There was no drama today, no crashes, nothing to report when it comes to GC contention. Just a very fast German rider leaving all in his wake. Thanks for your emails and comments. I’ll post the results and a race report up here shortly. Bye.
Stage results
1. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step Floors) 4:01:00” 2. John Degenkolb (Germany / Trek-Segafredo) ST 3. Dylan Groenewegen (Netherlands / LottoNL-Jumbo) 4. Ruediger Selig (Germany / BORA-hansgrohe) 5. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha-Alpecin) 6. Nacer Bouhanni (France / Cofidis, Solutions Credits) 7. Daniel McLay (Britain / Fortuneo-Oscaro) 8. Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Belgium / Wanty-Groupe Gobert) 9. Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Bahrain-Merida) 10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Team Dimension Data)
General classification
1. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 42:27:29” 2. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana Pro Team) +18” 3. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R La Mondiale) +51” 4. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale-Drapac) +55” 5. Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark / Astana Pro Team) +1:37” 6. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step Floors) +1:44” 7. Simon Yates (Britain / Orica-Scott) +2:02” 8. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar Team) +2:13” 9. Mikel Landa (Spain / Team Sky) +3:06” 10. George Bennett (New Zealand / LottoNL-Jumbo) +3:53”
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That was so easy for Kittel – his fourth stage win of the Tour, his 13th in total. A record for a German rider. He’s a class apart at the moment. It does make you wish Sagan and Cavendish were around to give him some competition. Even without a leadout, he’s able to tear through the field. His timing is impeccable. He kept a careful eye on his rivals and went when they were running on fumes.
Top five
1. Marcel Kittel
2. John Degenkolb
3. Dylan Groenewegen
4. Rüdiger Selig
5. Alexander Kristoff
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Marcel Kittel wins stage 10 of the Tour de France by a stretch!
Daniel McLay emerges from the pack for Fortuneo–Oscaro and whirs his legs for all they’re worth but Kittel stays on his wheel and waves a cheery farewell to Greipel, McLay and the rest of the field as he scorches 200m of tarmac to win by a couple of bike lengths. He was too fast. Too good. In a league of his own. No one could stay with him.
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With 600m to go Lotto-Soudal are still in fine fettle …
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But here comes Kittel, helped on his way to the front by Sabbatini, who nudges a rider out of the way with an angry elbow. 1km to go …
Lotto-Soudal have a bunch of riders at the front and look in brilliant shape for Greipel. They take the 90 degree turn left without accident and stay ahead with 1.7km to go.
Cofidis take up the strain with 4km remaining. Lars Bak races past them for Lotto-Soudal, who will hope to present Greipel to the sprint finish in good order. Team Sky are muscled out of the picture at the front. Froome loses his support and disappears into the background. There’s no respect for the yellow jersey when sprint teams sniff a stage win.
Offredo and Gesbert give each other a little nod and go back to their day jobs. The breakaway is over with 6km to go. The peloton roars past them. Whoosh!
With 9km to go, Team Sky ease up to the front, perhaps to keep Froome out of trouble as much as anything, as the peloton passes numerous hazards in the shape of road furniture and roundabouts. The yellow jersey-wearer is given a warm welcome by the crowds that are swelling on the roadside as the stage nears its end.
Offredo and Gesbert are gritting their teeth and whirring away but it’s almost curtains for today’s breakaway. Behind them the peloton splits left and right as the riders pass a roundabout. Cofidis call riders up to the front. They’ll be working for Nacer Bouhanni.
Thomas De Gendt takes up the strain at the front for Lotto–Soudal. He’ll be part of the leadout for Greipel. 12km to go.
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With 17km to go teams are starting to make tactical moves at the head of the peloton and the gap is down to 28 seconds. It’s day for the sprinters so there will be much jostling for position in the leadup to the mad dash for the line. It’s a flat-as-a-pancake finish but it is a technical finale, with a sharp left-hand corner coming just after the Flam Rouge and another even sharper left-hander coming 500 meters from the finish line. How teams organise their leadout trains heading into the final kilometre will be key, as there won’t be much time between the two corners and the last corner to reposition.
