Stage seven report: Tadej Pogacar is back in the yellow jersey after the defending champion fought off Jonas Vingegaard to win his 101st race as a professional and stage seven of the Tour de France. Jeremy Whittle reports from Mûr-de-Bretagne.
Pogacar: "I'm super happy with the win today"
Back in yellow after today’s stage win, the Slovenian has been talking to the press and is concerned about his teammate. “It was perfect but unfortunate that Joao [Almeida] crashed. If he is OK it is a perfect day, if he is not, then this victory is for him. Right now I just wish he is OK.”
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Jack Haig abandons ...
The Australian is unable to finish after that crash and pulls out of the race but Joao Almeida has rolled over the finish line and looks OK despite suffering a few cuts and bruises to his hand and arm.
That crash: Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) seem to have come out worse from the pile-up seven kilometres from home. Early reports suggest that one of Almeida’s tyres came away from its rim, he went down hard and took about 10 other riders with him. Most remoutned and carried on but we’re still waiting to see if Haig and Almeida are OK. Fingers crossed.
The top 10 on GC after stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 25hr 58min 04sec
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +54sec
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), +1min 11sec
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +1min 17sec
5. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), +1min 29sec6. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) +1min 34sec
7. Oscar Onley (Picnic–PostNL) +2min 49sec
8. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe)
9. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) +3min 06sec
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) + 3min 43sec
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Top five on stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) same time.
3. Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) +2sec
4. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) same time.
5. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) same time
Oscar Onley: The 22-year-old Scot did indeed finish third behind Pogacar and Vingegaard.
Yellow jersey: Mathieu van der Poel pedals over the line 1min 20sec behind the stage winner, to whom he will relinquish his yellow jersey. Yesterday’s winner Ben Healy, having remounted after the big crash, also finishes the stage.
Tadej Pogacar wins the stage ...
The favourite wins the stage, launching a sprint with about 200 metres to go to beat Jonas Vingegaard by a bike-length. I think Oscar Onley finished third for Scotland.
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500m to go: Evenepoel, Pogacar, Vingegaard, Voeckler and Jorgenson keep climbing …
1.1km to go: Evenepoel is in front leading from Pogacar and Vingegaard. There are about 10 riders in the lead group.
1.6km to go: Pogacar takes over the lead from Wellens, with Vingegaard glued to his wheel. Remco Evenepoel is also in the shake-up and goes in front. Onwards and upwards they go.
2km to go: The main GC contenders are all in good positions as we hit the business end of the race. The average gradient is seven per cent but the current one is 15 per cent.
3km to go: Visma-Lease A Bike and Alpecin-Deceuninck are at the front of the bunch as the riders approach the final climb.
A huge crash!!!
7km to go: At the back of the yellow jersey group at least 10 riders hit the deck heavily in a massive tangle of bikes and bodies. Jack Haig, Ben Healy, Enric Mas and Joao Almeida are among the casualties. Quite a few remount and continue but at least two, including Haig, are still sitting on the road.
8km to go: The stage is very much up for grabs but one presumes Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will all fancy their chances of winning it as the peloton approaches the big dip that leads into the final climb. There are five kilometres to go before the road starts to ramp upwards.
12km to go: After a fine day’s work on his home roads, Ewen Costiou is caught by the bunch, with Marc Soler, Simon Yates and assorted race heavyweights sweeping past him. The green jersey group is seven minutes behind.
14km to go: Wout van Aert attacks on the descent, losing his sunglasses from their perch at the front of his helmet to a gust of wind. They’ll make a nice souvenir for some roadside fan if they don’t get crushed by any of the riders or cars travelling behind him.
15km to go: The young Scot, Oscar Onley, is nicely placed on third wheel in the peloton as they head up Mur de Bretagne for the first time. Ewen Costiou takes the bell at the summit in front of his home fans.
16km to go: Local lad Ewen Costiou is still 25 seconds in front of the chasing pack and should lead them over the top of Mur de Bretagne for the first time.
17km to go: The breakaway reaches the Mur de Bretagne which ramps upwards for the first of two ascents. Costiou is in front and has dropped his riding partners. Simon Yates is leading the peloton up at a ferocious lick.
18km to go: Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) takes the single KOM point at the top of the first hill.
