The Tour caravan jumped from Denmark to the north of France to enjoy a first week of rest that did not please everyone, Well, some consider the break unnecessary after only three days of competition.
A transfer that placed the peloton in front of an attractive week in which two key events will be presented: the cobblestones of Roubaix on Wednesday and the first high finish on Friday at La Planche des Belles Filles.
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“We have only run 3 stages, and when you are picking up the pace you have to travel and stop. I did not feel like resting yet or having the day off”, said Briton Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour, somewhat tired after the transfer from Sonderborg to Lille.
The double winner of the Tour, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, took the day with more philosophy, but above all happy to rest. “It’s like those training periods where you do three big days of work and then a recovery day. I’m looking forward to racing again,” said the big favorite of the 109th edition.
The Tour is getting ready for the battle in the ‘pavé’
The teams and caravan of the Tour were distributed mainly around Lille and Calais, in the surroundings of the next stages. In the debate two appointments that are going to mark the week, and who knows if the Tour: the cobblestone one, the fifth stage, between Lille and Arenberg, with 11 cobbled sectors that command respect, marked in red for the differences it can throw . And the seventh stage as the first mountain exam with the finish line at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles.
The Belgian Wout Van Aert will start the week with the yellow jersey, and will defend it tooth and nail in a field that he knows and dominates as the great classicist that he is. His battle will be to prolong the leadership, although the real leader for the final general is Pogacar, the best placed since the initial time trial in Copenhagen.
Pogacar will enter the first important exams with 8 and 9 seconds over Vingegaard and Roglic, 18 over Geraint Thomas, 37 and 42 on Colombians Daniel Martínez and Nairo Quintana and 49 in front of the Spanish Enric Mas.
All the men of the general look with respect to the stage of the ‘pavé’. They know that the damage can be enormous in a short route, of 157 km, with 11 sections of permanent rattle that add up to a total of 20 km, all of them more than 1 km long. A day that most of the candidates have gone to inspect in spring, coinciding with the dispute of the great classics.
Tadej Pogacar competed this year for the first time in the Through Flanders and Tour of Flanders to build up experience on the cobbled terrain. Later the UAE cyclist recognized the famous Arenberg stage, one of the great references of the Paris-Roubaix.
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Another runner who signed up for the experience of running on cobblestones was Primoz Roglic, who highlighted his feelings after running the GP Denain and being the protagonist in a breakaway.
“It was a special and difficult day, but it went well. It is completely different to run on cobblestones. I learned things that I wasn’t used to, like the nervousness before the cobblestone sections,” added Roglic, who was there with Jonas Vingegaard, the Jumbo-Visma’s other asset for the overall Tour de France.
As Roglic recalls, “looking for a good position is very important, and that is what makes it dangerous”.
Enric Mas will also have his baptism on a day with cobbled sections. The Spaniard and the Movistar team also took advantage of the classics to get close to the Arenberg environment and ride on that surface.
“We’ve been to see the cobblestone stage 2-3 times because it’s new to me. I think I can do it well, I’m motivated and it excites me because it’s a stage you’ve seen on television. You also know that the differences can be large”.
On Friday, the first duel on the big mountain
After the cobbled stage there will be a favorable transition day for sprinters or adventurers between Binche – Longwy, but beware, after the previous day’s beating and with a 220 km route, no one can get upset.
On Friday, the seventh stage between Tomblaine and La Super Planche des Belles Filles (Friday, July 8), the first great arrival at the top of the Tour de France with a route of 176.3 kilometers, an appointment that has become a classic of the race.
In the scenario where Roglic lost the 2020 Tour to Pogacar, the climbers are called to combat. They will have 7 km at 8.7 percent with some very hard ramps of 20 and 24 percent.
The week will close in Switzerland with the eighth and ninth stages, the first between Dole and Lausanne, a medium mountain, and the second between Aigle and Châtel les Portes du Soleil, which will be demanding with 2 1a climbs, the Col de la Croix ( 8.1 km to 7.6) and the Col de Morgins, with the summit 7 km from the finish line, which also has an elevated previous stage. A week that presents incentives for the management of the general.
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Classicomaniacs will have an advantage on cobblestones. Van Aert and Van der Poel will be two giants in a field that devours the weak or whoever has any problem in a moment of fray. Then, on the mountain, the chosen ones will be seen at the top.
The fight begins in the Tour de France. This Tuesday the fourth stage will take the peloton from Dunkerque to Calais with an undulating route of 171.5 km, which includes 6 fourth grades. Adventurers and sprinters on notice.
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