Paul Griffin jumps in two-footed on evenhandedness. “What’s all this stuff about fairness in relation to mechanicals and crashes?” he barks. “Since when did the Tour have to be fair? From the very first one, it been an exercise in bad-luck, cheating, skulduggery, deception and valiant, futile defeat. Which, with the exception of the pharma stuff, is as it should be. They should just bring back the bad luck award they used to give out. #stopfairness.”
The peloton is weaving its way through another pretty tree-lined town nestled up against the banks of the Dordogne. Offredo and Gesbert are holding the gap at 50 seconds. Or should I say, the peloton is holding the gap at 50 seconds, as it is that bobbing mass of kinetic energy that is in control here, not the two plucky upstarts up top.
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Offredo and Gesbert’s lead is cut to 50 seconds with 25km to go. The gap is tumbling. Gesbert had quite an eventful rest day. The youngster left a towel on an electric heater, switched it on by accident and left his room for lunch. A facepalm moment, if you will. Turns out that his towel smouldered, the alarms went off and the hotel was partially evacuated. I suspect that unfortunate moment is why he’s been slogging his guts out on the front all day. It made him the first-choice Fortuneo–Oscaro candidate.
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There are 32km to go and the peloton is finally getting its rear into gear after sleepcycling through today’s stage. The riders are whizzing along at 69kmph as they descend Côte du Buisson-de-Cadouin and consider reeling in the breakaway.
At least Peter Sagan’s disqualification gave him plenty of time to run his daily Twitter competitions. This essential HX-ONE kit would be handy in my bike bag.
The peloton reaches the summit of Côte du Buisson-de-Cadouin (a mere bump in the road compared to Sunday’s stage climbs) 2min20sec behind Offredo and Gesbert. It’s the youngster, Gesbert, who takes the sole mountain point on offer.
More ‘mechanicals’ chit-chat:
“It would be a test of the support team if there was a level playing field in place i.e. a support car for every team was on immediate hand to sort a problem. This also requires a certain width of road. The problem on Sunday was the fragmented nature of the race, the narrowness of the roads on the climb and the fact the commissaries had pulled team cars out of some the gaps leaving only neutral service vehicles in place immediately behind the riders. The 30 secs or so Froome had to wait for his own bike could have decided the overall outcome if he’d had to go deep into the red to catch back up with the unneutralised leaders. As it was he was able to so fairly quickly as he had at least two strong team mates waiting for him. If the mechanical had happened to Aru he would have taken far longer to get back to the pack, even in neutral, as he only had Fulsang in support. The unwritten rule is sensible and in this case fair - mechanicals can happen to anyone and I’d rather the race was decided on people power than anything else.” Tim Ward.
“If ‘it is not about the bike’ then give identical bikes to all riders.” Emilien Gasc.
“I note that no one slowed down for Uran with a mechanical when he got stuck with a 53 x 11 gear. Is it because he’s not in yellow? Are there a different set of rules for the mailot jaune?” Arthur Mitchell.
Offredo and Gesbert are still plugging away at the front. They briefly drew level to have a chat. I suspect it went something like this: “How much longer do you think we’ll have to do this?” “Half hour or so … at least we got that sprint cash.” “S’pose.” They’re 2min21sec ahead of the pack with 43km to go.
Results from the intermediate sprint:
1. Yoann Offredo, 20 points
2. Elie Gesbert, 17
3. André Greipel, 15
4. Marcel Kittel, 13
5. Alexander Kristoff, 11
6. Marco Haller, 10
7. Michael Matthews, 9
8. Sonny Colbrelli, 8
9. Nikias Arndt, 7
10. Fabio Sabatini, 6
11. Thomas De Gendt, 5
12. Zdenek Stybar, 4
13. Mike Teunissen, 3
14. Roy Curvers, 2
15. Stefan Küng, 1
The gap is levelling out at around 2min 30sec. Meanwhile, here are some of your views on mechanicals: “I agree with you re: making a move on mechanicals. These bikes are so technologically advanced that it’s hard to get any kind of advantage on pure physicality anymore. With the advent of the three-second rule, it’s making it harder and harder for riders to chip away time on a leader as it is. This is a race, not a Sunday ride with friends,” writes Dave Hill.
“I get your point and reference to F1, but wouldn’t it be a shame if we lost out on knowing what would have happened without the mechanical, a bit like we are missing out on knowing what might have been if Richie Porte had not had his crash?” sighs Tony Hunt.