20km to go: The escape party hits the first of three climbs towards the end of this stage. “You go up a climb to get to the foot of a climb,” says Robbie McEwan on TNT. The second of those climbs has a gradient of 15 per cent. Back in the bunch. Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease A Bike team has pointedly made a move towards the front.
21km to go: “Given all this discussion of the meaning of ‘Mûr-de-Bretagne’, I plugged it in to Google Translate, just for grins,” writes Joe Pearson. “The result? ‘Brittany Blackberry’ So there you go.”
24km to go: Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) are resigned to their fate of being caught by the peloton but remain about a minute clear of it.
30km to go: The gap is down to 59 seconds, with the peloton still very much in control of today’s proceedings. A reminder that today’s stage concludes with a double-ascent of Mur de Bretagne. Here’s what Geraint Thomas had to say about the short but stiff climb in an interview with TNT Sports earlier today.
“It’s just tough,” he said."It’s just like … well, we all know it’s only two kilometres but it’s steep, dead straight, there’s always a good atmosphere on there. It’s always rammed with people and … yeah, it’s just easy to underestimate because it’s only two kilometres but it’s a tough little climb. It keeps going as well, which is probably the hard bit. You have that steep bit which keeps dragging all the way to the line. These days, with the punch of the guys, it’s going to be a tough one.”
36km to go: “Hugh Robertson’s correction (at 64km out) of Simon Thomas’s pedantic email (89km to go) is incorrect, according to Ernest Nègre, Toponymie générale de la France,” writes Paul Townend, who is avoiding work in Luxembourg. “He states that the meaning of mur (which has been spelt mur, meur, and mûr over the years) is ‘the wall surrounding a town or stronghold’.”
38km to go: A sizeable contingent of the peloton, including the green jersey, have decided they’re going to keep their powder dry for another day and are now enjoying a leisurely cycle behind the bunch.
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40km to go: The breakaway is down to four men after dropping Marco Haller (Tudor), who appeared to be suffering from cramp but possibly just decided the whole escape was a waste of his time. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) are a minute clear of a bunch that has never given them much rein.
43km to go: More on time gaps and it’s getting heated. “Just writing to discuss the time gap in case of non-crash situations,” writes Andrea Parapini. “It has nothing to do with wheel overlap. Quite simply, gaps under three seconds are not considered and assumed to be ‘meme temps’ (ignoring accents). The rule might change to one, two or three seconds depending on the race and situation, but overlap is not considered.”
50km to go: The gap is 1min 06sec and the riders of UAE Emirates-XRG (Tadej Pogacar) and Alpecin Deuceuninck (Mathieu van der Poel) are on the front of the bunch, making sure it doesn’t get any bigger.
Intermediate sprint result
1. Carcia Cortina 20
2. Haller 17
3. Baudin 15
4. G. Thomas 13
5. Costiou 11
6. Milan 10
7. Girmay 9
8. Turgis 8
9. Simmons 7
10. Rex 6
11. Sivakov 5
12. Groves 4
13. Soler 3
14. Barré 2
57km to go: The sprinters – well, a few of them – have their moment in the sun. In the green jersey, Jonathan Milan takes 10 points, while Binian Girmay gets nine. Anthony Turgis is next over the line and gets eight.
57km to go: The gap continues to hover around the 90-second mark as the breakaway group pass under the intermediate sprint banner without really bothering to contest the points. There’ll be a fair few left for the sprinters in the peloton to contest, with 10 going to the next man under the banner.
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64km to go: Hugh Robertson has got in touch to politely point out another error in Simon Thomas’s pedantic email (89km to go). “For the sake of pedantic accuracy, ‘mûr’ does not mean ‘wall’ in French but ‘ripe’,” he says. “‘Mur’ without the accent means ‘wall’. Cordialement.” That’s great work.
68km to go: In the breakaway, Marco Haller drops back to his team car again to pick up another two bidons. He’s also handed a bag of ice, which he stuffs down the back of his shirt. It’s scorchio out there, with an air temperature of 29C which is almost certainly hotter on the road.
