A mountain stage of sorts but mainly gentle roads. The breakaway has a good chance and someone might be able to take the yellow jersey today and keep it for a while as long as UAE and Visma-LAB agree to it.
Crème de la crème catalane: the early break of Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural), Frank van den Broek (Picnic-PostNL) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco) stayed clear to contest the intermediate sprint and the take the king of the mountains points available up the road.
It was surprising other teams didn’t try to get involved but as a result local rider Molenaar gets the polka-dot jersey and Caja Rural achieve something that while modest could be more than other teams manage.
Isaac del Toro could have thought it wasn’t his day when with 60km he had a mechanical and was left standing by the road when the lead UAE team car to drive past him. Then the second team car did the same, only to slam on the brakes and dispatch a mechanic back down the course for the Mexican who appeared to get help from the Visma and Ineos cars which isn’t allowed under the rules (#2.3.029) but nobody spotted this and he avoided a hefty time penalty.
Two minutes down from the wait, Del Toro chased and got back with plenty of time. Unlike Paul Seixas who punctured later and after taking a team mate’s bike stopped to get a replacement and got back to the bunch as they hit the final circuit and had to move up the field during the first ascent of Montjuic but he was cool about it.
On the Monjuic circuit Brandon McNulty did a huge turn, pulling the peloton for two laps as many riders were ejected. Come the final time up and there were no attacks but few riders were left. Richard Carapaz and Mattias Skjelmose tried to sneak away on the descent but Isaac del Toro chased and carved the final corner to go clear. The likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel were marking Tadej Pogačar and this allowed Del Toro to build on his lead before the sprint started. Pogačar weaved on the road in a bid to distract the chase so Del Toro could win. This was a gift wrapped with a ribbon on top as Pogačar could clearly have won, floating around while rivals were sprinting full pelt. Perhaps so used to winning, offering the win outwardly seemed to delight Pogačar more than when he won Milan-Sanremo in March.
The intensity of the efforts up Montjuic made this a a GC day. A front group of 16 riders at the finish spread across 10 seconds, only ten more riders within a minute. 11 more riders within two minutes and then in 38th place was Mathias Vacek over five minutes down.
The Route: 196km and 3,850m of vertical gain, this makes it a mountain stage.
- Wildfires are raging in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, including one about 50km from the course. No danger to the race but this is using up a lot of local resources, especially firefighters and local government officials that would normally be deployed to secure the race and watch over the crowds. A decision taken yesterday evening says the race will go ahead as planned, but without the publicity caravan nor spectators on the final 40km when the race reaches France.
The defining feature of today’s climbs is that they’re all gradual and on big roads. It’s uphill from the start, the marked climb beyond Sant Feliu leads to two real mountain passes: the Creu dell Serrà and Can Tollo.
The Collada de Toses is a long gradual climb for most of the way but after Toses it steepens up with 7-10% for the final 5km on the “old” sideroad. After the top it’s via La Molina, the ski resort that often features in March’s Volta a Catalunya.
After crossing into France the Col du Calvaire is no calvary.
The Finish: it’s into the town of Les Angles and then a tight turn with 1.7km to go. This marks the climb to the finish which is mostly around 7% via a series of hairpins to the flamme rouge and then onwards and upwards to the line.
The Contenders: today the breakaway has a strong chance of making it. Plenty of riders are way down on GC already – only 50 riders are within 10 minutes – and those that don’t pose a threat to the likes of UAE and Visma-LAB can get a pass for the day. So it’s open to plenty but among them not many frequent winners. It’s only Stage 3 but today is open to plenty with the bonus of the yellow jersey too, a massive opportunity for riders and teams alike so we should get a frantic start.
The winner has to cope with the climbing along the way and then the final 1.7km rise to the line if they haven’t barged clear to build up a lead by then.
Ben Healy (EF) is the archetypal pick, he hasn’t shown any form of late but it could be he and his team like it this way; team mate Alex Baudin is going very well. In fact the team seem built for these mid-mountain days, see Georg Steinhauser and Michael Valgren too.
If Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) has his hair tied up in a bun then watch out but today is hilly for him. Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar) is in form but a win from him and the team is a rare thing.
Over seven minutes down Luke Plapp and ten minutes for Ben O’Connor mean the Jayco aren’t here for GC and Plapp is suited to the stage and, like many Andorra and Girona residents, knows the roads today plus Mauro Schmid is handy on hilly days too.
Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) is in form but likely to be targetting stages and this one suits less. Ewen Costiou could try instead. Marco Frigo (NSN), Georg Zimmerman (Lotto-Intermarché) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X) also fit the bill as down on GC and not duty to protect a GC leader but by now we’re into rare winners for whom a Tour stage is a tentative dream. Perhaps Red Bull allow the likes of Maxim Van Gils to have a day up the road.
If Ineos aren’t racing for GC what can they do? The obvious match would be Kévin Vauquelin. He’s punctured twice so lost time but his form is a question too for deep into the finish of a stage but if he was 100% he’s worth watching.
If the breakaway can’t stick then Tadej Pogačar (UAE) is an obvious candidate, he’s gifted a win already but if he does it again for Isaac Del Toro then this keeps him out of the yellow jersey and the daily duties it comes with.
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Van Gils, Healy, Baudin, Plapp |
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Garcia Pierna, Schmid, Del Toro, Pogačar |
Weather: 30°C and sunny with a SE wind of 30km/h to whip the bunch along for much of the day.
- A note on the weather to come. Météo-France is the state weather agency and says the hot weather will last as far as it can forecast but not quite reaching the highs of the recent heatwave in late June. There are yellow and orange weather warnings in place for some departments, including the Pyrénées-Orientales which hosts the finish. But no red warnings which mean an absolute risk to public health and come with restrictions which could go as far as stage cancellations on grounds of protecting spectators and staff (managing the riders is a separate matter).
TV: KM0 is at 12.20pm and the finish is forecast for 5.10pm CEST. This is a likely stage for the breakaway, most riders are fresh and so there should be a big battle to try and get clear, all while the likes of UAE and Visma-LAB try to filter who is allowed up the road so watch from KM0 if you can.