@GreggBakowski I think the response to your question of whether cyclists should be punished for mechanicals is "It's not about the bike"
— Bob O'Hara (@BobOHara) July 11, 2017
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The main speedsters on this Tour are all interested in this intermediate sprint. Matthews gets his legs whirring first but he starts too early and runs out of steam, leaving Kittel, Greipel and Kristoff to battle it out for the third-place points. Kittel charges for the line but there’s a late push from Greipel, who pips his compatriot on the line and earns 15 points.
“The problem with a mechanical is down to the inability of team cars to get to the riders quickly and safely. It is unfair when a car might be blocked by the crowds or much slower riders. Aru has apologised. Let’s move on,” writes Mike Barnes. So, moving on, let’s see how this intermediate sprint goes. The breakaway duo don’t contest it. Offredo rolls through first and will take maximum points, so they must have done a deal that Gesbert would take the mountain points and the older rider the sprint ones.
“I read Kieran’s piece with interest but found I couldn’t agree with him,” writes Mark Davis. “Of course it was a horrible crash and we all wish Richie a speedy recovery. But as much as we can admire the sheer guts and endurance of the massive climbs, we also want and need to see all facets of bike handling, especially in cycling’s biggest and most prestigious event. That means our breathless admiration of the skill of professional riders at the very top of their sport as they race down the mountain at speeds that would turn my stomach to water! Bardet, Froome and the rest of that group demonstrated it to the very highest level and emerged unscathed.”
We’re 5km from the intermediate sprint. Offedo and Gesbert’s lead is 2min51sec. They’ll gobble up the points for first and second, not that either is a green jersey contender, but there’ll still be points on offer for third place, so Kittel, Matthews and co will perhaps want to duke it out for that one.
Fabio Aru, who trails Froome by 18 seconds in the general classification, is having a good chinwag with his fellow riders in the peloton. Perhaps he’s still having to explain himself after Sunday’s controversy. He was apologetic after the incident on stage nine in which he appeared to try to steal a march on the yellow jersey when Froome suffered a mechanical.
“I stopped when I heard he had a problem. I heard on my radio that he was 15sec behind. I did nothing at all when I knew that Froome was in trouble,” said the Sardinian, who maintained that he did not see the race leader waving his arm in the air, in spite of the fact that he was immediately behind the yellow jersey. “So I agree with Chris that attacking the race leader when he has a problem is not done.”
I understand the reasons for having a code of ethics in cycling but I do wonder, now cycling technology is so developed, whether ‘mechanicals’ should even be a thing. Surely if teams are rewarded for creating skin-tight suits that help them gain an advantage then they should be punished if a bike breaks as shouldn’t it be considered a fault of that team’s maintenance or technology in a similar fashion to F1? And could the bike replacement process not be a test for the team, making road assistants and mechanics more active in the Tour effort? The other thing is – and I’m not saying this happens but it must sometimes be tempting – how easy could it be for a struggling rider to fake a mechanical?
“Any information on what caused Démare’s bad days?” asks Emilien Gasc. “French media has been reporting the whole range of medical ailments, from a cold to bad blood, but zero specifics.” I’ve read various reports but nothing specific, just that Démare was ill. Having been billed as the sprinter who can climb I tend to believe he was ill because on stage eight he was dropped on a hill that most riders would whizz up on a Bromton and just scraped home. Gesbert took the solo mountain point today. Not that he’s bothered. He’s just happy to be in the spotlight, the young pup that he is.
Offredo and Gesbert are suffering a bit now. Their lead is down to 2min45sec as they make their way over the few significant humps today, the Côte de Domme. It’s a 3.5km climb with a 3.3% incline. The summit is reached by entering the gates to thebeautiful little citadel of Domme, which has a trapezoid plan, apparently, and overlooks the Dordogne river, which snakes its way through south-west France below them.