69km to go: The gap is 1min 31sec. For anyone just joining us for the business end of the stage, your five-man breakaway is comprised of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar). A Welshman, a Breton, a Frenchman, an Austrian and a Spaniard cycle into a bar …
The same-time rule: “The rule for non-crash situations is that all riders who have wheel overlap with another rider get the same time,” writes Gareth Owen. “So if B overlaps A, and C overlaps B, and D overlaps C etc., and E overlaps D .... all the way down to Z overlapping Y ... then Z will get the same time as A, regardless of how many bike lengths (or seconds) he may be behind when they cross the line. There has to be a clear gap in the field before a new time is used.”
74km to go: UAE Emirates-XRG rider Adam Yates stops with a puncture, gets a new front wheel and is quickly away again. Further up the road, Alexis Renard is standing on the side of the road and appears to be waiting for a replacement bike. The one he started on is leaning against a nearby lamp post.
78km to go: My lunchtime musette has arrived and the contents aren’t particularly healthy. It contains a bidon of sugar-free 7up, a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich, a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch and a handful of jelly babies.
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86km to go: “Yesterday there was a gap between Tadej and Jonas at the finish line but they were given the same time,” writes Mark. “How big does the gap need to be to get different times?”
I think that unless it’s a flat stage and the three-kilometre or five-kilometre rule is in place, riders who finish within one second (or in some cases three seconds) of each other in a bunch sprint to the line are given the same time. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember how Vingegaard finished yesterday’s stage but if he was somewhere in a group of riders whose lead cyclist finished within one or three seconds of Pogacar, that would explain why he got the same time. I think.
89km to go: “I know you love a pedant, so with reference to your comment at -128 km, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s the town that is called ‘Mûr-de-Bretagne’, not the climb,” writes pedantry’s Simon Thomas. “It’s just a happy co-incidence that Mûr can mean ‘wall’. Could you also let G know please.”
You’re correct, Simon, I do love a pedant and ‘coincidence’ is a word that does not require a hyphen.
93km to go: The breakaway passes La Plage du Val Andre, a beautiful beach nestling next to an azure sea. The gap is 90 seconds and the breakaway seem to be getting fed up with the tightness of the leash on which they are being held by the peloton. They’re not riding particularly hard but keep speeding up and slowing down, presumably just to annoy the chasing posse, which is strung out in a long, long line. You don’t want to be at the back of that.
95 km to go: “I’m not sure why anyone would want to be in the breakaway, other than Celtic pride,” writes Peter Craig. “UAE clearly want the stage and are controlling matters for Pogacar, as the EF sports director knows full well.”
A few minutes ago, in an interview with Jens Voigt, who is out on the course on the back of a mororbike for TNT Sports, the sports directror in question told the German that he thinks the breakaway has a chance of winning today.
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97km to go: The gap remains steady, at 1min 43sec and up front Marco Haller (Tudor) drops to the back of the five-man group and picks up a couple of very sticky bottles and some food from his team car, getting a nice little tow and some respite during the long and leisurely handovers.
106km to go: The gap is at 1min 45sec and the peloton is being towed along by one UAE Emirates-XRG rider (Marc Soler, probably) followed by the massed ranks of the Alpecin–Deceuninck team. In the yellow jersey, Mathieu van der Poel is on sixth wheel. Tadej Pogacar is about 15 places from the front of the bunch.
114km to go: A reminder that your five-man breakaway is comprised of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar). They currently have a lead of 1min 34sec and are being kept on a very tight rein by the peloton. It’s currently a stand-off between the breakaway group and the bunch.
Over the race radio, the EF Education-EasyPost sporting director has just told Baudin that he’s “got to try to keep calm for now in this move because it’s not on how much you guys push, it’s on what happens behind.”
On TNT Sports, assorted pundits are saying the breakaway group should slow down a bit to create panic in the bunch and get them to slow down too. “It’s counter-intuitive but maybe slowing down gives you a better chance of creating chaos in the bunch and then they’re so scared they let them have a bigger gap and stay away,” says somebody or other whose name I didn’t get. Of course the risk is that if the breakaway slows down and the peloton doesn’t, the five riders in front will get caught and lose any chance they have of winning the stage.
116km to go: The gap is 1min 17sec and while we’re on the subject of lunch asnd feed zones, there’s a bit of a knack to handing over and picking up bottles and musettes. Let the always informative Global Cycling Network explain …
122km to go: While the riders are in Brittany, it would be impractical for them to feast on local delicacies such as cider, bordier butter, Madame Loik cheese, oysters, custard cake and crepes. Here’s the more mundane fare they can expect to find in their musettes.
