others notice, he’s 5 bike lengths ahead and much faster now.