Peter Cossins writes: “Interesting piece by Kieran Pender, but I don’t agree that ASO were reckless [on stage nine]. As Dan Martin’s DS Brian Holm tweeted afterwards about the Mont du Chat: ‘We did it already in the Dauphiné and I heard no complaint after Dauphiné. If it is too dangerous, the riders should go slower.’ Although most of the focus after stage nine was on Richie Porte and the descent off the Mont du Chat, the earlier descent off the Col de la Biche caused far more problems because it was very wet when the riders came down it. There were a lot of tumbles there, including Thomas, Majka, Herrada and others. Interesting to note that in L’Equipe this morning, the AG2R team revealed they set out with a tactic to ride hard over the top of the climbs on that stage and then to press just as hard on the descents. Their rider Alexis Vuillermoz explained they’re using tyres that are extremely grippy, even in the wet, and they believe this gives them an edge on their rivals. Certainly, their leader Romain Bardet took advantage of it on the Mont du Chat, where he rode away from the yellow jersey group and almost won the stage.”
The peloton continue to eat into Offredo and Gesbert’s lead. It’s down to 3min21sec. There’s an intermediate sprint coming up shortly. It might be that the pace has increased in anticipation of this as riders hope to snaffle the points on offer.
The peloton have upped their tempo and brought the gap down to 4min10sec with 90km to go. Meanwhile, who are the sprint contenders for today’s stage win? One of the speedsters below will probably take it. OK, Kittel will probably win his fourth stage of this Tour but expect Greipel and Boasson Hagen to give him a run for his money and if Matthews can get a good leadout he can beat anyone.
Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step)
Andre Greipel (Lotto–Soudal)
Alexander Kristoff (Katusha)
Dylan Groenewegan (LottoNL–Jumbo)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)
Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis)
Michael Matthews (Sunweb)
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“Just to play devil’s advocate to Kieran Pender’s piece about the race organisations course choice for Sunday’s stage, I’m sure that the organisers wouldn’t have expected inclement weather, nor the greasy roads on any of the descents. Instead of crashes and broken limbs, surely the ASO were just hoping for thrilling bike racing?” writes Neil Smith.
“Bonjour Gregg,” pipes up Justin Davies. “I believe the breakaway pairing were the subject of the 1970s drama about a crime boss who puts a price of $1m on the head of the man who impregnated his daughter called ‘Bring Me The Head of Offredo Gesberta’.
There are 98km to go and I’ll be honest with you, not much is happening. Stage 10 hogged all the drama. The most exciting thing to happen in the last minute was the shot of a rider stopping for a leak and Alexander Kristoff having to pull over to have his handlebars readjusted. The gap is down to 4min50sec.
Here’s what Geraint Thomas’s jersey looked like after his ninth stage crash. Yikes! It does make you wonder whether cycling apparel manufacturers could perhaps consider a slightly more durable material.
The peloton is full of smiles today. They’re having a lovely time out there. It’s cooler than in recent days, they’re seeing stunning countryside, rock formations and loosening those tired limbs after Sunday’s slog. The gap’s at 5min5sec.
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In the aftermath of Richie Porte’s horror crash on Sunday, Kieran Pender wrote a piece for Guardian Australia that was critical of race organisers. Here’s a snippet:
Questions must be asked of race organisers Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) for including a treacherous final descent after one of the toughest climbing stages in recent Tour history. Rather than settling for a typical summit finale, ASO opted for the stage’s fourth technical descent and a finish in Chambéry. Porte was one of 11 riders to fall during the day, with Froome’s lieutenant Geraint Thomas also suffering a race-ending shoulder injury. Martin, who completed the stage despite crashing into Porte, offered guarded criticism of ASO afterwards. “I guess the organisers got what they wanted,” said the Quick-Step Floors rider. Cycling is an inherently dangerous sport, but this was just gratuitous.
You can read the full piece below. Do you agree?
There are 114km to go and the peloton is showing absolutely no interest in closing the gap yet. It’s only 5min 30sec so why should they? They’re cycling on cruise control and there are so many lovely chateaus to see and scenes of local historical importance to drink in. We will have a mini-descent shortly though, so that may wake the main pack up a bit.
Simon Thomas writes: “I was travelling on Sunday so missed the entire stage and the aftermath. I did see from your intro that FDJ lost a third of their team on the time cut. Démare, I can understand why, being a sprinter and all. But what of the other two? Did they wait for him? Which must have resulted in an interesting team dinner that night.”
I believe he had two riders with him, as he did on Saturday as well. On Stage eight they pulled him home before the cut off time but they paid for the same approach yesterday. To use words inspired by Touching The Void: sometimes , as much as it doesn’t feel right, you just have to cut the rope.