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123km to go: The peloton rolls through a feed zone, where various team soigneurs are standing at the side of the road, dangling musettes full of grub at arm’s length for the riders to grab.
128km to go: Today’s stage finishes with a double-ascent of the Mur de Bretagne (Wall of Brittany) and here’s what Geraint Thomas had to say about it in an interview with TNT Sports before the start of today’s stage. “It’s just tough, it’s just like … well, we all know it’s only two kilometres but it’s steep, dead straight, there’s always a good atmosphere on there. It’s always rammed with people and … yeah, it’s just easy to underestimate because it’s only two kilometres but it’s a tough little climb. It keeps going as well, which is probably the hard bit. You have that steep bit which keeps dragging all the way to the line. These days, with the punch of the guys, it’s going to be a tough one.”
132km to go: Riding in his final Tour, Geraint Thomas is the best placed rider in the breakaway but is over 14 minutes down on the maillot jaune and not a threat. The peloton seem to have given uyp the chase again and the gap is 1min 24sec and rising.
135km to go: “Hope today’s stage is as exciting as yesterday’s and maybe for another good effort from Quinn Simmons,” writes Dynamic Damien. “That stars and stripes jersey looks fantastic on the road (though the handlebar mustache is far less-so in the post-stage interviews)! Off for an early kickabout with friends before tuning back in to the updates.”
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135km to go: The gap is closing but remains at 57 seconds.
137km to go: The gap is out of 1min 12sec but Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider Bruno Armirail has been ordered to the front of the bunch to step up the pace.
139km to go: It might be Pavel Sivakov’s birthday but he has not been excused domestique duties on the day that’s in it. The UAE Team Emirates XRG rider drops out of the peloton to stock up some bidons for his teammates from the team car.
Your breakaway: Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) have opened a gap of 48 seconds on the bunch. The Brits (Thomas) and Bretons (Costiou) are both represented.
We have our breakaway of the day!
141km to go: This is interesting. Geraint Thomas, Neilson Powless and three other riders have escaped the peloton, which seems to have given up its chase and settled down.
142km to go: Marc Soler (Team Emirates XRG) is at the front of the bunch, which remains intact after over 50 kilometres of frenetic racing.
148km to go: So much for having a happy birthday. At the back of the bunch, Lenny Martinez raises his hand in front of the TV motorbike so that those in his team car will know he needs attention. There’s something wrong with his derailleur, he’s stuck in a low gear and his legs are spinning faster the Road Runner’s.
149km to go: After nearly 50 kilometres, we still have no breakaway and the average speed of the peloton remains just shy of 55km per hour. “There’ll be riders sitting at the back of that line just praying for it to finally split so things ease off,” say Robbie McEwan on TNT Sports. “And I imagine somewhere about a third of the way down the peloton there’ll be a young Slovenian [who’ll be rubbing his hands together metaphorically and saying "They are playing right into my hands’ His name’s Tadej, for those who are wondering.”
154km to go: Edward Theuns (Lidl Trek) risks incurring the race jury’s wrath as he blatantly drafts behind a team car while making his way back to the bunch after an unscheduled stop for a mechanical issue, crash or comfort break. He doesn’t look like he’s suffered a crash and his on the bike he started the stage on – it could have been something as simple as a puncture.
160km to go: There are a couple of birthday boys in today’s peloton, although they’ll do well to light 50 candles across two cakes at the speed they’re going. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) has 22 to blow out, while Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates-XRG) will be extinguishing 28. Happy birthday to both, although I’d say they’re both suffering at the moment.
165km to go: Powless’s attack comes to nothing and with the peloton going at an average speed of 54 kilometres per hour it’s no great surprise.
173km to go: With the bunch back together and the kilometres flying by, Neilson Powless tries to escape off the front in the pink colours of EF Education-EasyPost, who won yesterday’s stage courtesy of Ben Healy. The Native American is riding in his fifth Tour and his best finish came in 2022, when he finished 12th.
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175km to go: If you were unaware of the Tour’s new wheeze of disciplining guilty (or entirely innocent in the case of Coquard) riders with retrospective yellow cards for “every touch of shoulders, switch of wheels, dramatic acceleration and multilingual insult”, Jeremy Whittle has an explainer …
178km to go: Tim Wellens (Emirates-XRG) is at the front of a peloton chasing down Schmid and Wout van Aert. The gap has been closed after 17 kilometres of effort from the duo. It’s all back together …
187 km to go: Coquard was involved in the crash that resulted in Jasper Philipsen having to abandon the race and received a yellow card from race jury who seem to fall over themselves each year in their efforts to find new and annoying ways to mire their this great event in petty disciplinary bureaucracy.
While most people on the Tour seemed to put the accident down as just one of those things that happen in bike-racing that nobody was to blame for, Coquard was disciplined and is now one more yellow card from being thrown off the race. It would be fair to say the sprinter is not happy.
“Obviously, it wasn’t my intention to cause a crash; I didn’t want to take any risks,” said Coquard, before learning he would be disciplined. for irregular sprinting “I was clearly thrown off balance; I almost lost my shoe. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I want to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck. Even if I’m not a bad guy, it’s not pleasant.”
The following day, having described his own injuries as feeling like he’d been “hit by a car”, Coquard said: “In this situation, there was never any intentional or aggressive action on my part. It was the start of Jonathan Milan’s sprint that made me move a bit. I was level with his derailleur, the Intermarché-Wanty rider came in as well, our handlebars touched, I got off balance, and the rest is history.”
190km to go: Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) drops out of the peloton to ride alongside the medical car and takes a bandag from the doctor. Rolling along at 60 kilometres with just one hand on his bars, he pulls down the sock on his left ankle and begins dressing a wound.
192km to go: Ineos Grenadiers and the Emirates-XRG team of Tadej Pogacar have shut down the attack but Van Aert and Schmid still have a lead of about five seconds on the bunch. Can they snap the elastic?
They're racing in stage seven!
194km to go: Protruding from the sun-roof of his official race Skoda, race director Christian Prudhomme waves his yellow flag and the cyclists take off. Almost immediately, about 25 riders put the hammer down and try to escape. Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla0) are among them, leading the charge.
Oscar Onley: The Scottish Picnic PostalNL rider is 11th on General Classification but his team boss said on Wednesday that he’s more interested in the 22-year-old from Kelso trying to nick a stage win or two than finishing high up the GC. Onley is a good climber and today’s is a stage he’ll have marked down as a potential win.
Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The peloton’s stay in Brittany will kick off with another contest between the puncheurs,” said the race director. “After leaving Saint-Malo and heading for Saint-Brieuc, history buffs will recall the exploits of Bernard Hinault as the race passes through his home village of Yffiniac.
“But everyone’s attention will be focused very much on the present as the double ascent of the Côte de Mûr-de-Bretagne approaches. A warning to attackers who are a bit too eager – it’s a climb where tactical sense is almost as decisive as physical strength.”
Today’s roll-out is under way: For the eighth time in Tour history, a stage begins in the picturesque Breton town of Saint-Malo. The riders are due to be given the signal to start racing in about five minutes.
KOM classification: top five after stage six
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) 7pts
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 5pts
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 4pts
Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula) 3pts
Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) 3pts
Points classification: top five after stage six
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 112
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck),108
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 106
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 102
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 72
General Classification: top 10 after stage six
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 21hrs 52mins 34secs
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +1sec
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) +43secs
Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1min
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 14secs
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 23secs
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 59secs
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +2mins 1sec
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 32secs
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 36secs
Healy wins stage six as Van der Poel reclaims yellow
Stage six report: Ireland’s Ben Healy struck out alone to win his first ever stage of the Tour de France, with Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel wrestling back the leader’s yellow jersey from reigning champion Tadej Pogacar. Jeremy Whittle reports from Vire …
Stage seven: Saint-Malo to Mûr-de-Bretagne (194km)
William Fotheringham’s stage seven guide: Day one in Brittany is more straightforward, passing Bernard Hinault’s village of Yffiniac – 40 years since the Badger became the last French Tour winner – before two ascents of Mûr de Bretagne to conclude. The finish up the “Wall” is harder than anything the race has tackled to date, and you’d expect Pogacar to make a statement of intent, but it will also suit Van der Poel, winner here in 2021.