Zoom! Our plucky stage leaders have knocked off 46km in the first hour of racing and have a gap of 5min35sec. Meanwhile, here’s what the yellow jersey wearer, Chris Froome, had to say before the stage. “We’re definitely going to miss Geraint. The rest day was very welcome to the whole peloton, we’re fresh and ready to go now despite being one team-mate down having lost lost Geraint Thomas. It’s a big blow for us and we’re going to rally together and hopefully get though this next week. It’s a big loss for the race losing Richie Porte. We all wish him a speedy recovery.” Extra marks for not calling Thomas ‘G’ Chris.
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Offredo and Gesbert are zooming over a narrow bridge over a trout stream that could cause the peloton to get cosier than they’d like. They’ve taken their lead back up to 5min20sec.
@GreggBakowski A rookie question, perhaps. Why the outrage over Aru, but no one waited for Martin, brought down through no fault of his own?
— Tess Holland (@TJHolland1134) July 11, 2017
It’s an interesting point. It’s well-established that one of cycling’s unwritten rules is that riders don’t attack when a rival suffers a mechanical and while riders will often wait for others when there are crashes that are no fault of their own, the later a crash comes in a race the more difficult it is for other riders to know what has happened and how to control a mass slowing down. On a descent with the finish approaching it’s pretty much impossible to wait I’d have thought, with cyclists strung all over the place. And for the good of the spectacle it is better for riders to plough on. For further reading on cycling ethics, this is good by Richard Williams after ‘Chaingate’ in 2010.
It’s looking gloomy in Dordogne as the peloton races alongside the lush verdant countryside off to their right. Despite there being no real climbs of note today there are undulating hills along the way and a greasy surface could lead to some nasty road-rash in no time at all. It’s absolutely lashing down at our office in Kings Cross, London, but I’m some 629 miles north of there. Offredo and Gesbert’s lead has settled in at around 4min30sec. Our breakaway pair were “the winners of the Poirot look-alike competition AND the World Mustache Twirling Champion,” according to Bob O’Hara.
Name that breakaway section: “Here at Offredo & Gespert, we take our coffee very seriously. Working in close partnership, we BREAKAWAY from the PACK to bring you the winning drip filter experience.” Artisanal brew bar, obviously, honks Jon McGregor.
“Offredo and Gespert – the seminal nu skool breaks duo responsible for a slew of speaker shredding anthems on Fuel Records and caned by all and sundry” – Chris Collinson.
“Offredo and Gespert – tea merchants based in Piccadilly, opposite Fortnums” – Matthew Trim.
@GreggBakowski Fun fact: Offredo Gesbert was Tintin's nemesis in "The Blue Lotus," the cover of which shows the Most Famous Belgian cycling
— Serge Nuffler (@SergeNuffler) July 11, 2017
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The peloton is cruising up the side of the Dordogne in a picturesque valley. There are lovely colourful displays of bikes ploughed into the fields alongside the river. Very nice. Having set a pace that suggested they were being pursued by the law, Offredo and Gesbert have slowed some. They got the breakaway up to 5min30sec in front before it was brought back down to 4min46sec by the peloton, which is strung out in a long line down the road.
The BMC rider Nicholas Roche was speaking before this stage about his team’s intention to shift focus from supporting Richie Porte in an attempt to wrestle the yellow jersey from Chris Froome to picking off some stage wins. “Yesterday we sat down and had a proper talk, set new goals and refocus together. We’re one of the best teams in the world and we need to do something in this Tour de France. Everyone’s ready to give it a proper go. We had a goal and everyone was 100% behind Richie [Porte]. There was no plan B. Now we have to make the most of going for stage wins. It’s quite possible with the riders we have here.” Roche or Greg van Avermaet would be a good bet to do just that from a breakaway on a technical stage.
Some cycling news you may have missed. “It was probably overlooked in the excitement of Sunday’s TdF stage, but Annie Last became the first British woman to win a UCI Cross Country Mountain Bike World Cup race in 20 years last weekend,” cheers Iain Fairley. You can read all about it here. Well done Annie.
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Whoosh! Offredo and Gesbert (an avant garde variety act anyone?) are not hanging around. They’re hunched over their handlebars and have taken a 4min45sec bite out of the peloton.
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While the breakaway tries to create a gap worth defending, this piece is well worth your time … The remarkable tale of Alex Virot: the tragic Tintin of the Tour de France. As told by Felix Lowe for Eurosport. Some people live remarkable lives.
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A friend for Offredo! Elie Gesbert, the youngest rider in the Tour at 22 years old, makes a break away from the pack – which is taking it very easy indeed – and joins the FDJ rider at the front where they immediately push on their pedals and try to force a gap. Offredo will be mightily relieved.
Stage 10 is go!
The riders 180 remaining riders are off on a 178km jaunt through Dordogne! Yoann Offredo darts away from the peloton and looks behind him for support. No dice. You’re on your own Offredo. He shakes his head in disappointment. That shows you how hard stage nine was. No one fancies any hard graft just yet.
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A question from Lyndsey Melling: “Amazing that Porte is expected to be back on the bike in a couple of months after a broken pelvis. That can’t be normal? Does money buy super physios? Or are pro cyclists super human?”
Well, having just been reading what he had to say in hospital yesterday it seems that the early reports of him being back in action in a couple of months might be over-egging it a bit, although I’d put nothing past a pro-cyclist. Your point is still valid. Cyclists do seem to recover exceedingly quick. Jockeys, cyclists and motorcyclists all have insane levels of bravery.
Obviously, I’ve felt much better than I do now. I’m in a fair bit of pain. It’s a big disappointment. I was in great form, the team was very strong around me. It’s very disappointing. I’ve just seen the crash. I’m very lucky I’ve come away with the injuries that I have. I remember I came into the corner, it wasn’t like we were going too fast or anything like that. I just remember I locked the back wheel up and that was it. The next thing I was heading for the grass verge on the corner and I stayed conscious the whole time, I remember the whole thing. Thank you to the medical staff from the race and also the hospital. They’ve been absolutely fantastic. I don’t think I’ll be back on my bike for a good while now. The team says just recover, there’s no rush to come back. Hopefully I’ll pull the BMC jersey on before the end of the year. Social media you see the good and the bad. It’s overwhelmingly good. people are supportive and really do care. I can’t say thank you enough to all of those people. It means the world to me so thank you very much.”
And what of this man?
Chris Froome may have lost his lieutenant in Geraint Thomas, but he scored psychological points over his rivals by neutralising every attack and even testing them with a few bursts of his own up the Mont du Chat. He has an 18-second lead. Will it take misfortune for him top lose his yellow jersey or can anyone take it off him with leg power alone?
Hello. I still haven’t recovered after watching the dramatic scenes on stage nine. It was epic, a stage that had absolutely everything, and even though the riders have had a day’s rest, I imagine they’ll still be feeling the after effects of that most gruelling and eventful of days. Chris Froome showed his immense fighting qualities as he fought off attack after attack. Fabio Aru caused a stir by trying to steal a march on Froome with a cheeky manoeuvre when the yellow jersey wearer was signalling he had a mechanical. Disrespectful? Maybe, but it gave the stage another jolt, not that it needed one. Early in the stage, Geraint Thomas crashed out (again) and later Richie Porte suffered a horrific fall and hit a stone wall on the super-quick descent from Mont du Chat, signalling the end of his Tour challenge. Thankfully, he’s not as badly injured as first feared and he’ll be back sooner than expected. Oh, and Warren Barguill thought he’d won in a thrilling finish only to have his heart wrenched out when it was revealed on a photo-finish that Rigoberto Uran, the man on a broken bike, had pipped him. Oof! We also lost a green jersey contender in Arnaud Démare (FDJ), who missed the time cut along with Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors), Juraj Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data), Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Ignatas Konovalovas (FDJ) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana).
So today’s 178km stage is probably going to be a little more sedate. Here’s how it looks:
And here’s what our cycling correspondent, William Fotheringham, makes of it.
Relatively easy with a pancake flat finish, so a return to terrain that suits the sprinters who have made it through the early mountains. Each year has its dominant fastman and with Cavendish out, the smart money is on Kittel, who has age and experience on his side.
While we wait for today’s stage to start, catch up on what has happened so far with this week one recap:
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